Book Series Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, vol. 3A

Aelredus Rievallensis

Opera omnia VII

Vita sancti Aedwardi Regis et Confessoris

Francesco Marzella (ed)

  • Pages: 399 p.
  • Size:155 x 245 mm
  • Illustrations:1 tables b/w.
  • Language(s):Latin, English
  • Publication Year:2017

  • € 235,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-55182-1
  • Hardback
  • Available


The most popular biography of St. Edward the Confessor.

Review(s)

"Den beiden Editoren kann nicht genug dafür gedankt werden, der Forschung Texte zur Verfügung gestellt zu haben, auf deren Grundlage sich die Untersuchungen zu Leben und Werk einer der faszinierendsten Persönlichkeiten des 12. Jahrhunderts sowohl in Breite als auch in Tiefe weiterentwickeln dürften." (Ralf Lützelschwab, in: Sehepunkte 18 (2018), Nr. 1 [15.01.2018])

« En somme, avec ce livre, nous disposons d’une édition conforme aux critères scientifiques les plus élevés, mais la critique historique reste à écrire. » (Arnaud Lestremau, dans Le Moyen Âge, 3-4, 2017, p. 627)

« Remercions les deux éditeurs qui, avec des approches assez différentes (D. P. est plus disert et sa longue introduction explore une grande variété d’aspects, F. M. se limite davantage aux aspects philologiques dans une introduction plus concise), ont mis à la disposition des chercheurs l’ensemble de la production hagiographique d’Aelred, portant ainsi à son terme l’édition de ses œuvres dans le Corpus Christianorum. » (R. Godding, in Analecta Bolladiana, 138, 2020, p. 215)

"These two volumes (CCCM 3 and 3A) of Aelred’s historical works individually and together represent a heroic contribution to Aelredian scholarship and must be unstintingly celebrated. Without pretending to speak for someone who so long ago left writing behind, I can only think that Aelred would be amazed and delighted at the testimony of these books and their editors, and at that of all the scribes, editors, and translators over the centuries, to his determined efforts to guide monks, anchoresses, laity, and rulers of England. This final piece in the preservation of Aelred’s writing, with all the patience and care that have gone into it, has earned Brepols Publishers, Domenico Pezzini, and Francesco Marzella our sincere gratitude and praise." (Marsha L. Dutton, in Cîteaux – Commentarii cistercienses, 68/1-4, 2017, p. 277-291) 

BIO

Francesco Marzella obtained his PhD from the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (SUM, Florence) and was postdoctoral fellow at Università degli Studi dell’Aquila. His main research field is Anglo-Latin Literature (12th and 13th century).

Summary

Aelred of Rievaulx’s Vita sancti Ædwardi Regis et Confessoris was written on request of Laurence, abbot of Westminster, soon after the canonization of King Edward in 1161, and was presented to King Henry II on the occasion of the translation of the body of the saint on the 13th of October 1163. Preceded by a biography written by an anonymous author for Edward’s wife, Queen Edith, and by the clearly hagiographical biography written by the prior of Westminster, Osbert of Clare, in 1138, Aelred’s Vita enriched the hagiographical dossier of the saint with new miraculous episodes and was also endowed with strong political messages. It soon became the official biography of the saint and its fortune is witnessed not only by the number of manuscripts that contain the text, but also by the fact that all the successive biographies of the saint were directly or indirectly dependent on it.

This first critical edition of the Vita provides a text based on the best manuscript witnesses together with the editio princeps of a versification of the Vita written by an anonymous poet few years later.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Aelredus Rievallenis (interpolatio) — Aelredi Rievallensis 'Vita sancti Aedwardi regis et confessoris' capitulum interpolatum de diabolo sedente super acervum pecuniae — ed. F. Marzella

Aelredus Rievallenis (interpolatio) — Aelredi Rievallensis 'Vita sancti Aedwardi regis et confessoris': capitulum interpolatum de translatione sancti Regis Eadwardi — ed. F. Marzella

Aelredus Rievallensis — Vita sancti Aedwardi regis et confessoris — ed. F. Marzella

Hagiographica — Vita anonyma sancti Aedwardi versifice — ed. F. Marzella