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ABSTRACT
Research on manuscripts from early medieval Septimania and Catalonia has become quite sophisticated, but significant and detailed work remains to be done. The ongoing digitization of thousands of manuscript fragments, preserved especially in public, ecclesiastical, and private archives and libraries in Catalonia, will furnish a rich collection of unknown items that will allow for the reconstruction of lost testimonies of the region’s religious culture from the ninth century onwards. This paper shows how modern fragmentology, based on systematic digitization and comparison of scattered pieces, enables us to rediscover and write the history of the Carolingian homiletic collections in the south-western periphery of the Carolingian empire formed by Septimania and Catalonia—both in general and in the specific case of the autochthonous Homiliary of Luculentius.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
* This article has been written within the framework of the FWF-Project P 33080-G “Carolingian Culture in Septimania and Catalonia: The Transformation of a Multi-Ethnic Middle Ground of the Euro-Mediterranean World,” co-directed by Prof. Dr. Matthias M. Tischler and Prof. Dr. Walter Pohl (Vienna).
1 Alturo i Perucho, following the research by his master Anscari Manuel Mundó i Marcet, published, for example, Studia in codicum fragmenta. More publications by these Catalan authors and my own discoveries are mentioned in Tischler, “Knowledge Transfer,” and “From Disorder to Order.”
2 Most prominent is Fragmentarium, an international research project at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), publishing its own open-access journal Fragmentology since 2018: http://fragmentology.ms/.
3 To name just one example, the private archive of Miquel de Fàbregas i Sabater in Manresa, now Sant Vicenç dels Horts, holds an unknown collection of fragments which the author of this article is currently investigating for the publication of a scientific catalogue. For an initial orientation to this archive, see de Fàbregas i Sabater, “Els fons documentals.”
4 See Tischler, “The Biblical Tradition;” Puig i Tàrrech, “La Bíblia llatina;” Alturo i Perucho, “‘Corpus biblicum medii aevi Cataloniae’” (which does not mention the article by Puig i Tàrrech).
5 An important discovery has been made by Josep Antoni Iglesias i Fonseca (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) who found and identified the innermost bifolium of a quire in Caldes de Montbui, Arxiu Històric Municipal, s.n. Both folia are used as the front and rear protecting fly leaves in the second volume of the acts of the assembly of Caldes de Montbui for the years 1586–1596, which consists of 200 paper folia. The fragments show a part of Homilia 6 and belong probably to a Vic copy of the first half of the eleventh century. See Iglesias i Fonseca, “‘Instruments inútils’,” 264n28, and “La investigación,” 506n45. The discoverer is preparing a detailed study of this interesting fragment.
6 For an introduction to Carolingian homiliaries, see Barré, Lés homéliaires; Grégoire, Homéliaires.
7 I can only hint at the rich transmission I uncovered in recent years, here mentioning the modern shelfmarks or citing mentions in medieval sources. For specific bibliographies of each testimony, see the database that will be published as part of the FWF-project, “Carolingian Culture in Septimania and Catalonia: The Transformation of a Multi-Ethnic Middle Ground” (2020–2024): https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imafo/forschung/historische-identitaetsforschung/projekte/carolingian-culture-in-septimania-and-catalonia/.
8 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/27.
9 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Ms. 60 (LXXXVI), fol. 1r–100v.
10 Both Vic testimonies are omitted in Bischoff, Katalog 3:470–71. For a robust new study of the early phase of written culture in Vic between the second half of the ninth century and the first quarter of the tenth century, see Alturo i Perucho and Alaix i Gimbert, El canonge Adanagell de Vic.
11 Palazzo, “Arts somptuaires et liturgie,” 713 l. 38–39, “Librum Rabanum unum.” Based on the context, which mentions further exegetical works on the readings from the Gospels and Epistles, I can confirm this identification.
12 Beer, Die Handschriften, 109 no. 231, “Rabbanum.” The manuscript is mentioned in the section “In Montesserate,” which forms part of the Ripoll catalogue from 1047. Since the entry belongs to liturgical manuscripts given from Santa Maria de Ripoll to the new foundation of Santa Maria de Montserrat, this copy was most probably an older Ripoll manuscript destined for Montserrat.
13 La Seu d’Urgell, Biblioteca Capitular, Ms. 180. 6, Catalonia, eleventh century (Homiliae 64–66).
14 A certain “Rabanus” is mentioned in the oldest book inventory of the Cistercian abbey Santa Maria de Poblet, made under Abbot Hugh (1166–1181), see Altisent i Altisent, “Notes de cultura i art,” 134 l. 13.
15 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. lat. 619, fol. 1r–253r.
16 Delisle, Le cabinet des manuscrits 2:541 no. 59, “Item sunt duo volumina, et quodlibet eorum dicitur Aimo, in quibus prefatus auctor exponit cuncta evangelia et epistolas dominicales totius anni et de quibusdam aliis solemnitatibus. Continentur similiter in uno ipsorum decem homelie sancti Gregorii de parte ultima visionis Ezechielis prophete.”
17 Coll i Alentorn, “El Crónico de Sant Cugat,” 259, “Item Aymó blanch. Item Aymó nigres lo prim.” A copy of this homiliary must already have existed in the early thirteenth century, since the Consuetudines of Sant Cugat del Vallès redacted by the monk Pere Ferrer in 1221–1223 stipulate its use for readings in the refectory: Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó, Ms. Sant Cugat 46: Compte i Roux, El costumari.
18 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Mensa Episcopal 2059, plec VIII, fol. 44r, “Alter nocturnalis maior qui dicitur Aimo,” see Altés i Aguiló, “La ‘pars aestiva’,” 113n23 (with the wrong shelfmark “plec VII”), and “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” 86n67. It has probably nothing to do with the entry “Aimonis i” in the Ripoll catalogue of 1047 which (probably) refers to the Chronicon by Aimoin of Fleury, see Altés i Aguiló, “Un Homiliari,” 16n7 (with the old confusion between the quoted Ripoll catalogue and the Ripoll inventory of 979 and with the wrong identification).
19 The following data enrich the known panorama of transmission of Paul the Deacon’s homiliary: Grégoire, Homéliaires, 423–78; Giuliano, The Homiliary.
20 The Ripoll catalogue of 1047 mentions “Carle ii,” probably a two-volume edition (with a winter and a summer part) of this Carolingian homiliary, see Beer, Die Handschriften, 101 no. 6–7 (following the correct transcription by Benet Ribas i Ribas, not the wrong one, “Cartularia ii,” given by Jaime Villanueva). Is Barcelona, Arxiu Diocesà, Carpeta 3, Fragm. s.n., Catalonia, eleventh century (Homilia 17) a fragment of this manuscript? Roc d’Olzinelles i Miquel mentions a copy of this work among the manuscripts destined for the reading in the refectory, see Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Mensa Episcopal 2059, plec VIII, fol. 44r. Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 193/8 (=fol. 10ra–10vb), Catalonia, middle of the eleventh century, stems from another manuscript, since it is the folium of a lectionary for the office (Homilia 62).
21 A mid-thirteenth-century hand and a late thirteenth-century hand making additions to the Liber consuetudinum of Vic Cathedral redacted by the canon Andreu Salmúnia in 1216–1228 mention a homiliary with the title “Charolus” or “Karolus” several times, see Gros i Pujol, “El ‘Liber consuetudinum Vicensis ecclesie’,” 198n31, 204n55, 206n58, 246n259, and 267. This is perhaps the old manuscript which was used for the c. 1080 copy for Santa Maria de l’Estany (see next footnote). It could also be the manuscript later mentioned in the Vic inventory of 14 April 1368: “Item altro libra entich de legenes e de sermons apellat ‘Karlo’,” Gudiol i Cunill, Catàleg, 16 no. 73; Ginebra i Molins, “Joies, ornaments i llibres,” 411.
22 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/14, fol. 1r–4v (Homiliae I 21, 20, 22, 23b, 56, 58, and 61), a bifolium and two folia that stem from book covers of the archive of Santa Maria de l’Estany.
23 Mundó i Marcet, “La cultura artística escrita,” 145, mentions a late eleventh-century fragment with the old shelfmark Girona, Arxiu Capitular, fragm. 74, which I have yet to identify.
24 On 25 June 1056, the noble woman Adalaidis donated her private copy of this Homiliary: “librum Charoli sancte ecclesie utillimum in tribus corporibus divisum,” Baucells i Reig et al., Diplomatari 3, 1427 l. 40–41 (with the highly unlikely identification as a Life of Charlemagne).
25 Ponç, head of the Girona Cathedral school, owned, among many other books, a homiliary by Paul the Deacon that he gave to Sant Martí Sacosta in Girona on 14 February 1064: “Et omnes meos libros maiores et minores id est … et Carolum … dimitto sancto Martino de ipsa Costa,” Rius i Serra, “Cartes antigues,” 362 l. 3–6.
26 On 6 October 1078, Joan, head of the Girona Cathedral school, donated his three-volume copy of this homiliary to this institution: “Et ad iam dictam sanctam Mariam dimitto … et charulos iii … , ” Rius i Serra, “Cartes antigues,” 368 l. 38–40.
27 Mentioned in the inventories of c. 1100 and 1147: “.ii. Carolos” and “.i. carolum,” Gros i Pujol, “La biblioteca,” 106 no. 3 and 114 no. 41.
28 Mentioned in the inventory of the Church treasure: “et i Carlum,” Gros i Pujol, “L’inventari,” 354 l. 2.
29 València, Arxiu Capitular, Ms. 78, fol. 1r–179v and 180r–235v.
30 Masdeu i Costa, “Un inventari,” 144 l. 27–29, “Librum etiam qui vocatur charolus in quo habentur legende tam feriales quam cantorales a principio adventus domini usque ad pascha.”
31 The fourteenth-century book inventory of the altar of the Virgin Mother in Sant Cugat del Vallès mentions the two-volume homiliary: “Item lo Carle gros . Item lo Carle ten‹uis›,” Coll i Alentorn, “El Crónico de Sant Cugat,” 259. This two-volume homiliary must already have existed in the early thirteenth century, since the Consuetudines of Sant Cugat del Vallès repeatedly mention a homiliary in two volumes, “Carolus tenuis” and “Carolus grossus,” used during winter and spring in the refectory or for the collations. The smaller one was the winter part of the homiliary, whereas the bigger one contained at least the spring part and the spring and summer part of the Sanctorale with the Passions and homilies for the saints’ feasts.
32 According to the inventory of 27 January 1507, the bookcase of the choir of this collegiate church had “Item un altre libre apel·lat ‘Lo Carles Maior’ ab ses cubertes. Item altre libre apel·lat ‘Lo Carles Menor’,” perhaps the summer and winter part of this homiliary, Galera i Pedrosa, “Els llibres del cor,” 110 l. 16–17.
33 Collomb, “In memoriam;” Olivar i Daydí, “Raymond Étaix;” Wikipedia, “Joseph Lemarié;” Gros i Pujol, “In ‘memoriam’.”
34 Arenys de Mar, Arxiu Històric Fidel Fita, Fragm. 15 (parts of Homiliae 54–55). Up til now, only the Italian recension of this homiliary was known to be present in Catalonia through the southern Italian fragment Montserrat, Arxiu i Biblioteca del Monestir, Ms. 1347, Bari (or region), first half of the eleventh century (part of Homilia 30) which consists of two pieces of a large-size two-column copy that were formerly the protecting fly leaves of the book cover of Montserrat, Arxiu i Biblioteca del Monestir, Ms. 983, an Italian copy of Boethius’s De consolatione Philosophiae from the first half of the fifteenth century. These fragments did not appear in Catalonia until the arrival of this fifteenth-century copy of Boethius and thus played no liturgical role in this region in earlier medieval times.
35 Junyent i Subirà, Diplomatari, 39 l. 25, “Smaragdum quodicem i.” This appears in the testament of Bishop Idalguer of Vic from 908, who surely belonged to the Narbonnais clerics who restored the bishopric of Vic in the late ninth century. In the testament of Bishop Riculf of Elne from 915 published in Palazzo, “Arts somptuaires et liturgie,” 713 l. 38: “Smaragdum unum.”
36 Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó, Fragm. 402 (the rest of “In Octava Nativitatis Domini” and the beginning of “Dominica post Natalem Domini”) and Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó, Fragm. 21 (part of “In die theophaniae” and parts of “Dominica i post theophania” and “Dominica ii post epiphania”), Santa Maria de Ripoll (?), early tenth century. These are probably fragments of the copy mentioned in the Ripoll catalogue of 1047: “Collectarum i,” Beer, Die Handschriften, 103 no. 77. An open issue is the question of whether Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. lat. 2341, fol. 14ra–135rb from the Orléans region, second quarter of the ninth century (843), was ever at Ripoll. Later it belonged to the Cathedral of Le Puy.
37 Madrid, Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Ms. 17, fol. 241vb–255vb (eleven selected homilies), Sant Cugat de Vallès, 956–57, later in San Millán de la Cogolla.
38 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. X/31, fol. 1v, Vic, last quarter of the tenth century, shows an excerpt of the feast of Archangel Michael (29 September) used in a passionary, thus not a pure homiliary. The other fragment is Manresa, Arxiu Comarcal del Bages, Col·lecció de documents i manuscrits, s.n., Catalonia, tenth to eleventh century (part of “Dominica in vicesima”).
39 A dense overview of these works transmitted in Catalonia is given in Tischler, “How Carolingian,” 114–15, “Using the Carolingian Past,” 74 with n. 11, and “From Disorder to Order,” 109–10.
40 Pérez de Urbel, “La literatura estranjera,” 78–80, 83–84, and 87–88, and “El monasterio de Valeránica,” 72–73, 82–86, and 88–89; Witters, “Smaragde au Moyen Âge,” 366–67; Étaix, “Le ‘Smaragde’ de Cordoue.”
41 Tischler, “Supposed and True Knowledge,” 28–34, and “How Carolingian,” 119–21.
42 Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” 129–200. Here, the author counted and described only ninety-five fragments of homilies of this collection from the tenth to the early thirteenth century, but his list needs a complete revision from a codicological and palaeographical standpoint.
43 The oldest fragments are Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/7 (Homiliae 102–103) and Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/27 (Homiliae 109–10 and 125), see Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” 195 no. 87 (with the wrong date “Segle X med.”) and 179 no. 69.
44 Tischler and Vernet i Pons, “An Untapped Treasure.” In continuation of the partial edition and study by Müller, Das ‘Luculentius’-Homiliar and the work by Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” the new research project “Preaching Christ from a Transcultural Standpoint: Study and Critical Edition of the Homiliary of Luculentius, the Oldest Indigenous Work of Carolingian Text Culture in Early Medieval Catalonia (c. 900),” 2019–2023, is preparing the critical edition of this largely unpublished Carolingian homiliary, see http://pagines.uab.cat/luculentius/.
45 Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica.”
46 In what follows, I mention only the most conspicuous cases where the original codicological data are best preserved, especially in the cases of fragments of varying sizes.
47 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XIV/5 * 36 × 27.5 cm * 2 col. * 28 lin.; Barcelona, Arxiu Diocesà, Carpeta 1, Fragm. 36 (olim 27), Barcelona, Arxiu Diocesà, Carpeta 1, Fragm. 31 (olim 28), and Barcelona, Arxiu Diocesà, Carpeta 1, Fragm. 38 (olim 26) * 50 × 38 cm * 2 col. * 40 lin.
48 Madrid, Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Ms. 17 * 44.5 × 30 cm * 2 col. * 32–33 lin.; Madrid, Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Ms. 21 * 39.5–40 × 29.5–30 cm * 2 col. * 31–32 lin. See also Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XIV/46 * 40.5 × 29 cm * 2 col. * 32 lin.
49 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/13 * 45.5 × 33 cm * 2 col. * 38 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/4 * 45.5 × 31.5 cm * 2 col. * 38 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/9 * > 40 × 31 cm * 2 col. * 39 lin.
50 Barcelona, Arxiu Històric de Protocols, Miscel·lània 1/8 (olim Fragm. 16; olim 3) * > 46 × 31 cm * 2 col. * 41 lin.; Barcelona, Arxiu Diocesà, Carpeta 1, Fragm. 43 (olim 9) * 49 × 35 cm * 2 col. * 41 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/3 * 45 × 29 cm * 2 col. * 44 lin.
51 Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/7 * > 40 × 31.5 cm * 2 col. * 52 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/27 * > 38 × 29 cm * 2 col. * 47 lin.
52 Tarragona, Arxiu Històric Arxidiocesà, Ms. 18/10 * 46 × 34 cm * 2 col. * 36 lin.
53 Madrid, Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Ms. 17.
54 For an introduction, see Mundó i Marcet, “La cultura artística escrita,” 152–57.
55 The following earliest fragments are all pieces of tenth-century Vic manuscripts: Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/7, first quarter of the tenth century; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/27, second quarter of the tenth century; Ripoll, Arxiu Comarcal del Ripollès, Fons Sant Pere, Ms. 4A, Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/16, and Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/19, middle of the tenth century; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. XXIII/9, second half to the end of the tenth century.
56 Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” 79–81, and “Un Homiliari,” 16–17.
57 Ordeig i Mata, Les dotalies 1, 1, 75 no. 24, “evangeliorum dispositio;” see Altés i Aguiló, “Un Homiliari,” 16n8.
58 Ordeig i Mata, Les dotalies 1, 1, 91 no. 33, “librum dispositum;” see Altés i Aguiló, “Un Homiliari,” 16n9 and 17n13.
59 Ordeig i Mata, Les dotalies 1, 1, 104 no. 39, “evengaliorum disposito;” see Altés i Aguiló, “Un Homiliari,” 16n10. A “disposito i” is also mentioned in the rich donation of Bible manuscripts and liturgical books made on 6 November 960 by the priest Francemir, principal dotator of the new monastery, on occasion of the foundation of this institution and the benediction of its first abbot by Bishop Wissad of Urgell, see Altés i Aguiló, “La tradició codicològica i litúrgica,” 80.
60 Ordeig i Mata, Les dotalies 1, 1, 278 no. 117, “expositum de circuli anno;” see Altés i Aguiló, “Un Homiliari,” 16–17n11.
61 Palazzo, “Arts somptuaires et liturgie,” 713 l. 39, “Expositum in Evangelium et Epistolas.”
62 Vic inventory of 14 June 957: “Dispositos iii,” Junyent i Subirà, Diplomatari, 256 no. 303 l. 18; Vic inventory of August–September 971: “Dispositos iii, et unum quid est ad Arthes,” Junyent i Subirà, Diplomatari, 347 l. 4. This shows three copies at Vic Cathedral and another one in Artés (Bages) in the summer of 971, see Gros i Pujol, “Cinc fragments,” 72, and “Fragments,” 99. The Vic fragments mentioned above in Table 1, first entry with note a are probably remnants of these copies.
63 Carolingian minuscule with features of charter style: Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/9 * 37 × 26 cm * 1 col. * 33 lin. Less trained, more pragmatic Carolingian minuscules: Manresa, Arxiu de la Seu de Manresa, Fragments de còdex, s.n. * > 30.5 × 21 cm * 2 col. * 27 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/14 * > 31 × 27.5 cm * 2 col. * 21 lin.; Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal, Fragm. IX/7 * 35 × 22.5 cm * 1 col. * 29 lin.
64 Not mentioned in Mundó i Marcet, “El jutge Bonsom de Barcelona,” or “El jutge Bonsom.”
65 His hand had already been identified by Mundó i Marcet, Les Bíblies de Ripoll, 75–76 with n. 11, 91n11 and 386 pl. 12 (fol. 1r) with hand A’ of the Bible of Rodes (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. lat. 6), but this is not mentioned by Altés i Aguiló.
66 Tischler, “From Disorder to Order,” and “Knowledge Transfer.”
67 Castro Correa, “Leaving the Past Behind.” There are two complementary research projects in this field: the European Research Council Starting Grant headed by Ainoa Castro Correa, “The Secret Life of Writing: People, Script and Ideas in the Iberian Peninsula” (Universidad de Salamanca, 2020–2025) and the Alexander Humboldt Research Fellowship held by Anna Dorofeeva, “Graphic Shift and Cultural Identity in Early Medieval Catalonia” (Freie Universität Berlin, 2020–2022).
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Matthias M. Tischler
Matthias M. Tischler MAE (PhD Heidelberg 1998; Habilitation Dresden 2008) studied Medieval and Modern History, Applied Historical Sciences, Classical and Medieval Latin, and Romance Philology at Heidelberg and Munich (1989–1995) and Philosophy, Theology, and Islamic Studies at Frankfurt (2003–2008). Since 2017, he has been ICREA Research Professor in Barcelona. Tischler has published widely on Carolingian text culture and identity building in the medieval Euro-Mediterranean world and specializes in the field of Transcultural Medieval Studies with a focus on the (dis)entanglement of the histories of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims (transfer of religious knowledge, religious dialogue, polemics, and historical writing). Together with Prof. Dr. Walter Pohl (Vienna), he is currently co-director of the FWF-Project “Carolingian Culture in Septimania and Catalonia: The Transformation of a Multi-Ethnic Middle Ground of the Euro-Mediterranean World” (2020–2024).