HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

360 MICHAEL GOODICHBecause our souls may appear to reach up to heaven through the pleasureof the narratives and examples of the saints, I have thereforecomposed this Ladder to Heaven for the glory and honor of the OmnipotentGod and his blessed Virgin Mother, my father the blessed Dominicand the blessed Mary Magdalene. 18Piero Domenico of Baone (ca. 1340), in his life of Henry of Treviso,noted the value of reading saints’ lives and sacred history: “theCatholic faith is strengthened; the mind is edified; the soul is raisedon high and is consoled”. 19The exemplary role of the saint demanded a search for confirmatoryprecedents in both Scripture and the lives of earlier saints and martyrsfor the merits and miracles displayed by the saint. Parallel comparisonsto ancient heroes likewise are found in secular biographies.Raymund of Capua (ca. 1330–99), in his prefatory remarks to thelife of Catherine of Siena, provided a vast catalog of all those saintsfound in the ancient Vitae patrum, the lives of the desert hermits, andthose biblical figures who represent the prototypes of Christian sainthood.20 But, although hagiography continued to employ ancient stereotypicaltopoi, the special training of the author nevertheless may oftenbe detected in such works. For example, the scholastic fondnessfor etymology led to the frequent discussion of the peculiar featuresof the saint’s name as a presage of his or her future. Caesarius ofHeisterbach derives Engelbert of Cologne’s German name from theLatin ‘angelic liberty’. He argues that this signifies that the murdered“Engelbert, through his necessary death, having put aside theburden of sin, will achieve angelic freedom”. 21 The Legenda aurea (ca.1260) by Jacob of Voragine is filled with such speculation. For example,the chapter on Francis of Assisi notes that, although baptizedJohn, his name soon was changed to Francis for a number of reasons:1) as a child he miraculously acquired knowledge of the Frenchlanguage, and when he was filled with the Holy Spirit he spokeFrench; 2) the use of French hastened the spread of his messagethroughout the world; 3) he and his followers could make penitents18J. Gobi, Scala coeli, ed. Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu (Paris, 1991), 165.19Pietro Domenico of Baone, et al., Vita et Miracula Henrici, in AA.SS, 10 June2:362.20Raymund of Capua, Vita Catharinae, in AA.SS, 30 April 3:877–88.21Caesarius of Heisterbach, Vita, Passio et Miracula S. Engelberti. On the passionfor etymology, see Guenée (1980), 184–91.