Bibliography for Jewish and Christian Hells

General

Works by Visionary’s Name, Author’s Name or Title

A B C D E F G H I J K L
M–N O P–Q R S T U–V W–X–Y Z

Abbreviations

Related Topics

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A

• Leabhar Braec. The Speckled Book. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1876, 2:253–56. Facsimile of Leabhar Braec (The Speckled Book) manuscript, containing the Celtic text of the Vision of Adamnán.
• Leabhar na H–Uidhri. The Book of the Dun Cow. Ed. by Moelmuiri Mac Ceileachair. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1870, 27–31. Facsimile of Leabhar na H–Uidhri (The Book of the Dun Cow) manuscript. Introduction provides a description of the manuscript, containing the Celtic text of the Vision of Adamnán.
• Leabhar na H–Uidhri. The Book of the Dun Cow. Ed. by Richard I. Best and Osborn Bergin. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1929, 67–76. Facsimile of Leabhar na H–Uidhri (The Book of the Dun Cow) manuscript, containing the Celtic text of the Vision of Adimnán.
• Boswell, C.S. An Irish Precursor of Dante: A Study of the Vision of Heaven and Hell Ascribed to the Eighth Century Irish Saint Adamnán. Grimm Library, 18. London: D. Nutt, 1908; rpt. New York, 1972, pp. 28–47. Introduction on the historical Adamnán and his relationship to this text. Discusses briefly the two manuscripts. Provides an English translation of the Dun Cow text, Leabhar na H–Uidhri.
• Colwell, James Joseph. “Fis Adamnán: A Comparative Study, with Introduction, Text, and Commentary based on the verision of the Lebor na Huidre.” Ph.D. Diss.: University of Edinburgh, 1952.
• Os, 266–74. English translation reprinted from Boswell.
• Stokes, Whitley. Fis Adamnain. Simla, 1870. Includes an annotated transcription and translation from the Book of the Dun Cow.
• [Stokes, Whitley.] Mac da Cherda. Fraser’s Magazine 83, n.s. 3: (1871): 184–94. A publications of Stokes' annotated English translation (above) with a very brief introduction covering mss, language, and date.
• [Stokes, Whitley.] Stokes, Margaret. Three Months in the Forests of France. London: G. Bell, 1895, 265–79. Reprinted from the Fraser's Magazine (above).
• Stokes, Whitley. “Adamnan’s Second Vision.” Revue celtique 12 (1891):420–43. Taken from the lithographic facsimile of the Leabhar Braec (158b–159b), an edition of a second version of the VA in Irish, preceded by four Latin paragraphs, with facing English translation, notes and a brief glossary of unusual Irish words.
• Vendryes, Joseph. “Aislingthi Adhamnáin d’ après le texte du manuscrit de Paris.” Revue celtique 30 (1909): 349–83. Diplomatic edition of Irish text of the B.N. Paris MS. Fond celtique no. I (fifteenth century) with facing French translation. The text of this manuscript is more closely related to the Dun Cow text.
• Windisch, Ernst, ed. “Fis Adamnáin; Die Vision des Adamnán.” Irische Texte 1(1880): 165–96. Brief introduction on manuscripts, language, and dating. Presents diplomatic editions of two of the three manuscripts: Leabhar na H–Uidhri (Book of the Dun Cow, c. 1100) and Leabhar Braec (The Speckled Book, late fourteenth century), both from the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
• http://definibus.ucc.ie/keytexts/FA.html

STUDIES

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SOURCES

• Bibliotheca Casinensis 5, 1 (1894): 191–206. Latin edition.
• Cancellieri, Francesco, ed. and trans. Osservazioni intorno alla questione promossa dal Vannozzi del Mazzochi dal Botari especialmente dal P. Abate D. Giuseppe Giustino di Costanzo sopra l’originalità della Divine Commedia, appogiata alla storia della Visione del Monaco Casinese Alberic. Rome: Presso F. Bourlie, 1814.
• de Vivo, Catello. La Visione di Alberico ristampata, tradotta, e comparata con la Divina Commedia. Ariano: Appula–Irpino, 1899. Unannotated diplomatic edition of Latin text followed by Italian translation. Introduction in Italian focuses on similarities between the VA and the Divine Comedy with extensive quotes from the latter.
• Inguanez, Mauro, ed. “La Visione di Alberico.” Introduction by Antonio Mirra. Miscellanea Casinense 11(1931–32): 33–103. Contains an edition of this vision (pp. 83–103).
• Lombardi, Baldassare, éd. La Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri, corretta, spiegata e difesa– e di un volume arricchita in cui tra le altre cose si tratta della visione di frate Alberico. Rome: De Romanis, 1815–17, 4:120–144.
• Marchand, Jean. L’autre monde au Moyen Age. Poèmes et récits de la vielle France 17. Paris: Boccard, 1940, 117–83. Includes brief historical introduction plus a bibliography of editions and selected studies, a brief description of the manuscript at Monte Cassino, and a French translation of text. Also includes the Voyage of St. Brendan and St. Patrick’s Purgatory.
• MGH 7:793–94. Peter the Deacon, Chronica Monasterii Casinensis. Ed. by W. Wattenbach.
• Saint–Victor, P. “La vision du frere Alberic.” Correspondant 8 (1844): 214–37. Brief introduction followed by a complete French translation of Latin text with notes making comparisons to the Divine Comedy, focusing on Dante’s possible knowledge of Alberic’s vision.
• Schmidt, Paul Gerhard. Visio Alberici: die Jenseitswanderung des neunjährigen Alberich in der vom Visionär um 1127 in Monte Cassino revidierten Fassung. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag, 1997.

STUDIES

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The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf, by Hans Christian Andersen, Danish, 1859

The Vision of an Anglo-Saxon Monk, Anglo/German, shortly after 757.

SOURCES

• MGH, Epistolae 3 (Merowingingici et Karolini aevi 1): 403–5. Latin text ed. by E. Dümmler.
• Tangl, M., Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus, MGH Epistolae selectae I (Berlin 1916), N° 115, pp. 247-250.
• Boniface, Ephraim Emerton, and George La Piana, The Letters of Saint Boniface (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940), 189–91.
  
  STUDIES

• Carozzi, Claude, Le Voyage de l’âme dans l’au-delà d’après la littérature latine, Ve-XIIIe siècle Le Voyage de l’âme dans l’au-delà d’après la littérature latine, Ve-XIIIe siècle Collection de l’Ecole Francaise de Rome, 189 (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1994), 258–65.
  

Anonymous Apocalypse, (The Apocalypse of Zephaniah)

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B

SOURCES

• AS 3 March 25, 570–74. Edition of Latin vision preceded by commentary (567–69).
• Ciccarese, 236–75. Latin text based on MGH (130) with facing Italian translation. Includes brief introduction on the nature of this work with regard to the others in the collection. Provides some notes to the text.
• Hillgarth, J.N., Christianity and Paganism, 350–750 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986; rev. ed. of The conversion of Western Europe, 350-750 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1969)), 195–204. English translation.
• MGH SRM 5:368–94. Annotated critical edition of Latin text. Introduction by W. Levison includes discussion of mss, brief description of vision, comparison to other visions.

STUDIES

• Carozzi, Claude, Le Voyage de l’âme dans l’au-delà d’après la littérature latine, Ve-XIIIe siècle Le Voyage de l’âme dans l’au-delà d’après la littérature latine, Ve-XIIIe siècle, Collection de l’Ecole Francaise de Rome, 189 (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1994), 139–86. 
• Ciccarese, Maria Pia. “La ‘Visio Baronti’ nella tradizione letteraria delle visiones dell’aldilá.” Romano Barbarica 6. Rome: Herder, 1981–82, 25–52. Discusses the vision genre as related to the visions in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great and beginning in the seventh century. Describes the VB as a more original vision displaying imagination and narrative talent, while preserving the traditional style and themes of this genre.
• Contreni, John J., “Building Mansions in Heaven: The Visio Baronti, Archangel Raphael, and a Carolingian King,” Speculum 78.3 (2003): 673–706.
• Hen, Yitzak, “The Structure and Aims of the Visio Baronti,” in Journal of Theological Studies 47 (1996): 477–97.
• Levison, Wilhelm, “Die Politik in den Jeneseitsvisionen des frühen Mittelalters,” in idem, Aus rheinischer und frankische Frühzeit (Düsseldorf: Verlag L. Schwann, 1948), 229–46. [Originally published in Festgabe Friedrich von Bezold (Bonn, 1921), 81–100.]
• Lucey-Roper, Michelle, “The Visio Baronti in Its Early Medieval Context” (PhD thesis, University of Oxford, 2000). A study of early medieval conceptions of the other world and the historical context in which visionary accounts were produced. Chapter 1: an introduction to ideas of the other world and visionary experiences; Chapter 2: medieval and modern responses to visions. Chapter 3: manuscript tradition of the VB; Chapter 4 dating of the VB to the seventh century; chapter 5 treats the VB in its seventh-century monastic context; Chapter 6 considers the Carolingian interest in the VB; Chapter 7 an examination of the illustrations in the ninth-century St Petersburg manuscript.
• Palmer, James T. The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 86–87.

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SOURCES

STUDIES

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The Voyage of St. Brendan, Irish, as early as 800

A Few Sighs from Hell or the Groans of the Damned Soul, John Bunyan, English, 1658

The Visions of John Bunyan, by George Larkin, English, 1711

C

The Dialogue on Miracles, by Caesarius of Heisterbach
(c. 1180–c. 1240), German, c. 1220–35

The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Italian, 1377–78

The Adventure of St. Columba’s Clerics, Irish, 10th C.

SOURCES

Stokes, Whitley, “The Adventure of St. Columba’s Relics.” Revue Celtique 26 (1905): 130–70. English translation. The otherworld sections can be found in par 15–45. Provides a brief introduction and the text in Irish and English on facing pages with notations.

STUDIES

Zimmer, Heinrich. “Keltische Beiträge: II Brendans Meerfahrt.” Zeitschrift für Deutsches Alterthum 33 (1889): 129–220, 257–338. Study of relationship of various immrama.

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D

The Inferno, by Dante Aligheri, Italian , 1302–1321

The Voyage of the Descendants of Corra, Irish, 11th C.

SOURCES

• Stokes, Whitley. “The Voyage of the Húi Corra.” Revue Céltique 14 (1893):26–69. Translation.

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The Dialogue on Miracles, by Caesarius of Heisterbach
(c. 1180–c. 1240), German, c. 1220–35

The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Italian, 1377–78

The Dialogues of Gregory the Great (540–604), Italian, 593-594

The Dream of Hell, by Raoul de Houdenc (c. 1165–c. 1230), French, early 13th C.

The Vision of Drythelm, by Venerable Bede (673–735 c.e.), English, 731

SOURCES

• Ciccarese, 302–23. Latin text based on Colgrave with facing Italian translation. Includes brief introduction on the nature of this work with regard to the others in the collection. Provides some notes (332–36) to the text.
• Colgrave, Bertram, and R. A. B. Mynors, ed. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969, 488–98. Parallel Latin text and English translation with English notes. Select bibliography includes editions, critical works, translations of the Historia; and editions of sources used by Bede.
• Gardiner, 57–63. Includes an English translation of the vision with notes and bibliography.
• Giles, J. A., ed. The Miscellaneous Works of Venerable Bede. 12 vols. London: Whittaker, 1843, 3:200–13. Latin critical edition with facing English translation.
• PL 146:380–83. A Latin edition of Otloh of Emmeran’s Liber visionum. Vision 20 of this book is the VD from Bede’s Historia.
• PL 95:247–52. Text of VD in Latin edition of Bede’s Historia.
• Plummer, Charles, ed. Venerabilis Baedae. Historia Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum. Oxford: Clarendon, 1896, 1:303–10, 2:294–98. Latin critical edition in volume 1; commentary in English in volume 2. Introduction, in English, discusses Bede’s life and work and the mss of the Historiam.
• Roger of Wendover. Chronica, sive Flores historiarum. Edited by Henry O. Coxe. 3 vols. London: English Historical Society, 1841; rpt. Vaduz: Kraus, 1964, 1:190–95. Diplomatic edition of Latin text with annotations.
• Roger of Wendover. Flowers of History. Edited by J. A. Giles. 2 vols. Bohn: London, 1849; rpt. New York: AMS, 1968, 1:120–22. English translation based on Coxe edition preface discusses Roger, the nature of his work, and his sources.

STUDIES

• Wallace–Hadrill, J. M. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 185–86. A commentary on the text of the Historia, which includes an extensive bibliography.

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E

SOURCES

STUDIES

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The Vision of an English Novice, or Vision of an English Man, English, last decade of 12th C.

SOURCES

• Vincent of Beauvais. Bibliotheca mundi seu Speculi maioris. Vol. 3, Speculum morale. Douay: B. Belleri, 1624; rpt. ed. Graz: Akademische Druck–u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965, 739.

STUDIES

• Constable, p. 95. Brief mention.

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The Evernew Tongue, Irish, 11–12th C.

The Vision of Edmund Leversedge, English, 1465.

SOURCES

• Nijenhuis, W.F. The Vision of Edmund Leversedge: A 15th-Century Account of a Visit to the Otherworld Edited from BL MS Additional 34,193. Middeleeuwse Studies 8. Nijmegen: Centrum voor Middeleeuwse Studies, Katholieke Universiteit, 1991. Edition of the Middle English text with introduction, commentary and glossary, bibliography and appendices. The introduction covers the manuscript, style and syntax, dialect and provenance, and background of the historical person. The contents of the vision are also summarized.
• Thompson, E. Margaret. “The Vision of Edmund Leversedge.” Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset 9: 19–35. Edition of the Middle English text with a brief introduction on the man and the literary tradition of vision literature.

The Apocalypse of Ezra [Esdras], Greek, 150–850 and The Vision of Ezra, 4th–7th C.

SOURCES

• Bogaert, Pierre–Maurice. “Un version longue inédite de la Visio beati Esdrae.” Revue Benedictine 94:1–2 (1984):50–70. Annotated Latin text of Barberini Lat. 2318 with lexicon. Introduction on text and ms tradition especially in the light of the version presented in the long edition and its relationship to other versions.
• Bogaert, Pierre–Maurice. “Anecdota apocrypha latina. Una ‘Visio’ ed una‘Revelatio’ d’Esdra con un decreto di Clemente Romano.” Nota di letteratura biblica e cristiana antica. Studi e testi 5. Rome: Vatican, 1901, 61–81. Presents Latin texts with brief introduction.
• Metzger, B.M. “The Fourth Book of Ezra (Late First Century AD) with Four Additional Chapters.” In Charlesworth, 1:516–59. English translation of the Third Vision (535–45) with introduction and bibliography.
• Mueller, J.R., and G.A. Robbins. “Vision of Ezra (Fourth to Seventh Century AD): A New Translation and Introduction.” In Charlesworth, 581–90. English translation of Latin text with introduction and bibliography.
• Mussafia, Adolfo. Sulla Visione di Tundalo. Vienna: C. Gerold, 1871, appendix, 202–6. Includes an edition of the Latin text.
• Shutt, R.J.H. “Visio Beati Esdrae.” In Sparks, 947–51. English translation of Latin text with brief introduction.
• Stone, M.E. “Greek Apocalypse of Ezra (Second to Ninth Century AD): A New Translation and Introduction.” In Charlesworth, 561–79. English translation with introduction and bibliography.
• —. “Questions of Ezra (Date Unknown): A New Translation and Introduction.” In Charlesworth, 591–99. English translation with introduction and bibliography.
• Wahl, Otto, ed. Apocalypsis Esdrae, Apocalypsis Sedrach, Visio Beati Esdrae. Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece 4. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977. Includes bibliography; introduction discusses mss, editorial method, other versions (Syrian, Arabic, Ethiopian, Armenian). Presents editions of Greek Apocalypsis Esdrae and Apocalypsis Sedrach and of Latin Visio Beati Esdrae and Visio Esdrae in facing columns. Review by Pierre–Maurice Bogaert, Scriptorium 33 (1979): 120–21.

STUDIES

• Bauckham, Richard. “Hell in the Latin Vision of Ezra.” In Otherworlds and Their Relationship to This World: Early Jewish and Ancient Christian Traditions. Ed. Tobias Nicklas, Joseph Verheyden, et al. Leiden: Brill, 2010, 323–42. Analysis of the place, the punishments and ordeals, the sins and the mercy offered in hell in the Latin Vision of Ezra.
• Bratke, Prof. “Beatus v. Libana, Hieronymus und die ‘Visio Hesdrae.’” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 23 (1902):429–30. Brief review article.
• Dinzelbacher. Discusses the Vision of Alberic in the context of apocryphal literature and especially the Visio Esdrae, with a brief textual comparison.
• Seymour. “The Bringing Forth of the Soul in Irish Literature.”
• Stone, M. E. “The Metamorphosis of Ezra: Jewish Apocalypse and Medieval Vision.” Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 33 (1982):1–18. Discusses the Fourth Book of Ezra and the relationship of various other Ezra materials to it and to each other, including: the Greek Esdrae Apocalypse, the Greek Sedrach Apocalypse, and the Visio Beati Esdrae.
• Wahl, Otto. “Vier Neue Textzeugen der ‘Visio beati Esdrae.’” Salesianuin 40:3 (1978): 583–90.Discusses four mss and the ms recensions.

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F

SOURCES

• Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, ed. by Louis Kondor, 10th ed. (Fatima: Segretariado dos Pastorinhis, 1998), p. 170.

The Vision of Furseus, by Venerable Bede (673–735 c.e.), English, 731

SOURCES

• AS 2 January 16, 36–41. Edition of Latin text of vita.
• Ciccarese, Maria Pia. “Le Visioni di S. Fursa.” Romano barbarica 8 Rome: Herder, 1984–85, 231–303. Critical Latin edition of the Vita sancti Fursei, as a corrective to the Krusch edition (MGH SRM 4:423–51) which omits the visions. Introduction includes stemma codicum and discussion of ms tradition and the more significant textual variants, as well as a discussion of the life of Furseus and the relationship between his vision and his life.
• Ciccarese, 394–401. Latin text based on Colgrave with facing Italian translation. Includes brief introduction on the nature of this work with regard to the others in the collection. Provides some notes to the text.
• Colgrave, 268–77. Parallel Latin text and English translation with English notes. Select bibliography includes editions, critical works, translations of the Historia; and editions of sources used by Bede.
• Galler, Matthias, Fritz Kemmler, Jessica Barr, and Courtnay Konshuh. “Medieval Visions of the Otherworld.” Connotations 16.1.3: 129–43; 17:129–43; 20:1,11, 12–22, 23–33.
• Gardiner, 51–55. Includes an English translation of the vision with notes and bibliography.
• Giles, 2:236–39. Latin critical edition with facing English translation.
• MGH SRM 4:423–51.
• PL 95:145–49. Text of VF in Latin edition of Bede’s Historia.
• Plummer, 1:164–67, 2:169–74. Latin critical edition in volume 1; commentary in English in volume 2. Introduction, in English, discusses Bede’s life and work and the mss of the Historiam.

STUDIES

• Foster, 22:456, 648. Description and bibliography of the Middle English Vision of Fursey (Furseus).
• Wallace–Hadrill, J. M. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 185–86. A commentary on the text of the Historia, which includes an extensive bibliography.
• Wilson, Christopher Thomas John. “The Dissemination of Visions of the Otherworld in England and Northern France c.1150–c.1321.” Ph.D. diss. University of Exeter, 2012, 112–49.

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G

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The Vision of Gottschalk, German, 1189–90

SOURCES

• Assmann, Erwin. Godeschalcus und Visio Godeschalci. Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Schleswig–Holsteins 74. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1979. Introduction includes a discussion of Gottschalk and his vision, the tramsmission of the story, the three mss, the printed editions, and the author of the two Latin versions edited here, one following the other, with facing translations into German. Includes a discussion of editorial method and nguistic notes on the language, style, and vocabulary.
• Guglielmetti, Rossana E., and Giorgia Puleio, eds. Visio Godeschalci. Il mondo e l’altro mondo di un contadino tedesco del XII secolo. Edizione critica, traduzione e commento. Per Verba. Testi mediolatini con traduzione 37. Florence: SISMEL, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2021.
• Usinger, R., ed. “Vision Godeschalci.” Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Schleswig–Holsteinisch-Lauenburgische Geschichte 4 (1875): 73–126. Edition (89–126) of Latin text with introduction and notes.

STUDIES

• Bünz, Enno. Visio Godeschalci/Godeschalcus. In Verfasserlexikon 10, 404–8.
• Dinzelbacher, Peter. “Verba hec tam mistica ex ore tam ydiote glebonis.” In Volksreligion im hohen und späten Mittelalter. Ed. by P. Dinzelbacher and D. Bauer. Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1990, 57–99. Discusses the evidence of folk belief in the Vision of Gottschalk.
• ———. Visio Godesc(h)alci. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters 8, 1731.
• Greven, Joseph. “Die Vision des Holsteiners Gottschalk.” Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch 7 (1923):39–58. Discusses the two versions of the VG in the light of the reletionship of vision literature to the Divine Commedy.
• Gurevich, A. “Oral and Written Culture of the Middle Ages: Two ‘Peasant Visions’ of the Late Twelfth?Early Thirteenth Centuries.” Tr. by Ann Shukmen. New Literary History 16 (1984): 51–66. Discusses the problem of the interrelationship of oral and written traditions of the Visio Thurkilli and the VG, which are in constant and complex interaction.
• Lammers, Walther. Gottschalks Wanderung im Jenseits. Zur Folksfrömmigkeit im 12. Jahrhundert nördlich der Elbe.” Weisbaden: F. Steiner, 1982.
• Liestøl, 91–96. Synopsis of the VG and a discussion of it as a possible source for the Vision of Olav Asteson (Draumkvaede).
• Piel, Manuela. Visionen und Träume als mittelalterliche Quellen am Beispiel der “Visio Godeschalci.” Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2007.
• Rockelein.

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The Dialogues of Gregory the Great (540–604), Italian,
593-594

SOURCES

• de Vogüé, Adalbert, ed. Gregoire le Grand: Dialogues. Trans. by Paul Antin. 3 vols. Paris: Cerf, 1978–80, 3:116–25. Annotated Latin critical edition with facing French translation. Vol. 1 includes an introduction and bibliography.
• Gardiner, 47–50. Includes English translation of visions with notes and bibliography.
• Gardner, Edmund, ed. The Dialogues of Saint Gregory. London: Philip Lee Warner, 1911, 223–26. English translation. General introduction on the Dialogues, their sources, influences, and transmission. Briefly mentions (p. xxv) the beginning of the western tradition of visions of heaven and hell in Gregory’s Dialogues.
• The Dialogues of S. Gregoire. Ilkley (England): Scolar Press, 1975; rpt of Paris: Douai [Charles Boscard], 1608.
• Gregory the Great. Dialogues. Trans. by Odo John Zimmerman. New York: Fathers of the Church, 1959, 237–41. English translation, with a few annotations, based on Moricca. Introduction provides a brief biography of Gregory and a brief introduction to the dialogues.
• Moricca, Umberto, ed. Gregorii Magni Dialogi. Istituto storico italiano: Fonti per la storia d’Italia 57. Rome: Tip. dei Senato, 1924. Critical edition of Latin text based primarily on Milan, Ambrosiana B. 159 sup. Introduction covers the date of composition; authenticity, scope and nature of the dialogues; the sources for the dialogues; the locations of the miracles; chronological determination of some of the miracles; the contents of the dialogues; the dialogues as a historical source; editions and manuscripts.
• PL 77:381–88. Annotated edition of text in Latin and Greek in facing columns.

STUDIES

• Gatch, Milton McC. “The Fourth Dialogue of Gregory the Great: Some Problems of Interpretation.” In Studia Patristica 10, part 1. Ed. by F. L. Cross. Berlin: Akademie–Verlag, 1970, 77–83. Discusses the idea of purgatory in relation to Bk. 4 of Gregory’s Dialogues where the idea of post–mortem purgation is clearly presented. Gatch believes this is not the early beginning of the formulation of the concept of a Christian purgatory but a view of the Last Judgment temporally telescoped by Gregory’s belief that he is living in the age of the apocalypse. Gatch sees the Dialogues as a popular work by Gregory and not really a serious theological treatise from which to derive doctrinal developments.
• Petersen, Joan M. The Dialogues of Gregory the Great in Their Late Antique Cultural Background. Studies and Texts 69. Toronto: Pontifical Institute, 1984. A reassessment of the Dialogues in relation to their sixth–century literary and theological background and to modern hagiographical research. Discusses particularly form and interpretation, the martyr stories, the miracle stories, relics and the spirituality of the desert. Extensive bibliography on primary sources and secondary work
• Silverstein, Theodore. “The ‘Vision of Leofric’ and Gregory’s Dialogues.” Review of English Studies 9 (April 1933): 186–88. Discusses the bridge in Leofric, which resembles somewhat the bridge in a later (fourth century) Latin redaction of the Visio Pauli. However, he concludes, it is clearly dependent on the bridge in the Dialogues of Gregory and therefore does not present a reason to suspect an earlier date of composition for this redaction of the VP.

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The Vision of Gunthelm, English, second half of twelfth century (variously dated: before 1156, 1161, 1187)

SOURCES

• Constable, Giles, ed. “The Vision of a Cistercian Novice.” Studia Anselmiana 40 (1956): 95–98. Rpt. in Petrus Venerabilis, 1156–1956. Edited by Giles Constable. Rome: Herder, 1956, 95–98. Diplomatic edition of Latin text based on Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College 95. Brief introduction on ms, which originally contained 500 visions and miracles, mostly associated with the Virgin; and the role of this vision in the controversy between the Cluniacs and the Cistercians on public vs private confession.
• Constable, Giles, ed. “The Vision of Gunthelm and Other Visions Attributed to Peter the Venerable.” Revue Bénédictine 66 (1956): 92–114. Rpt. with addenda in Giles Constable, Cluniac Studies (London: Variorum Reprints, 1980). Provides critical edition of VG and two visions of a monk of Savigny based on Brussels, B.R. II. 942 with variants from Copenhagen, Kongelige Bib. Gl. kgl. S. 136; Paris B.N. Lat. 14463; St. Omer, Bib. Mun. 328; and Brussels, B.R. 7797–806. Thorough introduction on the attribution of this work to Peter the Venerable (to whom several visions were attributed), its subsequent adaptation by Helinand and Vincent of Beauvais, its use in Mary legends, and its influence, especially on the Vision of Thurkill and the Vision of Olav Asteson.
• PL 212:1060–63. Edition of Latin text of Helinand’s Chronicle without annotation.
• Southern, R. W. (ed.), “The Vision of Gunthelm and Other Visiones Attributed to
  Peter the Venerable,” Revue bénédictine 66(1956), 92–114.
• Vincent of Beauvais, 1187, Bk. 29, ch. 6. Abbreviated version of the Latin visio called De novicio Cisterciensi tenate à sathana.

STUDIES

• Liestøl, 87–91. Synopsis of the VG and a discussion of it as a possible source for the Vision of Olav Asteson (Drawnkvaede).
• Wilson, Christopher Thomas John. “The Dissemination of Visions of the Otherworld in England and Northern France c.1150–c.1321.” Ph.D. diss. University of Exeter, 2012, 190–94.

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H

Hell in Texas, American, before 1907

The Vision of Heriger, German, 10th/11th C.

SOURCES

Allen, Philip S., and Howard M. Jones, eds. The Romanesque Lyric. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1928, 278–79. English verse translation; unannotated. Describes VH as the “earliest known example of that happy–go–lucky attitude toward the saints and their celestial abode so popular in later centuries.”

Breul, Karl. The Cambridge Songs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915, 59–60. Unannotated Latin text.

Du Méril, pp. 298–302. Annotated Latin edition.

Gaselee, Stephen, ed. The Oxford Boot of Medieval Latin Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1928, 66–68. Latin text.

Raby, F.J.E., ed. The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1959, 170–71. Latin text.

Waddell, Helen. Medieval Latin Lyrics. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1933, 148–55. English verse translation with facing Latin from the ms of St. Augustine of Canterbury.

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The Book of Divine Works, by Hildegard of Bingen
(1098–1179), German, 1163-1173/1174

SOURCES

• Hildegard of Bingen. Il libro delle opere divine. Ed. by Marta Cristiani and Michela Pereira,with intro. by Marta Cristiani. Trans. by Michela Pereira. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2003. Italian translation of Latin text.
• Hildegard of Bingen. Das Buch vom Wirken Gottes. Liber divinorum operum. Trans. by Mechthild Heieck. Augsburg: Pattloch, 1998. German translation of Latin text.
• Hildegardis Bingensis: Liber divinorum operum. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis. 92. Ed. Albert Derolez and Peter Dronke. Turnhout: Brepols, 1996. Latin edition with English introduction.
• Hildegard of Bingen. Le Livre des oeuvres divines (Visions). Trans. by Bernard Gorceix. Spiritualités vivantes 79. Paris: Albin Michel, 1989. French translation of Latin text.
• Hildegard of Bingen. Book of Divine Works (Liber divinorum operum). Ed. by Matthew Fox. Santa Fe: Bear & Company 1987. English translation.
• Hildegard of Bingen. Welt und Mensch. Das Buch “De operatione Dei.” Trans. and ed. by Heinrich Schipperges. Salzburg: O. Müller, 1965. German translation of Ghent manuscript with bibliographical references.

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I

The Inferno, by Dante Aligheri, Italian, 1302–1321

The Testament of Isaac, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, 894/5

SOURCES

• Anderson, E. “Isak’sVermächtnis, aus dem Koptischen übersetz.” In Sphinx: Revue Critique Embrassant le Domaine Entier de l’Égyptologie 7 (1903): 77–94. German translation from the Boharic.
• Barnes, W. E. “Extracts from the Testament of Isaac.” In M. R. James, The Testament of Abraham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1892, 140–51. English translation from the Arabic. General introduction, 155–61.
• Chaîne, M. Le Testament d’Isaac. In Mathias Delcor, Le Testament D’Abraham: Introduction, Traduction Du Texte Grec Et Commentaire De La Recension Grecque Longue; Suivi De La Traduction Des Testaments D’Abraham, D’Isaac Et De Jacob D’après Les Versions Orientales. Leiden: Brill, 1973. Translation from the Boharic, 196–205; from the Arabic, 252–61; and from the Ethiopic, 224–33. General introduction, 78–83.
• Gasalee, S. “The Testament of Isaac.” In G. H. Box, The Testament of Abraham…with an Appendix containing a Translation from the Coptic Version of thew Testaments of Isaac and Jacob.Translations of Early Documents. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1927, 57–75. English translation from the Boharic. General introduction, 55–56.
• Guidi, I. Il Testamento di Isacco e il Testamento di Giacobbe. Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei: Memorie della Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche. Ser. 5, 9 (1900): 224–44. Coptic (Bohairic) text. General introduction, 23.
• Kuhn, K. H. “The Sahidic Verion of the Testament of Isaac.” Journal of Theological Studies, new series 8 (1957): 225–39. Sahidic text.
• —. “An English Translation of the Sahidic Version of the Testament of Isaac.” Journal of Theological Studies, new series 18 (1967): 325–36 at 332–33. English translation of the Coptic (Sahidic) text.
• —. “The Testament of Isaac.” In Sparks, 423–39 at 434–36. English translation of the Coptic (Sahidic) text with brief introduction on the manuscript tradition, the relationship of this text to the Testament of Abraham and the Testament of Jacob, and the relationship of the Coptic (Sahidic and Boharic), Arabic, and Ethiopic versions of this text.
• Riessler, P. “Testament des Isaac.” In Altjüdisches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel. Heidelberg: Augsburg: Benno Filser Verlag, 1928, 1135–48. German translation from the Arabic. General introduction, 1334–35.

  STUDIES

See Chaîne, Gaselee, Guidi and Barnes above for introductary material.

• Nagel. P. “Zur Sahidischen Version des Testamentes Isaaks.” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg 12, 3/4 (1963): 259–63.
• Weinel, H. “Die spätere christliche Apokalyptik.” In Hans Schmidt, ed., Euchariste¯rion: Studien Zur Religion Und Literatur Des Alten Und Neuen Testaments: Hermann Gunkel Zum 60. Geburtstage, Dem 23. Mai 1922. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1923, 172.

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J

The Way of Hell and Paradise, by Jean de la Mote, 14th. C.

The Vision of John, Monk of St. Lawrence of Liège, the Low Countries, 1149–58

SOURCES

• Coulton, G.G. Five Centuries of Religion: Saint Bernard, His Predecessors and Successors, 1000–1200 A.D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1923, 1: 452–58. English translation of Pez text.
• PL 180:177–86. Edition of Latin text.
• Pez, Bernhard. Thesaurus Anecdotorum Novissimus: Seu Veterum Monumentorum, præcipuè Ecclesiasticorum, ex Germanicis potissimum Bibliothecis adornata Collectio recentissima. Augsburg: Sumptibus Philippi, martini, & Joannis Veith fratrum, 1723, 4.3: 5. Edition of Latin text.

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce, Irish, 1916

K

The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), English, 1586

L

 

SOURCES

• Carey, John. “The Vision of Laisrén.” In John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh, The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology, Celtic Studies Publications 17 (Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014), 417–444. Introduction covering language and date, historical background; edition of the text from Oxford Bodleian Rawlinson B 512, and English translation, textual notes.
• Meyer, Kuno, ed. and trans. “The Vision of Laisrén.” Otia Merseiana 1(1899): 113–19. Presents an edition of the Irish text and a translation into English, with notes, from Oxford, Bodleian Rawlinson B. 512, a fifteenth–century manuscript.

STUDIES

• Grosjean, Paul. “Notes d’hagiographique celtique: Un fragment des Costumes de Tallaght et la Vision de Laisrén.” Analecta Bollandiana 81.1–2 (1963):251–72. Discusses text found in Stowe C.1.2 of the Royal Irish Academy (Dublin), which contains a fragment of VL and discusses primarily the dating of the work based on this Irish text, referring to Meyer’s work, above.

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The Visions of John Bunyan, by George Larkin, English, 1711

The Vision of Lazarus, German, 15th C.

SOURCES

• Voigt, Max. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Visionenliteratur im Mittelalter. Leipzig: Mayer & Miller, 1924; rpt. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1967, 1–118. Edition of the German text with notes. Introduction includes material on the Lazarus legend, the antecedents for this vision, the mss, and the language of the mss.
• Heseltine, G. C., ed. The Kalendar and Compost of Shepherds. London: P. Davies, 1930, 59–67. This edition of the Shepherd’s Calendar is “From the original edition published by Guy Marchant in Paris in the year 1493, and translated into English c. 1518; newly edited, for the year 1931.” This calendar incorporates a version of the VL.

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The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), English, 1946

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	Abbreviations
AB	Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1882– .
AS	Acta Sanctorum, editio novissima. J, Carnadet et. al., ed. Paris: Palmé, 1863– .
BHL	Bibliotheca hagiographica latinae antiquae et mediae aetatis. Brussels: Socii Bollandiani, 1898– .
Charlesworth	Charlesworth, James A. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments.London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1983.
Ciccarese	Ciccarese, Maria Pia. Visioni dell’Aldilà in Occidente. Florence: Nardini Editore, 1987.
Gardiner	Gardiner, Eileen. Visions of Heaven and Hell before Dante. New York: Italica Press, 1989.
Hennecke	Hennecke, Edgar, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R.McL. Wilson. New Testament Apocrypha. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963–65.
James, ANT	James, Montague Rhodes.The Apocryphal New Testament.Oxford: Clarendon, 1924.
MGH	Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum und Scriptores nova ser. Hannover: Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, 1826– .
MGH PLAC	Monumenta Germaniae historica. Poetae latini aevi Carolini. Hannover: Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, 1880–1951.
MGH SRM	Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum. Hannover: Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, 1884–1920 .
PL	Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Latina. J.-P. Migne, ed. Paris: Migne, 1844–65.
Sparks	Apocryphal Old Testament. Ed. by H. S. Sparks. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.
Vincent of Beauvais	• Vincent of Beauvais. Bibliotheca mundi seu Speculi maioris. Vol. 4, Speculum historiale. Douay: B. Belleri, 1624; rpt. ed. Graz: Akademische Druck–u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965.
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Related Topics
About Judeo-Christian Hell
Judeo-Christian Texts
Judeo Christian Images

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rev. 02/26/2023

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