Volume
2- March 2003
We are pleased to present the second volume of Medieval Forum.
The articles cover a broad range of interests, experience and
expression corresponding to a diverse readership, and we hope
that they will spark a lively dialog. You may contact the authors
directly, and/or you may submit your comments on the articles
and the website to the editors for posting.
CONTENTS
The Acts of Matthew and Andrew
in the City of Cannibals
Tom Sharp
In the second century after the death of Jesus, legends arose
to fill the gaps about which the New Testament is silent, particularly
the experiences of the apostles whom Jesus had instructed to "make
disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), even "to
the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). These legends of the apostles
entertained early Christians for hundreds of years. The story
of The Acts of Matthew and Andrew in the City of Cannibals
was written down in Greek probably shortly before 400 A.D.
by an Egyptian monk. The city of cannibals was Marmadonia, thought
to be a town in Scythia, now in eastern Crimea; Andrew starts
his journey from the land of Achaia, a region of Scythia on the
east coast of the Black Sea. Presented here is a translation into
modern English that follows the Old English translation of a lost
Latin translation of the Greek text.
Hypertext:
A Sacred (He)Art? Cor ad cor loquitur from
Augustine to Shelley Jackson
Martin L. Warren
Postmodern thinking holds that the subjectthe
selfis decentered, fragmented, and erratic. An examination
of this principle requires that the subject be studied through
the writings of the pre-modern, modern, and postmodern eras. An
analysis of the medieval spiritual practice of cor ad cor loquitur
and the use of the newly evolving form of writing known as hypertext,
particularly the hypertext novel, leads to an interesting conclusion,
i.e., the mechanism of self-reflection, central to cor ad cor
loquitur, resides in the rhetorical structure of hypertext.
Rethinking
Marie
Dinah Hazell
Marie de France is traditionally associated with the English court
of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This essay reexamines that
assumption through the consideration of linguistic evidence, geographhical
descriptions in Marie's works, her self-identification as being
from France, and her dedication of the Lais and Fables
to unnamed courtly figures. This rethinking offers
alternative perspectives that reposition the political climate
in which she wrote, free the dating of her works and assessment
of her career, and offer an enriched understanding of Maries
poems.
Web Spotlight:
Medieval Portal Sites
Daniel T. Kline
This feature brings attention to a select number
of related medieval sources available on the web and offers succinct
descriptions of their worth and how they might be used by students
and scholars, drawing on the work of dedicated medieval scholars
who have been posting materials online since the Internet boom
began almost ten years ago.
Book Review:
Christopher Dyer, Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The
People of Britain 850-1520.
Submissions are now being invited and reviewed for
Volume 4, scheduled for December 2004 with a submission deadline
of 15 September 2004. Please see the submission
guidelines if you would like to submit an article, book review
or other item of interest to fellow medievalists. If you have
any questions, please contact the editors.
Contributors retain the copyright to their works and should be
contacted directly with reprint and distribution
requests. All citations from works distributed on this website
must be fully and accurately attributed.