Influence
The Tractatus was arguably the most popular vision of Purgatory throughout the Middle Ages and survives in over 30 versions in almost every European vernacular. More than 150 manuscripts of the Latin text are extant. It was read and adapted long after several ideas feature prominently in it fell out of mainstream belief (e.g. the idea of the earthly paradise as an afterlife location where souls would spend time between their period in purgatory and their entry into heaven).
Among the most famous versions of the Tractatus is the Anglo-Norman translation the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick by Marie de France. The Auchinleck manuscript preserves a version in Middle English verse. The story was almost certainly known to Dante.
In its themes, Irish background, and breadth of influence, it is comparable to the Visio Tnugdali. The two texts are nearly contemporary and frequently appear in the same manuscripts. Like the Visio Tnugdali, the Tractatus was instrumental in shaping popular ideas of the Otherworld.
Read more about this topic: Tractatus De Purgatorio Sancti Patricii
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What do women want with votes, when they hold the sceptre of influence with which they can control even votes, if they wield it aright?”
—Mrs. H. O. Ward (1824–1899)
“The example of America must be the example, not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because it is the healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)