Number

pt.010

Title

Lenda de Barlaão e Josafate

A Lenda dos Santos Barlaão e Josafate

Livro de Barlaão e Josafate

Barlaão e Josafat

História de Barlaão e Josafá

Vida de S. Barlaão e S. Josafá

Original Latin source

Liber de gestis Barlaam et Iosaphat seruorum Dei (lt.010)

Textual localization  

It belongs to a manuscript with about twenty different texts entitled Colecção Mystica de Fr. Hylario da Lourinhãa, Monge Cisterciense de Alcobaça, o qual transcreveo o seguinte no idioma Portuguez (Códice Alcobacense 266, ALC. 462).

Language

Old Portuguese

Translator

At the beginning of the Códice Alcobacense 266 it is stated that the translator of the texts  was Frei Hilário (of which almost nothing is known, except that he came from Lourinhã and was a monk at the Monastery of Alcobaça - Castro et alii, 1982-83: 5), but this information does not seem reliable.  In fact, although paleographically the manuscript is dated to the fifteenth century, some of its texts have an older language and there are signs of at least three different scribes. According to Castro et alii (1982/83: 6), it is possible that the three have worked in the scriptorium of Alcobaça during the time D. Estêvão de Aguiar was the abbot of the Monastery (between 1431 and 1446) and that Frei Hilário had the responsibility to compile the texts and copy or translate some. As this specific text is a copy of a previous translation, it has been copied and not translated into this manuscript.

Translation’s contextualization  

The Códice Alcobacense 266, a manuscript from the fifteenth century, is a collection of lives of saints known by its eighteenth century title: Colecção Mystica de Fr. Hylario da Lourinhãa, Monge Cisterciense de Alcobaça, o qual transcreveo o seguinte no idioma Portuguez.

Regarding the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, the Portuguese text is not a full translation of the Latin text. Thus, according to Soares (1993: 665), there is no certainty about whether this translation was based on the existing Latin text in Alcobaça (there are visible content differences).

Date

The dating of the Códice Alcobacense 266 is controversial, because there are significant differences in terms of the dates for which the researchers point out. Recent studies indicate that the dating of the codex is between 1431 and 1446. This does not mean, however, that this specific text has been produced at that time, although some researchers argue that the codex was the result of a unitary project and that, therefore, all texts were produced on the same period (see Sobral 1993: 673).

Regarding the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, there are differing opinions on the dating of the text, although it is likely it was translated by the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth century (Vilches Fernández, 2010: 931; Abraham,1938: 7; Pupo-Walker, 1987: IX).

Place  

The text has been translated/copied probably in the scriptorium of the Monastery of Alcobaça, where the codex was made.

Changes to the original work

Hagiographic text about  the story of Prince Josaphat who travelled around the world after being able to free himself from the stiff protection of his father (king Avenir). Along the way, however, he is confronted with disease, old age and death and is helped by Barlaam, a hermit monk sent by Jesus Christ, who teaches him the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. Thus, he becomes a Christian.

The Portuguese version is not a full translation of the Latin text, since there are several omissions. There are no known textual interferences from other texts.

List of manuscript witness

There is one witness of the text, in the National Library of Portugal, inserted between folios 1r and 42r of the manuscript with the reference ALC. 462 that comes from the Monastery of Alcobaça (Códice Alcobacense 266). There is a microfilm of the manuscript at the Torre do Tombo (Mf 185), its previous owner.

List of old editions

There are two old editions in Portugal: one, printed in 1513, is connected with the Portuguese translation of Flos sanctorum, a simplified version of the Legenda Aurea of Jacopo de Voragine (see Notes); another, printed in 1567 by António Maris in Braga, is linked to Frei Diogo do Rosário – possible author or the translation copyist – which, at the behest of Frei Bartolomeu dos Mártires, presented a translation of a twelfth century text attributed to St. John Damascene (História das Vidas e Feitos Heróicos e Obras Insignes dos Santos). This text is from 1550 and it faithfully translates the Latin manuscripts of Alcobaça and Santa Cruz (Vilches Fernández, 2010: 930; Smith 1993: 665).

Witnesses’ contextualization 

The manuscript Portuguese version of Barlaam and Josaphat Legend is not a full translation of the Latin text that existed in Alcobaça, as Pupo-Walker notes (1987: VI): the translator limited himself only to the life of Josaphat, excluding everything else. Thus, according to Soares (1993: 665), there is no certainty if this translation was based on that existing Latin text. In fact, some researchers think that this witness is not a translation but a copy descending from the Latin Vulgate (Vilches Fernández, 2010: 931).

According to Nunes (1903-1905: 246), some terms used are typical of the southern country, and the letter is identical to the one in the Visão de Túndalo (in the same codex). This allows us to think that the author of the text would be from the south of Portugal.

Other data

The manuscript is on parchment and it is written in Gothic characters from the late fourteenth century or beginning of the fifteenth century in a single column of 30 lines. The initials are colored and decorated with filigree. The leaves have the size of 263 × 180 mm. The previous owners were Torre do Tombo and the Monastery of Alcobaça.

Editions

ABRAHAM, R. D. (1937), "A Portuguese Version of the Life of Barlaam and Josaphat. Paelographical Edition and Linguistic Study". Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

DIAS, A. Epifânio da Silva (1903) “A lenda dos santos Barlaão e Josaphate. I. Texto crítico por G. de Vasconcellos Abreu. Lisboa 1898”, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 27, 465-469.

LACERDA, M. C. (1963), “Vida do honrado infante Josaphate filho del rey Avenir”. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.

PUPO-WALKER, Constantino Enrique (1987), "A Critical Edition of the Old Portuguese Version of Barlaam and Josaphat". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina.

VASCONCELLOS-ABREU, G. e VIANA, A. R. G. (1898), "Texto crítico da Lenda dos Santos Barlaão e Josafate. Tirado do Códice do Mosteiro de Alcobaça existente com o n.^o 266 na Tôrre do Tombo", Memorias da Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa. Classe de Sciencias Morais, Politicas e Belas-Letras. Lisboa: Academia das Ciências.

Studies

Online database:

Philobiblon: Texid 1056; Manid 1143; CNum 1063

References:

BORGES, P. A. E. (2007), "A vida do honrado infante Josaphate ou de como a cristianização do Buda semeia a vacuidade na cultura ocidental e portuguesa", Revista Lusófona de Ciência das Religiões 11: 67-82.

CASTRO, Ivo et alii (1982-83), "Vidas de Santos de um manuscrito alcobacense: Vida de Tarsis, Vida de uma Monja, Vida de Santa Pelágia, Morte de São Jerónimo, Visão de Túndalo", Revista Lusitana. Nova Série 4: 5-13

CEPEDA, I. V. (1995), Bibliografia da Prosa Medieval em Língua Portuguesa. Lisboa: Instituto da Biblioteca Nacional e do Livro, 46-49.

CORDONI, Mag. Constanza (2010), Barlaam und Josaphat in der europäischen Literatur des Mittelalters. Diss. Wien: Universität Wien.

MACHADO, A. M. (2009), Derivas hagiográficas: Buda, Barlaão e Banaboião. In Encontros de Literatura Medieval. 3^a Sessão. Hagiografia Medieval. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra.

MARTINS, M. (1956), "Romances hagiográficos", in Estudos de Literatura Medieval. Braga: Livraria Cruz, 11-33.

MOLDENHAUER, G. (1929), "Die Legende von Barlaam und Josaphat auf der iberischen Halbinsel", Romanistische Arbeiten 13, 141-155.

NUNES, J. J. (1903-1905), Textos antiguos portugueses. I: A visão de Tundalo ou o cavalleiro Tungullo, Revista Lusitana 8, 239-262.

PEREIRA, F. M. E. (1901), "O Santo martyr Barlaam", O Instituto 48, 480-486, 580-584, 665-669, 732-737.

PEREIRA, F. M. E. (1916), "A História de Barlaam e Josaphat em Portugal", Boletim da Segunda Classe 10, 346-383.

PEREIRA, F. M. E. (1917), "A História de Barlaam e Josaphat em Portugal", Boletim da Segunda Classe 11, 2093-2167.

PEREIRA, I. R. (1967-69), "Livros de Direito na Idade Média", Lusitania Sacra 8, 81-96.

SOARES, C. F. G. (1993), "Vida de S. Barlaão e S. Josafá". In LANCIANI, Giulia e TAVANI, Giuseppe (dir.), Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa. Lisboa: Caminho, 664-65.

SOBRAL, Cristina M. M. (1993), Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca. In LANCIANI, Giulia e TAVANI, Giuseppe (dir.), Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa. Lisboa: Caminho, 672-674.

VILCHES FERNÁNDEZ, Rocío (2010), "Texto y traducción: la poética del traductor a propósito de las versiones castellanas y portuguesas de Barlaam y Josafat", in Fernandes, Ângela, Fátima Fernandes da Silva, José Pedro Sousa, Isabel Araújo Branco, Isabel Dâmaso Santos, Margarida Borges, Rita Bueno Maia, Sara Rodrigues de Sousa (eds.), Diálogos Ibéricos e Iberoamericanos: Actas del VI Congreso Internacional de ALEPH, Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Comparatistas & Editorial Academia del Hispanismo, 926-940.

Notes

There's a translation of the text that apparently derives not from the Latin text, but from a Portuguese copy. It is a text that is part of a Portuguese version of Flos Sanctorum (folios 73V-78V) that is in the National Library of Portugal (Ho flos sanctõ[rum] em lingoaje[m] p[or]tugue[s]), with the reference RES. 157.

This work was printed in 1513 in Lisbon by Hermão de Campos, who compiles more than two hundred texts, and according to the catalog is a free version of Leyenda Aurea of Jacopo de Voragine. It has about three hundred folios (some are missing and others are damaged) illuminated and written in Gothic on paper in two columns and is bound in parchment. The leaves have a size of 263 x 200 mm. Previously, the work belonged to Dom João de Melo Manuel da Câmara Medeiros, Conde da Silvã and Francisco de Melo Manuel da Câmara (Cabrinha).