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This rationale for the use of exempla in sermons finds further support in an actual exemplim, found in the Middle English Alphabet of Tales,
where the story cites an historical instance where the use of stories or "tales'* within sermons proved necessary to the conversion of England:
Saynt Bede tellis in "Gestis Anglorum" how, when Englond was oute of b® belefe, b® pope sente in-to it to preche a
bisshop bat was a passyng sutell clerk, & a well-letterd; and he vsid so mekull soteltie & strange saying in his sermons, b®t his prechyng owder litle proffettid or noght. And ban b®r was sent a noder bat was les of connyng of
literatur ban he was, & he vsid talis & gude exsample in his sermon; and he with-in a while conuertyd nere-hand all
Englond.® 4
The reference in this exemplim to the two types of sermons, clearly points to the late-medieval recognition of the need to appeal to the dispositions (affectus) of the members of an audience, and of the need to cater to different levels of understanding (intellectus) (see above p. 57). In the exemplim, the first preacher— the "bisshop"— fails to win converts because he fails to preach in a way which would "move" the
affectus and, just as importantly, he fails properly to estimate the
Intelleotijs of his hearers. Thomas Waleys, in De modo çomponendi j sermoneSf refers to the narrative— and potentially other rhetorical j devices such as images, pictures etc.— as modes which reach the . !
® Alphabetim Narratiomm: An Alphabet of Tales, An English
Translation of the Alphabetim Narratiomm of Etienne de Beséùaôonp edited by Mary Macleod Banks, 2 volimes, OS 126, 127, E.E.T.S. (London, 1904- V ' 5). vol. 1, p. 217.
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affectus of the less learned members of society and thus "move" the hearers to doing good:
The preacher's task is not only to stir the intelligence ( intellectus) towards what is true by means of the
inevitable conclusions of arguments, but also, by means of narrative and likely persuasion, to stir the emotions to piety.4
As we have seen, the emotions (affectus) were especially susceptible to the influence of memory images or "likenesses" (see above pp. 54-55). Although the memory treatises focus primarily upon imagery and pictures as memory aids, the late fourteenth-century poet John Gower, a
contemporary of Chaucer, employs numerous exempla in his Confessio Amantis in order to provide his protagonist— Amans— with a memory structure that will effectively reform his moral character.®
Gower, Lydgate and the Moralization
In the prologue to the Confessio Amantis, Gower states that his purpose in writing "a bok" was to describe what took place "in olde
4 See A.J. Minnis, Medieval Theory of Authorship, p. 137. ® John Gower, Confessio Amantis, edited by Russell A. Peck (Toronto, 1980). For an extensive analysis of Gower's rhetorical
handling of exempla in the Confessio Amantis see Charles Runacres, "Art and Ethics in the Exempla of Confessio Amantis", in Gower's Confessio Amantis: Responses and Reassessments, edited by A.J. Minnis (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 106-134.
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dales passed." These stories, in turn, reflect upon the moral status of the fourteenth-century audience and, as Gower puts it, show that things are in a "worse plit" now than they were in ancient times (pp. 2-3: 51- 57), However, in addition to revealing the moral depravity of the fourteenth century, these ancient stories also work as a "Mirour of ensamplerie" which, if memorised, will function as a guide towards improving both the present and future conduct of their readers or hearers (p. 15: 496).
The various exempla in Gower's poem are "internalized", I believe, through a two-step mnemonic process: at the first hearing the exempla
are apprehended by the imagination as imagines, secondly, as Amans
reviews or recollects the stories he then establishes the "condition" or
habitus of a trained memory which, if consistently exercised, will enable him to live a life of virtue (see above p. 84).®
The cumulative effect of having both heard and recollected the
exempla may be observed near the conclusion of the poem when the
narrator, Amaxis, encounters Venus— his former lover— only to find that the virtuous habitus of the recollected exempla has entirely displaced his sinful love (cupiditas) for the mutable goddess:
Venus behield me than and lowh.
And axeth, as it were a game.
® M.J. Carruthers, The Book of Memory, p. 64, " Memory is a
prodliivity or disposition {"habitus") of the soul rather than a power of activity itself , . . All virtues and vices are habits, good or bad
. . defining memory as habitus makes it the key linking term between knowledge and action, conceiving of good and doing it. Memory is an essential treasure house for both the intellect and virtuous action!
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Wliat love was. And I for schanie Ne wiste what I scholde ansuere; And natheles I gan to swere
That he my trouthe I knew him noght; So ferr it was out of mi thoght,
Riht as it hadde nevere he (VIII: 2870-2877).
The displacement of the sinful love for Venus with the moral lessons or intentio of the exempla calls attention to Aquinas' view that memory "likenesses" {imagines) leave an actual physical imprint upon the brain's tissue— like a seal imprinted upon wax (see above pp. 108-
109).7 Moreover, the fact that these exempla have caused Amans to completely forget his infatuation for Venus underlines the crucial emotional component of memory images or liknesses. As M.J. Carruthers has put it, the memory image is both “sensorily derived and emotionally charged. "® Not only have the exempla imposed a new set of sensory or bodily likenesses upon the memory— thus obliterating the old likenesses of Venus— their presence within Amans' memory has also destroyed the emotional charge which the bodily image of Venus exercised upon his affectus.
The memory "likenesses" of the exempla carry with them a new
intentio or emotional "point of view" which has entirely restructured or reformed his memory and thought patterns {habitus) so that, in the words of Amans, it is as though his love for Venus "hadde nevere be" (see
7 See M.J. Carruthers, The Book of Memory, p. 55. ® Ibid., p. 61.
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above pp. 82-83).& In its place, the mnemonic "imprint" of the
exempla, when developed through recollection, serves as a habitus,
which— as it was presented to the reason— would enable Amans to choose the good over the bad. This memory structure or habitus— although itself a passive faculty within the soul— made it possible for the active reason to guide the individual towards virtue, as Aquinas
observed; "every power [reason] which may be variously directed to act, needs a habit whereby it is well disposed to its act."i®
It is interesting to note that in describing Ammis' condition Gower- - as with most medieval theologians— aligns the "will" with the lower, sinful appetites, of wrongful desire {cupiditas) He identifies "reason", along with Aquinas, as an active power which— in league with a virtuous habitus or memory structure— could control the "will" in order for the soul to act virtuously.1% "Prudence" or "Wisdom"— the virtue to which the poem's prologue is dedicated (“For this prologue is
so assised/ That it to wisdom al belongeth" p. 3: 66-67)— arises from the right action of the "reason" over the "will", it is an "intellectual virtue" which "perfects the emotional, desiring will."13
® Ibid., p. 53-54 "Intentio means opinion about or reaction to something. It also means something less definite, related to the concept in rhetorical and literary theory of "points of view".
lo Ibid., p. 64.
John Bowers, The Crisis of Will in Piers Plorman, pp. 45,48. See Confessio Amantis, p. 464: 2060-2148.