Léglu - Samson and Delilah in Medieval Insular French: Translation and Adaptation

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Many colleagues and friends have contributed directly and indirectly to this book. The idea came out of two invitations. One was a contribution to a conference on the manuscripts of Reading Abbey, co-organised in 2015 by Anne Lawrence and Laura Cleaver for the University of Readings Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies. The other was an introductory chapter to a volume devoted to performance in the Middle Ages, edited by Pauline Souleau and Henry Hope. Both projects led me to conclude that there was more to be said about the translation of this biblical narrative in medieval culture. Papers from various stages of this project were presented at the conference New Perspectives in Occitan Literature at the IMLR, September 2015, the Annual Conference of the Society for French Studies, Glasgow, July 2016, and at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2017. Peter Kruschwitz helped me with the epigraphy in Chapter . Franoise Le Saux, Jim Simpson and Lindy Grant read drafts and made many useful suggestions. I am grateful also for the generous and helpful comments and suggestions of Peter Davies, Marianne Ailes, Linda Paterson, Simon Gaunt, Tom Hinton, Daron Burrows, Rebecca Rist, Irne Fabry-Tehranchi, Paola Nasti, Anne Marigold Norbye, Ardis Butterfield, Jim Simpson, Kathryn Smith, Brent Pitts and Sara James. The University of Readings Department of Modern Languages and European Studies granted me a terms study leave in which to see this project through to its conclusion. Thank you also to my husband and children for their forbearance.

Parts of Chapter are reproduced with permission from my article, Reading Abbeys Anglo-Norman French translation of the Bible: London British Library Royal MS 1 C III. special issue of Reading Medieval Studies , edited by Laura Cleaver, 42 (2016), 131155.

Each of the many different versions of the Bible reflects historical processes of translation and reception. The fourth-century Latin Vulgate, translated by Jerome from Greek and Hebrew versions, is the common source for the medieval translations and adaptations that are discussed in this book. All quotations from it are taken from Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem , ed. by R. Weber and R. Gryson, 4th ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994). Most recent English-language studies of Judges 1316 cite the King James Bible (published in 1611, revised in 1769); however, it is easier to render the idiosyncrasies of the Vulgate text by consulting its closest translation into English, the Douay-Rheims Bible (1582 to 1610, extensively revised in 17491752). Using an early modern text also highlights the linguistic gap between Jeromes fourth-century work and writers of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. The extract below from the Douay-Rheims Bible and all other citations from this text are taken from The Holy Bible, translated from theLatin Vulgateand diligently compared with other editions in divers languages (Douay, AD 1609; Rheims, AD 1582) , Rev. ed. Richard Challoner (London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1914).