Páls leizla: The Vision of St Paul

Sammendrag

Daria Bullitta's edition presents the Norse translation of one of the earliest and most widely circulated medieval Latin afterlife visions. It is generically affiliated with other popular visiones such as the Visio Tundali, the Visio Gunthelmi, the narratives of Drycthelm and Furseus, both from Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and similar episodes found in Gregory the Great's Dialogi - all of which survive in Norse translations. The most widely known medieval form of the Visio Pauli is derived from an apocryphal apocalypse composed in Greek, probably in Egypt in the third century, in which the apostle, guided by St. Michael, is taken to the different spheres of heaven and subsequently to hell, where he is shown the tortures assigned to different categories of sinners in the hereafter. The version of the Visio Pauli that circulated most widely in the Middle Ages contains only the journey through hell. It probably originated on the British Isles and survives in some 102 medieval codices.