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TheVisio Tnugdali ("Vision of Tnugdalus") is a 12th-century religious text reporting the otherworldly vision of the Irish knight Tnugdalus, later also called "Tundalus", "Tondolus" or in English translations, "Tundale", all deriving from the originalMiddle IrishTnúdgal meaning "desire-valour" or "fierce valour". It was "one of the most popular and elaborate texts in the medieval genre of visionary infernal literature" and had been translated from the original Latin forty-three times into fifteen languages by the 15th century,[1] including Icelandic and Belarusian.[2] The work remained most popular in Germany, with ten different translations into German, and four into Dutch.[3] With a recent resurgence of scholarly interest inPurgatory following works byJacques Le Goff,Stephen Greenblatt and others, the vision has attracted increased academic attention.
The Latin text was written down shortly after 1149 by Brother Marcus, an Irish itinerant monk, in theScots Monastery, Regensburg in Germany. He reports having heard Tnugdalus' account from the knight himself and to have done a translation from theIrish language at the Regensburg abbess' request. The story is set inCork, Ireland in 1148.
Thevisio tells of the proud and easygoing knight falling unconscious for three days, during which time an angel guides his soul throughHeaven andHell, experiencing some of the torments of the damned. The angel then charges Tnugdalus to well remember what he has seen and to report it to his fellow men. On recovering possession of his body, Tnugdalus converts to a pious life as a result of his experience.
TheVisio Tnugdali with its interest in the topography of theafterlife is situated in a broad Irish tradition of fantastical tales about otherworldly voyages, calledimmram, as well as in a tradition of Christian afterlife visions, itself influenced by pre-Christian notions of the afterlife. Other important texts from this tradition include the IrishFís Adamnáin ("The Vision of Adamnán") and Latin texts such as theVisio Pauli ("Vision of Paul"),Visio Thurkilli,Visio Godeschalci, and theTractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii (an account of a visit toSaint Patrick's Purgatory).
The LatinTundalus was swiftly and widely transmitted through copies, with 172 manuscripts having been discovered to date. During the Middle Ages, the text was also a template forMiddle Low German andMiddle High German adaptations such as the rhymed version of "Tundalus" by Alber of Kloster Windberg (around 1190), or the "Niederrheinischer Tundalus" fragments (around 1180–90).
The Vision of Tundale was a version inMiddle English octosyllabic or short couplets composed by an anonymous translator around 1400[4] working from the Anglo-Norman text. Five 15th-century manuscripts survive:[5] three are complete (National Library of Scotland, Advocates 19.3.1; BL Cotton Caligula A.ii and Royal 17.B.xliii), while two are partial (Oxford Bodley 7656 (Ashmole 1491) of 700 lines and MS Takamiya 32, formerly Penrose MS 6, acquired by Prof. T. Takamiya of Keio University Tokyo,[6] of 1600 lines). There are two modern editions of the Middle English text.[7]
TheGettyLes visions du chevalier Tondal is the only fully illuminated version to survive. It contains 20 miniatures bySimon Marmion and elaborate borders with the initials ofMargaret of York, duchess ofBurgundy and wife ofCharles the Bold. The text was scribed byDavid Aubert in French (Les visions du chevalier Tondal).[8]
There were also printed editions, twenty-two in German alone, some illustrated withwoodcuts.[9] The vision was known among the members of the AugustinianCongregation of Windesheim,Jacomijne Costers' vision of hell and purgatory being written in a similar style.[10]
TheVisio Tnugdali was translated into Old Norse asDuggals leizla (Icelandic: Duggals leiðsla). This text is extant in four Icelandic vellum manuscripts from around the fifteenth century, as well as three eighteenth-century paper manuscripts. The prologue ofDuggals leizla, copied in two manuscripts, attributes the translation of the text to 'Hakon konungr', which could meanHákon the Old (reigned 1217–1263) orHákon Magnússon (reigned 1299–1319), making this one of the earliest vernacular translations of theVisio.[11]
A scene from theVisio was painted byHieronymus Bosch,[12] whose many scenes of Heaven and Hell were probably influenced by the work.
