Preaching and History: The Audience of Ranulf Higden's Ars componendi sermones and Polychronicon

In his Ars praedicandi sermones, in traditional yet rich metaphoric language, Ranulf Higden compares Christ to a fountain, a shepherd, a rock, a lily, a rose, a violet, an elephant, a unicorn, and a youthful bridegroom wooing his beloved spouse. Ranulf encourages preachers to use such metaphors whil...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Beal, Jane (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2018]
In: Medieval sermon studies
Year: 2018, Volume: 62, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-28
IxTheo Classification:KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages
KBF British Isles
KDB Roman Catholic Church
RE Homiletics
Further subjects:B English
B Polychronicon
B ars praedicandi sermones
B audience
B John Trevisa
B Ranulf Higden
B Christian
B Latin
B Preachers
B preaching manual
B Sermons
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:In his Ars praedicandi sermones, in traditional yet rich metaphoric language, Ranulf Higden compares Christ to a fountain, a shepherd, a rock, a lily, a rose, a violet, an elephant, a unicorn, and a youthful bridegroom wooing his beloved spouse. Ranulf encourages preachers to use such metaphors while using them himself, rendering his text a performed example of what he encourages. This text is clearly linked to two others: Ranulf's Latin universal history, the Polychronicon, and John Trevisa's English translation of it. In the Polychronicon, Ranulf relates the life of Christ, utilizing some of his own rhetorical suggestions from his preaching manual. He also depicts a cross-section of good and bad preachers, including Gregory, Wulfstan, Eustas, St Edmund, and one William Long-Beard and his kinsman, who exemplify (in different ways) the wisdom conveyed in Ranulf's instruction in the Ars praedicandi. This essay suggests that the literary relationship between the preaching manual and the Polychronicon supplies additional support for the idea that the audience of the latter was not noblemen exclusively, but also clergymen who preached and had responsibility for the care of souls (cura animae).
ISSN:1749-6276
Contains:Enthalten in: Medieval sermon studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13660691.2018.1529891