Exzerpte als Rezeptionszeugnisse: Isidors ,Etymologiae' in Handschriften aus dem Kloster St. Emmeram

Isidore of Seville's ‘Etymologies' were one of the most extensively used encyclopaedias in European history; they were consulted, copied and finally printed between the seventh and fifteenth century. So far, studies of their reception have focused either on their circulation within Europe or on their use as a source. Only in a few cases, however, have excerpts and fragments been examined, even though they can provide important insights into the work's reception. Because of the almost unfathomable number of such textual witnesses, this study necessarily focuses on a clearly defined group of users. It discusses the reception of Isidore at the Benedictine convent of Saint Emmeram in Regensburg, whose library now forms a collection at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Three particular manuscripts are presented (Clm 14515, Clm 14584 and Clm 14477) which show how useful information was extracted from the work and made readily available for the classroo

Die Leser des ›Secretum‹ im 15. Jahrhundert Außerhalb Italiens. Beobachtungen anhand der Handschriften

In this article the catalogue entries of Petrarch's ›Secretum‹ manuscripts in England, France, the German area - including Bohemia - and Spain are examined in order to find clues about the work's audience. It becomes apparent that it is not possible to distinguish (as has occasionally been done) between a monastic and a humanistic audience of Petrarch's Latin oeuvre. The ›Secretum‹ was often read in the cloister and the author explores the causes of this interest. She argues that Petrarch begins this work by evoking conventions of monastic literature, only to subvert them in the following dialogue, and thus present a new model of spiritual lif

Saadiah Gaon and Petrus Alfonsi: identifying sources across linguistic and religious boundaries

Identifying sources is particularly difficult when authors had access to works in or took part in oral exchanges in different languages and sociocultural milieus. This paper illustrates relevant methodological problems and possible solutions by discussing Petrus Alfonsi’s possible use of Saadiah Gaon’s Emunot ve-De’ot (Book of Beliefs and Opinions) as a source for his Dialogus. The presence of some parallels between both works has already been observed in two instances (the passages on the forms of knowledge and on the Trinity), but an attentive reading demonstrates still more similarities relating to these two subjects as well as in other parts of the Dialogus dealing with resurrection and allegorical exegesis. The use of Emunot ve-De’ot as a source is blurred by its adaptation to new argumentative needs and by the combination with other sources. There is evidence, however, both of a historical (Petrus Alfonsi’s biography and knowledge of Arabic and Hebrew, circulation of Emunot ve-De’ot in Andalus) and a textual character (agreement in several details or in significant variants, clustering of parallels, similar contextualization of themes), that these parallels are not mere coincidences