A Book Of Showings
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE PREFACE vii
SIGLA OF MANUSCRIPTS AND OTHER ABBREVIATIONS
viii
INTRODUCTION
A BOOK OF SHOWINGS
THE SHORT TEXT
PART TWO
SIGLA OF MANUSCRIPTS AND OTHER ABBREVIATIONS
A BOOK OF SHOWINGS
THE LONG TEXT
APPENDIX: RHETORICAL FIGURES EMPLOYED BY JULIAN
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND TITLES
INDEX OF SCRIPTURAL CITATIONS
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS CITED
SIGLA OF MANUSCRIPTS AND OTHER ABBREVIATIONS
A London British Museum Add. 37790
C Cressy 1670 edition P Paris Bibliotheque Nationale Fonds anglais 40 Si London British Museum Sloane 2499
London British Museum Sloane 3705 SS Si and 82 U Upholland Seminary Library W Westminster Diocesan Archives AFH Archivum Franciscanum Historicum AFr Anglo-French AISP Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietd
ASS Acta Sanctorum BL British Library (Museum) BM British Museum (Library) BN Bibliotheque Nationale C. Brown, XIII English Lyrics of the XHIth Century C. Brown, XIV Religious Lyrics of the XlVth Century C. Brown, XV Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaeualis
CCSL Corpus Chrutianorum Series Latina CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
DACL Dictionnaire d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie DNB Dictionary of National Biography DSp Dictionnaire de la Spirilualite DTC Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique
EETS (ES)
Early English Text Society (Extra Series)
EETS (OS)
Early English Text Society (Original Series) FEW Franzdsisches etymologisches Worterbuch HBS Henry Bradshaw Society LCI Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie M/C Medium AEvum ME Middle English MED Middle English Dictionary MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica MS Mediaeval Studies NCE New Catholic Encyclopedia NED New English Dictionary OE Old English OFr Old French OHG Old High German PL Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus RAM Revue d'Ascetique et de Mystique RES Review of English Studies RTAM Recherches de Theologie Ancienne et Medie'vale
SC Sources chre'tiennes SCN Summary Catalogue Number (Bodleian Library) TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae UL University Library VCH Victoria County History
A BOOK OF SHOWINGS
The long text edited from MS BN Fonds anglais 40, collated with MSS BM Sloane 2499 and 3705, Westminster Archdiocesan Archives and Upholland Seminary Library, and with the 1670 Serenus Cressy printed edition
CHAPTER 1
f. ir Here begynneth the first chapter.
This is a reuelacion of loue that Jh^u Christ our endles blisse made in xvi shewynges, of which the first is of his precious crownyng of thornes; and ther in was conteined and specified the blessed trinitie with the 5 incarnacion and the vnithing betweene god and mans sowle, vtith manie fayer schewynges and techynges of endelesse wisdom and loue, in which all the shewynges that foloweth be grovndide and ioyned.
The secunde is of J)e discoloring of his fayer face in tokenyng of his deerworthie passion. i Above, in a later hand: icy commence le premier chapitre.
2 Si inc.:
Revelations to one who could not read a letter, Anno Domini 1373. A particular of the chapters. The first Chapter off the noumber of the revelations particularly. This is ...
82 inc.: A particular of the chapters. Of the number of the revelations particularly.
This is...
3 shewynges: add. Si: or revelations particular. of (his): Sa: with.
4 ther in: SS: therewith. conteined: SS: comprehended. blessed: om.
SS.
5 vnithing: C: uniting; Si: unite; and so Sa.
7 ioyned: SS: onyd. i The balanced cola immediately indicate the superiority of P over SS: Here begynneth the first chapter / This is a reuelacion of loue / that Jhesu Christ our endles blisse / made in xvi shewynges / of which the first is of his precious crownyng of thornes / and ther in was conteined and specified the blessed trinitie / with the incarnacion and the vnithing betweene god and mans sowle / with many fayer schewynges and techynges of endelesse wisdom and loue / in which all the shewynges that foloweth be grovndide and ioyned. The theological structure of each showing and of the entire revelation is delineated:Jesus Christ shown in his sufferings, but also glorified and revealing the triune God in their operationes ad extra; the creation of man, and the unity of God and man in Christ; the sights and the locutions manifesting power, wisdom and love. The Trinitarian formula of William of St. Thierry, 'ex patre, per
Christum, in sancto spiritu', seems to be known to Julian; See Odo Brooke: The Trinitarian Theology of William of St. Thierry'.
3 who could not read a letter (Si): this refers to 285.2: a symple creature vnlettyrde; but this is not a legitimate deduction. See Introduction, 47.
4 specified: NED does not record Specify earlier than c. 1300 (Cursor Mundi), and Gower, 1390, is the first writer quoted as using the term in a context not theological.
7 ioyned / onyd (SS): this is the first crux in the long text. If one were to accept the SS reading, the antecedent of in which would certainly appear to be wisdom and loue, which would make excellent sense; but P's ioyned suggests that the antecedent is the entire clause, beginning and ther in (that is, Revelation I) ...; and this is the editors' opinion.
Cf. Introduction, IX 3.
8 pe discoloring of his fey erf ace: Julian and her age, writing of this aspect of the Passion, must have had in mind Isaias 53.2: There is no beauty in him or comeliness, and we have seen him and there is no sightliness. In The Privity of the Passion, PseudoBonaventure is translated: Than was fullfillede Jje profecy of Ysaye the prophete sayand thus: We be helde hym all owt caste and vileste of all mene, and f»er was in hym noper fairenes nor bewte... (Horstman, i 203; Stallings, 107; Ragusa and Green, 329).