AEVUM - 2023 - 2

Through a reading of the Passio Praeiecti episcopi et martyris Arverni it is shown how the frequent reference to Praejectus’s thaumaturgic potentia was functional for the purpose of his anonymous hagiographer (whose possible identity is discussed in the paper), namely to construct the image of a saint who, post mortem, could be welcomed  not only by his faithful but also by his political opponents. In fact, the paper focuses on aspects neglected by the historiography dedicated to the bishop of Clermont in order  to identify, through comparison with other Vitae, the foundations of his auctoritas, as in the case of his ability to perform numerous miracula. Praejectus’s power did not derive from belonging to a noble family, as was the case with many bishops, and this is certainly an important element in a historical period, seventh-century Merovingian  Gaul, in which the hagiographic tendency is to favour the concrete pastoral action of the episcopi chosen by the Merovingian kings, rather than their spiritual virtues.

During his reign, Sigurðr Magnússon Jórsalafari (King of Norway 1103-1130) embarked on two expeditions abroad: the first and most famous was the crusade in the Holy Land  of 1107-1111, while the second was the so-called Kalmar-expedition of 1123 against the pagans in the Swedish region of Småland. Being aimed at the advancement of  Christianity, also the Kalmar-expedition seems to have the characteristics of a crusade, and so it was interpreted by some contemporary observers. The Norse sagas, however,  describe the two expeditions with different terminologies: the second, in particular, is defined as leiðangr, a term that specifically indicates the popular conscription,  scrupulously regulated in 12th century Norwegian laws. In the article, the crusade and the leiðangr of King Sigurðr are therefore compared in order to highlight similarities and  differences: from the recruitment to the terminology, from the legal to the logistical aspects.

In 1130, Rome was shaken by the elections of two popes: Innocent II and Anacletus II. The double election resulted in a schism on a European scale that lasted until the  death of Anacletus in 1138. The abbey of Montecassino initially placed itself among the Anacletians but changed sides in 1137. This article analyses the Altercatio pro cenobio Casinensi, a work written by Peter the Deacon, a Cassinese monk, describing the negotiations eventually leading to Montecassino’s support for Innocent. The Altercatio will prove to be an attack on Roman primacy and a defence of the libertas and autonomy of Montecassino, stressing its link with the emperor and developing an ecclesiology rivalling that produced in Rome.

The article focuses on the codicological-paleographic features and the contents of the manuscript Kraków, Biblioteka Książąt Czartoryskich, 2852, copied in the second half of  the twelfth century in an unknown monastic center of Terra d’Otranto. The codex, which is seriously mutilated at the end, transmits an interesting hagiographic-homiletic  collection. The medieval transmission of individual texts confirms that Salentine Hellenism had a strong connection with the Constantinopolitan area.

This paper focuses on manuscript Douai 842, which was copied at the end of the twelfth century at the monastery of Sainte-Rictrude of Marchiennes, Southern Flanders. This manuscript transmits an unknown version of the Liber chronicorum – Compilation B, which originated at the scriptorium of Pelagius of Oviedo (?-1153). After providing a  brief description of the manuscript’s structure and contents, I argue that there were at least two versions of Compilation B (rather than just one, as previously believed,  represented by the well-known copy in Madrid, BNE, 1513), with Douai 842 transmitting the oldest. I contend that this version attests to the existence of a primitive form of  Compilation B, representing a distinct branch within the tradition of the Liber. Finally, I suggest that Douai 842 was copied between 1177-1179.

Frédérique Lachaud and Francesco Siri have recently identified a new witness for two lesser works by Joachim of Fiore – the Praefatio super Apocalypsim and the Genealogia  sanctorum antiquorum patrum – in ms. 167 of the Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne, copied after the Commentarium in Leviticum of Ralph of Flaix. Frédérique  Lachaud agreed with the editors of the two works to join in writing a note describing the important discovery. The note is divided into three parts. Frédérique Lachaud and  Francesco Siri offer a complete description of the manuscript, including its date and provenance. Alexander Patschovsky, editor of the most recent critical edition of the  Praefatio, treats the newly-identified manuscript with regard to that text, indicating the variants compared to the printed edition that he edited with the late Kurt-Victor  Selge. Gian Luca Potestà, editor of the most recent critical edition of the Genealogia, treats the new manuscript, limiting himself to that text and indicating its variants with  respect to his printed edition.

This short article examines a Greek manuscript fragment which was recently discovered in the archive of the basilica of St. Caterina d’Alessandria in the Apulian city of  Galatina (province of Lecce). It is a single sheet of parchment on which an excerptum and a portrait of Constantine the Great have been copied from the famous Venice  manuscript Marc. gr. Z 402 (coll. 1031, Italo-Greek manuscript?), containing Michael Glycas’ Χρονικὴ σύντομος ἐπισύναξις.

The article intends to interpret the doctrine of religious vows in the Divine Comedy in relation to the Franciscan sources, especially the Quaestiones de perfectione evangelica  written by Olivi around the year 1279. The contribution highlights how the doctrines of Dante and Olivi both confer an inestimable value to the vows, which are considered as  a sacrifice of the free will, that is to say of the most valuable attribute of rational creatures. The human will, which is the purpose of the vows in the Sphere of the Moon, is a  real and own intellectual will founded on reason; it seems to identify itself with the doctrine of free will that Virgil attributes to Beatrice in Purg. XVIII, 73-75.

The paper publishes a list of original papal letters concerning the Friars Minor preserved in Venice, covering the period up to the pontificate of Alexander IV. Most of the letters were sent during the pontificate of Alexander IV. Of particular interest are the letters sent to the inquisitors of the Marca Trevigiana province and the letters of  indulgence for the benefactors of the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The convent in Venice, residence of the provincial minister, was the place where the papal  letters were kept, but also the centre where the necessary copies were made. In addition, the data collected leads one to assume that the archives of the inquisition were  kept separately, with their own distinct arrangement. Finally, it is interesting to make a comparison with the Liber privilegiorum conventus Padue, a juridical collection produced  in the first decades of the fourteenth century for the convent of St. Anthony, contained in ms. 49 of the Pontificia Biblioteca Antoniana.

The manuscript Vatican Library, Arch. Cap. San Pietro C 132 is one of the ten illuminated witnesses of Livy’s Ab Urbe condita dating from between the middle of the 13th  century and the end of the 14th century; its splendid miniatures were probably made in Padua for Giacomo II da Carrara (1345-1350). The article reconstructs much of its history, illustrates the discovery in its margins of signs and reading notes by Francesco Petrarca and edits some of these with a commentary.

This contribution proposes an analysis of ancient laude cantasi come related to texts attributed or attributable to Leonardo Giustinian. The investigation is limited to only those Giustinian compositions set to music on texts from the Fourteenth-century Italian Ars nova, that have been formally and metrically re-enacted. Of the selected  compositions, the text is provided on the basis of known manuscripts, accompanied by a study of the metrical peculiarities and intertextual strategies implemented by the authors.