The Ages of Man and the Ages of Woman in Early Medieval England: From Bede to Byrhtferth of Ramsey and the Tractatus de quaternario
Thijs Porck
AbstractThis paper provides an overview of schematizations the human life course found in Old English and Anglo-Latin texts. Patristic traditions biblical exegesis natural philosophy prompted early medieval authors to divide into three six ‘ages man’, a flexible but uniform system stratification which main phases (pueritia, iuuentus, senectus) could each be subdivided. The chapter also zooms on intriguing diagram Cambridge, Gonville & Caius, MS 428/428, uniquely visualizes four stages as women. This its accompanying text, Tractatus de quaternario, have been ascribed Byrhtferth Ramsay. However, exhaustive analysis Byrhtferth’s writings, well consideration text their manuscript context, reveal that this attribution is unlikely.
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