Tatwine

TatwineTemplate:Efn (c. Template:Trim – 30 July 734) was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he composed survive. Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language, which was aimed at advanced students of that language. He was subsequently considered a saint.

Biography

Tatwine was a Mercian by birth. His epigraph at Canterbury stated that when he died he was in old age, so perhaps he was born around 670. He became a monk at the monastery at Breedon-on-the-Hill in the present-day County of Leicestershire, and then abbot of that house. Through the influence of King Æthelbald he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury in 731 and was consecrated on 10 June 731. He was one of a number of Mercians who were appointed to Canterbury during the 730s and 740s. Apart from his consecration of the Bishops of Lindsey and Selsey in 733, Tatwine's period as archbishop appears to have been uneventful. He died in office on 30 July 734. Later considered a saint, his feast day is 30 July.

Writings

Bede's commentary on Tatwine calls him a "" (a man notable for his prudence, devotion and learning). These qualities were displayed in the two surviving manuscripts of his riddles and four of his .

Ars Gramattica Tatuini

The is one of only two surviving eighth-century Latin grammars from England. The grammar is a reworking of Donatus's with the addition of information drawn from other grammarians, such as Priscian and Consentius. It was not designed for a newcomer to the Latin language, but rather for more advanced students. It covers the eight parts of speech through illustrations drawn from classical scholars, although not directly but through other grammatical works. There are also some examples drawn from the Psalms. The work was completed before Tatwine became archbishop, and was used not only in England but also on the Continent.

Riddles

It is almost certain that Tatwine was inspired to develop the culture of riddle-writing in early medieval England because he had read the by the West-Saxon scholar Aldhelm (d. 709), which combined studies of Latin grammar and metre with the presentation of one hundred hexametrical riddles. Frederick Tupper believed that Aldhelm's influence was minimal, but subsequent scholars have argued that Tatwine's riddles owed a substantial debt to those of Aldhelm.

Tatwine's riddles deal with such diverse topics as philosophy and charity, the five senses and the alphabet, and a book, and a pen, yet, according to Mercedes Salvador-Bello, these riddles are placed in a carefully structured sequence: 1–3 and 21–26 on theology (e.g. 2, faith, hope, and charity), 4–14 on objects associated with ecclesiastical life (e.g. 7, a bell), 15–20 on wonders and monsters (e.g. 16, prepositions with two cases), 27–39 on tools and related natural phenomena (e.g. 28, an anvil, and 33, fire), with a final piece on the sun's rays.

Tatwine's riddles survive in two manuscripts: the early 11th-century London, British Library, Royal 12.Cxxiii (fols. 121v–7r) and the mid-11th-century Cambridge, University Library, Gg.5.35 (fols. 374v–77v). In both manuscripts, they are written alongside the riddles of Eusebius: it seems clear that Eusebius (whose identity is uncertain) added sixty riddles to Tatwine's forty to take the collection up to one hundred.

Tatwine gives a sign in one of the riddles of the growing acceptance among scholars in the Christian west of the legitimacy of philosophy: "" (Of Philosophy: happy is he who can know my laws). The riddles are formed in acrostics.

Example

An example of Tatwine's work is enigma 11, on the needle:Template:Rp

Enigma 11

Latin original	English translation
	Brought forth in the fiery womb of a blazing furnace, my maker formed me one-eyed and frail; yet surely none could ever live without me. Strange to say, unless my eye is blinded, my skill produces not the smallest piece of work.

List

Tatwine's riddles are on the following topics.

Numbered list of Tatwine's riddles

Number	Latin title	English translation
1		philosophy
2		hope, faith (and) charity
3		historical, spiritual, moral, and allegorical sense
4		letters
5		parchment
6		pen
7		bell
8		altar
9		Christ's cross
10		lectern
11		needle
12		paten
13		embroidery needle
14		love
15		snow, hail and ice
16		prepositions with two cases
17		squirrel
18		eyes
19		squinting eyes
20		the one-eyed
21		evil
22		Adam
23		threefold death
24		humility
25		pride
26		the five senses
27		a pair of tongs
28		anvil
29		table
30		sword and sheath
31		spark
32		arrow
33		fire
34		quiver
35		ember
36		winnowing fork
37		sower
38		charcoal
39		whetstone
40		rays of the sun

Editions and translations

• 'Aenigmata Tatvini', ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Erika von Erhardt-Seebold, in Tatuini omnia opera, Variae collectiones aenigmatum merovingicae aetatis, Anonymus de dubiis nominibus, Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133–133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968), I 165–208.

References

• Template:Link note

External links

• Template:PASE