Journal Article

BEDA VENERABILIS’ AUGUSTINIAN FLORILEGIUM AS A SOURCE FOR EARLY MEDIEVAL BIBLE COMMENTARIES AND HOMILIES

De Maeyer, Nicolas

2020

Overview

This article presents two new indirect witnesses of Beda Venerabilis’ Collectio ex opusculis sancti Augustini in Epistolas Pauli apostoli (CPL 1360). While it was already known that Bede’s Collectio was used as a source for Florus of Lyon’s Expositio in Epistolas beati Pauli ex operibus sancti Augustini, Hrabanus Maurus’ Enarrationes in Epistolas beati Pauli, the Romans commentary in ms. Paris, BNF Lat. 11574, and Sedulius Scottus’ Collectaneum in apostolum, the present study shows that the Collectio also functioned as a source for the anonymous Pauline commentaries in ms. Avranches, Bibl. Mun. 79 (ed. CCCM 151) and for Hrabanus Maurus’ Homiliae in Euangelia et Epistolas. This conclusion allows us to date the Avranches commentaries more precisely, while a systematic comparison of Bede’s florilegium with the latter commentaries provides us with more insight into the anonymous compiler’s knowledge of some of Augustine’s writings and their circulation in Early Medieval Europe. The last part of the article evaluates recent claims that the Collectio was also known to and used by Claudius of Turin, though, in this case, it is concluded that there is currently not enough evidence to prove such claims.

• Publisher: Peeters Publishers