Guzmán MANCHO BARES

Universidad de Alcalá de Henares

Mirroring God's Word through allegory: repetition, circularity and Christian symbolism in the Ormulum's Latin Text XIV

Scholarly interest in the Ormulum's texts has been mainly directed to its paraphrasis sections, leaving consequently the so-called Ormian homiletic discourse almost unexplored in detail. Taking a step further from Matthes' claim (1933: 27) on the allegorische Metode as the technique used to construct Ormian homiletic discourse, it is my intention to assess the linguistic structure of allegory in one of the Ormian Latin Text (LT). Furthermore, the resulting textual patterning is explained in terms of its religious symbolism. The text chosen is the Ormulum's LT XIV (ll. 8347-8878; Holt, 1878), which paraphrases Matthew 2:19-23. Matthes' allegorische Metode serves for dividing the corresponding homiletic discourse in six expounding texts. The linguistic study of the allegorization process evidences the use of repetition. As a result, these texts are structured in a circular form. This circular patterning of allegory may not be accidental: it may be considered Ormin's-author of the Ormulum-written method of mirroring God's Word. In fact, these types of analogies constitute the foundation of Christian medieval thought.