Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams

“St Dunstan stood in his ivied tower, Alembic, crucible, all were there; When in came Nick to play him a trick, In guise of a damsel passing fair. Every one knows How the story goes: He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose”.2 Richard Harris Barham was correct in his 1837 lay lampooning the...

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Autore principale: Powell, Hilary
Natura: Online
Lingua:inglese
Pubblicazione: Boydell & Brewer 2021
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Accesso online:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/48494
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author Powell, Hilary
author_browse Powell, Hilary
author_facet Powell, Hilary
author_sort Powell, Hilary
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description “St Dunstan stood in his ivied tower, Alembic, crucible, all were there; When in came Nick to play him a trick, In guise of a damsel passing fair. Every one knows How the story goes: He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose”.2 Richard Harris Barham was correct in his 1837 lay lampooning the legend of St Dunstan: the tale of the saint tweaking the devil’s nose was indeed one which everyone knew. In fact, so famous was the tale that Barham felt it needed no further explanation.3 Few in the nineteenth century, however, could have known of its origins, nor indeed have imagined its novelty when the story first entered the hagiographical tradition in the final decade of the eleventh century. St Dunstan (909–988) had been dead for over a century and at least two different accounts of his Life had already been written, but Osbern of Canterbury was the first to tell this tale in his Vita S. Dunstani, written c. 1090.4 This essay explores the origins of this story, addresses why Osbern chose to introduce it into the legend of Dunstan, and asks what his careful remodelling of the tale can reveal about the purposes of hagiographical narratives.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-695412025-01-15T19:26:37Z Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams Powell, Hilary daydreams; mental imagery; mind-wandering; medieval hagiography thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies “St Dunstan stood in his ivied tower, Alembic, crucible, all were there; When in came Nick to play him a trick, In guise of a damsel passing fair. Every one knows How the story goes: He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose”.2 Richard Harris Barham was correct in his 1837 lay lampooning the legend of St Dunstan: the tale of the saint tweaking the devil’s nose was indeed one which everyone knew. In fact, so famous was the tale that Barham felt it needed no further explanation.3 Few in the nineteenth century, however, could have known of its origins, nor indeed have imagined its novelty when the story first entered the hagiographical tradition in the final decade of the eleventh century. St Dunstan (909–988) had been dead for over a century and at least two different accounts of his Life had already been written, but Osbern of Canterbury was the first to tell this tale in his Vita S. Dunstani, written c. 1090.4 This essay explores the origins of this story, addresses why Osbern chose to introduce it into the legend of Dunstan, and asks what his careful remodelling of the tale can reveal about the purposes of hagiographical narratives. 2021-05-06T02:00:30Z 2021-05-06T02:00:30Z 2021-05-05T12:22:50Z 2018 chapter https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/48494 9781787442047 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/69541 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/48494/1/Bookshelf_NBK525001.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/48494/1/Bookshelf_NBK525001.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/48494/1/Bookshelf_NBK525001.pdf Boydell & Brewer 7b5beb75-2e34-4246-8da6-875fc8894f70 New Medieval Literatures 18 Wellcome Trust d859fbd3-d884-4090-a0ec-baf821c9abfd 9781787442047 Wellcome 37 Cambridge WT098455MA; 108720/Z/15/Z; 103817/Z/14/Z open access
spellingShingle daydreams; mental imagery; mind-wandering; medieval hagiography
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies
Powell, Hilary
Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title_full Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title_fullStr Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title_full_unstemmed Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title_short Chapter 2 Demonic Daydreams
title_sort chapter 2 demonic daydreams
topic daydreams; mental imagery; mind-wandering; medieval hagiography
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies
topic_facet daydreams; mental imagery; mind-wandering; medieval hagiography
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/48494
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