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Handbook of Arthurian Romance
Handbook
of Arthurian
Romance
King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature

Edited by
Leah Tether and Johnny McFadyen

In collaboration with
Keith Busby and Ad Putter
ISBN 978-3-11-044061-4
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-043246-6
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-043248-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.

© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Cover image: “King Arthur” (London, British Library, Royal MS 20 A II, fol. 4r): available in the
Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts under a Creative Commons CC 0 1.0 licence
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Acknowledgments
The editors would like to express sincere thanks to the many people who have
helped this Handbook on its way to publication. The collaboration of Keith Busby
and Ad Putter was invaluable throughout the process, and particularly so during
the scoping phases of this project. Their expertise enabled us to identify an
international selection of contributors that is truly demonstrative of the excel-
lence in research across Arthurian Studies today, representing first-rate scholars
ranging from early-career to professorial. We thank all of these contributors for
their efforts in engaging robustly with the brief and producing a series of studies
that strives to bring together approaches new and old, pertinent case studies on
texts that step beyond the usual “canon”, as well as attentive guidance for the
benefit of future Arthurian scholarship. We must also express our gratitude to
our meticulous and speedy peer reviewers, who worked at short notice to ensure
the quality of this publication. We were also wonderfully supported by the edito-
rial team at De Gruyter, including Jacob Klingner, Maria Zucker and, particularly,
Elisabeth Kempf, who was actually responsible for the original conception of the
project, as well as for guiding us through the proposal and approvals process, and
for helping us to finalize the manuscript. She was responsive, patient and cheer-
ful – the best possible combination for an editor of such a grand project! Thanks
must also go to Benjamin Pohl for spotting such a fine cover image. It has been a
pleasure to work with this group of people. We have been truly staggered at the
breadth and depth of their knowledge, as well as their sheer hard work. We hope
this Handbook is as much of a pleasure to read as it was to edit.
Table of contents
Acknowledgments v

List of Contributors xi

List of Abbreviations xv

Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature 1

Section I The Context of Arthurian Romance

Robert Rouse
Historical Context: The Middle Ages and the Code of Chivalry 13

Samantha J. Rayner
The International Arthurian Society and Arthurian Scholarship 25

Aisling Byrne
The Evolution of the Critical Canon 43

Patrick Moran
Text-Types and Formal Features 59

Matthias Meyer
The Arthur-Figure 79

Keith Busby
The Manuscript Context of Arthurian Romance 97

Bart Besamusca
Readership and Audience 117
viii Table of contents

Section II Approaching Arthurian Romance: Theories and

Key Terms

Sif Rikhardsdottir
Chronology, Anachronism and Translatio Imperii 135

Helen Fulton
Historiography: Fictionality vs. Factuality 151

Jane H.M. Taylor

Rewriting: Translation, Continuation and Adaptation 167

Marjolein Hogenbirk
Intertextuality 183

Stefka G. Eriksen
New Philology/Manuscript Studies 199

Alison Stones
Text and Image 215

Andrew James Johnston

Material Studies 225

Christine Ferlampin-Acher
The Natural World 239

Carolyne Larrington
Gender/Queer Studies 259

Richard Trachsler
Orality, Literacy and Performativity of Arthurian Texts 273

Andrew B.R. Elliott

Medievalism 293

Andrew Lynch
Post-Colonial Studies 307
 Table of contents ix

Section III Reading Arthurian Romances: Content, Method

and Context

Florian Kragl
Heinrich von dem Türlin’s Diu Crône: Life at the Arthurian Court 323

Sofia Lodén
Herr Ivan: Chivalric Values and Negotiations of Identity 339

Giulia Murgia
La Tavola Ritonda: Magic and the Supernatural 355

Thomas Hinton
Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot, ou le Chevalier de la charrette: Courtly
Love 373

Raluca L. Radulescu
Sir Percyvell of Galles: A Quest for Values 389

Lowri Morgans
Peredur son of Efrawg: The Question of Translation and/or Adaptation 403

Frank Brandsma
The Roman van Walewein and Moriaen: Travelling through Landscapes and
Foreign Countries 415

Paloma Gracia
The Iberian Post-Vulgate Cycle: Cyclicity in Translation 431

Michael Stolz
Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival: Searching for the Grail 443

Laura Chuhan Campbell

Chrétien de Troyes’ Erec et Enide: Women in Arthurian Romance 461

Gareth Griffith
Merlin: Christian Ethics and the Question of Shame 477
x Table of contents

Siân Echard
De ortu Walwanii and Historia Meriadoci: Technologies in/of Romance 493

Charmaine Lee
Jaufre: Genre Boundaries and Ambiguity 505

Index 521
List of Contributors
Bart Besamusca is Professor of Middle Dutch Textual Culture from an International Perspec-
tive in the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies at Utrecht University. He has published widely
on medieval narrative literature, manuscripts and early printed editions, and manages the
research tool Arthurian Fiction in Medieval Europe (www.arthurianfiction.org).

Frank Brandsma is Associate Professor in Comparative Literature (Middle Ages) at Utrecht

University and the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies. His research focuses on narrative
technique and audience in Arthurian romance, especially on the presentation and sharing of
emotions. With Carolyne Larrington and Corinne Saunders, he edited Emotions in Medieval
Arthurian Literature (2015).

Keith Busby is Douglas Kelly Professor of Medieval French Emeritus at the University of
­Wisconsin-Madison. He has published numerous books and articles on French Arthurian
literature. His most recent book is French in Medieval Ireland, Ireland in Medieval French: The
Paradox of Two Worlds (2017).

Aisling Byrne is Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at the University of Reading. Her pub-
lications include Otherworlds: Fantasy and History in Medieval Literature (2016) and articles
on topics such as Arthurian literature and textual transmission between medieval Britain and
Ireland.

Laura Chuhan Campbell is a Teaching Fellow in French at Durham University. Her research
focuses primarily on translation and rewriting in medieval literature, particularly French and
Italian cultural exchanges, as well as Gender Studies and Ecocriticism. She is the author of the
forthcoming The Medieval Merlin Tradition in France and Italy: Prophecy, Paradox, and Transla-
tio (2017).

Siân Echard is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Her
research interests include Anglo Latin literature (especially Geoffrey of Monmouth), Arthurian
literature, John Gower, as well as manuscript studies and book history. She has authored and
edited several works, most recently including her monograph, Printing the Middle Ages (2008).

Andrew B.R. Elliott is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Lincoln.
He has published on historical film, television and video games, from the classical world to the
Middle Ages. His most recent book is Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media: Appropriating the
Middle Ages in the Twenty-First Century (2017).

Stefka G. Eriksen is Head of Research at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research.
She publishes on New Philology, authorship and translation theory, orality and literacy, as well
as cognitive theory. She is the author of Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture:
The Translation and Transmission of the Story of Elye in Old French and Old Norse Literary Con-
texts (2014) and editor of Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia (2016).
xii List of Contributors

Christine Ferlampin-Acher is Professor at the Université Rennes 2 and a senior member of the
Institut Universitaire de France. Her research mostly focuses on late-medieval French Arthurian
texts, such as Perceforest and Artus de Bretagne. She is the editor of Artus de Bretagne (2017).

Helen Fulton is Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol. She has published
widely on medieval English and Welsh literatures including Arthurian literature. She is the
editor of A Companion to Arthurian Literature (2012).

Paloma Gracia is Professor of Romance Philology at the University of Granada. She has pub-
lished widely on Arthurian literature and historiography. Her current research focuses on late
medieval cyclicity, manuscript compilations and imprints.

Gareth Griffith is a Teaching Fellow and the Director of Part-Time Programmes in English at
the University of Bristol. His research focuses primarily on the literature of the Middle English
period, with a particular interest in synthesizing literary and manuscript studies to interpret
written culture.

Thomas Hinton is Lecturer in French at the University of Exeter. His publications include The
Conte du Graal Cycle: Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval, the Continuations, and French Arthurian
Romance (2012), and a special issue of the journal French Studies on the medieval library
co-edited with Luke Sunderland (2016). He has also published on Arthurian literature, Occitan
love lyric and medieval multilingualism, especially Anglo-French.

Marjolein Hogenbirk is Senior Lecturer in Middle Dutch Literature and Book History (codicol-
ogy and palaeography) at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on Middle Dutch
Arthurian literature in its broader European context, relations between Middle Dutch and Old
French romances, editions and manuscripts.

Andrew James Johnston is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English Literature at the Freie
Universität Berlin. He has published on Old and Middle English Literature and medievalism. His
work includes the monograph Performing the Middle Ages from Beowulf to Othello (2008) and
he has recently co-edited the volumes The Medieval Motion Picture (2014) and The Art of Vision:
Ekphrasis in Medieval Literature and Culture (2015).

Florian Kragl is Professor of Medieval German Literature at the Friedrich-Alexander-University

Erlangen-Nürnberg. He has published on Arthurian literature, heroic poetry, Minnesang, the
history of poetics and aesthetics and historical narratology. He has (co-)edited several medieval
texts, among them two Arthurian romances: the Crône by Heinrich von dem Türlin (2012) and
the Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven (2013) .

Carolyne Larrington is Professor of Medieval European Literature at the University of Oxford and
Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English at St John’s College. She researches topics in Arthurian
literature, Old Icelandic, folklore and medievalism. Her most recent book dealing in part with
Arthurian topics is Brothers and Sisters in Medieval European Literature (2015).

Charmaine Lee is Professor of Romance Philology at the University of Salerno, Italy. Her main
research interest is the romance narrative tradition, the fabliaux and Occitan epic and romance.
 List of Contributors xiii

More recently she has been investigating the French of southern Italy under the Angevin
monarchs.

Sofia Lodén is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stockholm University. Her research focuses on
the translation of medieval French literature into Old Swedish, as well as depictions of women
in courtly literature. Her current project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, is entitled
Maidens and Ladies in Translation. Medieval Francophone Texts and the Beginnings of Swedish
Literature.

Andrew Lynch is Professor in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Aus-
tralia, and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of
Emotions, Europe 1100-1800 (CE110001011). He has published widely on medieval and modern
Arthurian literature.

Johnny McFadyen holds a PhD in Medieval Latin Arthurian literature from the University of
Bristol. His research interests lie in the interpenetration of Latin and vernacular Arthurian liter-
ary traditions. He currently works at Oxford University Press.

Matthias Meyer is Professor for Medieval and Early Modern Literature at the University of
Vienna and was Dean of the Faculty for Philological and Cultural Studies 2012–2016. He has
published on Arthurian Literature, historical narratology and poetry, as well as late Baroque
and modern literature.

Patrick Moran is Lecturer of Medieval French Literature at the Université Paul Valéry-­
Montpellier 3. His research mainly focuses on Arthurian literature, cyclicity and medieval
thought. He is the author of Lectures cycliques: le réseau inter-romanesque dans les cycles du
Graal du XIIIe siècle (2014).

Lowri Morgans holds a PhD in Medieval Welsh Literature from the University of Aberystwyth.
Her research focuses on gesture and body language in medieval Welsh poetry and prose, which
includes Arthurian literature, as well as the translation of literature from continental languages
into Welsh in the Middle Ages.

Giulia Murgia is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cagliari, Italy. Her research
interests cover Arthurian literature and Sardinian linguistics. Among her most recent publica-
tions is La Tavola Ritonda tra intrattenimento ed enciclopedismo (2015).

Ad Putter is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Bristol. He has written
various books on the Gawain-poet and on metre. With Elizabeth Archibald he has edited The
Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend (2009) and with Myra Stokes the Penguin
edition of The Works of the Gawain Poet (2014).

Raluca L. Radulescu is Professor of Medieval Literature at Bangor University and Director of

the new Centre for Arthurian Studies there. She has written on Arthurian and non-Arthurian
romance (more specifically on Thomas Malory), gentry and political culture in late-medieval
England and the construction of the past (including Arthurian “history”) in Middle English
chronicles and genealogies.
xiv List of Contributors

Samantha J. Rayner is a Reader at University College London, where she is also Director of
the Centre for Publishing. Her research interests are in publishing archives and publishing
paratexts, the culture of bookselling, editors and editing, and academic publishing, as well as
around the publication histories of medieval and Arthurian texts.

Sif Rikhardsdottir is Associate Professor and former Chair of Comparative Literature at the
University of Iceland. She is the author of Medieval Translations and Cultural Discourse: The
Movement of Texts in England, France and Scandinavia (2012). Her latest projects include a
monograph entitled Emotion in Old Norse Literature: Translations, Voices, Contexts with Boydell
& Brewer.

Robert Rouse is Associate Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of British
Columbia, Vancouver. His research is primarily concerned with medieval romance (both Arthur­
ian and non-Arthurian), having written on issues of historiography, English national identity,
saracens and other medieval others, the law, the medieval erotic and the medieval geographi-
cal imagination.

Michael Stolz is Professor of Medieval German Literature at the University of Bern. He has
published numerous books and articles in his field. His research interests cover, among others,
intellectual history, the history of reading, editorial philology and Digital Humanities. Most
recently he has co-edited (with Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich and Christian Rohr) Wasser in der
­mittelalterlichen Kultur. Gebrauch – Wahrnehmung – Symbolik/Water in Medieval Culture:
Uses, Perceptions, and Symbolism (2017).

Alison Stones is Professor Emerita of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pitts-
burgh. She researches and writes about illuminated manuscripts.

Jane H.M. Taylor is Professor Emerita of Medieval French at the University of Durham. She has
worked extensively on Arthurian literature, most recently on the rewritings of romance in the
French Renaissance.

Leah Tether is Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the University of Bristol. She researches
the publishing and reading cultures of Arthurian Literature in the medieval and early-modern
periods. She is the author of The Continuations of Chrétien’s Perceval: Content and Construc-
tion, Extension and Ending (2012) and the forthcoming Publishing the Grail in Medieval and
Renaissance France (2017).

Richard Trachsler is Professor of Medieval French and Occitan Literature at the University of
Zurich. His research interests cover narrative literature in Old French, as well as material and
editorial philology.
List of Abbreviations
Ars. = Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal
BBIAS = Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society
BdT = Bibliographie der Trobadors
Bibl. = Bibliothek/Bibliothèque
BL = British Library
BM = Bibliothèque municipale
BMI = Bibliothèque municipal et interuniversitaire
BnF = Bibliothèque nationale de France
BPU = Bibliothèque publique et universitaire
CFMA = Classiques français du moyen âge
CUL = Cambridge University Library
KBR = Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België/Bibliothèque royale de Belgique
MLA = Modern Language Association
NLS = National Library of Scotland
ÖNB = Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
UB = Universitätsbibliothek/Universiteitsbibliotheek
YUL = Yale University Library

NB: All URLs cited in this volume were last accessed on 30 January 2017.
Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen
Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in
Medieval European Literature
Arthurian romance is a pan-European phenomenon, with both subtle and overt
traces of Arthur and his court interwoven into almost all medieval vernaculars, as
well as the Latin tradition. The various stories about King Arthur and his Knights
of the Round Table first inscribed in French in the Middle Ages are to be found in
many and varied contexts, having been translated, adapted and recast into medi-
eval languages such as Middle High German, Old Norse, Occitan, Latin, Middle
English and others. Their manuscript contexts show that medieval consumers of
Arthurian literature regarded them not only as literary fictions, but also at times
had reason to situate them as chronicles, as education, as history, and more. These
many and varied (re-)writings are revealing, in that they offer tangible evidence
for a wide, cross-border, cross-cultural and interlingual interest in the key themes
associated with Arthuriana, such as chivalric values, questing, kingship and the
question of knightly identity. And this interest continued across centuries, albeit
subject to some ebb and flow, right up until the present moment, and in an even
broader international sense, too, as is demonstrated by recent movie adaptations
such as King Arthur (2004) or TV series like Merlin (2008–2012), as well as lit-
erary fictions by authors such as Bernard Cornwall (“The Arthur Books” series
1995–2011) and Kazuo Ishiguro (The Buried Giant 2015), and multimedia/gaming
programmes, like King Arthur’s Gold (2011). Even modern literature seeming to
have little or nothing to do with Arthur can be shown to draw upon the ever-
present appeal of Arthurian motifs, such as the Grail. For example, James Lee
Burke’s House of the Rising Sun (2015), a New York Times Bestseller, re-situates
the Grail within the context of early twentieth-century revolutionary Mexico.
There remains, therefore, an undeniably broad and international public inter-
est in Arthurian material, and this inevitably translates into a pointed interest in
the subject amongst students of literature, so much so that university literature
programmes the world over are rarely to be found without a module or course
on Arthurian literature, such is the demand. Indeed, just several weeks prior to
assembling this Handbook, Bangor University in north-western Wales established
a brand new Centre for Arthurian Studies, to include the official Centre de docu­
mentation [resource centre] for the International Arthurian Society, an active,
long-established and international network of scholars, which was officially

Leah Tether (University of Bristol) and Johnny McFadyen (Independent Scholar)

DOI 10.1515/9783110432466-001
2 Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

formed in 1948. Furthermore, in the run-up to the Arthurian Centre’s launch, at

the launch event of another Bangor centre for excellence (the Stephen Colclough
Centre for the History and Culture of the Book), the eminent Bangor-based Malory
scholar, P.J.C. Field, delivered a lecture purporting to offer new evidence for the
original site of Camelot (suggested by Field to be Slake in Yorkshire), which
prompted a media frenzy, with reports of the finding appearing across all forms
of international media, from television to radio, and from social media to broad-
sheet and tabloid.
When Chrétien de Troyes commenced composing his first Arthurian romances
in the latter part of the twelfth century, he was writing within the context of a
networked European story-telling tradition, the components of which had been
largely disseminated through oral means. Indeed, Chrétien’s romances show many
signs of these varied international, inter-cultural influences. However, the study
of Arthurian matter, from its earliest incarnations in the works of twelfth-century
historians such as William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon and William of
Newburgh, which sought in part to distinguish history from legend, through to
the more sceptical critiques of the sixteenth century and the rise of more rec-
ognisably “modern” scholarship in the nineteenth century (Snyder 2006, 3–4),
has been largely divided along philological lines. In other words, the language
of the Arthurian text in question has become a key means by which we, as schol-
ars, categorize these narratives, such that volumes devoted to the study of this
literature frequently divorce text from original context. This can be most clearly
seen by series such as Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages – an enormous and
significant set of books published by the University of Wales Press, each volume
of which provides a collection of essays concerning “The Arthur of…” each lan-
guage or geographical area (for example, The Arthur of the French (Burgess and
Pratt 2006), The Arthur of the North (Kalinke 2011), and so on). Even collected
volumes that do consider Arthurian textuality across different languages such as,
for example, The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend (Archibald and
Putter 2009) and A Companion to Arthurian Literature (Fulton 2009) do not spe-
cifically set out connections in approaches and methodology that would allow for
the type of true cross-border comparison of Arthurian literature that seems most
appropriate for this corpus of interconnected narratives.
None of this is to say, of course, that Arthurian scholarship to date has entirely
disconnected texts from sources or intertextual networks, or indeed that linguis-
tically-separate approaches have not been important or useful. This would be a
neither fair nor accurate assessment. Existing studies have undeniably enhanced
knowledge and established definitively that Arthurian literature represents a
phenomenon, or perhaps even a movement, which is largely discrete from other
forms of narrative, both medieval and modern, and which thus warrants its own
 Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature 3

particular approaches and dedicated study. In fact, it is only rarely that there are
not at least sideways glances to the cultures and traditions of pre- and co-existing
materials, particularly in respect of seminal authors such as Chrétien de Troyes
or Geoffrey of Monmouth. Indeed, considerable study has also been devoted to
concepts of rewriting and translation from one language to another, as well as
from one century to another. But the interrelationships of Arthurian texts are
such that tracing developments merely “from one to another” risks oversimpli-
fying the broader connected textual and material tradition, which can claim at
least similar, if not equal importance for the study of this inextricably connected
and annexed corpus. Of course, no handbook can be truly encyclopaedic, and
this one does not claim to be either. As a result, rather than listing every single
romance text, exemplary texts are discussed in relation to one particular theme
or topic. Similarly, it is not the objective to set out every single theory or concept
ever to have been employed in the study of Arthurian romance; instead the focus
is on recent trends. The aim of this Handbook, in short, is simply to bring together
a more meaningful, more complete view of the specifically European context of
the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, both in terms of textual and material
matters, by examining and evaluating current approaches and methodologies
that promote, amongst present and future scholars, the more connected study of
Arthurian literature across the entirety of its pan-European context.
The challenge that we set for the contributors to our Handbook of Arthurian
Romance is therefore particularly thorny, since it requires them to step some way
outside of their respective home fields. After all, the division of Arthurian study
along linguistic lines is not merely to do with matters of methodology, but also
(and perhaps more so) to do with language competencies. It would be a tall order
indeed to expect all Arthurian scholars to be conversant in all medieval Euro-
pean vernaculars, as well as in Latin. Indeed, there is no one contributor here (or
perhaps anywhere) who can claim such a skillset. However, our contributors have
been encouraged to start in their home fields and to think about methodologies
and approaches that, when broadened out or transferred, might offer insights into
both the connections and differences, the (dis-)continuities perhaps, between
Arthurian narratives across linguistic and geographical borders. The Handbook
has, therefore, been divided into three sections, and each of these is dedicated to
different aspects of Arthurian romance, seeking to shed light on Arthurian matter
from different perspectives. The first two sections offer background information
on the literary tradition of Arthurian romance, as well as on recent theoretical
perspectives from which romance texts can be approached, while the third is
concerned with central topics and motifs of Arthurian romance, discussed in a
detailed way on the basis of selected texts. Owing to the diversity of topics, texts,
traditions and methods covered by the chapters contained here, we have not pro-
4 Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

vided an overall bibliography, rather a reference list at the end of each chapter,
which sets out an indicative and self-contained bibliography ideal for any scholar
wishing to read further on the topic(s) or text(s) in question.
Section I, “The Context of Arthurian Romance”, gives insight into the various
general contexts that frame the text corpus. Its purpose is to highlight central
contexts and thus give newcomers to the literature of Arthurian romance an idea
of the conditions that shaped the texts. In Chapter 1, Robert Rouse describes the
general historical background and explores the concept of chivalry as an aspi-
rational ideology and social code within medieval culture, before moving on
to consider briefly its literary construction in Arthurian romance and the many
problematic sociological issues to which this gives rise. Samantha J. Rayner then
attempts something completely new. Rather than simply exploring the history
of scholarship and textual criticism as it relates to Arthurian romance, of which
there already exists an excellent example (Lacy 2006), as well as the option to
trace more recent scholarship by means of the annual Bibliography of the Inter­
national Arthurian Society, Chapter 2 sees Rayner bring together the previously
scattered history of the International Arthurian Society, arguing for precisely how
and why the development of Arthurian Studies as a distinctive field has largely
to do with the establishment of this Society. In Chapter 3, Aisling Byrne considers
the evolution of the critical canon, discussing why certain texts have come to be
central or peripheral, arguing that the very concept of a single canon of Arthur­
ian texts is fraught with difficulties, and that there is still much work to be done
before a pan-European critical canon, which is both extensive and linguistically
diverse, might be established. Patrick Moran’s analysis in Chapter 4 provides a
meticulous overview of the various text types and formal features associated with
Arthurian romance, covering the controversial subject of genre as well as intro-
ducing unifying aspects such as the court, rhyme schemes and recurring charac-
ters. Moran contends that the French-speaking world imprinted a literary form
on Arthurian material that gave other European languages an exemplar to be
either emulated or rejected, and that it is the multifaceted vernacular responses
to the template set by French-language Arthurian literature that ultimately prob-
lematizes notions of genre unity. The history of the Arthur-figure, in respect of
its rise in chronicles such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae
and its translation to literary texts, forms the subject matter of Chapter 5. Here
Meyer draws attention to a perceived distinction between the Arthur of medieval
prose and the Arthur-figure as presented within verse romance, but ultimately
argues that both serve similar narrative functions within their respective literary
traditions. In Chapter 6, Keith Busby offers a study of the manuscript context of
Arthurian romance. Busby concentrates on several exceptional books such as,
for example, the best-known manuscript containing Chrétien’s romances (Paris,
 Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature 5

BnF, fr. 794) and an early illuminated manuscript of the Lancelot-Grail (Rennes,
BM 255), in order to highlight the key characteristics of the dissemination of
romance texts in a medieval manuscript context. Busby underlines the fact that
Arthurian works were often accompanied by various other non-Arthurian texts,
forming a considerable literary corpus that offers insight into the specific require-
ments and tastes of medieval audiences. This notion of the readership and audi-
ence of Arthurian romances provides the focus for Bart Besamusca’s analysis in
Chapter 7, in which he considers how the reception modes of orality and literacy
influenced the composition and dissemination of the texts themselves. He argues
that interest in Arthurian literature was, in general, an elite affair, and that in
many linguistic areas it was people of royalty and members of the upper eche-
lons of the nobility who served as patrons of medieval authors, thus promoting
the production of Arthurian romances and commissioning the manuscripts from
which these texts where then later copied.
The second section, “Approaching Arthurian Romance: Theories and Key
Terms”, gives an overview, critique and evaluation of recent theories in Me‑
dieval Studies, offering case studies that showcase how these can be employed in
relation to Arthurian romance. Sif Rikhardsdottir, in Chapter 1, addresses ques-
tions of temporality, periodization and the discussion of history in the romance
tradition, suggesting that Arthurian romance has the potential to offer a generic
framework in which its own past can be reconstituted and, as a result, a new
future envisioned. This leads into Helen Fulton’s discussion in Chapter 2 of the
relationships between fictionality and factuality, covering the development of the
Arthurian saga from chronicle entries with historical claims to the pure fiction
of literary texts that play with different shades of realism. Fulton shows that,
whilst questions surrounding Arthur’s dubious credentials as a bona fide histor-
ical figure were still keenly debated as late as the eighteenth century, Arthurian
narrative material itself, as set out in works such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s His­
toria regum Britanniae, and subsequently amplified by later additions from the
romance tradition, still to a certain degree enjoyed the status of genuine history
until well into the modern period. Jane H.M. Taylor uses Chapter 3 to evaluate the
various forms of rewriting that pervade Arthurian literature, with key examples of
translation, adaptation and continuation forming the main foci, through which
she is able to argue that the act of re-writing (in all its manifold forms) must be
understood as an integral component of an evolving dialogue between medieval
texts, readers and audiences. The concept of intertextuality is the focus of Chapter
4. Here, Marjolein Hogenbirk explores some of the numerous references to other
authors and texts found in Arthurian literature, and analyzes their methods of
aestheticization. Through a case study of the Middle Dutch Roman van Moriaen,
she argues for intertextuality as constituting an intellectual game between
6 Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

author and audience, and that it is therefore a crucial tool for drawing out the
possible meaning(s) of a given text. A more traditional, but still relevant, field
is discussed in Chapter 5 by Stefka G. Eriksen. Whilst earlier scholars traced the
genealogy of texts, more recent trends, which follow Paul Zumthor and Bernard
Cerquiglini, regard other manuscript elements (paratexts) as interesting subjects
of study; Eriksen here explores the relationship between the primary disciplines
for textual criticism in the Middle Ages, classical rhetoric and grammar, and New
Philology, in order to foreground the value and potential of the latter as a theo-
retical framework for “future” philology. Alison Stones’ study in Chapter 6 leads
on neatly from its predecessor and considers the relationship of text and image in
Arthurian romance, as well as the value of its study. Through an examination of
the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Stones makes the case for comparative approaches and
analyses in the study of text and image, which together enable scholars to iden-
tify patterns of similarity or difference in terms of the choice, placement and treat-
ment of images within Arthurian works. This approach, she suggests, pro­mises
perhaps the most in terms of telling us about the copying and dissemination of
both Arthurian manuscripts and other medieval vernacular literature. Material or
Thing Studies are one of the most recent theoretical trends applied in the study
of medieval literature; these are addressed in relation to Arthurian romance by
Andrew James Johnston in Chapter 7. Johnston argues that the relationship and
interaction of (magical) objects, things and persons in texts, which often serve
to highlight complex negotiations surrounding questions of materiality in me‑
dieval fiction, suggest that in the realm of Arthurian literature it is courtly culture
that dictates the parameters within which matter and material must function. The
natural world, and ecocriticism in general, is considered in Chapter 8: Christine
Ferlampin-Acher here notes that whilst this methodology is mostly applied to
contemporary literature, romance texts abound in natural settings like forests,
wilderness, oceans and deserts, as well as in various animals, all of which influ-
ence and interact with the human protagonists. This, Ferlampin-Acher argues,
makes ecocriticism, as a methodological framework, a potentially very important
approach to the study of Arthurian literature. Gender roles and conflicts are the
focus of Chapter 9. Carolyne Larrington shows that, whilst Arthurian romance
is commonly conceived to reinforce medieval gender stereotypes, closer exami-
nation serves often to subvert these expectations, which results in a fundamen-
tal destabilization of the established conception of Arthurian literature as both
socially conservative and heteronormative. Richard Trachsler in Chapter 10 dis-
cusses orality and literacy as important key terms in relation to romance texts
that develop partly out of a Minnelied- and troubadour-tradition, and which –
even in their written form – still feature highly active narrator figures. Performa-
tivity is also covered in this chapter, showing how literary texts often employ per-
 Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature 7

formative strategies to simulate presence, authenticity, corporeality, sensuality

and immediacy for the reader. Chapter 11’s study of medievalism, put together
by Andrew B.R. Elliott, offers a historical overview of later developments of
Arthurian subject matter that reaches not only across centuries, but which also
introduces new media. Here, Elliott discusses how post-medieval adaptations of
Arthurian romance into different media, such as films and series, music, board
and computer games, as well as modern literature, have capitalized on the Arthur­
ian legend’s inherent flexibility and elasticity, which is an auspicious (though
potentially inadvertent) by-product of the various continuations, re-imaginings
and contradictions to be found in the medieval romance tradition. Section II
closes with Andrew Lynch’s evaluation of Post-Colonial Studies in Arthurian lit-
erature in Chapter 12. Lynch sets out how this conglomeration of approaches and
key terms has played a major role in the study of romance texts, abounding as it
does in travels, far-away countries and other cultures, eventually arguing that,
even though its value may well now be diminishing in contemporary scholarly
debates, the term “post-colonial” can still serve a useful purpose in the study of
Arthurian literature, as it encourages modern audiences to consider the wider
historical and cultural contexts in which these medieval texts were produced.
Section III, “Reading Arthurian Romance: Content, Method and Context”,
comprises thirteen text-specific chapters. In each chapter, one romance text is
discussed in relation to one particular topic, motif, context or method that pre-
vails in Arthurian literature. Naturally, the European scope of this Handbook is
reflected in the selection of primary texts, covering with reasonable comprehen-
siveness the Arthurian tradition in the whole range of European vernaculars,
though inevitably some languages do not find representation in this section (such
as, for example, Old Scots, Czech and Belarusian, as well as some of the dialects
deriving from Old Norse), These are, however, all to be found discussed at various
moments in the previous two sections. Chapter 1 sees Florian Kragl discuss Hein-
rich von dem Türlin’s Diu Crône and life at the Arthurian Court. Kragl points to
Heinrich’s own pretensions to create a text that will be regarded as the pinnacle
of Arthurian romance, and assesses his achievement through an analysis of the
work in both macrostructural terms and with regards to the extravagant level of
descriptive detail, which Kragl argues results in a curious hybrid of structural
perfection and narrative badinage. The Old Swedish Herr Ivan, a translation of
Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain, is Sofia Lodén’s focus in Chapter 2. This story of the
knight who loses not only his wife, but also his chivalric honour and reputation,
lends itself particularly well to a discussion of chivalric values and negotiations
of knightly identity, and Lodén here argues that the Swedish text offers a re-inter-
pretation of the French original designed to present an image of courtly society
comprehensible to its Swedish readership, as well as to cater to the tastes of the
8 Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

new Swedish aristocracy. In Chapter 3, Giulia Murgia offers a study of the elements
of magic and the supernatural in La Tavola Ritonda, a popular Italian Arthurian
romance from the fourteenth century that is largely based on the Prose Tristan,
in which she suggests that the magical elements of the narrative, as presented
in the source material, have been marginalized in the Italian text, which seeks
instead to recast this supernaturality in either a scientific or Christian miracu-
lous sense. Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot, ou le Chevalier de la charette then forms
the textual focus for Chapter 4. Here, Thomas Hinton explores how courtly love,
or fin’amor, influences knights in their conduct and behaviour, highlighting how
multiple aspects of this discourse are shaped by the social setting within the text,
and given expression through a delicate balancing act between both private (indi-
vidual) and public (group) spheres. In Chapter 5, Raluca L. Radulescu tackles the
notion of the quest in the Middle English Sir Percyvell of Galles, arguing that the
Middle English text rejects any spiritual significance present in the original story,
and consequently puts forward a very different Arthurian protagonist to the tra-
ditional one inaugurated by Chrétien and taken up by his successors. The quest
of this protagonist, Radulescu argues, is related to the un-ending circle of family
duty, and to the (largely unsuccessful) acquisition of chivalric values, rather than
to objects of spiritual import, such as the Grail. The Middle Welsh Peredur son of
Efrawg is studied by Lowri Morgans in Chapter 6, with a particular focus on the
nature of its translation from Chrétien de Troyes’ unfinished Perceval. Notably,
Morgans’ comparative analysis of the French and Welsh versions offers valua-
ble insights into the potential discrepancies between audience expectations in
both France and Wales during the period of each text’s respective composition.
Chapter 7 sees Frank Brandsma focus on landscapes and foreign countries as
they are depicted in the numerous travels presented in the Middle Dutch Roman
van Walewein. Brandsma’s study shows how, in general, the varied descriptions
of topographical details within the Walewein, and also in a second contempora-
neous Middle Dutch romance (Moriaen), are designed more to facilitate the nar-
rative rather than simply to provide realistic description. The Iberian Post-Vulgate
Cycle is discussed by Paloma Gracia in Chapter 8, with a focus on how cyclicity
works in translation in the Portuguese and Spanish versions of this series of texts.
Gracia conducts a study which seeks to challenge established perceptions con-
cerning late medieval Arthurian peninsular materials and their perceived rela-
tionship to the French Post-Vulgate Cycle. Another common motif, the search for
the Holy Grail, is studied in Chapter 9 by Michael Stolz on the basis of Wolfram
von Eschenbach’s Parzival. Whilst it is unquestionably an Arthurian romance,
the focus of Parzival is trained far more on the Grail and Parzival’s search for
it, than it is on the Arthurian world in which it is situated. Stolz demonstrates
how Wolfram’s text not only finishes the Grail story as he had it from his French
 Introduction: King Arthur’s Court in Medieval European Literature 9

source (Chrétien’s unfinished poem), but purposefully adapts, enriches and

amplifies the tale in both structural and narrative terms. Chapter 10 turns to the
role of women in Arthurian romance. Whilst women are commonly expected to
play a rather passive and subordinated role, many romances subvert this expec-
tation and offer a more diverse picture of gender constellations. Here, Laura
Chuhan Campbell provides a study of Chrétien de Troyes’ Erec et Enide, which
demonstrates the varied contradictions that emerge from the status of women
in Arthurian romance, with a particular focus on the exclusion of female subjec-
tivity within chivalric ideology, as well as the expected role of female characters
as passive objects being specifically designed to be bartered away in the system
of homosocial relations that underpins the chivalric world. Christian ethics and
their interrelationship with the chivalric ideal are studied by Gareth Griffith in
Chapter 11. On the basis of the Middle English Merlin, which not only features
a Christ-like Merlin, but also numerous other Christian elements, Griffith high-
lights the narrative imperative for Arthurian protagonists to embody not only
knightly virtues but also Christian ideals, which leads romance texts to attempt
to negotiate the tricky issue of honour and shame that lies at the centre of Arthu-
rian literature’s dialogue with medieval Christianity. In Chapter 12, Siân Echard
discusses the Latin Arthurian romances Historia Meriadoci and De Ortu Walwanii
guided by Thing Theory. Her examination of the large number of invented objects
and pieces of machinery that are the distinguishing feature of these texts demon-
strates the ways in which many recognizable romance motifs and structures are
defamiliarized within these Latin works, which (depending on the date(s) of
composition) could be reflective of the experimental period during which the
genre-machinery of romance was being explored and assembled, or alternatively
could be designed to send up and deflate the very romance conventions to which
later medieval audiences would have been well accustomed. Finally, Charmaine
Lee focuses in Chapter 13 on the Occitan romance Jaufre, and considers genre
boundaries, the interrelationship with other genres and the generic ambiguity
inherent in Arthurian romance. Through this analysis, Lee demonstrates the
hybridity of this Occitan text, which not only contains references to Chrétien’s
oeuvre and the works of his immediate followers, but also draws upon pre-
Galfridian motifs and ideals of courtly ideology, as developed within the trouba-
dour lyric poetry tradition.
Together, the studies found in this Handbook, whilst not claiming to be
exhaustive, serve to sketch the current scholarly landscape of Arthurian romance
studies. By not only discussing exemplary primary texts, but also combining tra-
ditional scholarly methodologies with recent theoretical concepts and innovative
approaches that guide our interpretations of these texts, a great many similarities
and intersections between Arthurian romances composed in different languages
10 Leah Tether/Johnny McFadyen

begin to emerge. This is particularly evident in Section III, in which the various
chapters serve almost as case studies for the efficacy of the concepts, contexts
and approaches discussed in Sections I and II. As editors, our objective is of
course not to be definitive, but rather to inspire new and existing generations
of Arthurian scholars to consider alternative, complementary methods in their
studies. The decidedly European perspective of this Handbook therefore aims
to provide a series of models for future scholarship (and teaching), by means of
which the findings of Arthurian Studies, which had hitherto run in parallel across
philological divides, might be brought together in a more meaningful and senten-
tious way, one which is perhaps truer to the original context(s) and transmission
of Arthurian romance.

References
Archibald, Elizabeth, and Ad Putter, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Burgess, Glyn S., and Karen Pratt, eds. The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in
Medieval French and Occitan Literature. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006.
Fulton, Helen, ed. A Companion to Arthurian Literature. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Lacy, Norris J., ed. A History of Arthurian Scholarship. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2006.
Kalinke, Marianne E., ed. The Arthur of the North: The Arthurian Legend in the Norse and Rus’
Realms. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011.
Snyder, Christopher. “Arthurian Origins.” A History of Arthurian Scholarship. Ed. Norris J. Lacy.
Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2006. 1–19.
Section I The Context of Arthurian Romance
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
would disclose the all-sufficient portion, and he would go forth to
build again the faith he had destroyed.
“Many were the prayers that ascended in his behalf; and some of
those who were the most deeply interested for him would pass away
before their prayers would be answered. But the great lessons of
longsuffering, of faithfulness, and of the power to deliver out of the
most artful snare of the adversary, would be the more magnified, on
the part of God; the praying, who were yet alive, would hail the
answer with greater joy, and the delivered one would be the better
prepared to take others, in the same fearful condition, by the hand,
and lead them to Him who came to seek and save the lost!”
William Miller received a captain’s commission and entered the
army in 1812. His biographer gives more than thirty pages relative to
his military life, in which those whose hearts are fired by reading of
victories gained by the use of carnal weapons can see much to
admire in him as a patriotic soldier. But as our principal object is to
bring him before the public as an intelligent Bible Christian, a bold
soldier of Jesus Christ, and an able and sound expositor of the word
of life, we pass over his military career, giving only one incident,
which will be of interest to the Christian reader.
“A few reflections on this period of Mr. Miller’s life and the mention
of an incident or two of some interest, must close this chapter.
Everybody is familiar with the fact that the army is a bad school of
morality. Intemperance, licentiousness, gambling, fighting, stealing,
profanity, and Sabbath-breaking, are the common vices of army life.
It was the constant practice of these vices by those around him
which sickened Mr. Miller of their society. And that he should escape
entirely from the contamination would be too much to expect.
However, it is both a matter of surprise, and highly creditable to him,
that his moral integrity and habits were not affected to a hopeless
extent. There were, however, some redeeming traits to the too
generally dark moral picture of army life. There were a few men in
the 30th regiment of infantry who were known as men of prayer and
undoubted piety. And an incident in their history, which Mr. Miller has
often spoken of with great interest, should be mentioned. One of
these praying men, if memory has not failed in the case, was
Sergeant Willey.
“His tent was occasionally used for the purpose of holding a
prayer-meeting. On one of these occasions, when Mr. Miller was ‘the
officer for the day,’ he saw a light in this tent, and, wishing to know
what was going on, as his duty required, he drew near, and heard
the voice of prayer. He said nothing at the time; but, the next day,
on recollecting it, he thought it was a good opportunity to try the
sergeant’s piety, and indulge his own relish for a joke, by calling
Sergeant Willey to account for having his tent occupied by a
gambling party the night before. When the sergeant appeared,
Captain Miller affected great seriousness, and spoke in a tone
bordering on severity, as follows: ‘You know, Sergeant Willey, that it
is contrary to the army regulations to have any gambling in the tents
at night. And I was very sorry to see your tent lit up for that purpose
last night. We cannot have any gambling at such times. You must
put a stop to it at once. I hope I shall not have to speak to you
again about it!’
“The poor sergeant stood thunderstruck, for a moment, to hear
such an imputation cast on him and his associates. And then, hardly
daring to look up, he replied, with the most touching simplicity, and
in a manner which showed that he was alike unwilling to suffer the
scandal of entertaining gamblers, or to make a parade of his
devotions, ‘We were not gambling, sir!’ Captain Miller was touched
with his appearance. But, still affecting greater severity than at first,
being determined to press him to a confession, he said to the
sergeant, ‘Yes, you were gambling! And it won’t do! What else could
you have your tent lighted up for, all the evening, if you were not
gambling?’
“Sergeant Willey now felt himself under the necessity of being a
little more explicit, and answered, in a manner deeply expressive of
his grief and innocence, ‘We were praying, sir.’ Captain Miller, by this
time, was almost in tears; and indicating, by a motion of his hand,
that he was satisfied, and that the praying sergeant might withdraw,
he continued alone for some time, sensibly affected by the courage
manifested by these Christians in that ungodly camp, by the
becoming deportment of their representative under such a serious
scandal, and by the doubtful course he had taken in reference to
them.”
“One fact must be mentioned, which will speak more than
volumes in behalf of his commanding integrity, as it shows the place
he occupied in the respect and confidence of the soldiers. After the
war, two members of his company, who lived as neighbors in the
extreme northern part of Vermont, had some business difficulties,
which grew to be so serious that they could hardly live together as
neighbors on speaking terms, to say the least. This was a great
affliction to themselves, as brother soldiers, to their families, and to
the whole neighborhood. These men had often thought of their
former captain, though they were much older than he was, and
wished the difficulties could be submitted to his examination and
decision. But it was a long way to his residence, and the time and
cost of the journey seemed too much to admit of such an
arrangement. However, the matter became a source of so much
trouble that the proposition was made by one, and gladly accepted
by the other, to visit Captain Miller; to submit the case to him, by
telling each his own story, and to abide by his decision. The long
journey was performed by these old soldiers separately, as duelists
go to the place of single combat. They arrived at Captain Miller’s
nearly at the same time. Arrangements were made for a hearing.
Each told his story. The decision was made known, after all the facts
of the case had been duly considered. It was received in good faith
by the parties. They took each other cordially by the hand, spent a
little time with their captain, and returned to their homes in
company, as friends and brothers.
“Paradoxical as it may appear, some of the most distinguished and
honorable soldiers have been the most successful bloodless peace-
makers, while, on the other hand, some of the most contemptible
cowards, with peaceable pretensions always on their lips, have
distinguished themselves by very little besides their successful
contrivances to keep all engaged in war with whom they have had to
do. Without claiming any special distinction for Mr. Miller on the
score of what are styled brilliant achievements in the field of danger,
the character of a great lover of peace belonged to him as a
distinguishing personal trait. He delighted in peace, naturally; it is
not known that he ever intentionally provoked a quarrel; and a
considerable number of cases could be cited, in which he has been
called to perform the office of a peace-maker, and in the duties of
which he has been remarkably successful. But enough. More must
be left unwritten than it would be practicable or necessary to write.
“The watchful Providence which guarded him in the hour of deadly
peril; the longsuffering which spared him while neglecting the talents
bestowed, or misusing them in rebellion against the Giver; and that
wisdom and grace which overruled all the dangers experienced, and
the derelictions practiced, as in many other persons of distinguished
usefulness, demand our hearty adoration. The close of Mr. Miller’s
military life was to be the commencement of a new era in his history.
The circumstances which preceded that change, the means and
instrumentalities employed in its accomplishment, and the practical
results which immediately followed in the circle of his acquaintance,
must be left to another chapter.”
The following, relative to Mr. Miller’s connection with the army, we
take from his “Apology and Defense,” published in 1845:—
“In 1813, I received a captain’s commission in the U. S. service,
and continued in the army until peace was declared. While there,
many occurrences served to weaken my confidence in the
correctness of deistical principles. I was led frequently to compare
this country to that of the children of Israel, before whom God drove
out the inhabitants of their land. It seemed to me that the Supreme
Being must have watched over the interests of this country in an
especial manner, and delivered us from the hands of our enemies.
“I was particularly impressed with this view when I was in the
battle of Plattsburg, when with 1,500 regulars, and about 4,000
volunteers, we defeated the British, who were 15,000 strong; we
being also successful at the same time in an engagement with the
British fleet on the lake. At the commencement of the battle, we
looked upon our own defeat as almost certain, and yet we were
victorious. So surprising a result against such odds did seem to me
like the work of a mightier power than man.”
 CHAPTER II.
REMOVAL TO LOW HAMPTON—HIS CONVERSION—STUDY
OF THE BIBLE—RULES OF INTERPRETATION, ETC.

“On the retirement of Mr. Miller from the army, he removed his
family from Poultney, Vt., to Low Hampton, N. Y., to begin there the
occupation of farming. His father had died there, in the year 1812,
leaving the homestead encumbered with a mortgage. That was
cancelled by Mr. Miller, who permitted his mother to live there with
his brother Solomon, while he purchased for himself another farm, in
the neighborhood, about half a mile to the west. This lay mostly
above the general level of the valley of the Poultney river, and
comprised about two hundred acres of land, with a surface
somewhat uneven, and with soil similar to that usually found in
sections geologically marked by black slate and limestone. Two miles
to the east was the village of Fairhaven, Vt., near the Poultney river;
and eight miles to the west, on the southern extremity of Lake
Champlain, at the foot of bold, precipitous hills, was the village of
Whitehall, N. Y.
“On this spot, in 1815, Mr. Miller erected a convenient farm-house,
similar to those built throughout the interior of New England at that
epoch. It was of wood, two stories high, with an ell projecting in the
rear. The front and ends were painted white, with green blinds, and
the back side was red. It fronts to the north. A small yard, inclosed
by a picket fence, and ornamented by lilacs, raspberry and rose-
bushes, separates it from the public road leading to Fairhaven, which
is one of the interesting objects in the foreground of the extended
view to the east, as seen from the window of the ‘east room,’ so full
of tender and holy recollections to all visitors.
“To the west of the house, a few rods distant, is a beautiful grove,
where, in later times, he often prayed and wept. This spot was
selected by the political party to which Mr. Miller belonged, for the
place of a public celebration of the national independence, on its
anniversary, July 4, 1816. Mr. Miller was selected as the marshal of
the day; but, not fancying a party celebration, he used his influence
so that all persons, irrespective of party, were invited to partake of
its festivities. In those days of party excitement this was considered
a wonderful stretch of charity.
“Mr. Miller’s grandfather Phelps was in the practice of preaching at
the house of Mr. M.’s father, when he made his occasional visits.
There was no church at the time in that section of the town.
Through his labors Mr. Miller’s mother was converted; and a little
church was there organized, as a branch of the Baptist church in
Orwell, Vt.
“In 1812, Elisha Miller, an uncle of the subject of this memoir, was
settled over the church in Low Hampton, and a small meeting-house
was afterward erected. On Mr. Miller’s removal to Low Hampton, he
became a constant attendant, except in the absence of the preacher,
at that place of worship, and contributed liberally to its support. His
relation to the pastor, and the proximity of his house, caused it to
become the head-quarters of the denomination on extra as well as
on ordinary occasions. There the preachers from a distance found
food and shelter; and, though fond of bantering them on their faith,
and making their opinions a subject of mirth with his infidel friends,
they always found a home beneath his roof.
“In the absence of the pastor, public worship was conducted by
the deacons, who, as a substitute for the sermon, read a printed
discourse, usually from ‘Proud-foot’s Practical Sermons.’ Mr. Miller’s
mother noticed that, on such occasions, he was not in his seat, and
she remonstrated with him. He excused his absence on the ground
that he was not edified by the manner in which the deacons read;
and intimated that if he could do the reading, he should always be
present. This being suggested to those grave officials, they were
pleased with the idea; and, after that, they selected the sermon as
before, but Mr. Miller did the reading, although still entertaining
deistical sentiments.
“The time had now come when God, by his providence and grace,
was about to interpose to enlist the patriotic soldier in another kind
of warfare; when, to his mind, so fond of those departments of truth
which appealed only to reason and sense, was to be opened a more
inspiring field; when the persevering and delighted student of history
was to see and appreciate the connection between the most stirring
scenes and mightiest revolutions in this world’s affairs and God’s
great plan of redemption, to which all the events of time are made
subordinate.
“Detecting himself in an irreverent use of the name of God, as
before related, he was convicted of its sinfulness, and retired to his
beautiful grove, and there, in meditation on the works of nature and
Providence, he endeavored to penetrate the mystery of the
connection between the present and a future state of existence.
“As a farmer, he had had more leisure for reading; and he was at
an age when the future of man’s existence will demand a portion of
his thoughts. He found that his former views gave him no assurance
of happiness beyond the present life. Beyond the grave, all was dark
and gloomy. To use his own words: “Annihilation was a cold and
chilling thought, and accountability was sure destruction to all. The
heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under
my feet. Eternity!—what was it? And death—why was it? The more I
reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. The more I
thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I tried to stop
thinking, but my thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly
wretched, but did not understand the cause. I murmured and
complained, but knew not of whom. I knew that there was a wrong,
but knew not how or where to find the right. I mourned, but without
hope.” He continued in this state of mind for some months, feeling
that eternal consequences might hang on the nature and object of
his belief.
 “The anniversary of the battle of Plattsburg—September 11—was
celebrated in all that region, for some years, with much enthusiasm.
In 1816, arrangements had been made for its observance, by a ball,
at Fairhaven. The stirring scenes of the late campaign being thus
recalled, Captain Miller entered into the preparations for the
expected festivities with all the ardor of the soldier. In the midst of
these, it was announced that Dr. B. would preach on the evening
previous to the ball. In the general gathering to that meeting,
Captain Miller and his help attended, more from curiosity than from
other actuating cause.
“They left Captain Miller’s house in high glee. The discourse was
from Zech. 2:4: ‘Run! speak to this young man!’ It was a word in
season. On their return, Mrs. M., who had remained at home,
observed a wonderful change in their deportment. Their glee was
gone, and all were deeply thoughtful, and not disposed to converse
in reply to her questions respecting the meeting, the ball, &c. They
were entirely incapacitated for any part in the festive arrangements.
Other managers of the ball were equally unfitted for it; and the
result was that it was indefinitely postponed. The seriousness
extended from family to family, and in the several neighborhoods in
that vicinity meetings for prayer and praise took the place of mirth
and the dance.
“On the Lord’s day following, it devolved on Captain Miller, as
usual in the minister’s absence, to read a discourse of the deacons’
selection. They had chosen one on the Importance of Parental
Duties. Soon after commencing, he was overpowered by the inward
struggle of emotion, with which the entire congregation deeply
sympathized, and took his seat. His deistical principles seemed an
almost insurmountable difficulty with him. Soon after, ‘suddenly,’ he
says, ‘the character of a Saviour was vividly impressed upon my
mind. It seemed that there might be a Being so good and
compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions, and
thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin. I immediately felt
how lovely such a Being must be; and imagined that I could cast
myself into the arms of, and trust in the mercy of, such an One. But
the question arose, How can it be proved that such a Being does
exist? Aside from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of
the existence of such a Saviour, or even of a future state. I felt that
to believe in such a Saviour without evidence would be visionary in
the extreme.
“‘I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour as I
needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book should
develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of a fallen
world. I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures must be a
revelation from God. They became my delight; and in Jesus I found
a friend. The Saviour became to me the chiefest among ten
thousand; and the Scriptures, which before were dark and
contradictory, now became the lamp to my feet and light to my path.
My mind became settled and satisfied. I found the Lord God to be a
Rock in the midst of the ocean of life. The Bible now became my
chief study, and I can truly say, I searched it with great delight. I
found the half was never told me. I wondered why I had not seen its
beauty and glory before, and marveled that I could have ever
rejected it. I found everything revealed that my heart could desire,
and a remedy for every disease of the soul. I lost all taste for other
reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom from God.’
“Mr. Miller immediately erected the family altar; publicly professed
his faith in that religion which had been food for his mirth, by
connecting himself with the little church that he had despised;
opened his house for meetings of prayer; and become an ornament
and pillar in the church, and an aid to both pastor and people. The
die was cast, and he had taken his stand for life as a soldier of the
cross, as all who knew him felt assured; and henceforth the badge
of discipleship, in the church or world, in his family or closet,
indicated whose he was and whom he served.
“His pious relations had witnessed with pain his former irreligious
opinions; how great were their rejoicings now! The church, favored
with his liberality, and edified by his reading, but pained by his
attacks on their faith, could now rejoice with the rejoicing. His infidel
friends regarded his departure from them as the loss of a standard-
bearer. And the new convert felt that henceforth, wherever he was,
he must deport himself as a Christian, and perform his whole duty.
His subsequent history must show how well this was done.
“To the church, his devotion of himself to his Master’s service was
as welcome as his labors were efficient. The opposite party,
especially the more gifted of them, regarded him as a powerful, and,
therefore, a desirable, antagonist. He knew the strength of both
parties. That of the former he had often tested, when, in his attacks,
though they might have been silenced, he had felt that he had a bad
cause; and the weakness of the latter had been forcibly impressed
on him in his fruitless efforts to assure himself that they were right.
He knew all their weak points, and where their weapons could be
turned against them. They were not disposed to yield the ground
without a struggle, and began their attack on him by using the
weapons and assailing the points which characterized his own
former attacks on Christianity; and to this fact, under God, is
probably owing his subsequent worldwide notoriety.
“He had taunted his friends with entertaining ‘a blind faith’ in the
Bible, containing, as it did, many things which they confessed their
inability to explain. He had enjoyed putting perplexing questions to
clergymen and others—triumphing in their unsatisfactory replies.
These questions had not been forgotten; and his Christian friends,
also, turned his former taunts upon himself.
“Soon after his renunciation of deism, in conversing with a friend
respecting the hope of a glorious eternity through the merits and
intercessions of Christ, he was asked how he knew there was such a
Saviour. He replied, ‘It is revealed in the Bible.’ ‘How do you know
the Bible is true?’ was the response, with a reiteration of his former
arguments on the contradictions and mysticisms in which he had
claimed it was shrouded.
“Mr. Miller felt such taunts in their full force. He was at first
perplexed; but, on reflection, he considered that if the Bible is a
revelation of God, it must be consistent with itself; all its parts must
harmonize, must have been given for man’s instruction, and,
consequently, must be adapted to his understanding. He, therefore,
said, ‘Give me time, and I will harmonize all these apparent
contradictions to my own satisfaction, or I will be a deist still.’
“He then devoted himself to the prayerful reading of the word. He
laid aside all commentaries, and used the marginal references and
his concordance as his only helps. He saw that he must distinguish
between the Bible and all the peculiar and partisan interpretations of
it. The Bible was older than them all, must be above them all; and
he placed it there. He saw that it must correct all interpretations;
and in correcting them, its own pure light would shine without the
mists which traditionary belief had involved it in. He resolved to lay
aside all preconceived opinions, and to receive, with child-like
simplicity, the natural and obvious meaning of Scripture.
“He pursued the study of the Bible with the most intense interest
—whole nights, as well as days, being devoted to that object. At
times, delighted with truth which shone forth from the sacred
volume, making clear to his understanding the great plan of God for
the redemption of fallen man; and at times puzzled and almost
distracted by seemingly inexplicable or contradictory passages, he
persevered, until the application of his great principle of
interpretation was triumphant. He became puzzled only to be
delighted, and delighted only to persevere the more in penetrating
its beauties and mysteries. His manner of studying the Bible is thus
described by himself:—

“‘I determined to lay aside all my prepossessions, to

thoroughly compare scripture with scripture, and to pursue its
study in a regular and methodical manner. I commenced with
Genesis, and read verse by verse, proceeding no faster than
the meaning of the several passages should be so unfolded as
to leave me free from embarrassment respecting any
mysticisms or contradictions. Whenever I found anything
obscure, my practice was to compare it with all collateral
 passages; and, by the help of Cruden, I examined all the
texts of Scripture in which were found any of the prominent
words contained in any obscure portion. Then, by letting
every word have its proper bearing on the subject of the text,
if my view of it harmonized with every collateral passage in
the Bible, it ceased to be a difficulty.
“‘In this way I pursued the study of the Bible, in my first
perusal of it, for about two years, and was fully satisfied that
it is its own interpreter. I found that, by a comparison of
Scripture with history, all the prophecies, as far as they had
been fulfilled, had been fulfilled literally; that all the various
figures, metaphors, parables, similitudes, &c., of the Bible,
were either explained in their immediate connection, or the
terms in which they were expressed were defined in other
portions of the word; and, when thus explained, are to be
literally understood in accordance with such explanation. I
was thus satisfied that the Bible is a system of revealed
truths, so clearly and simply given that the ‘wayfaring man,
though a fool, need not err therein.’

“In thus continuing the study, he adopted the following

“RULES OF INTERPRETATION.
“1. Every word must have its proper bearing on the subject
presented in the Bible. Proof, Matt. 5:18.
“2. All Scripture is necessary, and may be understood by a
diligent application and study. Proof, 2 Tim. 3:15-17.
“3. Nothing revealed in Scripture can or will be hid from
those who ask in faith, not wavering. Proof, Deut. 29:29;
Matt. 10:26, 27; 1 Cor. 2:10; Phil. 3:15; Isa. 45:11; Matt.
21:22; John 14:13, 14; 15:7; James 1:5, 6; 1 John 5:13-15.
“4. To understand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together
on the subject you wish to know; then let every word have its
proper influence; and, if you can form your theory without a
contradiction, you cannot be in error. Proof, Isa. 28:7-29;
35:8; Prov. 19:27; Luke 24:27, 44, 45; Rom. 16:26; James
5:19; 2 Pet. 1:19, 20.
“5. Scripture must be its own expositor, since it is a rule of
itself. If I depend on a teacher to expound to me, and he
should guess at its meaning, or desire to have it so on
account of his sectarian creed, or to be thought wise, then his
guessing, desire, creed, or wisdom, is my rule, and not the
Bible. Proof, Ps. 19:7-11; 119:97-105; Matt. 23:8-10; 1 Cor.
2:12-16; Eze. 34:18, 19; Luke 11:52; Matt. 2:7, 8.
“6. God has revealed things to come, by visions, in figures
and parables; and in this way the same things are oftentimes
revealed again and again, by different visions, or in different
figures and parables. If you wish to understand them, you
must combine them all in one. Proof, Ps. 89:19; Hos. 12:10;
Hab. 2:2; Acts 2:17; 1 Cor. 10:6; Heb. 9:9, 24; Ps. 78:2;
Matt. 13:13, 34; Gen. 41:1-32; Dan. 2d, 7th & 8th; Acts 10:9-
16.
“7. Visions are always mentioned as such. 2 Cor. 12:1.
“8. Figures always have a figurative meaning, and are used
much in prophecy to represent future things, times and
events—such as mountains, meaning governments; Dan.
2:35, 44; beasts, meaning kingdoms; Dan. 7:8, 17; waters,
meaning people; Rev. 17:1, 15; day, meaning year, &c. Eze.
4:6.
“9. Parables are used as comparisons to illustrate subjects,
and must be explained in the same way as figures, by the
subject and Bible. Mark 4:13.
“10. Figures sometimes have two or more different
significations, as day is used in a figurative sense to represent
three different periods of time, namely, first, indefinite; Eccl.
7:14; second, definite, a day for a year; Eze. 4:6; and third, a
day for a thousand years. 2 Pet. 3:8. The right construction
will harmonize with the Bible, and make good sense; other
constructions will not.
“11. If a word makes good sense as it stands, and does no
violence to the simple laws of nature, it is to be understood
literally; if not, figuratively. Rev. 12:1, 2; 17:3-7.
“12. To learn the meaning of a figure, trace the word
through your Bible, and when you find it explained, substitute
the explanation for the word used; and, if it make good
sense, you need not look further; if not, look again.
“13. To know whether we have the true historical event for
the fulfillment of a prophecy: If you find every word of the
prophecy (after the figures are understood) is literally fulfilled,
then you may know that your history is the true event; but if
one word lacks a fulfillment, then you must look for another
event, or wait its future development; for God takes care that
history and prophecy shall agree, so that the true believing
children of God may never be ashamed. Ps. 22:5; Isa. 45:17-
19; 1 Pet. 2:6; Rev. 17:17; Acts 3:18.
“14. The most important rule of all is, that you must have
faith. It must be a faith that requires a sacrifice, and, if tried,
would give up the dearest object on earth, the world and all
its desires—character, living, occupation, friends, home,
comforts and worldly honors. If any of these should hinder
our believing any part of God’s word, it would show our faith
to be vain. Nor can we ever believe so long as one of these
motives lies lurking in our hearts. We must believe that God
will never forfeit his word; and we can have confidence that
He who takes notice of the sparrow’s fall, and numbers the
hairs of our head, will guard the translation of his own word,
and throw a barrier around it, and prevent those who
sincerely trust in God, and put implicit confidence in his word,
from erring far from the truth.
 “‘While thus studying the Scriptures,’—continuing the words
of his own narrative,—‘I became satisfied, if the prophecies
which have been fulfilled in the past are any criterion by
which to judge of the manner of the fulfillment of those which
are future, that the popular views of the spiritual reign of
Christ—a temporal millennium before the end of the world,
and the Jews’ return—are not sustained by the word of God;
for I found that all the Scriptures on which those favorite
theories are based are as clearly expressed as are those that
were literally fulfilled at the first advent, or at any other
period in the past.
“‘I found it plainly taught in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ
will again descend to this earth, coming in the clouds of
heaven, in all the glory of his Father:[2] that, at his coming,
the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven will be
given unto Him and the saints of the Most High, who will
possess it forever, even forever and ever:[3] that, as the old
world perished by the deluge, so the earth, that now is, is
reserved unto fire, to be melted with fervent heat at Christ’s
coming; after which, according to the promise, it is to become
the new earth, wherein the righteous will forever dwell:[4]
that, at his coming, the bodies of all the righteous dead will
be raised, and all the righteous living be changed from a
corruptible to an incorruptible, from a mortal to an immortal
state; that they will be caught up together to meet the Lord
in the air, and will reign with him forever in the regenerated
earth.[5]
“‘The controversy with Zion will then be finished, her
children be delivered from bondage, and from the power of
the tempter, and the saints be all presented to God
blameless, without spot or wrinkle, in love;[6] that the bodies
of the wicked will then be all destroyed, and their spirits be
reserved in prison[7] until their resurrection and damnation;[8]
and that, when the earth is thus regenerated, and the
righteous raised, and the wicked destroyed, the kingdom of
God will have come, when his will will be done on earth as it
is in Heaven; that the meek will inherit it, and the kingdom
become the saint’s.[9]
“‘I found that the only millennium taught in the word of
God is the thousand years which are to intervene between
the first resurrection and that of the rest of the dead, as
inculcated in the twentieth of Revelation; and that it must
necessarily follow the personal coming of Christ and the
regeneration of the earth,[10] that, till Christ’s coming, and
the end of the world, the righteous and wicked are to
continue together on the earth, and that the horn of the
papacy is to war against the saints until his appearing and
kingdom, when it will be destroyed by the brightness of
Christ’s coming; so that there can be no conversion of the
world before the advent;[11] and that as the new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness, is located by Peter after the
conflagration, and is declared by him to be the same for
which we look, according to the promise of Isa. 65:17.
“‘This is the same that John saw in vision after the passing
away of the former heavens and earth; it must necessarily
follow that the various portions of Scripture that refer to the
millennial state must have their fulfillment after the
resurrection of all the saints that sleep in Jesus.[12] I also
found that the promises respecting Israel’s restoration are
applied by the apostle to all who are Christ’s—the putting on
of Christ constituting them Abraham’s seed and heirs
according to the promise.[13].
“‘I was then satisfied, as I saw conclusive evidence to
prove the advent personal and pre-millennial, that all the
events for which the church look to be fulfilled [in the
millennium] before the advent, must be subsequent to it; and
that, unless there were other unfulfilled prophecies, the
advent of the Lord, instead of being looked for only in the
distant future, might be a continually-expected event. In
examining the prophecies on that point, I found that only four
universal monarchies are anywhere predicted, in the Bible, to
precede the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom; that
three of those had passed away—Babylon, Medo-Persia, and
Grecia—and that the fourth—Rome—had already passed into
its last state, the state in which it is to be when the stone cut
out of the mountain without hands shall smite the image on
the feet, and break to pieces all the kingdoms of this world.
“‘I was unable to find any prediction of events which
presented any clear evidence of their fulfillment before the
scenes that usher in the advent. And finding all the signs of
the times, and the present condition of the world, to compare
harmoniously with the prophetic descriptions of the last days,
I was compelled to believe that this world had about reached
the limits of the period allotted for its continuance. As I
regarded the evidence, I could arrive at no other conclusion.
“‘Another kind of evidence that vitally affected my mind
was the chronology of the Scriptures. I found, on pursuing
the study of the Bible, various chronological periods
extending, according to my understanding of them, to the
coming of the Saviour. I found that predicted events, which
had been fulfilled in the past, often occurred within a given
time. The one hundred and twenty years to the flood; Gen.
6:3; the seven days that were to precede it, with forty days of
predicted rain; Gen. 7:4; the four hundred years of sojourn of
Abraham’s seed; Gen. 15:13; the three days of the butler’s
and baker’s dreams; Gen. 40:12-20; the seven years of
Pharaoh’s; Gen. 41:28-54; the forty years in the wilderness;
Num. 14:34; the three and a half years of famine: 1 Kings
17:1; the sixty-five years to the breaking of Ephraim; Isa.
7:8; the seventy years’ captivity; Jer. 25:11;
Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times; Dan. 4:13-16; and the seven
weeks, three-score and two weeks, and the one week,
making seventy weeks, determined upon the Jews; Dan.
9:24-27; the events limited by these times were all once only
a matter of prophecy, and were fulfilled in accordance with
the predictions.
“‘When, therefore, I found the 2300 prophetic days, which
were to mark the length of the vision from the Persian to the
end of the fourth kingdom, the seven times’ continuance of
the dispersion of God’s people, and the 1335 prophetic days
to the standing of Daniel in his lot, all evidently extending to
the advent,[14] with other prophetical periods, I could but
regard them as ‘the times before appointed,’ which God had
revealed ‘unto his servants the prophets.’ As I was fully
convinced that ‘all Scripture given by inspiration of God is
profitable,’—that it came not at any time by the will of man,
but was written as holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost,
and was written for our learning, that we, through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope,—I could but
regard the chronological portions of the Bible as being as
much a portion of the word of God, and as much entitled to
our serious consideration, as any other portion of the
Scriptures.
“‘I, therefore, felt that, in endeavoring to comprehend what
God had in his mercy seen fit to reveal to us, I had no right to
pass over the prophetic periods. I saw that, as the events
predicted to be fulfilled in prophetic days had been extended
over about as many literal years; as God, in Num. 14:34, and
Eze. 4:4-6, had appointed each day for a year; as the seventy
weeks to the Messiah were fulfilled in 490 years, and the
1260 prophetic days of the papal supremacy in 1260 years;
and as these prophetical days extending to the advent were
given in connection with symbolic prophecy, I could only
regard the time as symbolical, and as standing each day for a
year, in accordance with the opinions of all the standard
Protestant commentators. If, then, we could obtain any clue
to the time of their commencement, I conceived we should
be guided to the probable time of their termination, and, as
God would not bestow upon us a useless revelation, I
regarded them as conducting us to the time when we might
confidently look for the coming of the Chiefest of ten
thousand, One altogether lovely.
“‘From a further study of the Scriptures, I concluded that
the seven times of Gentile supremacy must commence when
the Jews ceased to be an independent nation, at the captivity
of Manasseh, which the best chronologers assigned to b. c.
677; that the 2300 days commenced with the seventy weeks,
which the best chronologers dated from b. c. 457; and that
the 1335 days, commencing with the taking away of the daily,
and the setting up of the abomination that maketh desolate,
Dan. 12:11, were to be dated from the setting up of the papal
supremacy, after the taking away of pagan abominations, and
which, according to the best historians I could consult, should
be dated from about a. d. 508. Reckoning all these prophetic
periods from the several dates assigned by the best
chronologers for the events from which they should evidently
be reckoned, they would all terminate together, about a. d.
1843.
“‘I was thus brought, in 1818, at the close of my two years’
study of the Scriptures, to the solemn conclusion that in
about twenty-five years from that time all the affairs of our
present state would be wound up; that all its pride and
power, pomp and vanity, wickedness and oppression, would
come to an end; and that, in the place of the kingdoms of
this world, the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the
Messiah would be established under the whole heaven; that,
in about twenty-five years, the glory of the Lord would be
revealed, and all flesh see it together—the desert bud and
blossom as the rose, the fir-tree come up instead of the
thorn, and, instead of the briar, the myrtle-tree—the curse be
removed from off the earth, death be destroyed, reward be
 given to the servants of God, the prophets and saints, and
them who fear his name, and those be destroyed that destroy
the earth.
“‘I need not speak of the joy that filled my heart in view of
the delightful prospect, nor of the ardent longings of my soul
for a participation in the joys of the redeemed. The Bible was
now to me a new book. It was indeed a feast of reason; all
that was dark, mystical or obscure, to me, in its teachings,
had been dissipated from my mind before the clear light that
now dawned from its sacred pages; and oh, how bright and
glorious the truth appeared!
“‘All the contradictions and inconsistencies I had before
found in the word were gone; and, although there were many
portions of which I was not satisfied I had a full
understanding, yet so much light had emanated from it to the
illumination of my before darkened mind, that I felt a delight
in studying the Scriptures which I had not before supposed
could be derived from its teachings. I commenced their study
with no expectation of finding the time of the Saviour’s
coming, and I could at first hardly believe the result to which
I had arrived; but the evidence struck me with such force that
I could not resist my convictions. I became nearly settled in
my conclusions, and began to wait, and watch, and pray for
my Saviour’s coming.

“The above are the conclusions to which he arrived on the general

subject of prophecy; but his views on other scriptural topics may not
be uninteresting in this connection. His general theological opinions
may be inferred from his connecting himself with a Calvinistic Baptist
church, as the one most congenial to his faith. But he has left,
among his papers, an unfinished compendium of his belief, which
bears date, and is appended to the annexed certificate, as follows:—

“‘Low Hampton, Sept. 5, 1822.

 “‘I hereby acknowledge that I have long believed it my duty
... to leave, for the inspection of my brethren, friends and
children, a brief statement of my faith (and which ought to be
my practice); and I pray God to forgive me where I go astray.
I made it a subject of prayer and meditation, and, therefore,
leave the following as my faith,—reserving the privilege of
correction.
“‘(Signed,) Wm. Miller.
“‘Article One.
“‘I believe the Bible is given by God to man, as a rule for
our practice, and a guide to our faith—that it is a revelation of
God to man.
“‘Article Two.
“‘I believe in one living and true God, and that there are
three persons in the Godhead—as there is in man, the body,
soul, and spirit. And if any one will tell me how these exist, I
will tell him how the three persons of the Triune God are
connected.
“‘Article Three.
“‘I believe that God, by his Son, created man in the image
of the Triune God, with a body, soul, and spirit; and that he
was created a moral agent, capable of living, of obeying, or
transgressing the laws of his Maker.
“‘Article Four.
“‘I believe that man, being tempted by the enemy of all
good, did transgress, and became polluted; from which act,
sin entered into the world, and all mankind became naturally
sinners, thrust out from the presence of God, and exposed to
his just wrath forever.
“‘Article Five.
 “‘I believe that God, knowing from eternity the use that
man would make of his [free] agency, did, in his council of
eternity, ordain that his Son should die; and that through his
death salvation should be given to fallen man, through such
means as God should appoint.
“‘Article Six.
“‘I believe that, through the agency of the Holy Spirit,
sinners are made the recipients of mercy, in conformity to the
divine plan, founded on the wisdom and knowledge of God;
the fruits of which are manifested in the recipient by works of
repentance and faith; and without which no man, coming to
years of discretion, and able to choose between good and
evil, can have an interest in the blood and righteousness of
Christ.
“‘Article Seven.
“‘I believe that Jesus Christ is an offering of God to sinners
for their redemption from sin, and that those who believe in
his name may take him by faith, go to God, and find mercy;
and that such will in nowise be rejected.
“‘Article Eight.
“‘I believe that Jesus Christ was the sacrifice for sin which
justice demanded; and that all those who confess their sins
on the head of this victim may expect forgiveness of sin
through the blood of the atonement, which is in Jesus Christ,
the great High Priest in the holy of holies.
“‘Article Nine.
“‘I believe the atonement to be made by the intercession of
Jesus Christ, and the sprinkling of his blood in the holy of
holies, and upon the mercy-seat and people; by which means
the offended is reconciled to the offender, the offender is
brought into subjection to the will of God; and the effect is,
forgiveness of sin, union to the divine person, and to the
household of faith.
“‘Article Ten.
“‘I believe all those for whom Christ intercedes, who are
united to God by a living faith, and have received the
forgiveness of sin through the sprinkling of the blood of
Christ, can never perish; but are kept by the mighty power of
God through faith unto salvation.
“‘Article Eleven.
“‘I believe that all the promises of God are and will be
accomplished in Christ Jesus; and that none of the human
family are or can be entitled to the promises of grace, but
those who are born of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, any more
than the antediluvians could have been saved from the
deluge without entering the ark.
“‘Article Twelve.
“‘I believe that Christ will eventually take away the sin of
the world, and cleanse the earth from all pollution, so that
this earth will become the abode of the saints forever, by
means which he has appointed; all believers being
regenerated, sanctified, justified, and glorified.
“‘Article Thirteen.
“‘I believe that all final impenitents will be destroyed from
the earth, and sent away into a place prepared for the devil
and his angels.
“‘Article Fourteen.
“‘I believe Jesus Christ will come again in his glory and
person to our earth, where he will accomplish his divine
purposes in the saving of his people, destroying the wicked
from the earth, and taking away the sin of the world.
“‘Article Fifteen.
 “‘I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near,
even at the door, even within twenty-one years,—on or before
1843.
“‘Article Sixteen.
“‘I believe that before Christ comes in his glory, all
sectarian principles will be shaken, and the votaries of the
several sects scattered to the four winds; and that none will
be able to stand but those who are built on the word of God.
“‘Article Seventeen.
“‘I believe in the resurrection, both of the just and of the
unjust—the just, or believers, at Christ’s second coming, and
the unjust one thousand years afterwards—when the
judgment of each will take place in their order, at their several
resurrections; when the just will receive everlasting life, and
the unjust eternal condemnation.
“‘Article Eighteen.
“‘I believe in the doctrine of election, founded on the will,
purpose, and fore-knowledge of God; and that all the elect
will be saved in the kingdom of God, through the
sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth.
“‘Article Nineteen.
“‘I believe in the ordinance of baptism by immersion, as a
representation of Christ’s burial and resurrection—also of our
death to sin and life to holiness.
“‘Article Twenty.
“‘I believe in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper, to be’⸺

“The last article was left thus incomplete, and the series of articles
was not extended, as it was evidently designed to have been, so as
to give an expression of his faith on subjects not included in the
foregoing. It is not known that his views, as above expressed, ever
underwent any change—excepting as his belief in the date of the
second advent was afterwards shown, by the passing of time, to be
incorrect.”
 CHAPTER III.
INTERVAL BETWEEN HIS CONVERSION AND HIS PUBLIC
LABORS—CORRESPONDENCE—DIALOGUE WITH A
PHYSICIAN.

All truly great and good men who have been the honored
instruments in the hands of God of accomplishing good, and of
leading his people in the way of truth, have had wrought in them a
deep experience in the things of the Spirit of God. This being the
case with William Miller, we are happy to give in this chapter some of
the important facts in his experience. His biographer says:—
“From the time that Mr. Miller became established in his religious
faith, till he commenced his public labors—a period of twelve or
fourteen years—there were few prominent incidents in his life to
distinguish him from other men. He was a good citizen, a kind
neighbor, an affectionate husband and parent, and a devoted
Christian; good to the poor, and benevolent, as objects of charity
were presented; in the Sunday-school, was teacher and
superintendent; in the church he performed important service as a
reader and exhorter, and, in the support of religious worship, no
other member, perhaps, did as much as he.
“He was very exemplary in his life and conversation, endeavored
at all times to perform the duties, whether public or private, which
devolved on him, and whatever he did was done cheerfully, as for
the glory of God. His leisure hours were devoted to reading and
meditation; he kept himself well informed respecting the current
events of the time; occasionally communicated his thoughts through
the press, and often, for his own private amusement, or for the
entertainment of friends, indulged in various poetical effusions,
which, for unstudied productions, are possessed of some merit; but
his principal enjoyment was derived from the study of the Bible. His
state of mind at this time can be better given in his own language.

“‘With the solemn conviction,’ writes Mr. Miller, ‘that such

momentous events were predicted in the Scriptures, to be
fulfilled in so short a space of time, the question came home
to me with mighty power regarding my duty to the world, in
view of the evidence that had affected my own mind. If the
end was so near, it was important that the world should know
it. I supposed that it would call forth the opposition of the
ungodly; but it never came into my mind that any Christian
would oppose it. I supposed that all such would be so
rejoiced, in view of the glorious prospect, that it would only
be necessary to present it, for them to receive it. My great
fear was that in their joy at the hope of a glorious inheritance
so soon to be revealed, they would receive the doctrine
without sufficiently examining the Scriptures in demonstration
of its truth. I therefore feared to present it, lest, by some
possibility, I should be in error, and be the means of
misleading any.
“‘Various difficulties and objections would arise in my mind
from time to time; certain texts would occur to me which
seemed to weigh against my conclusions; and I would not
present a view to others, while any difficulty appeared to
militate against it. I therefore continued the study of the
Bible, to see if I could sustain any of these objections. My
object was not merely to remove them, but I wished to see if
they were valid.
“‘Sometimes, when at work, a text would arise like this: “Of
that day and hour knoweth no man,” &c.; and how, then,
could the Bible reveal the time of the advent? I would then
immediately examine the context in which it was found, and I
saw at once that, in the same connection, we are informed
how we may know when it is nigh, even at the doors;
consequently, that text could not teach that we could know
nothing of the time of that event. Other texts, which are
advanced in support of the doctrine of a temporal millennium,
would arise; but on examining their context, I invariably
found that they were applicable only to the eternal state, or
were so illustrative of the spread of the gospel here as to be
entirely irrelevant to the position they were adduced to
support.
“‘Thus all those passages that speak of the will of God
being done on earth as in Heaven, of the earth being full of
the knowledge of the glory of God, &c., could not be
applicable to a time when the man of sin was prevailing
against the saints, or when the righteous and wicked were
dwelling together, which is to be the case until the end of the
world. Those who speak of the gospel being preached in all
the world, teach that, as soon as it should be thus preached,
the end was to come; so that it could not be delayed a
thousand years from that time, nor long enough for the
world’s conversion after the preaching of the gospel as a
witness.
“‘The question of the resurrection and judgment was, for a
time, an obstacle in the way. Being instructed that all the
dead would be raised at the same time, I supposed it must be
so taught in the Bible; but I soon saw it was one of the
traditions of the elders.
“‘So, also, with the return of the Jews. That question I saw
could only be sustained by denying the positive declarations
of the New Testament, which assert: “There is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek;” that the promise that he
shall be the heir of the world was not to Abraham and his
seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith;
that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor
female;” but that “if ye are Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s
seed, and heirs according to the promise.” I was, therefore,
 obliged to discard an objection which asserts there is a
difference between the Jew and Greek; that the children of
the flesh are accounted for the seed, &c.
“‘In this way I was occupied for five years—from 1818 to
1823—in weighing the various objections which were being
presented to my mind. During that time, more objections
arose in my mind than have been advanced by my opponents
since; and I know of no objection that has been since
advanced which did not then occur to me. But, however
strong they at first appeared, after examining them in the
light of the divine word, I could only compare them to straws,
laid down singly as obstacles on a well-beaten road; the car
of truth rolled over them, unimpeded in its progress.
“‘I was then fully settled in the conclusions which seven
years previously had begun to bear with such impressive
force upon my mind; and the duty of presenting the evidence
of the nearness of the advent to others—which I had
managed to evade while I could find the shadow of an
objection remaining against its truth—again came home to
me with great force. I had, previously, only thrown out
occasional hints of my views. I then began to speak more
clearly my opinions to my neighbors, to ministers, and others.
To my astonishment, I found very few who listened with any
interest. Occasionally, one would see the force of the
evidence; but the great majority passed it by as an idle tale. I
was, therefore, disappointed in finding any who would declare
this doctrine, as I felt it should be, for the comfort of saints,
and as a warning to sinners.’

“His correspondence during this period shows ardent longings for

the salvation of his relatives and friends. In a letter to a sister, dated
June 25, 1825, after writing on various subjects of family interest, he
says:—
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