Aelred, a native of the Scottish border regions of Northumbria, entered Rievaulx abbey north of York in 1134, just two years after its founding by French Cistercians. After a trip to Rome in 1142, Aelred became the third abbot of Rievaulx in 1147. He was a powerful abbot who lived in the perilous times of the anarchy, when Stephen and Mathilda contended for the throne. Aelred chronicled these struggles; he wrote a life of Edward the Confessor and also a quantity of biblical and devotional works. Four in that category are expertly translated in this volume: A Pastoral Prayer, Spiritual Friendship, A Certain Marvelous Miracle, and Teachings for Recluses. As is customary with the handsome Dumbarton Oaks volumes, the Latin and English are on facing pages.
Bruce Venarde’s translations are skillful and vivid: ne videamur in inani pingere becomes “so we don’t seem to write on the wind.” The striking use of the verb evaporare in the phrase cui evaporet becomes “to whom he can vent [his mind],” honoring the metaphor. In every regard Venarde meets the high standards of the Dumbarton Oaks series.
James H. Morey
The Medieval Review
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