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The Pseudo-Alcuinian ‘De septem sigillis’: an Early Latin Apocalypse Exegesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

E. Ann Matter
E. Ann Matter*
Affiliation:
The University of Pennsylvania
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Extract

Tucked away among the dubia of Migne's second volume of the writings of Alcuin is a short exposition of the seven seals of the Apocalypse. Here the seven seals first are related to seven events in the life of Christ: his nativity, baptism, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and judgment. These in turn are shown to be analogous to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, (sapientia), for Christ was miraculously born of a virgin; understanding (intellectus), because in baptism all sins are forgiven; counsel (consilium), for, as Caiphas the high-priest said of the crucifixion, ‘it is better for one man to die than for a whole people to perish’ (John 11:50); fortitude (fortitudo), in analogy to the burial, as Christ descended into hell and overcame it; knowledge (scientia), for the resurrection, through which Christ makes us believe; piety (pietas), for the ascension, since the souls of the faithful wish to follow Christ to heaven; and fear of the Lord (timor), in anticipation of the Last Judgment. Finally, the text portrays these virtues as exemplified by seven patriarchs: wisdom in Adam, understanding in Noah, counsel in Abraham, fortitude in Isaac, knowledge in Jacob, piety in Moses, and fear of the Lord in David.

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Traditio , Volume 36 , 1980 , pp. 111 - 137
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Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

A version of this paper was presented at the Sixth Annual Sewanee Mediaeval Colloquium, The University of the South, April 1979. It was revised and expanded while I was a visiting scholar at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for financial support accorded me during this time, and to Paul Meyvaert and Brian Daley, S.J., for their generous advice.Google Scholar

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2 Holder, A., Die Handschriften der Badischen Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe I: Die Reichenauer Handschriften (Leipzig 1906/Wiesbaden 1970) 286–288.Google Scholar

3 A transcription is printed in Steinmeyer, E. and Sievers, E., Die althochdeutschen Glossen IV (Berlin 1898) 401–402.Google Scholar

4 Ibid. 402–403.Google Scholar

5 Bischoff, B., Die südostdeutschen Schreibschulen und Bibliotheken in der Karolingerzeit I (Leipzig 1940) 243–244, esp. n. 1 for a comparison of the contents of MSS K and R.Google Scholar

6 Ibid. 149–150. See also Catalogus manuscriptorum bibliothecae regiae Monacensis 3.106–107.Google Scholar

7 The text of Primasius has been reconstructed by Haussleiter, J., Die lateinische Apokalypse der alten afrikanischen Kirche (Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons und der altkirchlichen Literatur 4; Erlangen 1891). Apoc. 5.1 appears on p. 95.Google Scholar

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11 ‘Apocalypsum librum multorum conciliorum auctoritas et synodica sanctorum praesulum Romanorum decreta Joannis evangelistae esse praescribunt, et inter divinos libros recipiendum constituerunt: et quia plurimi sunt qui eius auctoritatem non recipiunt atque in ecclesia Dei praedicare contemnunt, si quis eum deinceps aut non receperit, aut a pascha usque ad pentecosten missarum tempore in ecclesia non praedicaverit, excommunicationis sententiam habebit.’ IV Toledo cap. 17, ed. Vives, J., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos (Barcelona–Madrid 1963) 198; Mansi 10.624 a–b.Google Scholar

12 Brou, and Vives, , Antifonario visigótico , fol. 194v, p. 321.Google Scholar

13 Le Lectionnaire du Luxeuil (Paris, ms. lat. 9427) ed. Salmon, P. (Rome 1944) 124.Google Scholar

14 See Le Lectionnaire d'Alcuin, ed. Wilmart, A. (Bibliotheca ‘Ephemerides liturgicae’ 2; Vatican City 1937) 151–168. Grégoire, R., Les Homéliaires du moyen ǎge (Rome 1966) 77–114, gives the readings set by the lectionary of Paul the Deacon.Google Scholar

15 ‘Omni clero ut cantum Romanum pleniter discant, et ordinabiliter per nocturnale vel gradale officium peragatur, secundum quod beatae memoriae genitor noster Pippinus rex decertavit ut fieret, quando Gallicanum tulit ob unanimitatem apostolicae sedis et sanctae Dei aeclesiae pacificam concordiam.’ Admonitio Generalis (789) 80 (MGH Legum 2.1: Cap. Regum Francorum 1.61).Google Scholar

16 ‘Ut corpus domini in altari non [in] imaginario ordine, sed [sub] crucis titulo comparatur.’ II Tours, canon 3, Concilia Galliae A.511–A.695 (ed. de Clercq, C., CCL 148a) 178. See also Duchesne, , Christian Worship , 218–22.Google Scholar

17 The Stowe Missal, ed. Warner, G. F., I, Facsimile Text (HBS 31; London 1906) fols. 65v–67r; II, The Printed Text (HBS 32; London 1915) 37–39 (text), 40–42 (English translation). The Stowe Missal is dated to the late-eighth or early-ninth century.Google Scholar

18 Jungmann, J. A., The Early Liturgy to the Time of Gregory the Great , tr. Brunner, F. A. (South Bend 1959) 229–230. See also idem, ‘Die Abwehr des germanischen Arianismus und der Umbruch der religiösen Kultur im frühen Mittelalter,’ Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 69 (1947) 36–99, esp. 65.Google Scholar

19 This is described in the Mozarabic rite known as the ‘Liturgy of Isidore,’ PL 85.117–118. See also Duchesne's discussion of the Gallican and Mozarabic fractions (Christian Worship 218–222).Google Scholar

20 Hilary of Poitiers, Tractatus super Psalmos, Instructio Psalmorum 6 (ed. Zingerle, A., CSEL 22.7).Google Scholar

21 PL 96.120.Google Scholar

22 Apringius of Béja, Tractatus in Apokalipsin, ed. Férotin, M., Apringius de Béja, son commentaire de l'Apocalypse écrit sous Theudis, roi des Wisigoths (531–548 ) (Bibliothèque patrologique 1; Paris 1900) 32–33. Férotin's n. 1 on p. 32 points to the similarity between this list in Apringius and the liturgy of Isidore. Férotin's edition of Apringius is still the best available. A more recent edition of this commentary by Vega, A. C., Apringii Pacensis episcopi, Tractatus in Apocalypsin (Scriptores ecclesiastici hispano-latini veteris et medii aevi 10–11; Escorial 1940) makes the mistake of selecting a composite manuscript of Apringius plus Victorinus/Jerome (from twelfth-century Barcelona, now Copenhagen Univ. Arn. 1927 AM 975) as the original text. See the review by Altaner, B., Theologische Revue 41 (1942) 119–120, and note in Bulletin de théologie ancienne et médiévale 5 (1946) 15–16.Google Scholar

23 Beatus of Liebana, In Apocalypsin, ed. Sanders, H. A., Beati in Apocalypsin libri duodecim (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy of Rome 7; Rome 1930) 1. Compare the exegesis of 5.1, ibid. 305–324.Google Scholar

24 de Lubac, H., Exégèse médiévale I (Lyon 1959) 132, n. 10.Google Scholar

25 Duchesne, , Christian Worship 96.Google Scholar

26 One manuscript of this text was edited by Hartung, K., Ein Traktat zur Apokalypse des Ap. Johannes in einer Pergamenthandschrift der K. Bibliothek in Bamberg (Bamberg 1904); the MS history has been studied by Rapisarda, G., ‘La Tradizione manoscritta di un Commentarius in Apocalypsin,’ Miscellanea di studi di letteratura cristiana antica 15 (1965) 119–140. Rapisarda is preparing a critical edition from thirteen manuscripts. Bischoff, B., ‘Wendepunkte in der Geschichte der lateinischen Exegese im Frühmittelalter,’ Mittelalterliche Studien I (Stuttgart 1966) 267–268, characterizes this treatise as primitive and loosely allegorical.Google Scholar

27 Autpertus, Ambrosius, Expositio in Apocalypsin 3 (ed. Weber, R., CCL cont. med. 27.254): ‘Est enim sapientia in nobis, sed numquid tam matura ut in Domino ? Est intellectus, sed numquid tam perspicuus ut in Domino ? Est consilium, sed numquid tam prouidum ut in Domino ? Est fortitudo, sed numquid tam robusta ut in Domino ? Est scientia, sed numquid tam acuta ut in Domino ? Est pietas, sed numquid tam ampla ut in Domino ? Est timor, sed numquid tam castus ut in Domino?’Google Scholar

28 PL 105.237c–d: ‘Et quomodo idem sermo Domini vocatur lux et vita et resurrectio, sic spiritus sapientiae et intellectus, consilii et fortitudinis, et scientiae et pietatis ac timoris Domini nuncupatur; non quod diversus sit juxta differentias nominum, sed quod unus atque idem cunctarum virtutum fons sit atque principium’; ibid. 238d–239a: ‘Sciendum sane quod hae donorum spiritalium distributiones in corpore Christi, quod est Ecclesia, his fulciantur adminiculis. In eo vero qui est fons luminis et origo bonitatis, plene atque perfecte incomparabiliter atque ineffabiliter regnent. Sapientia namque, quae et in Virginis utero sibi corpus, et in mundo Ecclesiam aedificavit, habet spiritum sapientiae quo omnia sapienter agit; intelligentiae, qua cuncta arcana secretorum rimatur; consilii, quo cuncta cum magna dispensione gerit, quia est magni consilii Angelus; fortitudinis, quia attingit omnia a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et a nullo vinci potest: scientiae, quia nihil ignorat, exceptis his quibus dicturus est: “Nescio vos” [Matt. 25.12]; pietatis, quia hominem quem bonitate creavit, justitia damnavit, pietate redemit; timoris, propter eos qui timore Domini indigent quia parvuli sunt, quibus per Prophetam dicit, “Venite, filii, audite me, timorem Domini docebo vos” [Ps. 33.12].’ The order of events in the life of Christ given in this last passage is rather close to that in the list of Beatus.Google Scholar

29 Dümmler, Ed. E., MGH Ep. 4 (Epistolae Karolini Aevi 2) 529–531. A close comparison can be made between the Liber de ordine baptismi of Theodulf, PL 105.238b–c, and pp. 529–531 of Dümmler's edition, indicating that one author may be responsible for both works.Google Scholar

30 Dümmler, , 531: ‘Item de gratia septiformis Spiritus,’ ‘Item aliter’; also in Mabillon, J., Vetera Analecta … Nova Editio (Paris 1723) 75 (1st ed. 4.317).Google Scholar

31 Gregory the Great, Ep. 43 (PL 77.496–498); IV Toledo cap. 6 (Vives, Concilios visigóticos 192; Mansi 10 618e–620a, esp. 619c–d: ‘Propter vitandum autem schismatis scandalum, vel haeretici dogmatis usum, simplam teneamus baptismi mersionem, ne videantur apud nos, qui tertio mergunt, haereticorum adprobare adsertionem, dum sequuntur et morem.’Google Scholar

32 The best discussion of the so-called Acta Pilati, known to Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Eusebius and Epiphanius, is that of von Dobschütz, E. in his article on the Nicodemus narratives in A Dictionary of the Bible 3 (ed. Hastings, J.; New York 1900) 544–547. On the general subject of the patristic treatment of the descensus ad inferos, see Grillmeier, A., ‘Der Gottessohn im Totenreich,’ Mit ihm und in ihm (Freiburg 1975), 76–174.Google Scholar

33 As testified by the Vienna palimpsest (Ö. N. B. lat. 563), which von Dobschütz (544b) dates to the seventh century, but which both G. Philippart, ‘Fragments palimpsestes latins du Vindobonensis 563 (ve siècle?),’ Analecta Bollandiana 90 (1972) 399–403, and Lowe, E. A. (Codices Latini Antiquiores X, Oxford 1963, no. 1485) assign to the fifth century. The hand is, in Lowe's words, ‘a stately calligraphic uncial of the old type,’ and is written over by another uncial hand which cannot be later than the eighth century (ibid. no. 1484). Thus, the claim of O'Ceallaigh, G. C. (‘Dating the Commentaries of Nicodemus,’ Harvard Theological Review 56 [1963] 33–36) that the palimpsest belongs to a textual family which cannot predate the ninth century does not stand up on palaeographical grounds. A complete transcription of this palimpsest Gospel of Nicodemus is in the possession of Mazal, Otto Dr., curator of MSS at the Ö. N. B. In spite of the promises of both von Dobschütz, and Philippart, that the text would soon be printed, it has not yet appeared.Google Scholar

34 Von Dobschütz (545a) mentions London, B. L. Royal 5 E 13 of the eighth century; Berne 582 and Paris, B. N. nouv. acq. lat. 1605 (from Tours via Fleury) contain ninth-century copies of the text; Paris, B. N. lat. 5327a (from St. Amand), Munich B. S. Clm 19105 (from Tegernsee), and Einsiedeln, Stiftsbib. MS 326 all date from the tenth century. The Einsiedeln MS has been edited in a semi-diplomatic text by Kim, H. C., The Gospel of Nicodemus (Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 2; Toronto 1973). The ‘edition’ of The Gospel of Nicodemus done by Tischendorf, C. (Evangelia Apocrypha, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1876, 333–416) is an uncritical conglomeration of late MSS of varying textual traditions. In particular, it should be noted that the early Latin MSS do not distinguish, as Tischendorf does, between a Part I, ‘Acta Pilati,’ and a Part II, ‘Descensus Christi ad inferos.’ The text seems to have been transmitted as a whole in its fifth-century Latin redaction. More serious study of the Latin transmission of The Gospel of Nicodemus is sorely needed.Google Scholar

35 Early medieval dissemination of this text is discussed by MacCulloch, J. A., The Harrowing of Hell: A Comparative Study of an Early Christian Doctrine (Edinburgh 1930) 71–74. See also Dumville, D. N., ‘Biblical Apocrypha and the Early Irish: A Preliminary Investigation,’ Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 73, Section C, No. 8 (Dublin 1973) 301–303, for its history in the Irish church. The Bangor Antiphonary is edited by Warren, F. E., The Antiphonary of Bangor, An Early Irish Manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan (London 1893, 1895). See esp. I, fol. 19v; II 21. For the Fourth Council of Toledo, see cap. 1 (Vives, Concilios visigóticos 187–188; Mansi 10.616a): ‘Descendit ad inferos, ut sanctos qui ibidem tenebantur erueret; devictoque mortis imperio resurrexit.’Google Scholar

36 Tischendorf, Gospel of Nicodemus 417–432.Google Scholar

37 ‘Et ecce dominus Iesus Christus veniens in claritate excelsi luminis mansuetus, magnus et humilis, catenam suis deportans manibus Satan cum collo ligavit,’ Tischendorf, Gospel of Nicodemus, B 8 (24) 429; ‘Tunc salvator perscrutans de omnibus momordit infernum,’ ibid. 9 (25) 430. Compare the A version, cap. 22: ‘Tunc Rex Glorie Dominus maiestate sua conculcans Mortem, conprehendens Satan principem, tradidit Inferi potestati,’ Kim, Gospel of Nicodemus 43; Tischendorf, Gospel of Nicodemus 400.Google Scholar

38 Tischendorf, Gospel of Nicodemus, lxxvii, described on p. lxxiv as A) Vaticanus ‘nescio quo numero,’ c. 13, B) Vaticanus 4363 c. 13, C) Venetto Marciano class. XIV cod. XLIII c. 15. It is an indication of Tischendorf's lack of critical method that he mixed these manuscripts with those of the A version for his text of Part I, ‘Acta Pilati.’Google Scholar

39 Von Dobschütz 545a. He also points out that this version seems to have an underlying Greek text, being ‘most nearly allied to twelfth-century Greek manuscripts.’Google Scholar

40 So von Dobschütz 545b. O'Ceallaigh's terminus non ante quem of the ninth century is contradicted by the proper dating of the Vienna palimpsest.Google Scholar

41 Vetus Latina, Genesis, ed. Fischer, B. (Freiburg 1951–1954) 108.Google Scholar

42 Vetus Latina. 10∗–12∗ for a description of Würzburg Univ., Mp. theol. fol. 64a, Fischer's no. 103.Google Scholar

43 Vetus Latina. 13∗–14∗, for Oxford, Bodleian Auct. F.4.32. This manuscript once belonged to Dunstan, and was in the Glastonbury library until it became part of the collection of Thomas Allen in 1601.Google Scholar

44 Vetus Latina. 1∗–5∗: Fischer's nos. 91–95.Google Scholar

45 Vetus Latina. 18∗–19∗. Full references are given in the notes to Gen. 6.14, p. 108. Fischer warns that the seeming similarities to I in Jerome's writings may be simply his own on-the-spot translations. It is interesting to note that Jerome's redaction of the Apocalypse commentary of Victorinus says that Noah built the ark ‘ex quadratis lignis,’ words not in the original of Victorinus. See Haussleiter's, edition 149 (Apoc. 21.1).Google Scholar

46 Vetus Latina. 5∗–7∗ for Lyons, B. M. 403 (329) and 1964 (1840), Fischer's no. 100; 7∗–17∗ for Naples, B.N. lat. 1, Fischer's no. 101.Google Scholar

47 Vetus Latina. 17∗–18∗.Google Scholar

48 Vetus Latina. 108, notes.Google Scholar

49 Vetus Latina. 17∗, where Fischer speculates that this version lies behind the marginal glosses in MSS 91–95.Google Scholar

50 Bede, , PL 91. 87b; Claudius, PL 50.926d; Angelomus, PL 115.156b.Google Scholar

51 Ambrose, , De Nabuthae (ed. Schenkl, C., CSEL 322) 468–516.Google Scholar

52 Vetus Latina. 348. The variants for Jaboc here are Jacob and Jordanis, either of which is more likely than Nabuthe. There is no reference to Nabuthe as a variant for Jaboc in Burkitt, F. C., ‘Notes on Genesis in the Latin Vulgate,’ Revue Bénédictine 39 (1927) 255, no. 8.Google Scholar

53 I am grateful to Stanley Marrow, s.j., of the Weston School of Theology, for this suggestion.Google Scholar

54 ‘Omnino prohibemus nullo quolibet argumento, quod contingaverit, vel dici humana versutia potest, his donationem facere posse, qui hoc facinus contraxit.’ Muratori 2.336, col. 1, cited by Du Cange.Google Scholar

55 PL 68.829b–c, beginning, ‘Beati pauperes spiritu, ubi timor Dei est …’ The Beatitudes (counted here as seven) are listed from end to beginning, and matched up with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, listed from beginning to end. Francine Cardman, of the Weston School of Theology, has pointed out to me that the influence of Augustine may be at work here. See De sermone Domini in monte, ed. Mutzenbecher, A., CCL 35.188, where the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are related to the Beatitudes (also counted by Augustine as seven). Mutzenbecher discusses Augustine's use of the number seven in his introduction, xi–xiii. For a broader consideration of the meanings attached to the number seven, see Meyer, H., Die Zahlenallegorese im Mittelalter (Munich 1975) 133–139. Meyer discusses Bede's interpretation of the seven seals on p. 139, but does not seem to be aware of the influence of Tyconius, and therefore of a much broader tradition.Google Scholar

56 On the patristic origin of lists of ecclesiastical grades, see Reynolds, R. E., The Ordinals of Christ from their Origins to the Twelfth Century (Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters 7; Berlin 1978) 9–16.Google Scholar

57 This text was composed ca. 700 in a Gallican/Celtic environment; cf. Reynolds, R. E., ‘The De Officiis VII Graduum: Its Origins and Early Medieval Development,’ Mediaeval Studies 34 (1972) 113–151.Google Scholar

58 Ibid. 118–120.Google Scholar

59 This work has been dated to the seventh-century Iberian Peninsula by Reynolds, R. E., ‘The Pseudo-Hieronymian De Septem Ordinibus Ecclesiae,’ Revue Bénédictine 80 (1970) 238–252 and ‘The De Officiis VII Graduum,’ 123–125.Google Scholar

60 Isidore, , De ecclesiastic is officiis 2.1–15 (PL 83.777–794); Origines (Etymologiae) 7.12 (ed. Lindsay, W. M., Oxford 1911, I; PL 82.290–93); Reynolds, , ‘The De Officiis VII Graduum’ 120–121. The De ecclesiasticis officiis was written between 598 and 615, and is heavily dependent on De Septem ordinibus ecclesiae: Reynolds, Ordinals 33.Google Scholar

61 Reynolds, , Ordinals ; Wilmart, A., ‘Les ordres du Christ,’ Revue des Sciences Religieuses 3 (1923) 305–327; and Crehan, J., ‘The Seven Orders of Christ,’ Theological Studies 19 (1958) 81–93.Google Scholar

62 The influence of Irenaeus is discussed by Crehan, , ‘Seven Orders,’ 82. For Paul, see Reynolds, , Ordinals 9–11.Google Scholar

63 Wilmart, , ‘Les ordres’ 325–327; Reynolds, Ordinals 18–19, for Greek and Latin texts of the Apophthegmata ordinal. On pp. 166–191, Reynolds compares 72 versions of the Ordinals, ranging from five to ten hierarchical grades, including psalmist (cleric), gravedigger, doorkeeper, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, presbyter, bishop, and pontiff. The list was easily adjusted to the contemporary practice of the church of each transmitter.Google Scholar

64 Reynolds, , Ordinals 53. For a more general study of the connections between these cultures, see Hillgarth, J. N., ‘Old Ireland and Visigothic Spain,’ in Old Ireland, ed. McNally, R., s.j. (New York 1965) 200–227.Google Scholar

65 Martin of Braga, Sententiae patrum aegyptiorum, ed. Barlow, C. W., Martini episcopi Bracarensis opera omnia (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome 12; New Haven 1950) 11–51; Freire, J. G., A Versão Latina por Pascásio de Dame dos Apophthegmata patrum (Coimbra 1971), reviewed by Barlow, C. W. in Classical Folia 26 (1972) 153–160. Even though these sections of the Apophthegmata do not include the Ordinals of Christ, the translators must have been familiar with the tradition. For a comprehensive study of the Latin versions of the Apophthegmata, see Batlle, C. M., Die ‘Adhortationes sanctorum patrum’ (‘Verba seniorum’) im lateinischen Mittelalter (Beiträge zur Geschichte des alten Mönchtums und des Benediktinerordens 31; Münster/Westf. 1972.)Google Scholar

66 Hillgarth, , ‘Old Ireland and Visigothic Spain’ 208–209; Reynolds, Ordinals 54 n. 7.Google Scholar

67 PL 83.779–794; cf. Reynolds, , Ordinals 54 n. 7, and ‘The De Officiis VII Graduum’ 121, esp. n. 38.Google Scholar

68 ‘Generaliter autem clerici nuncupantur omnes qui in ecclesia Christi deserviunt. quorum gradus nomina haec sunt: ostiarius, psalmista, lector, exorcista, accolitus, subdiaconus, diaconus, presbyter, et episcopus. ordo episcoporum quadripertitus est: id est in patriarchis, archiepiscopis, metropolitanis, atque episcopis’ (ed. Sanders, p. 118). Compare Isidore, PL 83.779–794.Google Scholar

69 A similar choice of authorship is plausible for the allegorical expositions of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit attributed to Theodulf and Charlemagne and discussed above in the notes to lines 14–15 of De septem sigillis. These might well be echoes of a Visigothic tradition passed on by Theodulf, or they may have been written by one of the Anglo-Saxon scholars of the early Carolingian period.Google Scholar

70 Ed. Haussleiter: cf. n. 9 above. The introduction, 10–12, gives a list of MSS, the majority of which are of Jerome's recension of the text. However, one original version survives from the tenth/eleventh century, and was copied several times in the later Middle Ages. There are as well several mixed redactions, including one composite of Victorinus/Jerome and Apringius of Béja. The edition of Haussleiter was the first attempt to print the original text.Google Scholar

71 Augustine, , De doctrina Christiana 3.30.42, where he describes the exegetical scheme of Tyconius's Liber regularum (ed. Burkitt, F. C., The Rules of Tyconius : Texts and Studies 3.1; Cambridge 1894), but points out that Tyconius does not follow them in his own Apocalypse commentary; and De civitate Dei 20.7–17 (CCL 48.708–729); Primasius, PL 68.793–936 and PLS 4.1208–1220; Bede, PL 93.129–206.Google Scholar

72 Becker, G., Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui I (Bonn 1885) 48 lists a copy of the Apocalypse commentary of Tyconius as part of the ninth-century library of St. Gall. Fragments of the text from the library at Bobbio (no. 62) are now in Turin, B. N. 882 (F. IV. 1.18), fols. 1–22. These were published in Spicilegium Casinense 3.1 (Monte Cassino 1897) 263–331, and were re-edited by Lo Bue, F., The Turin Fragments of Tyconius’ Commentary on Revelation (Texts and Studies n.s. 7; Cambridge 1963). Both editors dated the Turin manuscript to the thirteenth century. The hand is, however, a clear late minuscule, which should place the copy in the early eleventh century at the latest. See Table 3 in the Monte Cassino edition for a plate of fol. 9v, and Lo Bue's plates I–IV at the front of his edition; compare the hand of Florence, Laurentianum Ashb. Libri 23 (Italy, tenth century) in Vitelli, G. and Paoli, C., Collezione Fiorentina di fascimili paleographici greci e latini 3.2 (Florence 1888) plate 32. For a general study of the influence of Tyconius’ Apocalypse commentary, see Gómez, I. M., ‘El Perdido Comentario de Ticonio al Apocalypsis,’ Miscellanea Biblica B. Ubach, ed. Díaz, R. M. (Montserrat 1953) 387–411.Google Scholar

73 Primasius was a Catholic North African exegete who died ca. 553. His Apocalypse commentary openly acknowledges the influence of Tyconius: ‘sed etiam a Ticonio Donastista quondam certa quae sano congruunt sensui, defloravi, et ex eis quae eligenda fuerant, exundantia reprimens, importuna resecans, et impolita componens, catholico moderamine temperavi.’ PL 68.793c. His commentary is extant in several early medieval copies: Karlsruhe, Aug, B. L. CCXXII (Reichenau, eighth century); Madrid, Acad. Hist. Cortes 12.11.1 (Spain, ninth century); Paris, lat, B. N. 13390 (Corbie, ninth century); and Paris, B. N. lat. 2185 (ninth century).Google Scholar

74 Apringius could not afford to be too openly critical of Arian Christianity, even though Theudis is portrayed by Isidore in his Historia de regibus Gothorum (PL 83.1068–1069) as one of the more tolerant of Arian rulers. Yet Apringius was careful to stress the incarnation and divinity of Christ, and the place of the Son in the Trinity. A rather bold passage against ‘heretics’ is the commentary on Apoc. 2.6 (ed. Férotin p. 16), (fol. 39r): ‘quod de hereticis non imeriti [sic] dici sentitur; qui effusi ab hidria veritatis, in limum sunt mendacii provoluti (…) Et manifeste est stulticia languentis Ecclesie hereticorum dogma perversum; quia non ad sanitatem adducunt populi cicatricem, sed maximis langoribus plebs afficiunt.’ In De viris illustribus 30 (PL 83.1098–1099), Isidore lauds Apringius as a defender of orthodoxy.Google Scholar

75 For the theology of Beatus, see del Alamo, M., ‘Los Comentarios de Beato al Apocalypsis y Elipando,’ Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati II: Letteratura Medioevale (Studi e Testi 122; Vatican City 1946) 16–33; and Christe, I., ‘Beatus et la tradition latine des Commentaires sur l'Apocalypse,’ Actas del Simposio para el Estudio de los Codices del ‘Comentario al Apocalipsis’ de Beato de Liebana (Madrid 1978).Google Scholar

76 For Alcuin and the liturgy, see Netzer, H., L'Introduction de la messe romaine en France sous les Carolingiens (Paris 1910) 30–48; and the article of W. Heil in Theologische Realenzyklopädie II 266–276, esp. 271–273. For Alcuin and the Vulgate, see Fischer, B., Die Alkuin-Bibel (Freiburg 1957), and his revised estimation in ‘Bibeltext und Bibelreform unter Karl dem Grossen,’ Karl der Grosse: Lebenswerk und Nachleben II Das geistige Leben (Düsseldorf 1965) 156–216, esp. 171–175.Google Scholar

77 PL 100.1087–1156, published by Migne (and by Mai before him) from a tenth-century Italian codex attributed to Alcuin by a later hand: Vat. lat. 651; cf. Vattasso and Cavalieri, Codices Vaticani Latini I (Rome 1902).Google Scholar

78 The oldest extant MS of Ambrosius Autpert on the Apocalypse is Oxford, Bodl. Laud. Misc. 464 (767), a copy of Books I–V only, made in central Italy at the end of the eighth century and taken to St. Denis in the ninth century. Other ninth-century copies were in the libraries of Corbie, Reichenau, and St. Gall: see Weber, R., ‘Edition princeps et tradition manuscrite du commentaire d'Ambroise Autpert sur l'Apocalypse,’ Revue Bénédictine 70 (1960) 526–539; and Weber's introduction to his critical edition, p. xiii.Google Scholar

79 A possible Alcuinian Apocalypse commentary is found in Munich, B.S. Clm 13581, fols. 3r–31r (St. Emmeram, Regensburg, ninth century). This is a question-and-answer text, with the questions drawn from the Apocalypse, and the answers from Bede's commentary, influenced by Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job. Another of Alcuin's exegetical works is in the same form, Interrogationes et responsiones in Genesin, PL 100.515–570. This text also appears in Clm 13581, fols. 105v–118r.Google Scholar