which Antapodosis is a prime example). His urbane,
witty, sarcastic, and occasionally ribald style makes him
sound curiously modern, especially if one reads him in
a good translation.
See also Otto I; Otto II
Further Reading
Editions
Bischoff, Bernard. “Einer Osterpredigt Liudprands von Cremona
(um 960).” In Anecdota novissima: Texte des vierten bis
sechzehnten Jahrhunderts—Quellen und Untersuchungen
zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, Vol. 7. Stuttgart,
1984, pp. 93–100. (First publication of the text of an Easter
sermon by Liudprand, previously anonymous, c. 960.)
Liudprand of Cremona. Opera omnia Liudprandi Cremonensis,
ed. Paolo Chiesa. Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Medi-
aevalis. Turnholti: Brepois, 1998.
Translatio Sanctae Hymeri, ed. Ferdinand Ughelli. Itala Sacra,
- Rome: Vitale Mascardi, 1592, cols. 797–798. (Includes
a notice of Liudprand’s death. Reprinted in Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, 3. Hannover and Leipzig:
Hanische Buchhandlung, 1839, pp. 266–267, note 23.)
Translations
Relatio de Legatio Constantinopolitana, ed., trans., intro., and
commentary by Brian Scott. Reading Medieval and Renais-
sance Texts. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1993. (With
textual notes.)
The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. and intro. F. A.
Wright. Broadway Medieval Library. London: Routledge,
- (Classic English translation. Includes Translatio Hy-
meri but not the Easter Sermon. Wright substitutes French
for the Greek words in the original, creating much the same
effect.)
Critical Studies
Halphen, Louis. “The Kingdom of Burgundy.” In The Cambridge
Medieval History, Vol. 3, Germany and the Western Empire.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922, ch. 6.
Hiestand, Rudolf. Byzanz und das Regnum italicum im 10.
Jahrhundert. Geist und Werke zu Zeit. Zurich: Fretz and
Wasmuth, 1964.
Koder, Johannes, and Thomas Weber. Liutprand von Cremona
in Konstantinopel. Herausgegeben von der Kommission für
Fühchristliche und Östkirchliche Kunst der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften und vom Institut für Byzan-
tinistik und Neograzistik der Universität Wien, 13. Vienna:
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
- (Two brief monographs: one is on Liudprand’s knowl-
edge of Greek, with a glossary of all Greek words in his works;
the second essay uses Liudprand as a source for the diet of
the period in Byzantium and the west.)
Kreutz, Barbara. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth
and Tenth Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1991.
Leyser, Karl. “Ends and Means in Liudprand of Cremona.” In
Byzantium and the West, c. 850–c. 1200: Proceedings of the
XVIII Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, 30th
March–1st April 1984, ed. J. D. Howard-Johnston. Amster-
dam: Adolf Hakkert, 1988, pp. 119–143. (Survey in English
of Liudprand’s work that also summarizes scholarship.)
Lintzel, M. Studien über Liudprand von Cremona. Historische
Studien, 3. 1933. (A standard monograph.)
Previté-Orton, Charles. “Italy in the Tenth Century.” In The
Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3, Germany and the
Western Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1922, ch. 7.
Rentschler, Michael. Liudprand von Cremona: Eine Studie zum
öst-westlichen Kulturgefälle im Mittelalter. Frankfurter Wis-
senschaftliche Beiträge, 14. Frankfurt: Vittorio Klosrermann,
1981.
Sutherland, J. N. “The Idea of Revenge in Lombard Society in
the Eighth and Tenth Centuries: The Cases of Paul the Deacon
and Liudprand of Cremona.” Speculum, 50, 1975, pp. 391–410
(Revenge is a major theme in Antapodosis.)
Martin ArbagiLLULL, RAMÓN (1232/3–1316)
Catalan lay missionary, philosopher, mystic, poet, and
novelist, Ramón Llull was one of the creators of liter-
ary Catalan; the fi rst European to write philosophy and
theology in a vernacular tongue; the fi rst to write prose
novels on contemporary themes; and the founder of
a combinatory “art” that was a distant forerunner of
computer science. He wrote some 265 works in Catalan,
Latin, Arabic (none of these last have been preserved),
and perhaps Provençal. In addition we have medieval
translations of his works into Spanish, French, and
Italian.Life
Born on the island of Mallorca (modern-day Majorca),
which had only recently been reconquered (at the end of
1229), and brought up in a wealthy family in a colonial
situation, amid a still considerable Muslim population
(perhaps a third of the entire population of the island),
Llull’s youth was that of a courtier who dabbled in
troubadour verse. He married, had two children, and
was appointed seneschal to the future Jaume II of Mal-
lorca. Then, in 1263, repeated visions of the Crucifi xion
made him decide to dedicate his life to the service of
Christ, and specifi cally to carrying out three aims: to try
to convert Muslims even if it meant risking his life; to
“write a book, the best in the world, against the errors of
unbelievers”; and to found monasteries for the teaching
of languages to missionaries. Llull bought a Muslim
slave in order to learn Arabic and began nine years of
study not only of that language, but also of Latin, phi-
losophy, theology, and logic, as well as a certain amount
of law, medicine (surely in Montpellier), and astronomy.
At the end of this period he wrote a compendium of
Al-Ghaz ̄a l ̄ı’s logic and the Llibre de contemplació en
Déu (Book of Contemplation), a vast work combining
semi-mystic effusions with the germs of most of his
later thought. The changing methodological tactics of
the work, however, were fi nally resolved on Mount
Randa in Mallorca, where, after a week’s meditation,
“The Lord suddenly illuminated his mind, giving himLLULL, RAMÓN