Smyth, Alfred P. Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles, 850–80.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Clunies Ross, Margaret. “The Myth of Gefjon and Gylfi and Its
Function in Snorra Edda and Heimskringla.” Arkiv för nordisk
fi lologi 93 (1978), 149–65.
Clunies Ross, Margaret. “Style and Authorial Presence in Skaldic
Mythological Poetry.” Saga-Book of the Viking Society 20
(1981), 276–304; Lindow, John. “Narrative and the Natute
of Skaldic Poetry.” Arkiv för nordisk fi lologi 97 (1982),
94–121.
Kuhn, Hans. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter, 1983 [esp.
pp. 275–9].
Marold, Edith. Kenningkunst. Ein Beitrag zu einer Poetik der
Skaldendichtung. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1983
[esp. pp. 67–114].
Sørensen, Preben Meulengracht. “Thor’s Fishing Expedition.” In
Words and Objects: Towards a Dialogue Between Archaeol-
ogy and History of Religion. Ed. Gro Steinsland. The Institute
for Comparative Research in Human Culture, B.71. Oslo:
Norwegian University Press; Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986, pp. 257–78.
Margaret Clunies Ross
BRAILES, WILLIAM DE (fl .1230–60)
A 13th-century illuminator recorded in Oxford ca.
1230–60, de Brailes secured his memory—among many
hundreds of unnamed illuminators—through his self-
portraits, three of which survive in two manuscripts.
From these, accompanied by the name “w de brail,” his
hand and his style are established. His style is found in a
considerable corpus of manuscripts, some of which were
evidently produced in Oxford. Documents show that
in 13th-century Oxford there was an active community
of book producers living in the streets surrounding St.
Mary the Virgin. Among them, ca. 1230–60, was one
William de Brailes. He achieved a certain prosperity,
had a wife, Celena, and probably came from Brailes in
Warwickshire. His identity is near certain.
Oxford in William’s time was dominated by the de-
veloping university, creating a demand for books. The
variety of manuscripts illuminated by William, or by
the large number of hands associated with him, would
have satisfi ed the demands of scholars, churchmen, and
laity. Characteristically his manuscripts, often pocket-
sized, are illustrated with many small historiated initials,
creating a visual narrative to accompany the text. Even
large manuscripts or full-page images are fragmented
with foliage decoration to create multiple small spaces
for illustration.
Filling, even spilling over, their restricted frames,
William’s fi gures convey the narrative with emphatic
gesture, dynamic poses, and fi rmly focused eyes. Al-
though he may use established iconography, it is fi ltered
through his imagination and retold with new immediacy.
Rarely does he use elaborate settings, although the es-
sentials are clear—a mountain for Christ’s temptation,
steps for the child Mary to climb to the Temple—and
costume is equally important in identifying his charac-
ters, as in the case of crowned kings, mitered bishops
(or high priests), round-hatted Jews, or heavy-homed
devils. De Brailes’s style is not one of courtly elegance.
It is a “literary” one, appropriate to the books of a uni-
versity town.Further Reading
Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle. The Work of W. de Brailes. Oxford:
Roxburghe Club, 1930.
Donovan, Claire. The de Brailes Hours: Shaping the Book of
Hours in Thirteenth-Century Oxford. London: British Li-
brary, 1991.
Morgan, Nigel. Early Gothic Manuscripts ( 1 ) 1190–1250. A
Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 4:1,
ed. J.J.G. Alexander. London: Harvey Miller, 1982, p. 14
and nos. 68–74.
Pollard, G. “William de Brailes.” Bodleian Library Record 5/ 4
(1955): 202–09.
Swarzenski, Hanns. “Unknown Bible Pictures by W. de Brailes
and Some Notes on Early English Bible Illustrations.” Journal
of the Walters Art Gallery 1 (1938): 55–69.
Claire M. DonovanBRUNETTO LATINI (c. 1220–1294)
Brunetto was active in Florentine public life as a no-
taio (notary) or lawyer by 1254. In 1260, he was sent
as ambassador by the Florentine commune to King
Alfonso X el Sabio (the Wise) of Castile, with the aim
of enlisting Alfonso—a Guelf—in the struggle against
Manfred and the Ghibellines. Brunetto was returning
from this embassy, according to his Tesoretto (verses
123–162), when he met at the Pass of Roncesvalles a
student from Bologna who told him of the Guelfs’ de-
feat at Montaperti (4 September 1260). Brunetto then
spent six years of exile in France until the defeat and
death of Manfred at Benevento (28 February 1266).
During his exile Brunetto visited friars at Montpellier
(Tesoretto, 2539–2545); wrote notarial letters at Paris
(September 1263) and Bar-sur-Aube (April 1264); and
composed his two most important didactical works:
the prose Livres dou trésor (Book of the Treasure) in
the Picardian dialect, and the verse Tesoretto (Little
Treasure) in his native Tuscan. In France Brunetto
also wrote his Rettorica, an Italian translation of and
commentary on the fi rst seventeen chapters of Cicero’s
De inventione. After returning to Florence, Brunetto
held a series of important public offi ces and was fre-
quently consulted by the Florentine government. He
introduced the stilus altus (high style) of the imperial
chancery into Florentine letters; he also continued his
efforts toward public education by translating a number
of Ciceronian orations into Italian and composing his
Sommetta, a collection of letters for teaching ars dic-
taminis. Brunetto was married and was the father of aBRAGI BODDASON