Translating Vernacular Theological Theory from Robert Grosseteste’s Château d’Amour to the Castle of Love and the Myrour of Lewed Men

Abstract: This article focuses on the theories of vernacular theology in Robert Grosseteste’s Château d’Amour and two of its Middle English adaptations: the Castle of Love and the Myrour of Lewed Men . Comparing the Château to a cross section of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman vernacular theology, it argues that Grosseteste’s theory is innovative in its use of a communal model of vernacular expression and the forcefulness of its endorsement of the vernacular. This article then turns to the Castle and Myrour , examining how they translate the prologue of the Château and comparing them to some contemporaneous pieces of Middle English vernacular theology. The comparison reveals that these texts, though relying on a more pastoral model of vernacular expression, nonetheless maintain a more positive view of the English vernacular than their contemporaries. This article contends that the Castle and Myrour ’s relatively forceful endorsements of the vernacular are the result of the influence of Grossetestian theory on the poets themselves. In so doing, it offers new insights into the mechanics of medieval translation and the development of Anglo-Norman and Middle English vernacular theology.