Canones

the social life of early medieval canonical collections

Author: Sven Meeder

Florilegium Vesulensium

12 January 2024 /

The last seven folios of Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipal, MS 73 (79) contain an intriguing canonical florilegium, which derives from the late eighth- or early ninth-century Collectio canonum Sangermanensis. The Florilegium Vesulensium(Flor.Ves.) is thereby one of several (partial) reworkings and extracts of the Collectio canonum Sangermansis—itself highly dependent on the Hibernensis.⁠1Roger E Reynolds, ‘Unity and diversity in Carolingian canon law collections: the case of the Collectio Hibernensis and its derivatives’, in: U.-R. Blumenthal (ed.), Carolingian essays: Andrew W. Mellon lectures in early Christian Studies (Washington, DC, 1983), pp. 99–135, at 119-23. Internal evidence demonstrates that the immediate exemplar for the Flor.Ves. was the Sangermanensis as it survives in Paris, BnF lat. 12444. A study of the Flor.Ves. is therefore particularly interesting, not only because we know what the compiler included from the Sangermanensis, but also because we have a good sense of what he/she chose to omit.

The Florilegium Vesulensium opens on folio 81r in Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipal, MS 73 (79)

A transcription of the Florilegium Vesulensium is provided here.

This post is a copy taken from svenmeeder.nl

  • 1
    Roger E Reynolds, ‘Unity and diversity in Carolingian canon law collections: the case of the Collectio Hibernensis and its derivatives’, in: U.-R. Blumenthal (ed.), Carolingian essays: Andrew W. Mellon lectures in early Christian Studies (Washington, DC, 1983), pp. 99–135, at 119-23.

Opening workshop

10 January 2024 /

The first days of 2024 were dedicated to the opening workshop of the SOLEMNE project. In the intimate setting of Heyendael House on the Radboud University Campus, a group of specialists working with early medieval normative sources and digital datasets gathered to share lessons learned and future ambitions.

Huize Heyendael, Radboud University Nijmegen

Inspiring examples of the combination of early medieval sources and digital humanities were presented by Sören Kaschke (Capitularia project), Abigail Firey (Carolingian Canon Law project), Helena Geitz (Burchards Dekret Digital project), Danica Summerlin and Christof Rolker (Clavis canonum project), Shari Boodts and Gleb Schmidt (PASSIM project). The current state of research on the technical side of digital datasets was presented by Arjen de Vries (Radboud Institute for Computing and Information Sciences). The meetings produced a lot of food for thought. The conversations will undoubtedly continue in the years to come.

The Collectio 91 capitulorum

4 November 2023 /
The opening rubric ('Incipit institutio canonum') of the Collectio 91 capitulorum in Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipal, MS 79 (73)

Normative texts need to be authoritative to be effective in communicating norms and rules. Recent scholarship has shown a renewed interest in the authoritative status of the texts within early medieval works of canon law and the ways in which authority is reflected in the practice of attribution, promulgation, or organization. A small canonical collection known as the Collectio 91 capitulorum appears to flout the received knowledge. My recent article in Early Medieval Europe presents this modest collection. It explores the relationship between ‘authority’ and canon law in general, and examines the negotiation of authority within this collection in particular.

Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipal, MS 79 (73) 

13 May 2023 / / 0 Comments

It is well known that in early medieval manuscripts with canonical material, other genres of normative works often accompany ‘purely’ canonical texts. In fact, compilers of systematically arranged canonical collections not seldomly drew on royal capitularies when selecting the authoritative material for their collections. This latter phenomenon appears to be at work in the tenth- or eleventh-century manuscript now in the municipal library in Vesoul.1Not referred to by Valeska Koal (2001), Studien zur Nachwirkung der Kapitularien in den Kanonessammlungen des Frühmittelalters,Freiburger Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte 13, Frankfurt a. M. [u.a.]. Here material from the royal capitularies forms part of the canonical collection itself.

Neither the manuscript, nor the presence of excerpts from royal capitularies were unknown to previous scholars. The role of these texts within the carefully assembled material of this eleventh-century manuscript has, however, escaped detailed study. Hubert Mordek described Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipal, MS 79 (73) as a ‘typisch kirchliche Gebrauchshandschrift’,⁠2Mordek, Hubert (1995), Bibliotheca capitularium regum Francorum manuscripta: Überlieferung und Traditionszusammenhang der fränkischen Herrschererlasse, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Hilfsmittel, Munich, p. 895 a typical utilitarian religious manuscript. Its mundane character is reflected in its humble material aspects. With its 88 folios measuring at most 190 x 130 mm, it is a small, handy codex that is convenient to carry around. Its low-grade parchment is of medium thickness, with numerous uneven page edges due to the use of skin from the animal’s neck, shoulders or hind. Multiple holes can be found throughout the manuscript (one hole has been repaired with stitchings—fol. 30).

Its texts were copied by several scribes, writing in a flowing Caroline minuscule, but making more than a few errors in their Latin. It is a fairly well-organised codex, with red rubrics in minuscule (rarely in capitals) separating the different works, guiding the reader through the selection of texts. This sober manuscript has only two small illustrations, which were perhaps added later: a man in a hat can be spotted in the initial Q on folio 12v (opening a statement on the performance of augury and divination), while another initial Q holds a drawing of a face (folio 23v).

Vesoul 79 (73), fol. 12v: An anonymous person wearing a large hat (©Bibliothèque municipale Louis Garret).
Vesoul 79 (73), fol. 12v: An anonymous person wearing a large hat (©Bibliothèque municipale Louis Garret).
Continue reading
  • 1
    Not referred to by Valeska Koal (2001), Studien zur Nachwirkung der Kapitularien in den Kanonessammlungen des Frühmittelalters,Freiburger Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte 13, Frankfurt a. M. [u.a.].
  • 2
    Mordek, Hubert (1995), Bibliotheca capitularium regum Francorum manuscripta: Überlieferung und Traditionszusammenhang der fränkischen Herrschererlasse, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Hilfsmittel, Munich, p. 895
Radboud University Nijmegen
European Research Council

© 2024 Canones

Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑