i (paper) + 80 + i (paper) folios on parchment, modern foliation in pencil, 1-80, complete (collation i-x8), horizontal catchwords, modern alphabetical quire signatures in pencil, ruled in brown ink (justification 110 x 74 mm.), written in dark brown ink in gothic textualis bookhand on 23-24 lines, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, 2-line initials alternating in red and blue within the final texts (ff. 55-80v), one 3-line initial in blue with red penwork (f. 6), three large puzzle initials of 6- to 8-lines high (ff. 1, 42, 55), some small stains and signs of use, a small tear in the outer margin of f. 2, a few wormholes on the first leaves, otherwise in very good condition. Bound in France in the nineteenth century in brown calf over pasteboards, tooled in blind and in black with flowers and foliage, spine with five raised bands, title in gilt “Regula S. August.,” leather broken at the head of the front cover and along the hinges at the top and bottom of the spine, some wormholes on the front board, otherwise in good condition. Dimensions 178 x 120 mm.
The monastic rule of all rules, pre-dating even the Rule of St. Benedict and influencing all of them, the Rule of St. Augustine is here accompanied by an important and widely disseminated commentary on it, along with four texts for moral edification and spiritual nourishment (three of which very likely have never appeared in entirety in print). Localizable to the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes in Soissons in the early modern period, it is likely that our manuscript was already there in the fourteenth century.
Provenance
1. The styles of the decoration and script suggest that the manuscript was made in the mid-fourteenth century in northern France. We know that this was part of the library of the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes in Soissons at a later date when the armorial stamp of the abbey was added in the lower margin of f. 1v. The stamp includes the arms of the monastery, with the crozier of the abbot placed behind the shield, and the inscription “ABBAT S. JEAN IN VIN.” And it seems likely that it was originally made for use at the Abbey (or even at the abbey itself). The decorative penwork inside the initials on ff. 1 and 42 forms six roses, which may refer to the six roses in the arms of the abbey (not included in the stamp): D’azur semé de fleurs de lys d'or à un chevron de gueules chargé de six (ou cinq) roses d'argent, surmonté en chef d'un lambel de cinq pendants du même. Moreover, there are general similarities to the script (and in one case, to an initial) in the later additions made to a cartulary for the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, now Soissons, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5 (Online Resources); most of the cartulary dates from the early fourteenth century, but the latest charter in the cartulary is dated 1347, suggesting our manuscript was also made in the mid-fourteenth century.
The Abbey of St. Jean des Vignes was a monastery of Augustinian canons in Soissons. The abbey was founded in 1076 by a local nobleman, Hugues le Blanc. Since its foundation it was a community of “johannistes” canons (disciples of St. John) following the rule of St. Augustine installed at the abbey. Around the time our manuscript was made in the fourteenth century, the abbey flourished due to numerous donations, including from such prestigious patrons as the cardinal Jean de Dormans (d. 1373) and the theologian, Raoul de Presles (1316-1382).
2. European private collection.
Text
ff. 1-6, Incipit textus regule beati augustini episcopi, incipit, “Ante omnia, fratres karissimi diligatur deus deinde proximus ... et debitum dimittatur et in temptationem non inducatur. Amen”;
Rule of St. Augustine; numerous modern editions and translations (Verheijen, 1967; Online Resources).
ff. 6-41v, Incipit glossula super regulam beati Augustini episcopi, incipit, “Hec precepta que subscripta sunt, ideo regularia dicuntur …Totum notabile est quidquid in hoc libello continetur,” Explicit tractatus hugonis de sancto victore supra regulam beati augustini episcopi, Amen;
Pseudo-Hugh of Saint Victor, Expositio regulae sancti Augustini; ed. Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 176, col. 881-924. This text was a medieval bestseller, known in 183 manuscripts in Latin, not including our manuscript (Sicard, 2015, pp. 580-596). Our manuscript does not include the introduction, rarely present in the manuscripts, “Universo clero frater Hugo ... Fugite de medio Babilonis ... salutem nostram semper optat.” (Sicard 2015, p. 580). This commentary was translated into several vernaculars, surviving in at least 39 manuscripts in Dutch, 19 in German, 15 in Italian, 2 in Portuguese, and one in French (Sicard, 2015, pp. 597-603). A modern English translation by Aloysius Smith was published in 1911 (Online Resources).
ff. 42-55, Incipit liber ad habendum auxilium in tribulatione, incipit, “Da nobis domine auxilium de tribulatione. Tibi anime tribulate et temptate proponitur … quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se,” Explicit liber ad habendum auxilium in tribulatione;
A treatise on tribulation of uncertain authorship; the attribution to Peter of Blois (c. 1130-c. 1203) has been rejected by scholars; Gerard of Liège (d. c. 1270) and William of Paris (c. 1127-1203) have also been suggested as possible authors. It circulated widely in manuscript; the “In Principio” Database lists twenty-five manuscripts. The text printed in Migne, Patrologia latina, vol. 207, col. 989-1006 is related, but not an edition of this text, and to our knowledge there is no modern edition (Hauréau, 1898, pp. 125-128).
ff. 55-68, Incipit liber lib. [sic] Leonis pape de conflictu viciorum atque virtutum. Deo gracias; incipit, “Apostolica vox clamat per orbem, atque in procinctu fidei positis ... et aliis tradere debes”;
Ambrosius Autpertus (730?-784), Libellus de conflictu vitiorum atque virtutum; ed. Weber, 1979; known in 158 manuscripts. This text discusses basic ethical norms by juxtaposing the vices and the virtues (Brunhölzl, 1975, pp. 65-66). The author was a Benedictine abbot, born in Provence, who became a monk and then abbot of St. Vincent, near Capua, c. 740; among his other works is a commentary on the Apocalypse.
ff. 68-79v, Incipiunt exceptiones patrum ad edificationem morum, incipit, “Dei omnipotentis filius vera sacre sue locutionis verba suis loquens discipulis: dicit. Primum querite regnum Dei ...; f. 75v, De stadio, Stadium dicitur spacium, centum viginti quinque apssuum …; … Deus dicitur esse memor cum dicit, oblita: cum cessat,” Expliciunt exceptiones patrum ad edificationem morum;
Unidentified collection of extracts for the “edification of behavior,” including on f. 78, the collection of proverbs in verse by Wipo, dedicated to the Emperor Henry III, probably written in the 1040s (ed. Bresslau, 1916, pp. 66-74, Epistola cuiusdam monachi ad henricum regem, incipit, “Pax regi henrici dei amico. Decet regem discere legem, Audia rex quod precipit lex, …”).
f. 80rv, De corpore Christi nostro, incipit, “Sicut una vox predicatoris … corpus christi sine diminutione et detrimento sui. Augustinus.”
Unidentified text on the Eucharist.
Predating the Rule of Saint Benedict, the Rule of St. Augustine is one of the oldest monastic rules of the Western Church. It was written about 400 for the community which Augustine established on the grounds of his house at Hippo. As its core it takes the injunction from Acts of the Apostles (4:32) that the community must live in harmony “intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart.” Prayer, chastity, care and treatment of the sick, pardon and forgiveness are central precepts of the rule. Unlike later rules that were associated at their origins with a specific monastic order, this rule was not. Augustine’s rule was adopted by a wide variety of different monastic communities, including the Augustinian Hermits in the thirteenth century, and it influenced all subsequent monastic rules, including that of Saint Benedict.
The anonymous commentary on the rule of Saint Augustine, following the rule in our manuscript, circulated as a text by Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096-1141), as in the explicit to the text on f. 41v. Jean Châtillon has suggested that the commentary should be attributed to Letbert de Lille, the abbot of Saint-Ruf in the diocese of Avignon (Châtillon, 1992). Various other studies in recent years have discussed the commentary, but none has arrived at a definitive attribution (Kramp, 2008; Vones-Liebenstein, 2013; Gebert, 2015). Scholars now agree that it is not by Hugh of Saint Victor, the famous twelfth-century theologian and member of the Canons Regular of St. Victor in Paris, but this was undoubtedly a widely disseminated and very influential text, as the number of surviving manuscripts attest.
Our manuscript includes four other texts for religious life under the rule of St. Augustine, all interesting in the context of a monastic miscellany. The treatise on the virtues and vices by the Carolingian Benedictine abbot, Ambrosius Autpertus (730?-784), circulated widely for centuries, and has been edited in a modern critical edition. The three anonymous texts, on requesting help in difficult times, a florilegia on the “edification of behavior,” and a short treatise on the Eucharist, invite further study; all three, with the exception of some of the selections included in the florilegia, such as the proverbs by the eleventh-century author, Wipo, are unedited and likely have never appeared in print.
We are grateful to Dominique Poirel for his advice on the authorship of the commentary on Augustine’s Rule
Literature
Ambrosii Autperti Opera, ed. by R. Weber, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 27B, Turnhout, 1979. pp. 909-931.
Bresslau, Henry, ed. Wiponis opera, MGH Scriptores rerum germanicum, 3rd ed., Hannover and Lepzig.
Available online
https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_ss_rer_germ_61/index.htm#page/(I)/mode/1up
Brunhölzl, Franz. Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, 1, München 1975, 65–66.
Chatillon, J. “Un commentaire anonyme de la Règle de saint Augustin,” Le mouvement canonial au moyen âge: Réforme de l’Eglise, spiritualité et culture, Bibliotheca victorina 3, ed. P. Sicard, Turnhout, 1992 pp. 163-200.
Gebert, B. “Eintracht als Wesen(tliches) der Gemeinschaft. Ein pseudo-hugonischer AugustinusregeIkommentar als Ergebnis einer Perfektionierung des Normativen im observanten Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, Nürnberg,” Identität und Gemeinschaft. Vier Zugänge zu Eigengeschichten und Selbstbildern institutioneller Ordnungen, eds. M. Breitenstein, J. Burkhardt, J. Sonntag and S. Burkhardt, Berlin, Münster, Wien, Zürich, London, 2015, pp. 31-45.
Goy, R. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke Richard von St. Viktor im Mittelalter, Bibliotheca victorina 17, Turnhout, 2005, vol. I, pp. 457-458.
Hauréau, Barthélemy. Notices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque nationale: Volume 4, Paris, 1892, pp. 125-128.
Kramp, I. Renovamini spiritu / Ernüwent den geist üwers gemütes. Deutsche Übersetzungen als Modernisierung im späten Mittelalter, Münster, 2009.
Kramp, I., ed. Mittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche deutsche Übersetzung des pseudo-hugonischen Kommentars zur Augustinusregel, Münster, 2008.
Sicard, P. Iter Victorinum: La tradition manuscrite des œuvres de Hugues et de Richard de Saint-Victor: répertoire complémentaire et études, Bibliotheca victorina 24, Turnhout, 2015.
Stammberger, R. “Die Edition der Werke Hugos von Sankt Viktor (+1141) durch Abt Gilduin von Sankt Viktor (+1155). Eine Rekonstitution,” Schrift, Schreiber, Schenken, Studien zur Abtei Sankt Viktor in Paris und den Viktorinern, ed. R. Berndt, Berlin, 2005, pp. 119-231.
Verheijen, Luc, ed. La Règle de Saint Augustin, Paris, 1967 (Latin edition).
Vones-Liebenstein, U. “L'Expositio in regulam sancti Augustini et sa réception parmi les chanoines réguliers au XIIe siècle,” Les réceptions des Pères de l’Eglise au Moyen Âge, eds. R. Berndt and M. Fédou, Münster, 2013, vol. I, pp. 215-35.
Online Resources
Rule of St. Augustine in Latin
https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/augustine/reg.shtml
Rule of St. Augustine in English
https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/mission/campusministry/RegularSpiritualPractices/resources/spirituality/about/rule/chapters.html
Hugh of St Victor, Explanation of the Rule of St. Augustine, translated by Aloysius Smith, London, 1911
https://archive.org/details/explanationofthe00vicuoft
Expositio regulae sancti Augustini in FAMA (reporting 283 manuscripts in error; only 183 manuscripts are listed by Sicard)
http://fama.irht.cnrs.fr/en/oeuvre/630611
Abbey Saint-Jean-des-Vignes
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_Saint-Jean-des-Vignes
Soissons, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5
https://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/mirador/index.php?manifest=https://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/iiif/24586/manifest
“Ambrose Autpert”
http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@texts/0780_autpert/01_autpert-introd.htm
“In Principio, Incipit Index of Latin Texts” (by subscription)
https://about.brepolis.net/in-principio-incipit-index-of-latin-texts/
TM 1159
