Collectio Burgundiana: Difference between revisions
mNo edit summary |
m (link to ms page) |
||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
}} | }} | ||
The ''Collectio Burgundiana'' is a collection of (excerpts from) authoritative canonical texts, including conciliar canons, papal letters, penitential decrees, monastic rules, and patristic works. It survives in only one manuscript, now in the Royal Library in Brussels: [https://uurl.kbr.be/1351155 | The ''Collectio Burgundiana'' is a collection of (excerpts from) authoritative canonical texts, including conciliar canons, papal letters, penitential decrees, monastic rules, and patristic works. It survives in only one manuscript, now in the Royal Library in Brussels: [[Bruxelles, KBR, 8780-8793]] (digitized [https://uurl.kbr.be/1351155 here]). In fact, it appears that the ''Burgundiana'' seems to span the entire manuscript, which means that it includes a penitential section (also known as the ''Paenitentiale Burgundense'') and the brief collection known as the ''Scintillae''. Friedrich {{Author|Maassen}} astutely identified the collection as "die Sammlung der burgundischen Handschrift". | ||
Kéry dates the compilation of the ''Collectio Burgundiana'' to the beginning of the eighth century, following Maassen's assessment that the absence of clear Theodorian influence can be regarded as proof for a date of composition before the second half of | Kéry dates the compilation of the ''Collectio Burgundiana'' to the beginning of the eighth century, following Maassen's assessment that the absence of clear Theodorian influence can be regarded as proof for a date of composition before the second half of | ||
the eighth century. However, it is also a possibility that the collection is contemporary to the manuscript in which it survives, the late eighth-, early ninth-century Brussels codex. In this case, the Brussels manuscript may form not only the sole witness to the collection but also its archetype. | the eighth century. However, it is also a possibility that the collection is contemporary to the manuscript in which it survives, the late eighth-, early ninth-century Brussels codex. In this case, the Brussels manuscript may form not only the sole witness to the collection but also its archetype. | ||
Revision as of 09:05, 26 March 2025
| Title | Collectio Burgundiana |
|---|---|
| Key | ? |
| Alternative title | Sammlung der burgundischen Handschrift (Maassen) |
| Size | medium (500 to 1000 canons) |
| Century | saec. VIII |
| General region of origin | France |
| Main author | Sven Meeder |
| Structure | farrago |
| No. of manuscripts | one |
The Collectio Burgundiana is a collection of (excerpts from) authoritative canonical texts, including conciliar canons, papal letters, penitential decrees, monastic rules, and patristic works. It survives in only one manuscript, now in the Royal Library in Brussels: Bruxelles, KBR, 8780-8793 (digitized here). In fact, it appears that the Burgundiana seems to span the entire manuscript, which means that it includes a penitential section (also known as the Paenitentiale Burgundense) and the brief collection known as the Scintillae. Friedrich Maassen astutely identified the collection as "die Sammlung der burgundischen Handschrift".
Kéry dates the compilation of the Collectio Burgundiana to the beginning of the eighth century, following Maassen's assessment that the absence of clear Theodorian influence can be regarded as proof for a date of composition before the second half of
the eighth century. However, it is also a possibility that the collection is contemporary to the manuscript in which it survives, the late eighth-, early ninth-century Brussels codex. In this case, the Brussels manuscript may form not only the sole witness to the collection but also its archetype.
Manuscript
Brussels, KBR, MS 8780–8793 is a small, thick book, measuring 175 x 120 mm (ca. 125 x 77–88 mm), an easily transportable codex with generally well-prepared parchment of medium thickness. The manuscript counts 129 folios, on which several scribes worked, writing in a ligature-rich pre-Caroline script or an early Caroline minuscule. The pre-Caroline and early Caroline script appear to be contemporary and point to an eighth- or early ninth-century date. Both Lowe and Bischoff suggested a northern French or Belgian origin. For more detailed information, see here (number of entries: 1).
Structure
The manuscript (and, as such, the Burgundiana) opens with 41 penitential rules. This so-called Paenitentiale Burgundense is the best witness (dicit Rob Meens) of the group of ‘simple Frankish penitentials’ (libri paenitentiales simplices'), which possibly originates from a seventh-century Burgundian centre. It combines material from the penitential work of Columbanus with decrees from ecumenical councils as well as Gallic synods, the most recent of which is the synod of Auxerre (585). It is followed by five rules from the Scintillae de canonibus uel ordinationibus episcoporum, a "“small collection of canons from the Merovingian period” (Till Stüber). Following the Scintillae, the manuscript presents canonical material from Gallic councils, starting with selected decrees from Tours (567), the full text of Auxerre (561–605), and – after excerpts from Gennadius of Marseille’s Liber ecclesiasticorum dogmatum – selections from the third council of Lyon (585), Mâcon (581–583), Orléans (511), and Epaon (517). Perched in between selected canons from the Breviarium Hipponense (an abridgement of canons from Carthage [397]) and the conciliar acts of Clermont (535) and Agde (506), we find the monastic rules of Macharius and Caesarius of Arles. The Canones apostolorum and the Statuta ecclesiae antiqua follow, after which the manuscript presents the text of the ecumenical council of Gangra, a decretal by Innocent I, the acts of Nicaea, Laodicea, a treatise by Augustine, and the decrees of Carthage (419). A prayer to combat fever is added on the last folios.
The criteria by which the compiler of the Burgundiana worked have mostly eluded modern researchers. The scarcity of titles, the fact that many of the canonical works are not copied in full, and the fact that the material is not presented in a chronological order, ar- gues against viewing the Collectio Burgundiana as some form of a historically structured canonical collection. Instead, the compiler seems to have selected canons according to his aims and context, as one would do for a systematically structured collection. The sources have been stripped of the non-relevant canons but are still recorded in clusters from the same source and in their original order. They are not yet re-ordered, and there are hardly any descriptive headings. Yet, there are occasional hints of thematic clustering. In all, the selected canons specifically address the clerical duties and behaviour of (lower) clergy working in a local setting with a lay audience.
| Paenitentiale Burgundense |
| Scintillae de canonibus uel ordinationibus episcoporum |
| Tours (567) c. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10b |
| Auxerre (561–605) c. 1–45 |
| Ps-Gennadius of Marseille, Liber ecclesiasticorum dogmatum c. 41, 22–23 |
| Lyon (585) c. 5 |
| Mâcon (581–583) c. 6–8, 3, 5 |
| Si seruus ecclesie – habere praecipimus |
| Orléans (511) c. 1–3, 8–9, 25–26, 29–31 |
| Innocent I, Ep. ad Vitricium, §§ 7, 2–3 (partial) |
| Epaon (516) c. 22, 12–13, 9, 4 |
| Breviarium Hipponense c. 1–4, 19, 20, 36 (partial) |
| Regula Macharii |
| Caesarius of Arles, Regula ad monachos |
| Clermont (535) c. 1–13, 15–16 (partial) |
| Agde (506) c. 12–19, 21–27, 32, 35–37, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47 |
| Canones apostolorum |
| Statuta ecclesiae antiqua |
| Gangra (c. 341) |
| Innocent I, Ep. ad episcopum Decentium Gubbiensem (J3 701) §§ 4–12 |
| Nicaea (325) |
| Nicene Creed |
| Sardica (342) |
| Epistula quae CCCXVIII episcopi Nicaeni transcripserunt, Omnino inter nos pariter uno ore consinsemus – liminibus arceatur |
| Laodicea (ca. 363) |
| Augustine, Tractatus ad coniugatos c. 2 |
| Carthage (419) |
| Oratio contra febrem |
Literature
Sven Meeder, ‘More than the Sum of its Parts. The Existence of the Collectio Burgundiana’ in: Dominik Trump and Dominik Leyendecker (eds), Rechtshandschriften des frühen Mittelalters (Quellen und Forschungen zum Recht im Mittelalter, 15, Ostfildern, 2025), pp. 171–85; Rob Meens, Penance in Medieval Europe, 600–1200 (Cambridge 2014), p. 76; Till Stüber, Die ‘Scintillae de canonibus uel ordinationibus episcoporum’. Eine kleine Kanonessammlung aus der Merowingerzeit, in: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 56 (2022), pp. 15–47; Maassen, Geschichte p. 636, Kéry Collections p. 86; CLA 10, no. 1543 (as n. 2), p. 30; Bernhard Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts, vol. 1 (Wiesbaden 1998), p. 156, no. 725;
