Joseph of Exeter
Joseph of Exeter (Latin Iosephus Iscanus ) was a Latin poet from Exeter in the 12th century.
Around 1180, he traveled to Geldern to study , where he made a lifelong friendship with Guibert, who later became the abbot of Florennes . Some of their correspondence has survived to this day.
His best known poem is De bello Troiano ("On the Trojan War") in six books, most of which were written before 1183, but which was not completed until after 1184. This verse epic tells the story of the siege and conquest of Troy not according to the Iliad we know today ( Homer's work was not accessible in Western Europe in the Middle Ages), but based on late antique prose texts by Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis .
When his friend Baldwin , Archbishop of Canterbury , set out for the Holy Land on the Third Crusade , Joseph accompanied him. After Baldwin died in the Holy Land in November 1190, Joseph returned to England. He immortalized his crusade experiences in his poem Antiocheis , of which 21 lines have survived, which William Camden quoted in his work Remains Concerning Britain . Various other poems now lost are attributed to Joseph.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mortimer, p. 210
Web links
- English translation of De bello Troiano
- Editio princeps des De bello Troiano from 1541 (Bay. Staatsbibl.)
literature
- Richard Mortimer: Angevin England 1154-1258 . Blackwell, Oxford 1994, ISBN 0-631-16388-3 .
- FJE Raby: A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages . Volume 2, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1934, ISBN 0-19-814325-7 , pp. 132-137.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Joseph of Exeter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Josephus Iscanus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 12th century or 13th century |