Tatwine

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734, Christian saint}} {{Good article}} {{Use British English|date=July 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox Christian leader | name = Tatwine | title = Archbishop of Canterbury | image = Riddles of Tatwine, London, British Library, Royal MA 12 c xxiii folio 121v.png | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Riddles of Tatwine, London, British Library, Royal MA 12 c xxiii folio 121v, showing Tatwine's riddles on philosophy and on faith, hope, and charity following on from the riddles of Eusebius | appointed = 731 | ended = 30 July 734 | predecessor = Berhtwald | successor = Nothhelm | consecration = 10 June 731 | other_post = Abbot of Breedon-on-the-Hill | birth_date = {{circa|670|lk=yes}} | death_date = 30 July 734 | feast_day = 30 July | venerated = {{Ubl | Catholic Church<ref name=ODS492/> | Eastern Orthodox Church<ref name=Hutchinson-Hall82>Hutchison-Hall ''Orthodox Saints of the British Isles'' p. 81</ref> }} | canonized_date = Pre-Congregation | honorific_prefix = Saint }}

'''Tatwine'''{{Efn|Sometimes '''Tatwin''', '''Tatuini''', or '''{{Lang|la|Tadwinus}}'''<ref name=ODS492>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 492–493</ref>}} ({{circa|670|lk=yes}} – 30 July 734) was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he composed survive. Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language, which was aimed at advanced students of that language. He was subsequently considered a saint.

==Biography== Tatwine was a Mercian by birth.<ref name=Brooks80/> His epigraph at Canterbury stated that when he died he was in old age, so perhaps he was born around 670.<ref name=DNB/> He became a monk at the monastery at Breedon-on-the-Hill in the present-day County of Leicestershire,<ref name=Brooks80>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 80</ref><ref name=Yorke31>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 31</ref> and then abbot of that house.<ref name=ASE183>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 183</ref> Through the influence of King Æthelbald he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury in 731 and was consecrated on 10 June 731.<ref name=Handbook213>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213</ref><ref name=Kirby113>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 113</ref> He was one of a number of Mercians who were appointed to Canterbury during the 730s and 740s.<ref name=Kingship24>Williams ''Kingship and Government'' p. 24</ref> Apart from his consecration of the Bishops of Lindsey and Selsey in 733, Tatwine's period as archbishop appears to have been uneventful.<ref name=DNB/> He died in office on 30 July 734.<ref name=Handbook213/> Later considered a saint, his feast day is 30 July.<ref name=DictSaints>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 571</ref>

==Writings== Bede's commentary on Tatwine calls him a "{{lang|la|vir religione et Prudentia insignis, sacris quoque literis nobiliter instructus}}" (a man notable for his prudence, devotion and learning). These qualities were displayed in the two surviving manuscripts of his riddles and four of his {{lang|la|Ars Gramattica Tatuini}}.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Law281>Law "Transmission" ''Revue d'Histoire des Textes'' p. 281</ref>

===''Ars Gramattica Tatuini''=== The {{lang|la|Ars}} is one of only two surviving eighth-century Latin grammars from England.<ref name=Law281/> The grammar is a reworking of Donatus's {{lang|la|Ars Minor}} with the addition of information drawn from other grammarians, such as Priscian and Consentius.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} It was not designed for a newcomer to the Latin language, but rather for more advanced students.<ref name=Brooks98>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 98–99</ref> It covers the eight parts of speech through illustrations drawn from classical scholars, although not directly but through other grammatical works. There are also some examples drawn from the Psalms. The work was completed before Tatwine became archbishop, and was used not only in England but also on the Continent.<ref name=Blair246>Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 246–247</ref>

===Riddles=== It is almost certain that Tatwine was inspired to develop the culture of riddle-writing in early medieval England because he had read the {{lang|la|Epistola ad Acircium}} by the West-Saxon scholar Aldhelm (d. 709), which combined studies of Latin grammar and metre with the presentation of one hundred hexametrical riddles.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Salvador-Bello|title=Isidorean Perceptions of Order|pages=222}}</ref> Frederick Tupper believed that Aldhelm's influence was minimal,<ref>Tupper ''Riddles of the Exeter Book'' p. xxxiv</ref> but subsequent scholars have argued that Tatwine's riddles owed a substantial debt to those of Aldhelm.<ref>Lapidge ''Aldhelm: The Poetic Works'' p. 66</ref><ref>Orchard ''Poetic Art of Aldhelm'' p. 242</ref><ref>Salvador-Bello ''Isidorean Perceptions of Order'' pp. 222–224</ref>

Tatwine's riddles deal with such diverse topics as philosophy and charity, the five senses and the alphabet, and a book, and a pen,<ref name=DNB>Lapidge "Tatwine" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> yet, according to Mercedes Salvador-Bello, these riddles are placed in a carefully structured sequence: 1–3 and 21–26 on theology (e.g. 2, faith, hope, and charity), 4–14 on objects associated with ecclesiastical life (e.g. 7, a bell), 15–20 on wonders and monsters (e.g. 16, prepositions with two cases), 27–39 on tools and related natural phenomena (e.g. 28, an anvil, and 33, fire), with a final piece on the sun's rays.<ref>Salvador-Bello ''Patterns of Compilation'' ''Viator'' pp. 346–349, 373</ref><ref name=DNB/>

Tatwine's riddles survive in two manuscripts: the early 11th-century London, British Library, Royal 12.Cxxiii (fols. 121v–7r) and the mid-11th-century Cambridge, University Library, Gg.5.35 (fols. 374v–77v).<ref>Salvador-Bello ''Isidorean Perceptions of Order'' p. 221</ref> In both manuscripts, they are written alongside the riddles of Eusebius: it seems clear that Eusebius (whose identity is uncertain) added sixty riddles to Tatwine's forty to take the collection up to one hundred.<ref>Williams ''Riddles of Tatwine and Eusebius'' pp. 44–57</ref>

Tatwine gives a sign in one of the riddles of the growing acceptance among scholars in the Christian west of the legitimacy of philosophy: "{{lang|la|De philosophia: est felix mea qui poterit cognoscere iura}}" (Of Philosophy: happy is he who can know my laws).<ref>Naismith "Antiquity, Authority, and Religion" ''Peritia'' p. 66</ref> The riddles are formed in acrostics.<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Tatwine" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref>

====Example==== An example of Tatwine's work is enigma 11, on the needle:<ref>Tatwine ''Tatuini omnia opera'' p. 178</ref> {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |+ Enigma 11 !scope="col"| Latin original !scope="col"| English translation |- !scope="row"| <poem>{{lang|la|Torrens me genuit fornax de uiscere flammae, Condi<t>or inualido et finxit me corpore luscam; Sed constat nullum iam sine me uiuere posse. Est mirum dictu, cludam ni lumina uultus, Condere non artis penitus molimina possum.}}</poem> | <poem>Brought forth in the fiery womb of a blazing furnace, my maker formed me one-eyed and frail; yet surely none could ever live without me. Strange to say, unless my eye is blinded, my skill produces not the smallest piece of work.</poem> |}

====List==== Tatwine's riddles are on the following topics.<ref>Tatwine ''Tatuini omnia opera''</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" |+ class="nowrap"| Numbered list of Tatwine's riddles !scope="col"| Number !scope="col"| Latin title !scope="col"| English translation |- !scope="row"| 1 | {{lang|la|de philosophia}} | philosophy |- !scope="row"| 2 | {{lang|la|de spe, fide (et) caritate}} | hope, faith (and) charity |- !scope="row"| 3 | {{lang|la|de historia et sensu et morali et allegoria}} | historical, spiritual, moral, and allegorical sense |- !scope="row"| 4 | {{lang|la|de litteris}} | letters |- !scope="row"| 5 | {{lang|la|de membrano}} | parchment |- !scope="row"| 6 | {{lang|la|de penna}} | pen |- !scope="row"| 7 | {{lang|la|de tinti(n)no}} | bell |- !scope="row"| 8 | {{lang|la|de ara}} | altar |- !scope="row"| 9 | {{lang|la|de cruce Xristi}} | Christ's cross |- !scope="row"| 10 | {{lang|la|de recitabulo}} | lectern |- !scope="row"| 11 | {{lang|la|de acu}} | needle |- !scope="row"| 12 | {{lang|la|de patena}} | paten |- !scope="row"| 13 | {{lang|la|de acu pictili}} | embroidery needle |- !scope="row"| 14 | {{lang|la|de caritate}} | love |- !scope="row"| 15 | {{lang|la|de niue, grandine et glacie}} | snow, hail and ice |- !scope="row"| 16 | {{lang|la|de pr(a)epositione utriusque casus}} | prepositions with two cases |- !scope="row"| 17 | {{lang|la|de sciuro}} | squirrel |- !scope="row"| 18 | {{lang|la|de oculis}} | eyes |- !scope="row"| 19 | {{lang|la|de strabis oculis}} | squinting eyes |- !scope="row"| 20 | {{lang|la|de lusco}} | the one-eyed |- !scope="row"| 21 | {{lang|la|de malo}} | evil |- !scope="row"| 22 | {{lang|la|de Adam}} | Adam |- !scope="row"| 23 | {{lang|la|de trina morte}} | threefold death |- !scope="row"| 24 | {{lang|la|de humilitate}} | humility |- !scope="row"| 25 | {{lang|la|de superbia}} | pride |- !scope="row"| 26 | {{lang|la|de quinque sensibus}} | the five senses |- !scope="row"| 27 | {{lang|la|de forcipe}} | a pair of tongs |- !scope="row"| 28 | {{lang|la|de incude}} | anvil |- !scope="row"| 29 | {{lang|la|de mensa}} | table |- !scope="row"| 30 | {{lang|la|de ense et uagina}} | sword and sheath |- !scope="row"| 31 | {{lang|la|de scintilla}} | spark |- !scope="row"| 32 | {{lang|la|de sagitta}} | arrow |- !scope="row"| 33 | {{lang|la|de igne}} | fire |- !scope="row"| 34 | {{lang|la|de faretra}} | quiver |- !scope="row"| 35 | {{lang|la|de pru(i)na}} | ember |- !scope="row"| 36 | {{lang|la|de uentilabro}} | winnowing fork |- !scope="row"| 37 | {{lang|la|de seminante}} | sower |- !scope="row"| 38 | {{lang|la|de carbone}} | charcoal |- !scope="row"| 39 | {{lang|la|de coticulo}} | whetstone |- !scope="row"| 40 | {{lang|la|de radiis solis}} | rays of the sun |}

==Editions and translations== * 'Aenigmata Tatvini', ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Erika von Erhardt-Seebold, in ''Tatuini omnia opera, Variae collectiones aenigmatum merovingicae aetatis, Anonymus de dubiis nominibus'', Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133–133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968).

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==Citations== {{reflist|40em}}

==References== {{refbegin|60em}} * {{cite book |author1=Aldhelm |author2=Lapidge, Michael |author3=Rosier, James |title=Aldhelm: The Poetic Works |author2-link=Michael Lapidge |publisher=D.S. Brewer |year=2009 |isbn=9781843841982 |location=Woodbridge, UK }} * {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3 }} * {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }} * {{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-860949-0 }} * {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |author1-link=Edmund Fryde |author2-link=Diana Greenway |edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }} * {{cite book |author=Kirby, D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |author-link=David Peter Kirby |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-415-24211-8 }} * {{cite book |author=Hutchison-Hall, John |title=Orthodox Saints of the British Isles: Volume III, July–September |publisher=St. Eadfrith Press |date=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t5MSBgAAQBAJ |isbn=978-0-692-25766-1 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Tatwine |page=440 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Michael Lapidge |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Tatwine (d. 734) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |author-link=Michael Lapidge |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26998 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26998 |access-date=7 November 2007 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}} * {{cite journal |author=Law, V. |title=The Transmission of the Ars Bonifacii and the Ars Tatuini |journal=Revue d'Histoire des Textes |author-link=Vivien Law |volume=9 |issue=1979 |year=1979 |pages=281–288 |doi=10.3406/rht.1980.1206 }} * {{cite journal |author=Naismith, Rory |title=Antiquity, Authority, and Religion in the Epitomae and Epistolae of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus |journal=Peritia |author-link=Rory Naismith |volume=20 |date=2008 |pages=59-85 |doi=10.1484/J.Peri.3.626 }} * {{cite book |author=Orchard, Andy |title=The Poetic Art of Aldhelm |author-link=Andy Orchard |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780521034579 |location=Cambridge, UK }} * {{cite book |author=Salvador-Bello, Mercedes |title=Isidorean Perceptions of Order: The Exeter Book Riddles and Medieval Latin Enigmata |publisher=West Virginia University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9781935978527 |location=Morgantown, WV }} * {{cite journal |author=Salvador-Bello, Mercedes |title=Patterns of Compilation in Anglo-Latin ''Enigmata'' and the Evidence of A Source-Collection in Riddles 1–40 of the ''Exeter Book'' |journal=Viator |volume=43 |date=2012 |pages=339–374 |doi=10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.102554 }} * {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Frank Stenton |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }} * {{cite book |author=Tatwine |title=Tatuini omnia opera, Variae collectiones aenigmatum merovingicae aetatis, Anonymus de dubiis nominibus |translator=von Erhardt-Seebold, Erika |series=Corpus christianorum: series latina |location=Turnholt |publisher=Brepols |date=1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/corpuschristiano0133unse }} * {{cite book |author=Tupper, Frederick |title=The Riddles of the Exeter Book |publisher=Ginn |year=1910 |location=Boston }} * {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }} * {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c. 500–1066 |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=MacMillan Press |location=London |year=1999 |isbn=0-333-56797-8 }} * {{cite thesis |author=Williams, Mary Jane McDonald |title=The Riddles of Tatwine and Eusebius |degree=PhD |year=1974 |location=University of Michigan }} * {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Barbara Yorke |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-16639-X }} {{refend}}

==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Law, Vivien |title=The Latin and Old English glosses in the Ars Tatuini |encyclopedia=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=6 |author-link=Vivien Law |year=1977 |pages=77–89 }} {{refend}}

==External links== * {{PASE|19218|Tatwine 2}}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel| Christian titles }} {{s-bef | before=Berhtwald }} {{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of Canterbury | years=731–734}} {{s-aft| after=Nothhelm }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatwine}} Category:670s births Category:734 deaths Category:8th-century archbishops Category:8th-century English writers Category:8th-century writers in Latin Category:Archbishops of Canterbury Category:Grammarians of Latin Category:Linguists from England Category:Medieval linguists Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Medieval Latin-language poets