
John Ridewall, Fulgentius metaforalis
Ralph Hanna(Author)
Liverpool University Press
Published on 3. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-1-83624-520-9 (ISBN)
Description
John Ridewall's Fulgencius metaforalis is a moralising commentary on Fulgentius's sixth-century Mitologiae, an introduction to the classical gods and their stories. Composed in Oxford in the 1330s and subject to almost immediate local (and broader English) use, the work was a pan-European success, and more than 100 manuscripts preserve Ridewall's text in some form. Fulgencius metaforalis has been edited before, nearly a century ago, by a great medievalist, Hans Liebeschuetz; he, however, did not recognise that the manuscript he presented was a fragment, containing only about one-third of the whole. This volume provides Ridewall's entire text, as usually communicated, with a translation. In addition, it contains a substantial introduction; this outlines various difficulties in the transmission of Fulgencius and evidence for the work's extensive medieval reception. Annotation to the text identifies and indexes Ridewall's sources - most of his mythographic knowledge reflects either Remigius of Auxerre's commentary on Martianus Capella or the Third Vatican Mythographer; and offers one manuscript tabula/index, useful for seeing how readers may have accessed the work piecemeal (by manuscript consultation, not, as frequently claimed, as a set of 'memory diagrams').
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Liverpool
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-83624-520-9 (9781836245209)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ralph Hanna is Professor of Palaeography (Emeritus) and Emeritus Fellow at Keble College, Oxford. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow, former Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute (Harvard University), and winner of the British Academy Sir Israel Gollancz Prize for English Language 2015. His many books with Liverpool University Press include John Ridewall, Fulgentius metaforalis (2023), Looking at Medieval Books: Learning to See (2023), Robert Holcot, exegete (2021) and Malachy the Irishman, On Poison (2020).
Content
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
The author: on John Ridewall
The Fulgencius and its dissemination
The use and influence of the text
Constructing Fulgencius: Ridewall's library
Editing Fulgencius metaforalis
Appendix: notes on the manuscripts
Bibliography
Fulgencius metaforalis: The text
Book 1
1 Idolatry
2 Saturn/Prudence
3 Jupiter/Love and Friendship
4 Juno/Memory
5 Neptune/Intelligence
6 Pluto/Foresight
7 Apollo/Truth
8 Phaeton/Ambition
9 Mercury/Eloquence
10 Danae/Modesty and Women's Greed
11 Ganymede/Sodomy
12 Perseus/Courage
13 Alceste/Marital Continence
Book 2
1 Paris/Injustice
2 Minerva/Contemplative Life
3 Juno/Worldly Life
4 Venus/The Life of Pleasure
Appendix: Two inserted discussions
Textual notes
The A tabula
A brief commentary
Indexes
Biblical references
Fontes
Preface
Introduction
The author: on John Ridewall
The Fulgencius and its dissemination
The use and influence of the text
Constructing Fulgencius: Ridewall's library
Editing Fulgencius metaforalis
Appendix: notes on the manuscripts
Bibliography
Fulgencius metaforalis: The text
Book 1
1 Idolatry
2 Saturn/Prudence
3 Jupiter/Love and Friendship
4 Juno/Memory
5 Neptune/Intelligence
6 Pluto/Foresight
7 Apollo/Truth
8 Phaeton/Ambition
9 Mercury/Eloquence
10 Danae/Modesty and Women's Greed
11 Ganymede/Sodomy
12 Perseus/Courage
13 Alceste/Marital Continence
Book 2
1 Paris/Injustice
2 Minerva/Contemplative Life
3 Juno/Worldly Life
4 Venus/The Life of Pleasure
Appendix: Two inserted discussions
Textual notes
The A tabula
A brief commentary
Indexes
Biblical references
Fontes