About the Texts
What does a riddle do? Riddles like to be ambiguous, presenting multiple meanings at once.[1] They encourage exploration. This probing is appropriate for our purpose regarding the symbolism of medieval objects. These riddles present one way of thinking about our objects. What other ways can we understand each item?
The Exeter Book of Riddles contains about one hundred word puzzles, dating from the tenth century. They are written in Old English alliterative meter, though some of them were originally in Latin.[2] The translation of the riddles we're using here was made by H.H. Abbott; the original author of the manuscript is unclear.
The other text we will use is titled The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum by William Durand and dates from circa 1296 CE. Durand was the bishop of Mende, a diocese in Provence, and one of the most prominent religious writers of his day. This is a very different text in nature from The Exeter Book, because its focus is the liturgy of the Catholic Church. Durand interprets, through a plenitude of allegories, each aspect of the Church - from the building of worship, to the sacraments.[3]
As you have discovered, the objects we're looking at in this exhibit are not all from the tenth century or 1296 CE. While recognizing that these historical differences exist, this section serves to provoke thought about each type of object in general. Think about the way keys, bells, and censers are used in a broad sense, or how they were typically used in the middle ages.
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[1] Williamson, Craig, and Shippey, T. A. Beowulf and Other Old English Poems. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
[2] Abbott, H. H. The Riddles of the Exeter Book. Cambridge: Golden Head P., 1968.
[3] Durand, Guillaume, and Thibodeau, T. M. The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of William Durand of Mende : (a New Translation of the Prologue and Book One). Records of Western Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.