Goswin of Bossut

Goswin wrote in Latin. He wrote anonymously. The posthumous ascription to him of the Vita Arnulfi is all that allows his other works to be identified on the basis of "sameness of style and expression". Although such similarities had been detected as far back as the early 19th century, they were strengthened in the late 20th century by computer analysis. Four of his five works have been translated into English. His known works are: • Life of Ida the Compassionate of Nivelles, Nun of La Ramée (Latin Vita Idae Nivellensis) This biography of Ida of Nivelles was written at the command of Abbot William, probably in 1232. It is divided into 34 chapters. The first four are chronological account of how Ida became a nun. The last three chronicle her illness, death and posthumous miracles. The middle chapters are non-chronological and use anecdotes to display Ida's virtues. The biography is followed by a poem, probably also by Goswin. The Vita Idae in two manuscripts, MSS 8609–8620 and 8895–8896 in the Royal Library of Belgium. In the former, it bears the title Vita venerabilis Idae sanctimonialis de Rameya. • Illustration — Start of the Life of Arnulf in the Bodleian manuscript • Life of Arnulf, Lay Brother of Villers (Latin Vita Arnulfi conversi Villariensis) This biography of the lay brother Arnulf Cornibout is divided into two books. It places great emphasis on Arnulf asceticism. It is unclear if this was a commissioned work. It was written towards 1237. A long and a short recension are known. Two contrary theories have been proposed to explain this. According to one, the longer is Goswin's original that was abridged by a later copyist. According to the other, Goswin later revised and expanded his original. Five manuscripts of the Life are known: one from Villers Abbey, one from Orval Abbey, one from the Berlin State Library, one from the Bodleian Library at Oxford and one that belonged to Aubert Le Mire. • Life of Abundus, Monk of Villers (Latin Vita Abundi) Abundus was a personal friend of Goswin and his biography was written after 1234 and probably before 1239, while Abundus was still living. It was composed on Goswin's initiative with Abbot William's approval. It is incomplete and ends abruptly. There is a biography of Abundus published in French in 1603 that includes his death, but it is probably not the work of Goswin. Goswin's work survives in two manuscripts: MS Royal Library of Belgium 19525, copied at Villers during Goswin's lifetime, and MS Austrian National Library cvp 12854, a 15th-century copy of the first. • Life of Franco (Latin Vita Franconis) This biography of Franco of Arquennes is a ballad of 82 quatrains intended to be sung. It is preserved in the 14th-century Gesta sanctorum Villariensium. • Song of the Conquest of Alcácer do Sal (Latin De expugnatione Salaciae carmen) This poem, composed in 1217/1218, describes the siege of Alcácer. It contains instructions for identifying its dedicatee and its author by means of acrostics. These reveal that author as Gosuinus and the dedicatee as Suerius. These have been identified as Goswin of Bossut and Bishop Soeiro Viegas, who probably commissioned the work. Goswin's style in the Song of the Conquest is much more complex than in the Lives. This can be partially explained by the preferences of Abbot William. In the Life of Ida, Goswin writes of "an order from my abbot, obliging me to set out the Life in a fairly simple style." One characteristic shared by all five of Goswin's extant works is his avoidance of personal names. He explains himself in the Life of Ida: If any should ask why, both here and elsewhere, the names of persons included in our narrative are kept under seal of silence, let them know this has been done deliberately. For if the names were widely published in the ears of many, the persons, if still alive, might either be put to shame by the vituperation of their evil, or else unsuitably uplifted by the praises of their good.. Goswin may also have authored a lost biography of Abbot William, the Vita Wilhelmi Brusseli abbatis. He may also be responsible for an anonymous poem On the Conquest of Santarém (Latin De expugnatione Scalabis), which appears immediately preceding the Song of the Conquest in the manuscript. Georg Waitz suggested that the Gesta crucigerorum Rhenanorum, which covers the crusade down to 1219, was written by Goswin.