mother’s emotional abuse pushed Burnel to study in Paris

Growing up in Cremona in twelfth-century Italy, Burnel had a difficult childhood. His mother and father often quarreled. Even worse, Burnel’s mother subjected him to vicious emotional abuse. The effects of this abuse endured into Brunel’s adulthood. As an adult, Burnel didn’t feel the natural goodness of his own masculine sexuality. He sought to establish his self-esteem through foolish quests to lengthen his penis, acquire a liberal arts degree at the University of Paris, and become an eminent religious leader.

Burnel’s mother dominated his father. An issue of contention among them was interpreting dreams. Burnel explained:

Indeed and dreams, contrariwise, must be explained
to mean the very opposite, I’d have you know.
If dreams are good, then trouble will result;
if bad, doubt not that great success will come.
‘Tis thus my mother used to speak of dreams,
and she was very well informed and wise.
‘Twas over this my mother often used
to quarrel with father, answering word for word.
For he with mother always disagreed,
maintaining that her theories were all wrong.

{ Sed vice conversa sunt exponenda vicissim
atque per antiphrasim somnia, crede mihi.
Si bona vidisti, tunc aspera multa sequentur;
si mala, non dubites prospera multa sequi.
Sic mea consuevit exponere somnia mater,
sicut erat prudens atque diserta nimis.
Mater ob hanc causam litem cum patre frequenter
instituit, super his plurima verba serens.
Ipse tamen matri semper contraria sensit,
et sua dicebat dogmata falsa fore. } [1]

While his father showed extraordinary courage in challenging his wife’s views, Burnel followed his mother’s theory of dream interpretation. More generally, Burnel repeatedly referred to what his mother had said to him and discussed her words at length. He said relatively little about his father.[2] Like many fathers today, Burnel’s father seems to have been marginalized. His mother dominated their family.

With emotional abuse, Burnel’s mother scarred him for life. Burnel as an adult lacked a sense of self-worth. He even declared:

Why from the cursed womb did mother send me?
Why did she sever not my throat with a sword?
If, sorrowful one, I had been still-born, an age
how fortunate and blessed would have been!
Why did a hungry wolf not come to bear
away the babe while still of tender age?
Why did my mother curse me in my youth
and often ask the wolf in haste to come?

{ Cur mea me mater maledicto fudit ab alvo?
Cur gladio jugulum non dedit ipsa meum?
Tristis abortivum si me peperisset, in aevum
quam fortunata quamque beata foret!
Cur lupus esuriens partes non venit in illas,
tolleret ut partum dum tener esset adhuc?
Cui mea me mater primis devovit in annis,
atque venire citum saepe rogavit eum? } [3]

As an adult on a trip abroad, Burnel dreamed that his parents — undoubtedly with his mother leading his father — prayed:

Be kind to us, O God, and from the jaws
of wolves snatch our Burnel; bring him home.
May he who is abroad come safely home,
unharmed and unmolested by the wolves.
May neither lion, leopard, nor that worst
of beasts, the peasant, stop him on the way.
In safety may he travel all the roads,
may he escape the scent of every beast.
May dogs be tongueless, ears of cats be closed,
and may the wolf have gout so he can’t run.
For since we fear him more than other beasts,
from him protect Burnel; bring him home.

{ Esto, Deus, nobis clemens et ab ore luporum
eripe Burnellum, facque redire domum.
Sanus et incolumis patrias peregrinus ad oras
Burnellus redeat, liber ab ore lupi.
Non leo, non pardus, nec peste nocentior omni
rusticus obsistat vel dominetur ei.
Transeat immunis per compita quaeque viarum,
olfactu careat bestia quaeque suo.
Sit canis elinguis, catulo non calleat auris;
currere ne possit sit mala gutta lupo.
Quem quia nos aliis plus formidamus, ab ipso
protege Burnellum, facque redire domum. } [4]

As his mother taught him, Burnel interpreted this dream-prayer to mean its opposite. In his dream, his mother had cursed him just as she had done in his youth. Burnel feared for his life. He knew the popular saying that emphasized a mother’s power:

Swift fulfillment, if the saying’s true,
is always present for a mother’s prayers.

{ Nam celer eventus, si fas est credere famae,
maternis precibus semper adesse solet. }

The dream-prayer of Burnel’s mother failed, as she would have understood it. A wolf didn’t attack Burnel.

Burnel’s mother often told him a story about three goddesses of fate. It was a non-Christian story of divine equalizing:

These three {goddesses} had one concern and one desire:
to bring to nature’s flaws good health and strength.
Where nature grudged or lavishly bestowed,
they very much desired to make amends.

{ Unus erat cultus tribus his eademque voluntas,
naturae vitiis ferre salutis opem.
Et quod avara minus dederat vel prodiga multum,
his emendandi plurima cura fuit. }

Walking about in the world, the goddesses encountered a beautiful, young woman of noble birth. The young woman cried, slashed her lovely face, and beat her attractive breast. Two of the goddesses wanted to help the woman. But the head-goddess refused. She explained that the woman was already privileged, and that if they helped her, she might suffer worse evils. The goddesses soon came across another beautiful, young woman. Because of “weight and pain in feet and hips” {pedis et femorum tum pondere tumque dolore} this beautiful woman couldn’t get up from her couch. Two of the goddesses sought to restore her to her feet. But the head-goddess was unmoved. She explained that the woman had keen mind, strong voice, ample breast, and graceful hands. In short, the woman was already extraordinarily privileged.

The goddess then came across a peasant girl. She was squatting in the road to defecate:

She raised her dress behind and drew it back.
She flexed her knees and squatted on the ground.
One hand held grass; the other, hunk of bread.
Both hands performed due service for the wench.
And she cared not for people as they passed,
nor for the holy deities nearby.

{ Vestibus elatis retro nimiumque rejectis,
poplite deflexo, curva resedit humi.
Una manus foenum; panis tenet altera frustum.
Utraque dat dominae debita pensa suae,
sed neque pro populo cessavit praetereunte,
nec propter posita numina sacra prope. }

Two of the goddess blushed, hid their faces, and rushed away. The head-goddess stood still and called the other two back. She explained:

You’ve seen just now the other side of life.
Nought better had she than what she revealed
to us and showed in her simplicity.
Had nature given the wretch a better lot,
Not thus would the new moon have shown its horns.

{ Quod modo vidistis alter horizon erat.
Non habuit melius quam quod nobis manitestum
fecit et ostendit simplicitate sua.
Si natura potens miserae meliora dedisset,
non ita monstrasset cornua luna nova. }

Rather than being offended that the peasant girl had mooned them, the head-goddess sympathized with her:

There’s need, there’s need to pity, not to grudge,
to offer her our help right speedily.
There’s need, there’s need that we be generous,
and give abundant gifts with lavish hand.
To her, rich nature has left nought at all;
she’s poor. There’s need that we bring help to her.
…
Let us therefore to whom this power is given,
present huge gifts with an unstinting hand:
wealth, riches, money, offices, and farms,
estates in mountains, pasture lands, and herds.
And let us make her mistress of this town,
that nothing she be without which is ours to give.

{ Hic opus, his opus est, non parcere, sed misereri
et festinando ferre levamen ei.
Hic opus, hic opus est, ut diffundamus abunde,
et demus larga munera magna manu.
Huic nihil omnino dives natura reliquit,
haec eget, his opus est ut faciamus opem.
…
Nos igitur, quibus est super his collata potestas,
demus abundanti munera magna manu:
divitias et opes, census, fundos et honores,
praedia montana, pascua, prata, greges.
Urbis et istius dominam statuamus eandem,
ut nihil in nostro munere desit ei. }

This story that Burnel’s mother often told is a travesty of justice and equality. Burnel struggled to carry it with a sense of decency and reason:

My mother often told me things like this,
to mention which I surely have no shame.
Inside religious orders often happen
so many things like this which make no sense.

{ Haec mea multotiens genitrix narrare solebat,
cujus me certe non meminisse pudet.
Talibus exemplis in religione frequenter
multa solent fieri quae ratione carent. } [5]

His mother’s bizarre words to him worked on Burnel’s sub-consciousness and shaped his life choices.

Despite having no formal education and being a donkey, Burnel decided to seek a master’s degree in liberal arts at the University of Paris and then further advanced study at the University of Bologna. Paris and Bologna were the leading universities in twelfth-century Europe. Burnel was in some respects naturally qualified for academic study:

My legs are iron, my sides like sheaths of iron,
in all my body there is not a vein.
Just like a brazen vessel is my skin,
which may be beaten but receive no pain.
It’s not for me to die from curse or blows;
With mallets could I scarce be killed, I think.

{ Ferrea crura mihi, latus est quasi lamina ferri,
non est in tot corpore vena puto.
Aenea ceu pelvis cutis est mea, quae tamen ictus
excipit incassum, nam nihil inde dolet.
Non ego verberibus, non per maledicta perire
possum, malleolis vix puto posse mori. }

Burnel reasoned that he would be a better student than young men:

Long hours of study and of sleepless nights
my mind and body both can well endure.
I still have many years to pass before
I reach an age as great as was my sire’s.
I’ll not, like boys, be hurt by heavy blows.
The wanderlust won’t dull my love for school
which from my seriousness will grow and grow.
The weight of my long years will banish levity,
and strict routine alleviate the load.
No shame for my age, though boys learn
as now an elder, will force me from studies.
Nor fear or disappointment shall prevent
my pressing toward my goal both day and night.
Since I’ll be brave, hard work will conquer all,
and God himself is wont to aid the brave.

{ Pervigiles studii longa de nocte labores
et caput et corpus hoc bene ferre potest.
Restat et annorum numerus de jure legendus
plurimus, usque patri comparer ipse meo.
Nec sub veste leui tenuis tenere diaeta
me poterit certe nec revocare domum.
Non mihi virga gravis puerorum more nocebit;
a puero didici multa flagella pati.
Pes vagus a studii non me revocabit amore,
qui magis accrescit ex gravitate mea.
Aetatis gravitas mihi de levitate cavebit,
alleviabit onus consuetudo frequens.
Nec pudor annorum, quamvis puerilia discam
jam senior, coget deseruisse scholas.
Non timor impediet vel desperatio, coeptis
quo minus insistam nocte dieque meis.
Utque nihil timeam labor improbus omnia vincet,
et Deus audaces ipse juvare solet. }

As a donkey studying at a leading university, Burnel would contribute significantly to diversity in the student body. Taking seriously Burnel’s mother’s story, one might hope that the goddesses of fate would favor him like they favored the country girl defecating in the road. On these or other grounds unknown, the University of Paris admitted Burnel.

At the University of Paris, Burnel joined the school of Englishmen. He admired the good manners and urbanity of the English. He also recognized that they had vices:

Feasting, drinking, lechery with bed-mates:
these three are vices always there with them.
Except for these you’ll find no fault in them;
take these away, all other things will please.
Yet these should not be always criticized,
for there can be a time and a place for these.
For two of them are largely free from pain,
and often lead to paths of happiness.
The third thing keeps the passion populating
France from being able to cause harm.

{ Washeyl et drinkheyl necnon persona secunda:
Haec tria sunt vitia quae comitantur eis.
His tribus exceptis nihil est quod in his reprehendas;
haec tria si tollas, cetera cuncta placent.
Nec tamen haec ita sunt semper reprobanda, quod illis
esse locus nequeat tempore sive loco.
Nam duo praecipue sunt exclusiva dolorum,
laetitiaeque vias insinuare solent.
Tertia res cohibet, quo dicitur esse referta
Gallia fermentum ne nocuisse queat. } [6]

These vices didn’t impede Burnel’s learning at the University of Paris. Moreover, as many students have learned through the ages, a university often is a good place for feasting, drinking, and lechery. For Burnel as for other students, these were the most propitious university paths for happiness and release of passion.

Burnel’s university experience was a failure for learning. He lacked both natural aptitude and gifts of fortune:

But since his mind was dull, and stiff his neck to bend,
he failed his courses; toil and pain were lost.
Burnel already had completed seven years
yet absolutely nothing had he learned
of what his master taught; nought but “heehaw” he said.
What nature gave and what he brought with him,
that still he had, and none could take from him.
The masters, having labored long and hard,
effaced with weariness, at last gave up.
His back was often beaten by a club,
his sides were lashed, his hands enduring the rod.
He always said “heehaw” and nothing more
could say, regardless of the kind of blow.
One pulled his ear or jerked his crooked nose,
another knocked out teeth or pricked his hide.
They slashed him, burned him, freed him, tied him up,
sometimes they uttered threats, sometimes they coaxed.
Thus art and nature in him vied by turns;
art begged, while nature bade; art left, it stayed.
It’s clear that those who have pedigree inapt
can seldom, if at all, grow learned.
Burnel as child said “heehaw”; nought else
could he retain except what nature gave.
What nature gives remains, but that acquired
by art takes flight like dust before the wind.
He lost his money, toiled in vain, and all
that he had spent had been for nought.

{ Sed quia sensus hebes, cervix praedura, magistri
dogmata non recipit, cura laborque perit.
Jam pertransierat Burnellus tempora multa,
et prope completus septimus annus erat.
Cum nihil ex tot, quodcunque docente magistro
aut socio, potuit discere praeter “hy ha”.
Quod natura dedit, quod secum detulit illuc,
hoc habet, hoc illi nemo tulisse potest.
Cura magistrorum multumque diuque laborans
demum defecit, victa labore gravi.
Dorso se baculus, lateri se virga frequenter
applicat, et ferulam sustinuere manus.
Semper “hy ha” repetit, nihil est quod dicere possit
affectus quovis verbere praeter “hy ha”.
Vellicat hic aurem, nasum quatit ille recurvum,
excutit hic dentes, perforat ille cutem.
Hic secat, hic urit, hinc solvitur, inde ligatur
intonat iste minas, porrigit ille preces.
Sic in eo certant ars et natura vicissim,
ara rogat, illa jubet, haec abit, illa manet.
Quorum principia constant vitiosa fuisse,
aut vix aut nunquam convaluisse valent.
A puero didict Burnellus “hy ha”: nihil ultra
quam quod natura dat retinere potest.
Quod fuit innatum servat natura, quod artis
sic abit, ut vento pulvis abire solet.
Perdidit expensas, periit labor omnis et omne
quod fuit impensum conditione pari. } [7]

Seeking a university education didn’t merely waste Burnel’s time and money. It caused Burnel profound harm:

You see me old and crushed by ten-years’ toil,
although I once was young and strong and brave.
How many ills have I now borne! Only
the cares of schools have wholly ruined me.
The peasant and the school are instruments
of pain and anguish both to heart and flesh.
The peasant pierces, strikes, and beats the flesh;
the school consumes the vitals, heart, and lungs.
I’d rather carry rocks and stones in mills
than study constantly inside the schools.

{ Ecce senem cernis fractumque labore decenni,
qui juvenis quondam fortis et acer eram.
Quam mala multa tuli pridem! Sed me tamen unum
funditus absumpsit sollicitudo scholae.
Rusticus atque schola duo sunt tormenta, dolores
intus et exterius quae mihi ferre solent.
Rusticus exterius pungit, ferit atque flagellat,
at schola depascit viscera, corda, latus.
Saxa sed et lapides mallem portare molares
quam sic assiduis invigilare scholis. } [8]

Burnel worried about his parents’ reaction to his failure to remember even where he went to university:

If I go home now, and father and mother ask
where I have studied, how shall I explain?
My parents will say worthless I am who failed
to learn a thing, but wasted all their means.

{ Ergo domum repetens patri matrique roganti
quonam profitear me studuisse loco?
Me fore trutannum, me nil didicisse parentes
dicent et sumptus deperiisse suos. }

Studying medieval Latin literature has been vitally important for bears. But a donkey attending the twelfth-century University of Paris makes no more sense than a rustic peasant girl instantly becoming fabulously rich and ruling a town. Burnel should have questioned what his mother taught him.

Yearning to earn his mother’s love, Burnel fantasized about becoming a bishop. He imagined that a goddess of fate, which his mother described as promoting justice and equality, had destined him for the bishopric. He rationalized:

Indeed the world sees stranger things occur
than my advancement to the bishop’s chair.

{ Nam miranda solent magis his contingere mundo,
quam mihi contingat pontificale decus. }

He imagined himself, a donkey, rising above all others in public status:

Now when I’m raised to bishop in my town,
I’ll have no equal in the whole wide world.
The people from the city all will come,
and bowing low will say, “O Bishop, hail!”

{ Ergo cum fuero praesul promotus in urbe,
in toto mundo par mihi nullus erit.
Obvius exibit populus mihi totus ab urbe,
dicet et obstipo vertice, “Praesul, ave!” }

A peasant owned Burnel and made him carrying heavy loads. Burnel imagined his peasant-owner declaring:

The age belongs now to Burnel, while once
it was another’s; changes thus take place.
The life of this great bishop now is in
esteem, which was before quite different.

{ Tempora Burnelli modo sunt, quandoque fuerunt
alterius; vicis est non habuisse vicem.
Praesule defuncto modo plurima sunt in honore,
quae tunc alterius conditionis erant. }

Burnel’s primary concern seems to have been to win his mother’s love:

What can my mother say, I ask, when she
sees clergymen and laymen blessing me?
With joy she’ll bless the year, the day, and hour,
in which she bore in blessedness her child.

{ Quid mea tunc mater, cum me benedicere clerum
viderit et populum, dicere quaeso potest?
Exhilarata diem tempus benedicet et horam,
qua peperit natum me benedicta suum. } [9]

Such a blessing would reverse his mother’s curses against his life when he was a child. Only an emotionally damaged fool, whether a donkey or a man, would imagine earning his mother’s love by becoming a bishop, or by gaining an advanced university degree.

Domineering mothers and effectively absent fathers can cause enduring emotional damage to children. Under current paternity law, fathering a child entails nothing more than having sex of reproductive type. Family law treats fathers as nothing more than wallets. Family courts engage in massive anti-men gender discrimination in rulings on child custody and “child support” financial obligations. This acute gender inequality, socially supported with vicious anti-men gender bigotry, is generating children who grow up to be fools like Burnel, a donkey in the twelfth-century medieval Latin masterpiece Speculum stultorum.

*  *  *  *  *

Read more:

• Speculum stultorum in Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale
• Marcolf & Carfania: different positions for mooning judges
• Ysengrimus: prophetic beast epic

Notes:

[1] Nigellus Wireker, Mirror of Fools {Speculum stultorum} 1645-54, Latin text from Mozley & Raymo (1960) p. 67, English translation from Regenos (1959) p. 89. Id. translated the introductory Sed as “but”. The context seems to me to imply an amplifying conjunction. Hence above I’ve translated Sed as “Indeed and”. Interpretation of dreams is a central issue in Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale, which refers to Speculum stultorum.

Speculum stultorum recognizes the suffering of a husband with a quarrelsome wife. In proclaiming a mock anathema against peasants, Burnel said:

may his wife and he {the peasant} always quarrel with each other
{ rixentur semper uxor et ipse simul }

Speculum stultorum, l. 816, Latin text from Mozley & Raymo (1960) p. 49, my translation.

Subsequent quotes from Speculum stultorum are (cited by line number and English translation in Regenos (1959)): ll. 1613-20, pp. 87-8 (Why from the cursed womb…); ll 1629-40, p. 88 (Be kind to us, O God…); ll. 1623-4, p. 88 (Swift fulfillment…); ll. 3283-6, p. 145 (These three…); l. 3347, p. 147 (weight and pain…); ll. 3389-4, p. 148 (She raised her dress…); ll. 3400-4, pp. 148-9 (You’ve seen just now…); ll. 3405-10, 3427-32, p. 149 (There’s need…); ll. 3433-6, p. 150 (My mother often told…); ll. 1607-12, p. 87 (My legs are iron…); ll. 1181-98, p. 73 (Long hours of study…); ll. 1521-30, pp. 84-5 (Feasting, drinking, lechery…); ll. 1541-68, pp. 85-6 (But since his mind…); ll. 2471-80, p. 118 (You see me old…); ll. 1927-31, p. 98 (If I go home now…); ll. 1671-2, p. 89 (Indeed the world…); ll. 1779-82, p. 93 (Now when I’m raised…); ll. 1795-8, p. 93 (The age belongs now…); ll. 1783-6, p. 93 (What can my mother say…). I’ve noted substantial changes I’ve made to Regenos’s translation, while silently making insubstantial changes. Punctuation and capitalization are predominately editorial in Mozley & Raymo’s Latin text. I’ve made changes in the Latin capitalization and punctuation to align it as closely as feasible with the English translation.

[2] Burnel rescued from being hung thieves caught stealing from his father. Speculum stultorum ll. 1805-1912. Burnel seems to have been more respectful and deferential toward his mother than toward his father.

[3] Regenos translated l. 1615 (Tristis abortivum si me peperisset, in aevum) as “If to her sorrow I had been still-born.” Burnel’s mother being sorrowful about him being still-born isn’t consistent with the context. My translation of that line above follows the meaning, but not the words, of Mozley (1963) p. 54.

[4] Regenos translated Burnellus as “Brunellus” and rusticus as “rustic”. Here and subsequently I translated those terms as “Burnel” and “peasant”. Mozely (1963) also uses “peasant”. The change from “Brunellus” to “Burnel” affects the iambic meter of the translation. Where a simple change to make the meter regular is possible, I make it. Otherwise I accept the metrical irregularity. In general, my adaptations have loosened the meter.

[5] Mann intepreted the story of the three goddesses as satiric:

The story, when analysed as a whole, proves to be satiric rather than exemplary; its appeal to immutable universals — Nature, Fortune, Fate — is blandly ironic, satire claiming the status of myth, for what it uncovers is not an eternal verity, but an injustice in the distribution of Fortune’s favours which could and should be redressed.

Mann (2009) p. 109. Burnel attributed the story to his mother both before and after telling it. Mann failed to recognize that Burnel’s relationship with his mother is crucial for understanding this story and his foolish choices.

[6] For l. 1521 (Washeyl et drinkheyl necnon persona secunda), Regenos translated “They hold gay parties, drink, and have their girls”. The phrase persona secunda implies intimate relations, not necessarily heterosexual. Above I translated the line as “Feasting, drinking, lechery with bed-mates”. For ll. 1529-30, Regenos translated:

The third thing keeps the ferment by which France
Is filled from being able to cause harm.

I’ve attempted a clearer translation above.

[7] For l. 1561-2, Regenos translated:

It’s clear that those who have a background that
Is weak can seldom, if at all, grow strong.

I’ve attempted a clearer translation of those lines above.

[8] In l. 2473, Regenos translated Sed as “And yet”. I’ve substituted “Only” to clarify the contrast.

[9] Burnel subsequently abandoned his dream of being a bishop. He instead planned to found his own religious order in which “I’ll be head teacher and in charge” {ero primus doctor et auctor ego}. Speculum stultorum l. 3260, trans. Regenos (1959) p. 144. Burnel invited the eminent scholar and medical authority Galen to join his order and be under him. Burnel’s dream of founding his own religious order is as foolish as his dream of becoming a bishop. The underlying maternal motivation seems the same.

[image] Drawing of Burnel (Brunellus) as a bishop. In a manuscript of Speculum stultorum, copied about the 1425 by John Streech, canon of the Augustinian Priory of Kenilworth. Folio 114v in Additional MS 38665, British Library.

References:

Mann, Jill. 2009. From Aesop to Reynard: beast literature in medieval Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mozley, John H., trans. 1963. Nigellus Wireker. A mirror for fools: the book of Burnel the ass {Speculum stultorum}. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.

Mozley, John H., and Robert R. Raymo, ed. 1960. Nigellus Wireker. Speculum stultorum. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Regenos, Graydon W., trans. 1959. Nigellus Wireker. The book of Daun Burnel the ass: Nigellus Wireker’s Speculum stultorum. Austin: University of Texas Press.