Cyril Edwards

{{Short description|British medievalist and translator (1947–2019)}}

{{Infobox academic

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Cyril Edwards

| honorific_suffix = MA, D.Phil

| image = Cyril_Edwards.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Cyril Edwards in June 1983

| native_name =

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| birth_date = 8 August 1947

| birth_place = Neston, Cheshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2019|07|15|1947|08|08}}

| death_place = Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England

| death_cause =

| region =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| occupation = University Lecturer, Translator

| period =

| known_for =

| title = Lecturer in German, Senior Research Fellow

| spouse =

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| awards =

| education = {{unbulleted list||Calday Grange Grammar School|Jesus College, Oxford}}

| alma_mater =

| thesis_title = Aims and Methods of Characterization in the Secular Epics of Konrad von Wurzburg

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year = 1975

| school_tradition =

| doctoral_advisor = Ruth Harvey

| influences =

| discipline = {{unbulleted list|German language and literature}}

| sub_discipline = Medieval German Literature

| workplaces = {{unbulleted list|Goldsmiths College, London|St Peter's College, Oxford}}

| notable_students =

| notable_works = {{unbulleted list|The Beginnings of German Literature|Translations of Middle High German narrative works}}

}}

Cyril William Edwards (8 August 1947 – 15 July 2019){{cite journal |last1=Flood |first1=John |title=Cyril Edwards 1947–2019 |journal=Friends Newsletter |publisher = Friends of Germanic Studies at the IMLR|date=2019 |location=London| pages=41–43}} was a British medievalist and translator. Teaching in London and Oxford, he published extensively on the medieval German lyric and Old High German literature, and translated four of the major Middle High German verse narratives.

Life

Cyril Edwards was born in Neston, Cheshire, the son of William Henry Edwards, a gardener at the University of Liverpool’s Ness Botanic Gardens in the Wirral, and Edith Mary Edwards (née Purchase).{{sfn|Edwards|2004|p=ix}}

From Calday Grange Grammar School he went up to Oxford, graduating in 1970 with a degree in German from Jesus College. He went on to do research, completing a doctoral thesis on Konrad von Würzburg under Ruth Harvey in 1975.{{sfn|Edwards|1975}}

In 1976 he took up a Lectureship in German at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he taught Medieval German Literature and History of the German Language.{{cite book |editor1-last=Flood |editor1-first=John L. |title=Handbook of Germanists in Great Britain and Ireland |date=1988 |publisher=DAAD |location=Bonn |page=89}}

At Goldsmiths he was responsible for organizing three conferences devoted to Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies, which brought together historians, literary scholars and linguists.{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril |title=Foreword |journal=Forum for Modern Language Studies |date=October 1989 |volume=XXV |issue=4, Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies |pages=289–291 |doi=10.1093/fmls/XXV.4.289}}

He published over 30 journal articles and book chapters, with a particular focus on Minnesang and the Arthurian Romance.{{cite web |title=Publications "Edwards, Cyril W." |url=http://opac.regesta-imperii.de/lang_en/autoren.php?name=Edwards%2C+Cyril+W. |website=Regesta Imperii |publisher=Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz |access-date=9 August 2019}} A number of his papers on Old High German literature were collected in the volume The Beginnings of German Literature: comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to Old High German.{{sfn|Edwards|2002}}

A characteristic feature of his scholarship was a concern with examining the original manuscripts of medieval texts, which led to visits to a wide range of libraries and archives in continental Europe.{{sfn|Edwards|2002|p=xii}} On a research trip to the Benedictine abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria, he identified a previously unrecognized manuscript page (Cod. 248){{cite web |title=Kremsmünster, Stiftsbibl., Cod. 248 |url=http://www.handschriftencensus.de/1297 |website=Marburger Repertorium |access-date=13 August 2019}} in the abbey's library as a song by the Minnesänger Heinrich von Morungen.{{sfn|Edwards|1986}}{{cite book |editor-last1=Moser |editor-first1=Hugo|editor-last2=Tervooren |editor-first2=Helmut |title=Des Minnesangs Frühling| series=Vol. I: Texts| publisher=Hirzel |location=Stuttgart |edition=38 |date=1988 |pages=469–471 |chapter=Anhang II: Das Kremsmünsterer Fragment (S) |isbn=978-3777604480 }} This led to a series of publications on Morungen's songs, culminating in an edited volume devoted to the "Narcissus song" (MF 145,1). At his death Edwards was preparing an edition and translation of a late 15th century housebook (Cod. 264) held by the Kremsmünster Abbey.{{cite web |title=Kremsmünster, Stiftsbibl., Cod. 264 |url=http://www.handschriftencensus.de/14968 |website=Marburger Repertorium |access-date=13 August 2019}}{{cite web |last=Miller | first=Tim|title=Cyril Edwards (Interview) |url=https://wordandsilence.com/2018/07/27/cyril-edwards-interview-2/ |website=Human Pages | date=27 July 2018|access-date=9 August 2019}}

In 1994, "despite his record of committed and successful teaching and his internationally recognised distinction in research",{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=N.F. |last2=Reed |first2=T.J. |title=Letter: German at Goldsmiths College |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/german-at-goldsmiths-college/97723.article |access-date=9 August 2019 |work=Times Higher Education |date=28 April 1995| url-access=registration}} Goldsmiths made him redundant on "thematic grounds", a move which gave rise to protests from colleagues in the UK and overseas.

Relocating to Abingdon in 1995, he became a lecturer in German at St Peter's College, Oxford, and Senior Research Fellow of the university's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. In the following years he published translations of four of the great narrative poems of the Middle High German classical period: Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the Nibelungenlied and Hartmann von Aue's two Arthurian romances, Erec and Iwein. Both the Parzival and the Nibelungenlied translations were published in the Oxford World's Classics series.

His interests and expertise went beyond the medieval: at Oxford he also taught German Cinema,{{cite web |title=Dr C Edwards |url=https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/people/cyril-edwards |website=Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages |publisher=Oxford University |access-date=10 August 2019}} and he contributed the article on Theodor Fontane to the Dictionary of National Biography.{{sfn|Edwards|2007}} His later publications include two cook books and a book of poems. He was also a tiddlywinks player of some standing, representing both Oxford University and England,{{cite web | title= Home Page |url=http://www.etwa.org/|website=English Tiddlywinks Association |access-date=13 August 2019}} and at one point ranked 11th in the world.{{cite web |last1=Barrie |first1=Patrick |title=Tiddlywinks World Ratings: Player Profile: Cyril Edwards (RIP) |url=http://www.etwa.org/ratings/index.html |website=English Tiddlywinks Association |access-date=9 August 2019}}

Cyril Edwards died of a heart attack, aged 71, on 15 July 2019 in Abingdon. Professor Nigel Palmer wrote, "Cyril was a remarkable figure, a lovable eccentric, a fine scholar with a wide range of cultural interests who had a difficult career. His translations have played an important part in keeping interest in medieval German literature alive in the English-speaking world."{{cite web |last1=Laehnemann |first1=Henrike |title=Cyril Edwards |url=https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind1907&L=GERMAN-STUDIES&O=D&P=14406 |website=JISCMail |access-date=13 August 2019}}

His edition of the Kremsmünster housebook was completed and published by the abbey on the fifth anniversary of his death.{{sfn|Edwards|Fill|Hranitzky|Jackel| 2024}}

Publications

=Medieval literature=

Books

{{cite thesis |last=Edwards |first=Cyril W. |date=1975 |title=Aims and Methods of Characterization in the Secular Epics of Konrad von Wurzburg. With Special Reference to 'Engelhard' and 'Partonopier und Meliur' |type=PhD |publisher=Oxford University }}
{{cite book|first=Cyril|last=Edwards|title=The Beginnings of German Literature|publisher=Camden House|location=Woodbridge, Suffolk; Rochester New York|year=2002|isbn=1-57113-235-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/beginningsofgerm0000edwa |author-mask=3}}
{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril |last2=Fill |first2=Hauke |last3=Hranitzky |first3=Katharina |last4=Jackel |first4=Christina |title=der tag ist alls ein verpottenn tag: Tagewählerei und Prognostik im Codex Cremifanensis 264 |date=2024 |publisher=Böhlau |location=Vienna |isbn=9783205220190 |author-mask=3}}

Selected articles

{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril W. |title=Die "Räuberin" Heinrichs von Morungen im Benediktinerstift Kremsmünster |journal=Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur |date=1986 |volume=108 |pages=206–211}}
{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril W. |editor1-last=McKitterick |editor1-first=Rosamond |title=Carolingian Culture: Emulation and Innovation |date=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University |location=Cambridge |isbn=0521405246 |pages=141–170 |chapter=German vernacular literature: a survey|author-mask=3}}
{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=Rosamund |editor2-last=Perry |editor2-first=Lucy |editor3-last=Roberts |editor3-first=Jane |title=Laȝamon: Contexts, Language, and Interpretation |date=2002a |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780953983810 |pages=79–96 |chapter=Laȝamon's elves |series=King's College London Medieval Studies|author-mask=3 }}
{{cite encyclopedia | last = Edwards| first = Cyril| encyclopedia = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title = Fontane, Theodor (1819–1898), novelist and travel writer | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/94451 | year = 2007 | publisher = Oxford University Press|author-mask=3 }}
{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril W. |editor1-last=Kern |editor1-first=Manfred |editor2-last=Edwards |editor2-first=Cyril |editor3-last=Huber |editor3-first=Christoph |title=Das 'Narzisslied' Heinrichs von Morungen: zur mittelalterlichen Liebeslyrik und ihrer philologischen Erschließung |date=2015 |publisher=Winter |location=Heidelberg |isbn=9783825365127 |chapter=Überlieferung, Strophenbau und Metrik des Narzisslieds| author-mask=3}}

=Translations=

Middle High German literature

{{cite book |author=Wolfram von Eschenbach | translator1=Cyril Edwards |title=Parzival with Titurel and The Love-lyrics |date=2004 |publisher=D.S.Brewer |location=Woodbridge; Rochester, NY |series=Arthurian Studies| volume=LVI |isbn=978-1843840053 |ref={{harvid|Edwards|2004}}}}
Paperback: {{cite book |author=Wolfram von Eschenbach | translator1=Cyril Edwards |title=Parzival and Titurel |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University|location=Oxford |series=Oxford World's Classics| isbn=978-0192806154}}
{{cite book |translator1=Cyril Edwards |title=The Nibelungenlied. The Lay of the Nibelungs |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199238545 |series=Oxford World's Classics}}
{{cite book |ref=CITEREFEdwards2014 |author=Hartmann von Aue |translator1=Cyril Edwards | title=Iwein or The Knight with the Lion|series=Arthurian Archives. German Romance|volume=III |publisher=D.S.Brewer |year=2007 |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1843840848}}
{{cite book |ref=CITEREFEdwards2014 |author=Hartmann von Aue |translator1=Cyril Edwards | title=Hartmann von Aue. Erec |series=Arthurian Archives. German Romance|volume=V |publisher=D.S.Brewer |year=2014 |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-84384-378-8}}

Modern works

{{cite book |last1=Maier |first1=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Maier (religious studies professor) |translator=Cyril Edwards |title=Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture |trans-title=Lexikon der keltischen Religion und Kultur |date=2000 |publisher=Boydell |location=Woodbridge |isbn=978-0851156606}}
{{cite book |last1=Wind|first1=Edgar |author-link=Edgar Wind |translator=Cyril Edwards |title=Experiment and Metaphysics: Towards a Resolution of the Cosmological Antinomies |trans-title= Das Experiment und die Metaphysik. Zur Auflösung der kosmologischen Antinomien| date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon; New York|isbn=978-0851156606}}

=Other works=

{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Cyril |title=The little book of soups and stews |date=2009 |publisher=Elfking |location=Abingdon |isbn=9780956349101}}