Editing Ormulum

{{short description|12th century English book of homilies}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Orrmulum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A page from the ''Ormulum'' demonstrating the editing performed over time by Orrm,<ref>[[#Parkes1983|Parkes 1983]], pp.&nbsp;115–16</ref> as well as the insertions of new readings by "Hand B"]]

The '''''Ormulum''''' or '''''Orrmulum''''' is a [[twelfth-century]] work of biblical [[exegesis]], written by an [[Augustinian canon]] named [[Orrm]] (or Orrmin) and consisting of just under 19,000 lines of [[early Middle English]] verse. Because of the unique [[phonemic orthography]] adopted by its author, the work preserves many details of [[Middle_English#Phonology|English pronunciation]] existing at a time when the language was in flux after the [[Norman Conquest]] of England. Consequently, it is invaluable to [[philology|philologists]] and [[historical linguistics|historical linguists]] in tracing the development of the language.

After a preface and dedication, the work consists of [[Homily|homilies]] explicating the biblical texts set for the mass throughout the [[liturgical year]]. It was intended to be consulted as the texts changed, and is agreed to be tedious and repetitive when read straight through.  Only about a fifth of the promised material is in the single manuscript of the work to survive, which is in the [[Bodleian Library]] in Oxford.

Orrm developed an idiosyncratic [[Orthography|spelling system]]. Modern scholars have noted that the system reflected his concern with priests' ability to speak the [[vernacular]] and may have helped to guide his readers in the [[Middle English phonology|pronunciation]] of the [[vowel]]s. Many local priests may have been regular speakers of [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman French]] rather than English. Orrm used a strict [[Metre (poetry)|poetic metre]] to ensure that readers know which syllables are to be stressed. Modern scholars use these two features to reconstruct Middle English as Orrm spoke it.<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref>

==Origins==
Unusually for work of the period, the ''Ormulum'' is neither anonymous nor untitled. Orrm names himself at the end of the dedication:

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
!Early Middle English||Modern English
|-
|{{lang|enm|Icc was þær þær i crisstnedd was}}||Where I was christened, I was
|-
|{{lang|enm|Orrmin bi name nemmnedd}}||named Orrmin by name {{small|(Ded. 323–24)}}
|}

At the start of the preface, the author identifies himself again, using a different spelling of his name, and gives the work a title:
{| class="wikitable" 
|-
!Early Middle English||Modern English
|-
| {{lang|enm|Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum}}||This book is named Orrmulum,
|-
|{{lang|enm|forrþi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte}}||for Orrm wrought [created] it {{small|(Pref. 1–2)}}{{efn|Quotations are from [[#Holt1878|Holt (1878)]]. The dedication and preface are both numbered separately from the main body of the poem.}}
|}

The name Orrm derives from [[Old Norse]], meaning ''worm'', ''serpent'' or ''dragon''. With the suffix of "myn" for "man" (hence "Orrmin"), it was a common name throughout the [[Danelaw]] area of England. The metre probably dictated the choice between each of the two forms of the name. The title of the poem, ''Ormulum'', is modeled after the [[Latin language|Latin]] word {{lang|la|speculum}} ("mirror"),<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> so popular in the title of medieval Latin non-fiction works that the term [[speculum literature]] is used for the genre.

The Danish name is not unexpected; the language of the ''Ormulum'', an East Midlands dialect, is stringently of the Danelaw.<ref>[[#Bennett1982|Bennett and Smithers 1982]], pp.&nbsp;174–175</ref> It includes numerous Old Norse phrases (particularly doublets, where an English and Old Norse term are co-joined), but there are very few [[Old French]] influences on Orrm's language.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;33</ref> Another—likely previous—East Midlands work, the ''[[Peterborough Chronicle]]'', shows a great deal of French influence. The linguistic contrast between it and the work of Orrm demonstrates both the sluggishness of the Norman influence in the formerly Danish areas of England and the assimilation of Old Norse features into early Middle English.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], pp.&nbsp;259–263</ref>

[[File:BourneAbbeyInterior.jpg|thumb|left|The interior of the church of [[Bourne Abbey]], where the ''Ormulum'' may have been composed: the two nave arcades, although now [[whitewash]]ed, remain from the church Orrm would have known.]]
According to the work's dedication, Orrm wrote it at the behest of Brother Walter, who was his brother both {{lang|enm|affterr þe flæshess kinde}} (biologically, "after the flesh's kind") and as a fellow [[canon (priest)|canon]] of an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] order.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> With this information, and the evidence of the dialect of the text, it is possible to propose a place of origin with reasonable certainty. While some scholars, among them Henry Bradley, have regarded the likely origin as [[Elsham Priory]] in north Lincolnshire,<ref>[[#Bennett1982|Bennett and Smithers 1982]], pp.&nbsp;174–175</ref> as of the mid-1990s it became widely accepted that Orrm wrote in the [[Bourne Abbey]] in [[Bourne, Lincolnshire]].<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref> Two additional pieces of evidence support this conjecture: firstly, Arrouaisian canons established the abbey in 1138, and secondly, the work includes dedicatory prayers to [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]], the patrons of Bourne Abbey.<ref>[[#Parkes1983|Parkes 1983]], pp.&nbsp;115–127</ref> The Arrouaisian rule was largely that of Augustine, so that its houses often are loosely referred to as [[Augustinians|Augustinian]].<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937; [[#Parkes1983|Parkes 1983]], pp.&nbsp;115–127</ref>

Scholars cannot pinpoint the exact date of composition. Orrm wrote his book over a period of decades and the manuscript shows signs of multiple corrections through time.<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref> Since it is an autograph, with two of the three hands in the text generally believed by scholars to be Orrm's own, the date of the manuscript and the date of composition would have been the same. On the evidence of the third hand (that of a collaborator who entered the [[pericope]]s at the head of each homily) it is thought that the manuscript was finished {{circa|1180}}, but Orrm may have begun the work as early as 1150.<ref>[[#Parkes1983|Parkes 1983]], pp.&nbsp;115–127</ref> The text has few topical references to specific events that could be used to identify the period of composition more precisely.

==Manuscript==
Only one copy of the ''Ormulum'' exists, as [[Bodleian Library]] [[manuscript|MS]] Junius&nbsp;1.<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref> In its current state, the manuscript is incomplete: the book's table of contents claims that there were 242&nbsp;homilies, but only 32 remain.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> It seems likely that the work was never finished on the scale planned when the table of contents was written, but much of the discrepancy was probably caused by the loss of [[Section (bookbinding)|gatherings]] from the manuscript. There is no doubt that such losses have occurred even in modern times, as the [[Dutch people|Dutch]] antiquarian [[Jan van Vliet]], one of its seventeenth-century owners, copied out passages that are not in the present text.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> The amount of redaction in the text, plus the loss of possible gatherings, led [[J. A. W. Bennett]] to comment that "only about one fifth survives, and that in the ugliest of manuscripts".<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;30</ref>

The [[parchment]] used in the manuscript is of the lowest quality, and the text is written untidily, with an eye to economical use of space; it is laid out in continuous lines like prose, with words and lines close together, and with various additions and corrections, new exegesis, and allegorical readings, crammed into the corners of the margins (as can be seen in the reproduction above). [[Robert Burchfield]] argues that these indications "suggest that it was a 'workshop' draft which the author intended to have recopied by a professional scribe".<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref>

It seems curious that a text so obviously written with the expectation that it would be widely copied should exist in only one manuscript and that, apparently, a draft. Treharne has taken this as suggesting that it is not only modern readers who have found the work tedious.<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref> Orrm, however, says in the preface that he wishes Walter to remove any wording that he finds clumsy or incorrect.<ref>quoted in [[#Bennett1982|Bennett and Smithers 1982]], pp.&nbsp;175–176</ref>

The [[provenance]] of the manuscript before the seventeenth century is unclear. From a signature on the flyleaf we know that it was in [[Jan van Vliet|van Vliet]]'s collection in 1659. It was auctioned in 1666, after his death, and probably was purchased by [[Franciscus Junius (the younger)|Franciscus Junius]], from whose library it came to the Bodleian as part of the Junius donation.<ref>[[#Holt1878|Holt 1878]], pp. liv–lvi</ref>{{Ref label|notabene_A|A|none}}

==Contents and style==
The ''Ormulum'' consists of 18,956 lines of metrical verse, explaining Christian teaching on each of the texts used in the [[mass (liturgy)|mass]] throughout the church calendar.<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref> As such, it is the first new [[homily]] cycle in English since the works of [[Ælfric of Eynsham]] ({{circa|990}}). The motivation was to provide an accessible English text for the benefit of the less educated, which might include some clergy who found it difficult to understand the Latin of the [[Vulgate]], and the parishioners who in most cases would not understand spoken Latin at all.<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref>

Each homily begins with a paraphrase of a [[Gospel]] reading (important when the laity did not understand Latin), followed by [[exegesis]].<ref>[[#Bennett1982|Bennett and Smithers 1982]], pp.&nbsp;174–175</ref> The theological content is derivative; Orrm closely follows [[Bede]]'s exegesis of [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], the ''Enarrationes in Matthoei'', and the ''[[Glossa Ordinaria]]'' of the Bible. Thus, he reads each verse primarily [[allegory|allegorically]] rather than literally.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> Rather than identify individual sources, Orrm refers frequently to "{{lang|enm|ðe boc}}" and to the "holy book".<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;31</ref> Bennett has speculated that the ''Acts of the Apostles'', ''Glossa Ordinaria'', and Bede were bound together in a large [[Vulgate]] Bible in the abbey so that Orrm truly was getting all of his material from a source that was, to him, a single book.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;31</ref>

Although the sermons have been deemed "of little literary or theological value"<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref> and though Orrm has been said to possess "only one rhetorical device", that of repetition,<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;32</ref> the ''Ormulum'' never was intended as a book in the modern sense, but rather as a companion to the [[liturgy]]. Priests would read, and congregations hear, only a day's entry at a time. The tedium that many experience when attempting to read the ''Ormulum'' today would not exist for persons hearing only a single homily each day. Furthermore, although Orrm's poetry is, perhaps, subliterary, the homilies were meant for easy recitation or chanting, not for aesthetic appreciation; everything from the overly strict metre to the orthography might function only to aid [[Public speaking|oratory]].<ref>[[#Bennett1982|Bennett and Smithers 1982]], pp.&nbsp;174–175</ref>

Although earlier metrical homilies, such as those of Ælfric and [[Wulfstan (died 1023)|Wulfstan]], were based on the rules of [[Old English literature|Old English poetry]], they took sufficient liberties with metre to be readable as prose. Orrm does not follow their example. Rather, he adopts a "jog-trot fifteener" for his rhythm, based on the Latin [[Iamb (poetry)|iambic]] {{lang|la|[[Heptameter|septenarius]]}}, and writes continuously, neither dividing his work into stanzas nor rhyming his lines, again following Latin poetry.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;31</ref> Orrm was humble about his oeuvre: he admits in the preface that he frequently has padded the lines to fill out the metre, "to help those who read it", and urges his brother Walter to edit the poetry to make it more meet.<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], pp.&nbsp;274–275</ref>

A brief sample may help to illustrate the style of the work. This passage explains the background to the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]]:
{| class="wikitable" 
|-
!Early Middle English||Modern English|| Literal etymological translation
|-
|{{lang|enm|Forrþrihht anan se time comm}}||As soon as the time came|| Forthright anon the time came
|-
|{{lang|enm|þatt ure Drihhtin wollde}}||that our Lord wanted|| That our Drighten would 
|-
|{{lang|enm|ben borenn i þiss middellærd}}||to be born in this middle-earth|| be born in this middleearth 
|-
|{{lang|enm|forr all mannkinne nede}}||for the sake of all mankind,|| for all mankind's need
|-
|{{lang|enm|he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn}}||at once he chose kinsmen for himself,|| he chose him some kinsmen, 
|-
|{{lang|enm|all swillke summ he wollde}}||all just as he wanted,|| all such some he would, 
|-
|{{lang|enm|& whær he wollde borenn ben}}||and he decided that he would be born|| and where he would born be
|-
|{{lang|enm|he chæs all att hiss wille.}}||exactly where he wished.|| He chose all at his will. {{small|(line 3494, 501)}}{{Ref label|notabene_A|A|none}}
|}

==Orthography==
Rather than conspicuous literary merit, the chief scholarly value of the ''Ormulum'' derives from Orrm's idiosyncratic orthographical system.<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref> He states that since he dislikes the way that people are mispronouncing English, he will spell words exactly as they are pronounced, and describes a system whereby vowel length and value are indicated unambiguously.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], pp.&nbsp;31–32</ref>

Orrm's chief innovation was to employ doubled consonants to show that the preceding vowel is short and single consonants when the [[vowel length|vowel is long]].<ref>[[#Treharne2000|Treharne 2000]], p.&nbsp;273</ref> For syllables that ended in vowels, he used accent marks to indicate length. In addition to this, he used three distinct letter forms for the letter ''g'' depending on how they sounded. He used insular <[[ᵹ]]> for the [[Voiced palatal approximant|palatal approximant]] {{IPA|[j]}}, a flat-topped <ꟑ> for the [[Voiced velar stop|velar stop]] {{IPA|[ɡ]}}, and a Carolingian <g> for the [[Voiced postalveolar affricate|palato-alveolar affricate]] {{IPA|[d͡ʒ]}},<ref>[[#Napier1894|Napier 1894]], pp.&nbsp;71–72</ref> although in printed editions the last two letters may be left undistinguished.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref> His devotion to precise spelling was meticulous. For example, he originally used ''eo'' and ''e'' inconsistently for words such as ''{{Not a typo|beon}}'' and ''{{Not a typo|kneow}},'' which had been spelled with ''eo'' in [[Old English]]. At line 13,000 he changed his mind and went back to change all the ''eo'' spellings in the book, replacing them with ''e'' alone (''ben'' and ''knew''), to reflect the pronunciation.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref>

The combination of this system with the rigid metre, and the stress patterns this meter implies, provides enough information to reconstruct his pronunciation with some precision; making the reasonable assumption that Orrm's pronunciation was in no way unusual, this permits scholars of the [[history of English]] to develop an exceptionally precise snapshot of exactly how Middle English was pronounced in the Midlands in the second half of the twelfth century.<ref>Jack, George, in [[#Matthew2004|Matthew and Harrison 2004]], pp.&nbsp;936–937</ref>

==Significance==
Orrm's book has a number of innovations that make it valuable. As Bennett points out, Orrm's adaptation of a classical metre with fixed stress patterns anticipates future English poets, who would do much the same when encountering foreign language prosodies.<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;31</ref> The ''Ormulum'' is also the only specimen of the homiletic tradition in England between Ælfric and the fourteenth century, as well as the last example of the Old English verse homily. It also demonstrates what would become [[Modern English|Received Standard English]] two centuries before [[Geoffrey Chaucer]].<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref> Further, Orrm was concerned with the laity. He sought to make the Gospel comprehensible to the congregation, and he did this perhaps forty years before the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] of 1215 "spurred the clergy as a whole into action".<ref>[[#Bennett1986|Bennett 1986]], p.&nbsp;33</ref> At the same time, Orrm's idiosyncrasies and attempted orthographic reform make his work vital for understanding Middle English. The ''Ormulum'' is, with the {{lang|enm|[[Ancrene Wisse]]}} and the {{lang|enm|[[Ayenbite of Inwyt]]}}, one of the three crucial texts that have enabled philologists to document the transition from Old English to Middle English.<ref>[[#Burchfield1987|Burchfield 1987]], p.&nbsp;280</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Bible|Language|Middle Ages}}
* [[Allegory in the Middle Ages]]
* [[Biblical criticism]]
* [[Biblical studies]]
* [[List of biblical commentaries]]

==Endnotes==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|25em}}

==References==
*{{cite book |author-link=J. A. W. Bennett |last=Bennett |first=J. A. W. |title=Middle English Literature |editor-first=Douglas |editor-last=Gray |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1986 |isbn=0-19-812214-4 |ref=Bennett1986 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/middleenglishlit0000benn }}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Bennett |editor1-first=J. A. W. |editor2-first=G. V. |editor2-last=Smithers |title=Early Middle English Verse and Prose |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |edition=2nd |year=1982 |isbn=0-19-871101-8 |ref=Bennett1982}}
*{{cite book |last=Burchfield |first=Robert W. |chapter=Ormulum |editor-first=Joseph R. |editor-last=Strayer |title=Dictionary of the Middle Ages |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1987 |volume=9 |page=280 |isbn=0-684-18275-0 |ref=Burchfield1987}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Holt |editor-first=Robert |title=The Ormulum: with the notes and glossary of Dr R. M. White. ''Two vols'' |url=https://archive.org/details/ormulum00holtgoog |ref=Holt1878 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1878 }} Internet Archive: [https://archive.org/details/ormulum00holtgoog Volume 1]; [https://archive.org/details/ormulum01holtgoog Volume 2].
*<cite id=Matthew2004>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Matthew |editor1-first=H. C. G. |editor2-first=Brian |editor2-last=Harrison |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |volume=41 |page=936 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-19-861391-1 }}</cite>
* {{cite book |last1=Napier |first1=Arthur S. |author-link=Arthur Napier |year=1894 |chapter=Notes on the orthography of the Ormulum |title=History of the holy Rood-tree : a twelfth century version of the cross-legend with notes on the orthography of the Ormulum and a middle English Compassio Mariae |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofholyno10300bodluoft/ |language=en |location=London |publisher=Publisht for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., limited |ref=Napier1894}}
*{{cite book |last=Parkes |first=M. B. |chapter=On the Presumed Date and Possible Origin of the Manuscript of the ''Orrmulum'' |title=Five Hundred Years of Words and Sounds: A Festschrift for Eric Dobson |editor1-first=E. G. |editor1-last=Stanley |editor2-first=Douglas |editor2-last=Gray |location=Cambridge |publisher=D. S. Brewer |year=1983 |pages=115–27 |isbn=0-85991-140-3 |ref=Parkes1983}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Treharne |editor-first=Elaine |title=Old and Middle English: An Anthology |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |year=2000 |isbn=0-631-20465-2 |ref=Treharne2000 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oldmiddleenglish0000unse }}

==External links==
*{{cite web | title =The Ormulum Project | publisher = [[Stockholm University]] | url = https://www.su.se/english-old/ormulum/about-the-project}}
*[https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/p/90a06f70-880a-4b5b-bd30-798710afff11 MS Junius 1] images available on Digital Bodleian
*[https://medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/manuscript_6317 MS Junius 1] in the Bodleian Libraries catalogue of Medieval Manuscripts

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