Peter Grund

From Tongue to Text: The Transmission of the Salem Witchcraft Examination Records

This is the authors accepted manuscript. The published version can be found here http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00031283-2007-005

The Nature of Knowledge: Evidence and Evidentiality in the Witness Depositions from the Salem Witch Trials

This is the authors accepted manuscript. Also available electronically at http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00031283-1599941

EDITING THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT RECORDS: AN EXPLORATION OF A LINGUISTIC TREASURY

��� The witchcraft trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts, in 1692 constitute one of the best-known events in the history of the early English settlement of the North American continent. Our knowledge of the course of the trials mainly derives from the some 1,000 records preserved from the trial proceedings and preliminary hearings. So far, it is mainly social historians and literary scholars who have studied the original documents (see, e.g., Rosenthal 1993 and references therein). However, the trial documents also present a wealth of material significant to historical linguists interested in early American English and the Early Modern period in general (see Kyto 1991, forthcoming; Hiltunen 1996; Rissanen 1997, 2003). The documents constitute a rich variety of text categories from records of examinations and depositions to formulaic warrants and indictments. Consequently, apart from providing essential historical facts, the documents also give unique insights into the language of the period both in highly specialized, formal written uses and in less formal, speech-related contexts. The aim of this article is to present work in progress on a new edition of the documents from the Salem witchcraft trials that considers the linguistic features of the documents. Focusing on examinations and depositions, we will also discuss the characteristics of the documents and their usefulness and value for linguistic research. In connection with this discussion, we will consider the scribal context and the importance of this feature to a linguistic exploration of the documents. We will show how a new edition may further understanding of the early development of the English language in North America.

Manuscripts as Sources for Linguistic Research: A Methodological Case Study Based on the Mirror of Lights

This article explores the problematic issue of using editions as sources for studies of English historical morpho-syntax. It presents a methodological case study of the variation between he and it in reference to inanimate objects (such as mercury) in Mirror of Lights, an alchemical text that survives in multiple copies from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The study reveals that the manuscript versions differ greatly in how they employ he and it, underscoring that linguistic studies based on one version would provide very different results from those using another version as the source. The article argues that it is crucial that such manuscript variation is taken into consideration in morpho-syntactic studies. It suggests that an electronic edition that incorporates all copies of the text would make the full variation available to linguists, while a traditional critical edition would highlight the pattern of one version but obscure or ignore the patterns of other manuscripts. The article also discusses the more general problem of including a multiversion text such as the Mirror of Lights into a corpus and suggests some possible solutions.

'ffor to make Azure as Albert biddes’: Medieval English Alchemical Writings in the Pseudo-Albertan Tradition

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore the unresearched body of manuscript texts on alchemy in medieval English (fifteenth century). More specifically, it is concerned with texts that are commonly attributed to the famous medieval scholar Albertus Magnus. Taking as its starting point the work done by Pearl Kibre on Latin alchemical writings attributed to Albertus, the article shows that the English manuscript texts (some thirty) are all related to one text in the Latin corpus, the Semita recta. (Kibre lists about thirty texts in Latin.) However, the English texts display varying affinities to the Semita recta: there are literal translations as well as major adaptations, and there are texts that appear to exploit the authority of the Semita recta for advancing completely unrelated discussions. It is also evident that the early English translators and redactors of alchemical texts were particularly interested in practical aspects of alchemy: many of the texts exhibit an emphasis on practical details, whereas the theoretical parts have been excised. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that although the English manuscripts derive from a pseudo-Albertan text, most of them do not contain an overt attribution to Albertus. It is thus unclear whether Albertuss renown as an alchemist played a significant part in the circulation of the texts in a vernacular context.

The Anatomy of Correction: Additions, Cancellations, and Changes in the Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Trials

This is the authors accepted manuscript. The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00393270701287439

Textual History as Language History? Text Categories, Corpora, Editions, and the Witness Depositions from the Salem Witch Trials 1

This is the authors accepted manuscript. The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00393274.2012.668071

Albertus Magnus and the Queen of the Elves: A 15th-Century English Verse Dialogue on Alchemy

Abstract This article presents an edition of a Middle English verse tract on alchemy based on Trinity College, Cambridge, MS R. 14. 44 (15th century). The tract, entitled “Semita Recta Albertus peribet testimonium”, is structured as a dialogue between Albertus Magnus, the famous medieval scholar (c. 1200–1280), and Elchyӡell, the Queen of the Elves. In the dialogue, Elchyӡell instructs Albertus on how to produce an alchemical elixir that will produce silver or gold. Besides presenting the edition, this article also places the dialogue in the tradition of alchemical and scientific writing in Middle English. I argue that, as in the case of many other alchemical texts of the period, the author of this tract uses Albertus and the setting of the poem to bestow dignity and credibility on the text. Furthermore, it is shown that the tract exploits several presentation strategies common in other alchemical and scientific texts, such as the verse medium, the dialogue format, the recipe structure and coded language. However, I also demonstrate that this text appears to be unique in the way it utilizes and combines these presentation strategies.

Textual Alchemy: The Transformation of Pseudo-Albertus Magnus's Semita Recta into the Mirror of Lights

Abstract This article explores the strategies of and the reasons behind the reworking of pseudo-Albertus Magnuss Semita recta into the Mirror of Lights. I argue that the redactor sought to provide a more comprehensive defence of the legitimacy of alchemy than found in the Semita recta. In the process of doing so, he reshaped the original text so as to present three units that addressed different parts of the alchemical opus: first, theory and justification of alchemy; second, basic information on substances and procedures; and, third, practice. The redactor employed sophisticated textual tools identical to those seen in scholastic texts. These strategies, I argue, constitute part of the redactors attempt to bring authority and credibility to his project and to alchemy in general. Certainly, much more attention needs to be paid to these experiments of textual alchemy in order to understand the practice of alchemy in the late medieval period.

The Vagaries of Manuscripts from the Salem Witch Trials: An Edition of Four (Re-)Discovered Documents from the Case Against Margaret Scott of Rowley

Rich documentary evidence survives from the witch trials in Salem, MA, in 1692–1693. We have at our disposal about 1,000 documents, including witness depositions, indictments, warrants, letters of restitution, and records of pretrial hearings (see RSWH). At the same time, it is clear from the extant body of texts that a substantial number of additional documents must have existed that no longer survive or whose locations are yet to be determined. There are also records that are not extant or have been assumed not to be extant but for which we have evidence in the form of later transcriptions or editions (see e.g. RSWH, nos. 414 and 417). This is the case of four witness depositions pertaining to the case of Margaret Scott of Rowley (for Scott’s case, see Rosenthal 1993: 171; Norton 2002: 254, 276–277, 317; Rice 2005: np). These depositions were transcribed and included in Thomas Gage’s History of Rowley published in 1840. As the