Classics in the Medieval Ages (Medieval Studies)

Introduction

This article deals primarily with the transmission and reception in western Europe of classical Greek and Latin texts written before 525 CE, and focuses on the Latin tradition. The chronological limits observed here are 525 CE–c. 1400 CE These “bookend” dates apply, respectively, to the death of Boethius, a transition figure between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and the activity of Coluccio Salutati, who spanned the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. (Note that Petrarch died in 1374, Boccaccio in the following year.) The entry does not attempt to deal with the work of the humanists of the 15th and later centuries. Because the term “classical” has always been associated with “pagan” or “secular,” Christian works written in Greek or Latin have been excluded, despite their well-established value for the history of pagan literature, religion, philosophy, and culture. (The one exception is Boethius, who translated “pagan” philosophical works from the Greek.) It is not possible to include every writer known to have written in antiquity, nor even every work by well known writers. Some Late Latin writers have been included, notably Macrobius, Martianus Capella, Servius, and the mythographer Fulgentius because of their extraordinary role in the transmission of the antique secular tradition to the western Middle Ages. This article also includes sections on centers of transmission, books collections, mythography, the medieval commentary tradition, and ancient influences on medieval literary theory. However, only occasional references to the vast bibliography of the influence of classical literature on the individual European vernacular literatures will be provided here. Editions are cited only when their introductions contain information not available from secondary sources. The overarching aim of the entry is to highlight the achievement of the Latin Middle Ages in preserving the ancient classics and appropriating them for new uses in a Christian civilization.

Introductory Works

The books listed in this section are very different from each other and have different strengths. Bolgar 1954 is scholastic in orientation, emphasizing the role of the classics in intellectual history down to the end of the Renaissance. Altogether different is Curtius 1953. This groundbreaking work does not focus on transmission of texts, or even classical borrowings and adaptations, but deals with the interface between medieval writers and thinkers and the ancient works they received––in other words, how they understood and misunderstood the ancients. Hall 1913 remains a valuable vade-mecum for a variety of philological topics. Haskins 1957 is an excellent introduction to the revival of classical learning in the 12th century. Highet 1949 provides a helpful map to the network of interlocking roads along which classical genres and literary motifs traveled to new linguistic regions. Walde 2012 offers an orientation to the reception of Greek and Latin literature to the present day.

Bolgar, R. R. The Classical Heritage and Its Beneficiaries: From the Carolingian Age to the End of the Renaissance. London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1954.
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Arranged by epochs (e.g., Carolingian, Pre-Scholastic, Scholastic), the main body of the work focuses on major intellectual figures of each era and their approaches to the classics. Appendix I gives a dated list of manuscripts of classical authors written by humanists. Appendix II lists by date vernacular translations of classical authors.
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Curtius, Ernst Robert. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1953.
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Challenging and hard to characterize, the leitmotifs of this magisterial work are the topos and pervasive influence of rhetoric. Discussions of topics such as “Poetry and Philosophy,” “Ancient and Modern,” “Classicism,” and “Mannerism” are intertwined with sketches of influential humanists such as Mussato. An English translation of Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter (Bern: A. Francke AG Verlag, 1948).
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Hall, F. W. A Companion to Classical Texts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1913.
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“Old” does not mean outdated, as this venerable handbook demonstrates. Hall’s Companion gives a clear, readable account of the history of the ancient book followed by chapters on the fortunes of Greek and Latin texts in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Renaissance. Final chapters deal with manuscripts and textual criticism.
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Haskins, Charles Homer. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. New York: Meridian, 1957.
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A classic in its own right, this readable book highlights the revival of learning in the 12th century without neglecting its roots in the 11th century. Some major figures treated for their knowledge of the classics are Bernard of Chartres, Bernard Silvester, and John of Salisbury. Classical authors listed in index.
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Highet, Gilbert. The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949.
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This large work traces the influence of Greek and Latin literature on English, French, German, and Italian literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to modern times. While most of it is devoted to literary influences, the last section focuses on scholarship. The organization is in part chronological, in part generic.
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Walde, Christine, ed. Brill’s New Pauly Supplement 5: The Reception of Classical Literature. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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A volume of Brill’s New Pauly devoted entirely to the reception of classical literature up to the 21st century. Alphabetically arranged by author; includes both Greek and Latin writers. Each entry is followed by a bibliography.
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Literary Histories

Literary histories are especially valuable for tracing the influence of an author or school of writers on later writers and for exploring the development of genres. They can be used to trace not only direct quotations and verbal echoes of classical authors, but also metrical, stylistic, and thematic influences. Lapidge 1993 and Lapidge 1996 are authoritative for pre-Conquest Anglo-Latin literature. Manitius 1911–1931 holds the field for Medieval Latin literature (all regions) from 600 to the end of the 13th century. Raby 1957 spans the history of Medieval Latin secular poetry to the 13th century. Rigg 1992 covers Anglo-Latin literature from the Conquest to the early 15th century. Schanz 1907–1920 is the most detailed available history of Classical Latin literature (to Justinian).

Lapidge, Michael. Anglo-Latin Literature 900–1066. London and Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon, 1993.
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Though published prior to Lapidge 1996, the essays published in this volume deal with a later period, covering the advances in learning brought about through the Benedictine reforms and close intellectual contacts with Francia. Classical authors read in England are listed in the index.
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Lapidge, Michael. Anglo-Latin Literature 600–899. London and Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon, 1996.
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Together with Lapidge 1993, the two volumes cover large tracts of Latin literary history, though they do not form a continuous history as does Manitius 1911–1931. The essays in this volume deal with the Latin literature of England written before the Norman Conquest. Classical authors read in England are listed in the index.
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Manitius, Max. Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters. 3 vols. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1911–1931.
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This monumental work covers Medieval Latin writing from Justinian to the end of the 12th century. Author entries have detailed section on sources. Scholars looking for information on Latin authors cited by Medieval Latin writers will find the indices of this work one of the very best tools available.
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Raby, F. J. E. A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages. 2 vols. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1957.
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Surveys Latin secular poetry from late antiquity to the 13th century. For classical authors cited and imitated see the index at the end of Volume 2.
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Rigg, A. G. A History of Anglo-Latin Literature A.D. 1066–1422. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
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This history picks up chronologically from Lapidge 1993. The later period covered here shows an expansion of interest in classical texts and themes. Noteworthy are classical citations in John of Salisbury’s Policraticus, Joseph of Exeter’s Ylias, and Alexander Neckam’s poems; classical authors listed in index.
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Schanz, Martin. Geschichte der römischen Litteratur bis zum Gesetzsgebungswerk des Kaisers Justinian. 7 vols. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1907–1920.
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Still useful, but more labor-intensive because of outmoded method of citing manuscripts. At the end of each author entry there is a section “Fortleben,” which includes citations and manuscript history, plus a list of editions available at the time. Part 4, Volume 2 was completed by Carl Hosius and Gustav Krüger.
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Histories of Classical Scholarship

Histories of scholarship concentrate on criticism, both textual and literary, and feature the achievements of individual scholars. Pfeiffer 1976 is excellent for the early humanistic period that began in the 14th century. Sabbadini 1914 concentrates on the late Middle Ages and the early humanist era. Sandys 1903, though outdated in some aspects, remains the most comprehensive work of this type. Zetzel 1981 concentrates on the techniques of textual criticism in antiquity and their continuity.

Pfeiffer, Rudolf. History of Classical Scholarship 1300–1850. Oxford: Clarendon, 1976.
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Pfeiffer wrote an earlier work on the history of classical scholarship in the classical age (1968), but overlooked the Middle Ages. The 1976 book begins with the early humanists Petrarch and Boccaccio. His work is clearly organized by sketches of the outstanding scholars of this long period.
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Sabbadini, Remigio. Le scoperte dei codici latini e greci ne’ secoli XIV e XV. 2 vols. Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1914.
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A detailed survey of the major humanists from the 14th to the end of the 15th century. Volume 1 (chapters 1–2) outlines work of early Verona humanists, then the Florentines Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Salutati. The second volume treats medieval humanists in England, France, and Germany, and Italian centers outside Florence.
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Sandys, John Edwin. A History of Classical Scholarship. Vol. 1, From the Sixth Century B.C. to the End of the Middle Ages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1903.
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Sandys’s history surveys classical scholarship from the Hellenistic Age to the end of the 18th century. Volume 1 of this three-volume work is of primary interest to the medievalist. Sandys’s canvas is broader than Pfeiffer’s, as it includes transmission and study of the classics in both East and West during the Middle Ages.
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Zetzel, James G. Latin Textual Criticism in Antiquity. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1981.
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A helpful and readable introduction to methods of textual criticism in antiquity. Zetzel shows that aspects of ancient text-critical methods filtered through to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, showing, for example, that late antique and later scholars introduced readings from commentaries into texts that had not undergone alteration in antiquity.
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Works on the Transmission of Texts

The studies listed below offer the reader different kinds of information, so that each of them needs to be consulted for what it has to offer. Reynolds 1983 is without doubt the handiest of all the tools listed, offering good synopses of the transmission of the most important Latin works of antiquity; Reynolds’s earlier book (Reynolds and Wilson 1974) offers an excellent introduction to the subject in narrative form. The multivolume Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 gives the most complete accounts of classical writers (covering manuscripts, quotations, and both medieval and Renaissance commentaries), but the project is still far from complete. Munk Olsen 1982–2009 is another indispensable tool but is restricted somewhat by its upper date (1200). Hunger, et al. 1961 is dated, but still useful for the vernacular tradition. Glauche 1970 offers an entirely different perspective, as it concentrates on the trends in popularity of authors used as school texts. Clark 1918 is highly instructive regarding the kinds of things that can happen to a classical text over the years. Schröder 1999 gives a helpful reminder that tables of contents and chapter headings (tituli) found in manuscripts frequently derive from antiquity and should be taken into account when reconstructing the history of a text.

Clark, A. C. The Descent of Manuscripts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1918.
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Indispensable for specialists interested in detecting types of errors, omissions, and interpolations, as well as the value of marginalia, in medieval manuscripts. Case studies are provided from the works of Cicero and others.
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Glauche, Günter. Schullektüre im Mittelalter. Entstehung und Wandlungen des Lektürekanons bis 1200 nach den Quellen Dargestellt. Munich: Arbeo Gesellschaft, 1970.
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This helpful work, organized by period, presents the evidence for the authors favored by the schools and the changes in taste over the centuries. The information is derived from poems and the tables of contents of anthologies.
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Hunger, Herbert, Otto Stegmüller, Hartmut Erbse, et al. Geschichte der Texüberlieferung der antiken und mittelalterlichen Literatur: Mit einem Vorwort von Martin Bodner. 2 vols. Zurich, Switzerland: Atlantis Verlag, 1961.
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The sketches in Volume 1 of the fortunae of individual classical Latin texts are now superseded. However, the reception history of the classics (Vol. 2) in the Latin Middle Ages is still very useful, as is the discussion of the classics in the vernacular literatures, particularly Spanish and Italian.
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Kristeller, Paul Oskar, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, eds. Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. 9 vols. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1960–2011.
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Preface in Volume 1 gives a list of Latin and Greek authors surveyed. Entries contain a list of genuine and spurious works, a fortuna in narrative form, followed by lists of manuscripts and editions, known commentaries, and translations. Author entries are printed as contributors finish them. An ongoing project.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. L’étude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe siècles. 3 vols. Paris: Éditions du Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique, 1982–2009.
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This invaluable work provides a nearly exhaustive list of manuscripts of classical authors known in the Middle Ages to end of the 12th century. For florilegia of classical works see Volume 2. Each entry is prefaced by a bibliography. Volume 3, Part1 contains a list of medieval libraries and their classical holdings. Volume 4 in preparation.
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Reynolds, L. D., ed. Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics. Oxford: Clarendon, 1983.
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This handy volume, with individual author entries by distinguished contributors, remains the vade mecum for everyone interested in the subject. Less detailed than Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011, author entries generally omit discussion of commentaries and translations, focusing instead on citation and manuscript transmission. Some entries provide a stemma codicum.
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Reynolds, L. D., and N. G. Wilson. Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.
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This book provides an excellent introduction to the story of textual transmission from antiquity to the Renaissance and beyond; the work concludes with a section on textual criticism. Very helpful for nonspecialists.
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Schröder, Bianca-Jeanette. Titel und Text: Zur Entwicklung lateinischer Gedichtsüberschriften. Mit Untersuchungen zu lateinischen Buchtiteln, Inhaltsverzeichnissen und anderen Gliederungsmitteln. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
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A helpful study of a neglected topic, namely the importance of tituli and tables of contents in reconstructing the transmission of a particular text. In many cases, these go back to antiquity and can even be authorial.
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Medieval Library Catalogues

Inventories of books (i.e., manuscripts) held by Western medieval libraries began around the 9th century and were regularly updated by hand until the advent of printing. Dated inventories tell us what authors were available in which centers and by when. Many of these inventories survive and have been edited in modern times. They vary considerably in their quality in that they sometimes yield nothing more than the name of an author. If the catalogue entry can be matched to an extant manuscript, it may be possible to determine by dating the hands of glosses when it was read and studied––and sometimes even to identify the author of a glossing hand, thanks to recent studies of autograph manuscripts. Becker 1885 remains indispensable, but needs to be supplemented by later publications. Manitius 1935 is a very useful tool for the medievalist because it includes late antique writers. Lehmann, et al. 1918–1979 is the ideal research tool for the regions it covers. Ker 1964 is organized by English medieval library holdings. Lapidge 2006 is excellent for England, concentrating on citations in English writers. For an update of Becker and Manitius consult Munk Olsen 1982–2009, Volume 3 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). Thompson 1959 gives a superb introduction to the contents of medieval European libraries and the scholars who formed them.

Becker, Gustav Heinrich. Catalogi Bibliothecarum Antiqui. Bonn, Germany: Apud Max Cohen et Filium, 1885.
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The work is organized chronologically by date of inventory. Names of libraries are given in Latin; the reader must consult one index to learn, for example, that “Augiense” refers to Reichenau. Another index provides a list of libraries that held a copy of one or more works of a given classical writer. An Olms reprint including review by Max Perlbach and supplement by Gabriel Meier was published in Hildesheim (1973).
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Ker, N. R. Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books. 2d ed. London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1964.
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Organized alphabetically by name of the medieval library, followed by a list of its holdings in their modern locations with modern shelf-marks provided. Entries give only author names and dates of manuscripts. A reverse index occurs at the end, organized by modern library name followed by medieval provenance. A supplement to the second edition of this work is by Andrew Watson (1987).
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Lapidge, Michael. The Anglo-Saxon Library. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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This reconstruction of the pre-Conquest holdings of English libraries relies on citations by Anglo-Saxon authors and manuscripts known to be in England before c.1100. (For the latter see Gneuss 2001, cited under Catalogues of Dated Manuscripts.) There is a very useful section titled Catalogue of Patristic and Classical Authors, pp. 274–342 (see also the General Index).
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Lehmann, Paul, Paul Ruf, Christine Ineichen-Eder, Günter Glauche, and l. Hermann Kraus, eds. Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz. 4 vols. in 5 Parts. Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Munich: Beck, 1918–1979.
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The volumes are organized by dioceses within regions, with individual libraries listed in alphabetical order. The catalogues are described in detail, sometimes including the names of library donors and book users. The index of authors and writings at the end of each volume guides one to classical writers and lists their works by their medieval titles. Supplement volume by Bernhard Bischoff and Wilhelm Stohl 1989. An ongoing project.
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Manitius, Max. Handschriften antiker autoren in mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskatalogen. Edited by Karl Manitius. Leipzig: Harrasowitz, 1935.
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Includes secular and Christian authors from Plautus to the 7th century CE (e.g., Eugenius of Toledo, Virgil the Grammarian). Entries are by author in rough chronological order, followed by country, library location, and dated catalogue entry.
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Thompson, James Westfall. The Medieval Library. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.
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This learned, yet readable, work is doubtless the best general introduction to the subject in English; it covers the span from late antiquity to the invention of printing. Organized by country and city, the survey highlights important manuscripts in each collection and highlights classical texts. Contains much on individual scholars.
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Catalogues of Dated Manuscripts

Catalogues of dated manuscripts are very helpful for scholars interested in establishing more precisely when and where particular classical authors were copied. There are many more of these than are listed here, but they usually pertain to individual (modern) libraries. Lowe 1934–1966 is indispensable for everything pre-Carolingian; likewise Bischoff 1998– for the 9th century. Gneuss 2001 is the essential reference for manuscripts in England before 1100.

Bischoff, Bernhard. Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen). 2 vols. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998–.
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Organized alphabetically by name of city, followed by library name and shelf mark, each manuscript entry provides a summary list of contents with likely place of origin and date refined to the nearest quarter-century. The work is of optimal use for those already familiar with a list of manuscripts for a particular classical work. Edited from the author’s Nachlass by Birgit Ebersperger. Volume 3 is in progress.
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Gneuss, Helmut. Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001.
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Organized by name of city, followed by library name and shelf-mark, entries provide brief listing of contents, date, and origin (or provenance). Index I is a list of authors and texts. A revised and expanded version edited by Gneuss with Michael Lapidge is forthcoming.
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Lowe, Ellis Avery. Codices Latini Antiquiores: A Paleographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts prior to the Ninth Century. 8 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1934–1966.
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This magnificent research tool is divided into volumes arranged by country and city where manuscripts are housed, irrespective of where they were written. It lists all extant Latin books or fragments thereof written on soft material before the year 800; thus papyri are included. The index volume has a list of authors. Addenda and corrigenda by Bernhard Bischoff, Virginia Brown, and James John in Mediaeval Studies 47 (1985), 54 (1992).
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Catalogues of Classical Manuscripts Arranged by Location

This type of catalogue is useful for researchers seeking to identify where concentrations of classical manuscripts are located, bearing in mind that such concentrations only occasionally give clues to the provenance of manuscripts. Fernández 1984 is clearly organized and covers all the libraries of Spain. Jeudy and Riou 1989–, Volume 1, covers French municipal libraries A (Agen) - E (Évreux); nothing apparently has been published subsequently. Pellegrin, et al. 1975–1991 is complete for classical Latin works in the Vatican Library.

Fernández, Lisardo Rubio. Catálogo de los manuscritos clásicos existentes en España. Madrid: Editorial de la Universidad complutense, 1984.
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The catalog is based on a personal examination of 735 manuscripts extant in Spanish libraries in the last third of the 20th century. Organized by city, followed by library, then modern shelf-mark (with date and provenance), then the list of classical works or extracts accompanied by folio nos. There is an index of authors and works at the end.
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Jeudy, Colette, and Yves-François Riou. Les manuscrits classiques latins des bibliothèques de France. Vol. 1. Paris: Editions du Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique, 1989–.
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Organized by name of French city, followed by library name, then manuscript shelf-mark. There is a full codicological description of each manuscript followed by a detailed list of contents. Volume 1 covers libraries with city names beginning with A (Agen) as far as E (Évreux); there is an index of authors and works at the end.
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Pellegrin, Elisabeth, Jeannine Fohlen, Collette Jeudy, Yves-François Riou, and Jean Yves Tilliette, eds. Les manuscrits classiques latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane. 3 vols. in 5 Parts. Paris: Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique, 1975–1991.
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The Vatican’s holdings of classical works are divided by the names of the collections, for example, Barberini, Ottoboni (Vol. 1), Vat. Lat. (Vol. 3, pt. 1). Indices of authors and texts in Volume 1; Volume 2, Part 1; Volume 3, Part 1.
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Essay Collections

The study of the classical tradition has inspired numerous published conference proceedings, Festschriften, and other collections of essays. Bolgar 1971 is not sharply focused, but the standard of the individual essays is high. Chavannes-Mazel and Smith 1996 covers both individual authors and centers of study. Feros, et al. 2013 deals with the role of the classics in the classroom. Godman and Murray 1997 concentrates on the imitation of classical authors. Leonardi and Munk Olsen 1995 is notable for its bibliography. Iannucci 1993 gathers essays on Dante’s debt to major classical writers. Mann and Munk Olsen 1997 focuses on commentaries and also offers a rich bibliography. Pecere and Reeve 1995 contains high quality essays on Horace, Ovid, and Quintilian.

Bolgar, R. R., ed. Classical Influences on European Culture 500–1500. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1971.
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A rich collection of essays by leading scholars that covers such diverse topics as manuscripts and catalogues, fortunae of individual authors, teaching and scholarship, and the influence of classical literature and ideas on the medieval and early Renaissance periods.
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Chavannes-Mazel, Claudine A., and Margaret M. Smith, eds. Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: Production and Use; Proceedings of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Leiden, 1993. Los Altos Hills, CA: Anderson-Lovelace, 1996.
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Includes studies on the manuscripts of Cicero, Horace, Livy, Terence, Lucretius, and Boethius, as well as chapters on centers of study (Fleury, the Low Countries), and humanists (Vespasiano da Bistricci).
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Feros, Juanita, John O. Ward, and Melanie Heyworth. The Classics in the Medieval and Renaissance Classroom: The Role of Ancient Texts in the Arts Curriculum as Revealed by Surviving Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2013.
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A collection of essays by leading scholars on a variey of topics pertaining to the role of the classics in medieval and Renaissance pedagogy; there is a general focus on rhetoric.
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Godman, Peter, and Oswyn Murray. Latin Poetry and the Classical Tradition: Essays in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Oxford: Clarendon, 1997.
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The collection centers on medieval and neo-Latin imitations and uses of classical literature for quotations, motifs, and meter.
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Iannucci, Amilcare, ed. Dante e la bella scola della poesia: Autorità e la sfida poetica. Ravenna, Italy: Longo, 1993.
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Collection contains studies by leading scholars on Dante’s debt to “Homer,” Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Statius, the comic poets, and Virgil. Each chapter is followed by a full bibliography.
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Leonardi, Claudio, and Birger Munk Olsen. The Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Proceedings of the First European Science Foundation Workshop on “The Reception of Classical Texts” (Florence: Certosa del Galluzzo, 26–27 June 1992). Spoleto, Italy: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1995.
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Contains a massive bibliography, pp. 199–274.
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Mann, Nicholas, and Birger Munk Olsen, eds. Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November, 1992. New York: Brill, 1997.
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This collection focuses on medieval and Renaissance commentaries. There is a bibliography of approximately one thousand items dealing with diverse aspects of the study of both Greek and Latin texts after the classical period.
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Pecere, Oronzo, and Michael D. Reeve. Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993, as the 6th Course of International School for the Study of Written Records. Spoleto, Italy: Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1995.
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The collection contains a number of seminal essays by leading specialists in the classical tradition. Includes studies of Horace, Ovid, and Quintilian.
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Bibliographies

Friis-Jensen, et al. 1997 is a sequel to Petitmangen and Munk Olsen 1995 and follows its arrangement. L’année philologique is an annual bibliography of classical literature. Mantello and Rigg 1996 is a bibliographical guide to a wide variety of Medieval Latin subjects. Medioevo latino is an annual bibliography of Medieval Latin literature. Meier, et al. 1934–1938 is a thematically organized bibliography covering the years in the title. Petitmangen and Munk Olsen 1995 covers textual criticism, fortunae of Greek and Latin authors, and commentaries (9th to 15th centuries). See also the bibliographies for each entry in Walde 2012 (cited under Introductory Works) and the volumes of Lustrum (cited under Journals).

Friis-Jensen, Karsten, Birger Munk Olsen, and Ole L. Smith. “Bibliography of Classical Scholarship in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance (9th to 15th Centuries).” In Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November, 1992. Edited by Nicholas Mann and Birger Munk Olsen, 197–251. New York: Brill, 1997.
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This is a continuation and update of the bibliography of Pierre Petitmangen and Birger Munk Olsen published in Leonardi and Munk Olsen 1995 (cited under Essay Collections). It uses the same categories for organizing the material.
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L’Année philologique: Bibliographie critique et analytique de l’antiquité gréco-latine. 1928–2011.
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Volume 1 (1928) through Volume 80 (2011). This is the annual bibliography of classical literature, both Greek and Latin. The first part of each volume lists most recent work under “Auteurs et textes.” The second part is organized into a wide variety of topics including the transmission of texts.
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Mantello, F. A. C., and George Rigg. Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Washington, DC: Catholic University of American Press, 1996.
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This excellent source book deals with a wide variety of disciplines and subjects that come under the aegis of Medieval Latin. Many of the essays and bibliographies open up to the reception of classical works of one genre or another.
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Medioevo latino: Bollettino bibliografico della cultura europea dal secolo VI al XIII. 1980–.
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This bibliography, published annually, is the principal bibliographical tool for Medieval Latinists. Exhaustive in scope, and served by an extensive international team, the first section is organized by author, the second by discipline/genre. Generous indices include manuscripts, modern scholars, and ancient and medieval authors and works.
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Meier, Hans, Richard Newald, and Edgar Wind. A Bibliography of the Survival of the Classics 1931–1932/33. 2 vols. Edited by the Warburg Institute. London: Cassell, 1934–1938.
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The bibliography covers only the years mentioned in the title. The volumes are organized by subject matter, with indices at the end of both volumes. Despite the title, only the introduction is in English; all the entries are in German.
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Petitmangen, Pierre, and Birger Munk Olsen. “Bibliographie de la réception de la littérature classique du IXe au XVe siècle.” In The Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Proceedings of the First European Science Foundation Workshop on the Reception of Classical Texts, Florence: Certosa del Galluzzo, 26–27 June 1992. Edited by Claudio Leonardi and Birger Munk Olsen. Spoleto, Italy: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1995.
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Organized as follows: General Studies, Textual Criticism, Greek Authors (alphabetically ordered), Latin authors (alphabetically ordered), Commentaries on Individual Authors. Old entries are mixed with new.
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Journals

Four journals are of particular interest to students of the classical tradition: the International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Italia medioevale e humanistica, Lustrum, and Revue d’histoire des textes.

International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 1994–.
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Deals broadly with the reception and influences of classical literature from antiquity to the 21st century. Content ranges beyond the history of texts to topics such as developments in the theory of allegory.
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Italia medioevale e humanistica. 1958–2010.
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This important journal contains numerous contributions dealing with the transmission of the classics with an emphasis on the Italian humanists of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
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Lustrum: Internationale Forschungsberichte aus dem Bereich des klassischen Altertums. 1956–2012.
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Contains lengthy, detailed reports on research on individual authors and works, with much devoted to transmission and reception. Ongoing.
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Revue d’histoire des textes. 1971–.
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Deals almost exclusively with the text history of classical and medieval works written in Greek and Latin. Volume 1 (1971) through Volume 43 (2013). Note that volumes beginning in 2006 are listed as “new series” (n.s.).
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Knowledge of the Greek Language in Medieval Europe

The knowledge of Greek in western Europe suffered a near total eclipse until just before the middle of the 12th century. Interest was kept alive by a few scholars concerned to read the Septuagint and the New Testament in its original language. For most, Greek was self-taught, acquired by sedulous study of available pedagogical resources, namely fragments of grammatical texts, glossaries, and bilingual copies of biblical books. Some Western scribes learned to copy the Greek script, but few could read it competently. Bede and Eriugena were among the few exceptions before the late 12th century. There are now excellent aids for students interested in the story of how the Greek language managed to survive “the Dark Ages” in transalpine Europe. Fundamental is Berschin 1988, which summarizes scholarship and gives an overview of the transmission of Greek from late antiquity to the 15th century. For the early Middle Ages the edited collection Herren 1988 contains a number of valuable contributions (of note is Dionisotti 1988, a survey of the available grammars and dictionaries). An excellent case study of a single center (St. Gall) is provided by Kaczynski 1988. The collected essays of Weiss 1978 offer much of interest to the study of the fortunes of Greek in Italy. For Greek in Ireland in the early Middle Ages see now Herren 2010, which serves as a companion piece to Jeauneau 1979. Nearly all of these studies are indebted to the groundbreaking essay in Bischoff 1967–1981.

Berschin, Walter. Greek Letters and the Latin Middle Ages: From Jerome to Nicholas of Cusa. Translated by Jerold C. Frakes. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1988.
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This comprehensive overview is arranged chronologically and by geographical region. It covers not only resources for learning but also the transmission of texts and translations. A full bibliography is included. A translation of Griechisch-lateinisches Mittelalter. Von Hieronymus zu Nikolaus von Kues. Bern and Munich: A. Francke Verlag, 1980.
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Bischoff, Bernhard. “Das griechische Element in der abendländischen Bildung des Mittelalters.” In Mittelalterliche Studien: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Schriftkunde und Literaturgeschichte. Vol. 2. Edited by Bernhard Bischoff, 246–275. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1967–1981.
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The article importantly distinguishes between the study of Greek in Italy and that north of the Alps, the author’s main focus. It covers topics such as alphabets, cryptography, uses of Greek, Western attitudes to Greek, and transcriptions in Western manuscripts. Originally published in 1951.
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Dionisotti, A. C. “Greek Grammars and Dictionaries in Carolingian Europe.” In The Sacred Nectar of the Greeks: The Study of Greek in the West in the Early Middle Ages. Edited by Michael W. Herren in collaboration with Shirley Ann Brown, 1–56. King’s College London Medieval Studies 2. London: King’s College, 1988.
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The most comprehensive study to date of the pedagogical tools for learning Greek that were available to Westerners by the 9th century. The author also evaluates the usefulness to a Latin speaker of the various available resources.
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Herren, Michael W. “The Study of Greek in Ireland in the Early Middle Ages.” In L’Irlanda e gli irlandesi nell’alto medioevo: Spoleto, 16–32 aprile 2009, 511–528. Settimane di studio della Fondazione centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo 57. Spoleto, Italy: Presso la sede della Fondazione, 2010.
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While following the main lines of the cautious views on the Irish achievement set forth by Bischoff 1967–1981, Herren adduces evidence to show that the impressive Hellenist achievements of John Scottus Eriugena can be explained at least in part by the use of resources available in Ireland.
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Herren, Michael W., and Shirley Ann Brown, eds. The Sacred Nectar of the Greeks: The Study of Greek in the West in the Early Middle Ages. King’s College London Medieval Studies 2. London: King’s College, 1988.
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A collection by leading scholars on topics including “vulgar Greek” in Western manuscripts, resources available for learning Greek, special letter forms in Western texts, centers of study, glossing, and the accessus ad auctores. Figures of interest are Anastasius Bibliotecarius, John Scottus Eriugena, and Theodore of Tarsus.
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Jeauneau, Édouard. “Jean Scot Érigène et le grec.” Archivum Latinitatis Medii Aevi (Bulletin du Cange) 41 (1979): 5–50.
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A comprehensive survey of John Scottus Eriugena’s knowledge of Greek, including his sources and translations by the leading expert on Eriugenian studies. Eriugena’s deficiencies in Greek are evaluated alongside his achievements.
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Kaczynski, Bernice. Greek in the Carolingian Age: The St. Gall Manuscripts. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1988.
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This elegant monograph, based on the manuscripts of the Library of St. Gall, reveals the many-faceted activities of Frankish and Irish scribes in preserving fragments of Greek grammatical lists and glossaries as well as liturgical and biblical texts.
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Weiss, Roberto. Medieval and Humanist Greek: Collected Essays. Medioevo e Umanesimo 8. Padua, Italy: Editrice Antenore, 1978.
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Most of the studies focus on the study of Greek in Italy (although one is devoted to England, another to Saint-Denis) and deal with the 14th and 15th centuries. Petrarch figures prominently throughout.
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The Transmission of Classical Greek Texts

Whereas a number of Greek patristic works were translated into Latin, very few secular works were translated until the 12th century, and these were mostly philosophical. Among the translated works known in the West prior to c.1100 were:Aratus, Phaenomena and Prognostica (translations by Cicero, Germanicus, and Rufius Festus Avienus; see Didactic Poetry); Aristotle, the Categoriae and De interpretatione (translated by Boethius); Euclid’s Geometry; Plato’s Timaeus (portions remaining of the translations of Cicero and Chalcidius). Additionally, expositions of Greek thought were available in the philosophical works of Cicero, for example, De finibus, Tusculanae Disputationes, the Academica priora, De natura deorum, and others, and Lucretius, De rerum natura for Epicurean philosophy. Seneca’s writings were a principal source for the transmission of Stoicism. Around the middle of the 12th century translations of Aristotle into Latin (out of Greek and Arabic) began to arrive in the West, and in the 13th century European scholars continued the project. The recovery of Aristotle revolutionized medieval philosophy. Berschin 1988 (listed under Knowledge of the Greek Language in Medieval Europe) is the most useful survey available; see his “Chronological Table,” pp. 384–396. Courcelle 1969 is the starting point for the contributions of Boethius and Cassiodorus; Muckle 1942 is a perfunctory list.

Courcelle, Pierre. Late Latin Writers and Their Greek Sources. Translated by Harry Wedeck. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.
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Although devoted mostly to the writers of the 4th and 5th centuries, the final chapter shows the importance of Boethius for the transmission of Greek logic to the Middle Ages, and emphasizes our debt to Boethius and Cassiodorus for keeping alive the notion of the artes liberales. English translation of Les lettres grecques en Occident, de Macrobe à Cassiodore (Paris: E. de Boccard, 1948).
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Muckle, J. T. “Greek Works Translated into Latin before 1350. Part I—Before 1000.” Mediaeval Studies 4 (1942): 33–42.
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A preliminary list of works; no manuscript information given; includes patristic as well as classical works.
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Aristotle

The task of editing the works of Aristotle translated into Latin during the Middle Ages and Renaissance was begun by George Lacombe (Lacombe 1939) and continued by Lorenzo Minio-Paluello (Lacombe and Minio-Paluello 1955, Minio-Paluello 1961). Bloch 2012 challenges the established view that John of Salisbury knew and used all of Aristotle’s Organon. Dionisotti 1988 provides a study of Grosseteste’s Aristotelian sources read in Greek. Dod, et al. 1982 gives an excellent overview of translations of Aristotle into Latin as well as medieval commentaries. De Leemans 2010 offers a clear and concise study of the transmission of the Aristotelian scientific texts. Schmitt 1983 limns the interesting differences in methodology between medieval and Renaissance translators of Aristotle.

Bloch, David. John of Salisbury on Aristotelian Science. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012.
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The book is an examination of John of Salisbury’s Aristotelianism. Although John was allegedly the first Westerner to use Aristotle’s Organon in Latin, he neither knew nor understood the entire ouevre, particularly the Posterior Analytics, according to the author.
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Dionisotti, A. C. “On the Greek Studies of Robert Grosseteste.” In The Uses of Greek and Latin: Historical Essays. Edited by A. C. Dionisotti, Anthony Grafton, and Jill Kraye, 19–39. London: Warburg Institute, University of London, 1988.
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Examines the reference works used by Robert Grosseteste (c.1168–1253) including the Suda and Etymologicum Gudianum. Appendix II lists manuscripts used by Grosseteste with works they contain. Grosseteste may have read Aristotle’s Nicomachaean Ethics and De caelo in Greek. The notes and annotations to the manuscript list are valuable for bibliography.
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De Leemans, Pieter. “Aristotle Transmitted: Reflections on the Transmission of Aristotelian Scientific Thought in the Middle Ages.” International Journal of the Classical Tradition 17.3 (2010): 325–353.
DOI: 10.1007/s12138-010-0200-9Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An intelligent study that evaluates the relation between transmission and reception, raising the essential question of how well Medieval Latin translations of Aristotle were understood. Author points out that understanding could be impeded by textual variants, and discusses the strategies used by scholars to make use of Aristotle’s works.
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Dod, Bernard G. “Aristotle in the Middle Ages.” In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism 1100–1600. Edited by Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinborg, and Eleanore Stump, 43–79. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521226059Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An indispensable overview of the Latin translations of practically all of Aristotle’s works. Covers works translated, the different translations made, the main figures involved; includes discussions of translation methods, medieval commentaries on Aristotle, and teachers of Aristotle’s works. An appendix lists works with their translators, dates of translation, and number of surviving manuscripts of each. Also available online.
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Lacombe, Georgius. Aristoteles Latinus. Pars Prior. Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1939.
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Although editions of the Latin Aristotle existed, Lacombe envisioned an edition based on the fullest possible inventory of manuscripts. Manuscripts used are listed and described according to country, city, and library. The Pars Prior lists manuscripts in European countries other than Switzerland, Spain, and Italy; also manuscripts in the United States.
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Lacombe, Georgius, and Laurentius Minio-Paluello. Aristoteles Latinus. Pars Posterior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1955.
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A continuation of Pars Prior with listing of manuscripts in Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. There is an updated bibliography on Aristotle reception (pp. 773–782).
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Minio-Paluello, Laurentius. Aristoteles Latinus. Codices. Supplementa Altera. Bruges, Belgium, and Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1961.
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In addition to the supplement of manuscripts, the volume offers a rich bibliography on the medieval and Renaissance transmission of Aristotle’s writings (pp. 7–17).
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Schmitt, Charles B. Aristotle and the Renaissance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
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Despite the title, the book is of considerable interest to medievalists because it details both the debt of humanist scholars to the Middle Ages and the significant departures in their translations and studies of Aristotle. The impact of the arrival of new texts in Greek is given special attention.
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Euclid

The Latin tradition of Euclid had several strands, as shown by Folkerts 1989.

Folkerts, Menso. Euclid in Medieval Europe. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Winnipeg, 1989.
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Separates various strands of the Latin tradition (Boethius, Adelard of Bath, and others) from the text as conveyed by Arab manuscripts. The commentary tradition is also studied.
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Plato

Klibansky 1981 offers a distillation of the author’s lifelong work on the Latin translations of Plato.

Klibansky, Raymond. The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages: With a New Preface and Four Supplementary Chapters; Together with Plato’s Parmenides in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance with a New Introductory Preface. Munich: Kraus International Publications, 1981.
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Written as an introduction to the author’s edition Plato Latinus, this short work gives a clear and elegant account of the principal sources of medieval Platonism, including “indirect sources”––references in the writings of Cicero, Seneca, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, and the Church Fathers. The direct tradition includes the Meno and the Phaedo in translations known to Robert Grosseteste.
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The Transmission of Classical Latin Texts

Generally, classical Latin prose writings were not as well known, as widely read, or as influential as the poetic works. The major classical poets were “core authors” in the school curriculum. The popularity of prose works lay in direct proportion to their benefit to medieval users. Natural science was esteemed, ensuring a good reception for writers such as Pliny the Elder. The same can be said for the rhetorical writings, as these remained in wide use by persons of literary aspirations. On the other hand, Livy and Tacitus, who penned the “classics” of Roman history, had a meager fortuna before 1300. Much the same can be said for Cicero’s philosophical works, though Seneca’s Epistulae morales fared better. As for “novels,” only the late antique Historia Apollonii Tyrii was influential in any way during the Middle Ages.

Ancient Commentaries

The existence of an ancient commentary was probably the best means of ensuring a given writer’s use in the post-classical era, because it usually provided the aids necessary to understand a writer’s diction, allusions (historical, mythological, etc.), style (figures of speech), and meter. The most influential commentaries were those on Terence, Virgil, and Lucan. Remnants of a lost ancient commentary on Ovid known as Narrationes also survive. There is also a lost commentary on Virgil’s poems by Donatus.

Donatus’s Commentary on Terence

Reeve 1979 show the textual tradition of this work in the 15th century. Reeve and Rouse 1978 make interesting observations on the medieval reception of the commentary in the Loire Valley.

Reeve, Michael. “The Textual Tradition of Donatus’ Commentary on Terence.” Classical Philology 74.4 (October 1979): 310–326.
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An important article on the construction of the text, but nearly all of it concerns the tradition in the 15th century.
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Reeve, Michael, and Richard Rouse. “New Light on the Transmission of Donatus’ Commentum Terenti.” Viator 9 (1978): 235–249.
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Marginalia from a 13th-century hand collected from Bern 276 printed and collated with extant manuscripts of the commentary. The authors conclude that the survival of Donatus’s commentary was due to libraries and scholars of the Loire Valley.
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Donatus’s Lost Commentary on Virgil

Aelius Donatus’s Commentary (4th century) on the three main works of Virgil no longer survives as a complete work. It was joined with Servius’s Commentary (see Servius’s Commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid, Georgics, and Eclogues) to create the Servius Auctus Commentary (also known as Danielis Servius). However, Donatus’s work seemed to have survived intact to the 9th century. See the entry by G. Brugnoli in Enciclopedia Virgiliana (cited under Epic: The Aeneid), Volume 2, pp. 125–127, with bibliography to 1981. See especially the classic articles by Savage 1931 and Savage 1932. Mountford 1925 prints examples of self-citations from Donatus’s Commentary.

Mountford, J. F. Quotations from Classical Authors in Medieval Latin Glossaries. Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 21. New York and London: Longmans, Green, 1925.
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The author prints quotations of classical authors from the Liber glossarum (late 8th century?) and discusses their value. Excerpta from Donatus’s Virgil Commentary are printed, pp. 52–54.
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Savage, J. J. “Was the Commentary by Aelius Donatus Extant in the Ninth Century?” Classical Philology 26 (1931): 405–411.
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Argues that a complete copy of the commentary was available at Liège, where it was utilized by Sedulius Scottus in his Collectaneum and in the annotations to Virgil in Bern 363.
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Savage, J. J. “The Manuscripts of Servius Danielis on Vergil.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 43 (1932): 77–121.
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Examines in detail some of the most important manuscripts of Servius and Servius Auctus written between the 9th and 11th centuries; notes presence of Insular symptoms (i.e., errors showing confusion with Insular abbreviations or tachygraphic symbols); also deals with medieval addenda.
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Narrationes on Ovid’s Metamorphoses

No complete text of this ancient commentary on the Metamorphoses exists; however, various fragments, to which the names “Lactantius” and “Fulgentius” are sometimes attached, have been identified. Otis 1936 sees the Narrationes as a patchwork of scholia extracted from medieval manuscripts of Ovid. However, R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 276–282, and especially Tarrant 1995 views the work as remnants of an ancient commentary, as does Cameron 2004 more emphatically (cited under Mythography).

Otis, Brooks. “The Argumenta of the So-called Lactantius.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 47 (1936): 131–163.
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Examines theories for the sources of the Narrationes (e.g., “Lantantius” on the Thebaid, Hyginus, Servius Danielis, the Vatican Mythographers), and concludes that there are no unambiguous citations. Instead, Narrationes derived from marginal scholia in Ovid manuscripts. Otis builds a stemma of the scholia.
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Tarrant, R. J. “The Narrationes of ‘Lactantius’ and the Transmission of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.” In Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993. Edited by Oronzo Pecere and Michael D. Reeve, 83–115. Spoleto, Italy: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 1995.
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Tarrant gives a clear and readable account of all that is known of the Narrationes, but argues (in contrast to Otis) that it derives from an antique commentary dispersed in medieval manuscripts with different attributions (e.g., Fulgentius, Lactantius).
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Philargyrius’s Commentary on the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil

Survivals of this 4th–5th-century commentary attributed to Iunius or Iunilius Philargyrius (also Filagrius, Flagrius) are found in two versions of Explanationes on the Eclogues (with Old Irish glosses); quotations of “Iunilius” are found in the compilation known as the Scholia Bernensia, which includes the Eclogues and the Georgics. The Explanationes, which obviously stem from an Irish center, have been widely attributed to Adamnan of Iona (d. 704), though the matter is not resolved. An anonymous commentary on the Georgics known as the Brevis Expositio is associated with these works. For an authoritative discussion see Ziolkowski and Putnam 2008, cited under Epic Poetry: The Aeneid, pp. 674–700 (with selected texts and translations); also M. Geymonat in Enciclopedia Virgiliana (cited under Epic Poetry: The Aeneid), Volume 2, pp. 520–521. See especially Funaioli 1930 for the relation between the texts of Servius and Philargyrius.

Funaioli, Gino. Esegesi Virgiiana antica. Milan: Società editrice Vita e pensiero, 1930.
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Still one of the best works written on the entire antique scholia tradition to Virgil (Servius, Servius, Auctus, Philargyrius, the Berne Scholia). Some modern scholars, however, think that the Irish and Carolingian scholars played a more decisive role in the later part of the tradition. (See Ziolkowski and Putnam 2008, cited under Epic: The Aeneid, 674–676).
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Servius’s Commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid, Georgics, and Eclogues

This is the most important and influential ancient commentary to survive intact. It is transmitted in two versions: Servius only (S) and Danielis Servius (DS), the latter a conflation of Servius with portions of the lost commentary of Donatus. The commentary contains historical, textual, and grammatical notes that were vital to the efforts of medieval readers to read and understand Virgil and was a major source for medieval handbooks such as the “Vatican Mythographers.” For an introduction with basic bibliography see Ziolkowski and Putnam 2008 (cited under Epic Poetry: The Aeneid), pp. 628–630, 674–676; for the manuscripts see Murgia 1975; see also the bibliography by Wilson-Okamura 2010 (cited under Epic Poetry: The Aeneid). For an authoritative study of the entire late antique Virgil commentary tradition see Funaioli 1930 (cited under Philargyrius’s Commentary on the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil). For types of allegory employed by Servius see Jones 1960–1961.

Jones, J. W., Jr. “Allegorical Interpretation in Servius.” Classical Journal 56 (1960–1961): 217–226.
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Underscores the importance of Servius for the understanding of types of allegory and how they operate. Essential reading for the literary scholar.
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Murgia, Charles E. Prolegomena to Servius 5: The Manuscripts. University of California Publications: Classical Studies 11. Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1975.
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An authoritative monograph concentrating on the classification of manuscripts and the relationship of the two traditions. Recommended for specialists.
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Didactic Poetry

Four didactic works from Roman antiquity enjoyed popularity in the Middle Ages and were instrumental in ensuring the genre’s survival through the creation of new works in that period. These are the Phaenomena of Aratus, which underwent three Latin translations in antiquity that survived into the medieval period and beyond; Lucretius’s De rerum natura; the Astronomica of Manilius, and Virgil’s Georgics. For an excellent survey of the genre see Haye 1997.

Haye, Thomas. Das lateinische Lehrgedicht im Mittelalter: Analyse einer Gattung. Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: Brill, 1997.
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Chapter 10, “Die Überlieferungsträger,” is especially helpful on the grouping of ancient didactic writers (Lucretius, Aratus, Avienus, Manilius) in manuscripts.
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Aratus, Phaenomena (Aratea)

Three Latin translations (Cicero, Germanicus, Avienus) of the Greek poem Phaenomena survived into the Middle Ages. The illustrated manuscripts, particularly of the Germanicus translation, were important for transmitting both astrological and mythological knowledge to Westerners beginning in the 9th century. Michael Reeve’s entry, “Aratea,” in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) provides stemmata for all three versions. McGurk 1981 differentiates the manuscripts of the versions. Dolan 2007 gives a readable account of the state of the question. Saxl 1915–1953 should be consulted for illustrations in the manuscripts of Aratus.

Dolan, Marion. “The Role of Illustrated Manuscripts in the Transmission of Astronomical Knowledge in the Middle Ages.” PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 2007.
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A convenient and readable survey of the original Greek poem, the Latin translations, and the history of the different versions in the Middle Ages. Available for free on Google, as “Aratus in the Middle Ages.”
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McGurk, Patrick. “Carolingian Astrological Manuscripts.” In Charles the Bald Court and Kingdom: Papers Based on a Colloquium Held in London in April 1979. Edited by Janet Nelson and Margaret Gibson, 317–332. BAR International Series 101. Oxford: B.A.R., 1981.
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This helpful paper neatly separates the Carolingian manuscripts by versions: Cicero with Hyginus scholia, Germanicus with lines from Avienus, Germanicus with scholica, and the revised Aratus Latinus. N.B.: not in the 1990 Variorum reprint
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Saxl, Fritz. Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters. 3 vols. in 4 Parts. Heidelberg, Germany: Carl Winter Verlag, 1915–1953.
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See the introduction to Volume 3 for the versions and manuscripts of the translations of Aratus, especially as they relate to illustrations in the manuscripts.
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Lucretius, De rerum natura (“On the Nature of the Universe”)

This poetic exposé of Epicurean philosophy was salvaged for posterity in two complete 9th-century manuscripts, and parts of a third (the so-called “Schedae”) as well as fragments and quotations from the same period. For a good overview of the textual transmission and its scholarship see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 218–222; for a demolition of the theory of an Insular archetype see Brown 1967; for the theory of a late antique archetype written in cursive majuscule as the source of the textual errors see Brunhölzl 1962. For a list of all the manuscripts and florilegia to the end of the 12th century see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 86–89. For a rich survey of Lucretian citations and echoes as well as commentaries see the entry Fleischmann 1971. Ganz 1996 elicits more fully the exceptional interest of Carolingian scholars in that author. Most recently Herren 2012 shows that the entire tradition descends from a lost copy of the 3d (?) century with annotations in Greek drawn from an epitome of Epicurus’s writings. See also Greenblatt 2011.

Brown, Virginia. “The ‘Insular Intermediary’ in the Tradition of Lucretius.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 72 (1967): 301–308.
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Brown demolishes the once popular theory of Louis Devau that the archetype of the extant Carolingian manuscripts was written in an Insular hand; she adds an important discussion on the term “archetype” defining it as the immediate ancestor of the extant manuscripts.
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Brunhölzl, Franz. “Zur Überlieferung des Lukrez.” Hermes 90 (1962): 97–104.
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Through a careful examination of some of the stranger errors traceable to the Carolingian archetype of the 9th-century manuscripts, Brunhölzl argues persuasively that this lost manuscript repeated errors that go back to a copy written in cursive majuscule, not capitalis script, as Lachmann had argued.
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Fleischmann, Wolfgang Bernard. “Lucretius Carus, Titus.” In Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. Vol. 2. Edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, 349–363. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1971.
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This fine article demonstrates that medieval interest in Lucretius was pretty much confined to the earliest centuries (7th to 9th century), and went into decline after that. The 15th and later centuries saw an explosion of interest in that writer.
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Ganz, David. “Lucretius in the Carolingian Age: The Leiden Manuscripts and Their Carolingian Readers.” In Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics. Edited by Claudine A. Chavannes Mazel and Margaret M. Smith, 91–102. Los Altos Hills, CA: Anderson-Lovelace, 1996.
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In addition to giving a fuller picture of Carolingian interest in Lucretius than one finds in Fleischmann 1971, Ganz shows the value of the Irishman Dungal’s work as corrector and editor of the text.
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Greenblatt, Stephen. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2011.
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Greenblatt weaves an enticing tale of what he calls the “discovery” of the text of Lucretius by Poggio and its reception in Renaissance Italy and beyond. However, his book undervalues, and to some extent misrepresents, the work of early medieval scholars in preserving and restoring Lucretius’s poem.
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Herren, Michael W. “The Graeca in the Tituli of Lucretius: What They Tell Us about the Archetype.” Wiener Studien 125 (2012): 107–124.
DOI: 10.1553/wst125s107Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The tituli of the Oblongus and Schedae have a common exemplar. Six of seven tituli containing graeca are traceable to sayings of Epicurus probably derived from an epitome (2nd–3rd century CE). These quotations arguably served as source annotations to Lucretian passages in the lost manuscript that stands at the head of the tradition.
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Manilius, Astronomica

Manilius’s poem on astronomy in five books survives intact. It was sometimes mislabeled in the manuscripts as “Aratus,” sometimes attributed to Boethius due to the similarity of the name Manilius with Manlius (Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius). For an overview see M. D. Reeve in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 235–238; for the text see Housman 1937; bibliography in Bajoni 1999. For a critique of the view that Manilius was on the curriculum taught by Gerbert see Garrod 1909.

Bajoni, Maria Grazia. “Manilio 1950–1999.” Lustrum 41 (1999): 105–196.
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Works on the manuscript tradition and medieval reception are listed, pp. 110–123 and pp. 189–193; entries are fully summarized.
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Garrod, H. W. “Manilian Varieties.” Classical Quarterly 3.1 (January 1909): 54–59.
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Disposes of the notion that the historian Richer is referring to lectures on Manilius by Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II, end of 10th century)––the mistake shows the confusion of the names Manilius and Manlius ( = Boethius).
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Housman, A. E., ed. M. Manilii Astronomicon Liber Primus. 2d ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1937.
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The introduction, pp. vii–lxxv, is very much worth reading not only for what it tells us about the manuscripts of Manilius and the construction of the text, but also for its highly amusing remarks on editing and editors.
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Virgil, Georgics

In general, the three major poems of Virgil (Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid) were transmitted as a whole, and the commentary tradition applies to all three (except the Philargyrius tradition, which preserves extracts of the Eclogues and Georgics only, although portions of a lost Aeneid commentary have been identified in an Irish Orosius commentary). In terms of reception, the greatest influence of the poem on the Middle Ages probably lay in the Orpheus and Eurydice legend (Georgics 4: 453–525); see Friedman 1970.

Friedman, John Block. Orpheus in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.
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See especially the chapter “King Orpheus and his Queen,” 146–210.
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Drama

The plays of Plautus, Terence, and Seneca that survive today were known in the Middle Ages in varying degrees. The comedies of Terence inspired imitations throughout the Middle Ages, most notably by Hrotswith of Gandersheim in the 10th century. For the plays of Plautus, though copied in medieval manuscripts, there is little or no evidence for their reception. This might be attributed to their metrical difficulty and the absence of a commentary such as existed for the plays of Terence. See the entry by R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 302–307. For quotations of Plautus see Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories), indices. The same holds for Seneca’s tragedies, which were copied, but only rarely cited, although extracts of Troades, Medea, and Oedipus appear in a 9th-century florilegium, and a complete manuscript of the plays was made in Italy in the late 11th century. See the entry by R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), 378–381.

Terence

Six of the comedies of Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) survive: Andria, Heautontimorumenos (The Self Tormentor), Eunuchus (The Eunuch), Phormio, Hecyra, and Adelphoe (The Brothers). Their survival was aided by that of Donatus’s 4th-century commentary on Terence (see Ancient Commentaries), of which the oldest witness dates to the 11th century, and the fact that a late antique illustrated copy of the plays was available, which influenced the development of Carolingian manuscript art. New commentaries on Terence were written in the early Middle Ages. M. D. Reeve’s entry in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) offers a good survey of the fortuna; Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 579–653, shows the vastness of the manuscript tradition (including accessus and commentaries); see the large bibliography; Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories) records numerous instances of quotations and paraphrases in the Middle Ages (see indices). De Jong 2012 expands our knowledge of the reception of Terence in the Carolingian age; Marti 1963 provides the most complete article on reception written to date; Rand 1909 is still valuable on early medieval commentaries; Wright 2006 offers something new on the illustrated Terence manuscripts from late antiquity. Grant 1986 deals with the entire manuscript tradition.

De Jong, Mayke. “‘Heed that Saying of Terence’: On the Use of Terence in Radbert’s Epitaphium Arsenii.” In Carolingian Scholarship and Martianus Capella: Traditions on ‘De nuptiis’ in Context. Edited by Mariken Teeuwen and Sinéad O’Sullivan, 274–300. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012.
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Although the article focuses on Paschasius Radbertus, it offers a good general survey of Terence’s influence on Carolingian learning, and argues that ability to cite Terence was the mark of the erudite cleric.
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Grant, John N. Studies in the Textual Tradition of Terence. Phoenix Supplementary Volume 20. Toronto and London: University of Toronto Press, 1986.
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An impressive monograph on the entire manuscript tradition of Terence, taking into account the readings of Donatus’s commentary and also the illustrations; however, note the strictures of Wright 2006.
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Marti, H. “Terenz, 1909–1959.” Lustrum 6 (1961): 117–157.
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Continued in Lustrum 8 (1963), pp. 5–101, 244–247. This is the go-to article for those interested in deepening their appreciation of Terence’s reception in the Middle Ages. Part 2, Volume 8, pp. 94–101, provides a bibliography of Terence’s influence in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern period.
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Rand, E. K. “Early Medieval Commentaries on Terence.” Classical Philology 4 (1909): 359–389.
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Rand argues against 19th-century scholars that a group of commentaries on Terence, while reflecting Donatus’s influence, are in fact early medieval productions that offer the reader information about contemporary culture.
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Wright, David. The Lost Late Antique Illustrated Terence. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2006.
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The author criticizes Grant 1986 (Studies in the Textual Tradition of Terence) for an inadequate understanding of the illustrations in the Terence manuscripts, which is essential for reconstructing the text-history of that author. The book is an attempt to reconstruct the lost late antique original.
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Elegy

Roman elegy was predominantly love elegy, nearly all of it written in the Augustan period. The main representatives, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid, are treated here. For work connecting Roman love elegy to Medieval Latin poetry see Munari 1960 (cited under Ovid) and especially Brower 2011.

Brower, Susannah Giulia. “Gender, Power, and Persona in the Poetry of Baudri of Bourgeuil.” PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2011.
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The thesis shows the influence of the Roman elegists on the erotically tinged poems of Baudri of Bourgeuil (d. 1130), who makes use of the Ovidian motifs of the amator and praeceptor amoris. Influences of Propertius and Tibullus also noted.
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Tibullus

Tibullus was already known in the first phase of the Carolingian Renaissance, as he is listed with his correct praenomen (Albius) in the famous catalogue of authors given in Berlin, Diez B Sant. 66, and mentioned in a poem by Petrus Grammaticus (c.800). For a general overview of the manuscripts and the fortuna see the entry by Richard and Mary Rouse in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 420–425. For manuscripts written saec. IX to saec. XII see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 655–656 (all florilegia). For the possibility that Alcuin knew Tibullus see Garrison 2005; for florilegia consult Newton 1962 and Babcock 1984. For a serious challenge to the orthodox view that the list of classical authors (including Tibullus) given in Berlin, Diez B. Sant. 66 emanated from Charlemagne’s court, see Villa 1995.

Babcock, R. G. Heriger of Lobbes and the Freising Florilegium: A Study of the Influence of Classical Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages. Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 18. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1984.
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Connects the excerpts of classical poetry in the Freising Florilegium (Munich clm 6292) with the late 10th-century schoolmaster Heriger of Lobbes; discusses the rarity of Tibullus in this period, and shows relationship of the Freising Tibullus text to that of the complete manuscripts, which appear only in the 14th century.
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Garrison, Mary. “Alcuin and Tibullus.” In Poesía latina medieval (siglos V–XV): Actas del IV Congreso del “Internationales Mittellateinerkomitee” Santiago de Compostela, 12–15 de septiembre de 2002. Edited by Manuel Díaz y Díaz and J. C. Díaz de Bustamente, 749–759. Florence: SISMEL. Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2005.
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Argues that Alcuin’s use of the name “Delia” and the motif of the exclusus amator point to the possibility that Alcuin knew the poet. Supporting evidence is provided by mentions of the name “Tibullus” in the poetry of Paul the Deacon and Peter of Pisa, who were both at the Carolingian court.
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Newton, Francis. “Tibullus in Two Grammatical Florilegia of the Middle Ages.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 93 (1962): 253–286.
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Presents a collation of the Freising excerpt and argues that it represents the text and orthography of the complete manuscript of Tibullus from which it was copied; selections from a later florilegium from a Venice manuscript are also printed. The article concludes with a discussion of the excerptors’ principles of selection.
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Villa, Claudia. “La tradizione di Orazio e la ‘biblioteca di Carlo Magno’.” In Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993. Edited by Oronzo Pecere and Michael D. Reeve, 299–322. Spoleto, Italy: Centro italiano di studi sull’Alto medioevo, 1995.
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Villa argues strongly against B. Bischoff that the Berlin manuscript Diez B Sant. 66 was written by an Italian scribe and remained in Italy until at least the 15th century. Accordingly, its catalogue of classical authors (including Tibullus) represents the holdings of an Italian library, not that of Charlemagne’s court.
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Propertius

Apart from the tiny extract “Sexti Properti de Virgilio” (Anthologia Latina no. 264) found in the Codex Salmasianus (Paris lat. 10318) and a few second-hand quotations, Propertius was virtually unknown between the end of antiquity and the middle of the 12th century, when the first manuscripts surfaced in France (Loire Valley), and about the same time the author is mentioned by John of Salisbury. The authoritative account of the entire tradition is that by Butrica 1984, on which Richard Tarrant’s entry in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) is based. Some recent additions to Butrica are to be found in Heyworth 2007. The entry by D. F. S. Thomson in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 9, pp. 153–260, adds little to our knowledge of the medieval fortuna, but is valuable for the extensive list of Renaissance commentaries.

Butrica, James L. The Manuscript Tradition of Propertius. Phoenix Supplementary Volume 17. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
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A work of admirable erudition. The reader concentrating on the medieval tradition is directed to chapter 1, “Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.” The remainder of the work is devoted to the classification of the manuscripts. The indices of dated manuscripts, editions consulted, and complete list of manuscripts are highly valuable.
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Heyworth, S. J., ed. Sexti Properti Elegos. Oxford: Clarendon, 2007.
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The preface to this new edition of Propertius introduces a number of additions and modifications to Butrica 1984.
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Ovid

Apart from the Metamorphoses, Fasti, and the exile poems (Tristia and Ex Ponto), all of Ovid’s major poems belong to this category: Heroides or Epistulae, Amores, Ars amatoria, and Remedia amoris. For a survey of manuscripts and commentaries on all of Ovid’s works see Coulson and Roy 2000. On the commentary tradition see Hexter 1986. For a general study of their influence on Medieval Latin poetry see Munari 1960. Rand 1925 is excellent for nonspecialists.

Coulson, Frank, and Bruno Roy. Incipitarium Ovidianum: A Finding Guide for Texts Related to the Study of Ovid in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin 3. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2000.
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A guide to all the poems of Ovid with lists of manuscripts, the incipits of commentaries, and a full bibliography to year of publication. Updates in The Journal of Medieval Latin, Volume 12 (2002), Volume 19 (2009).
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Hexter, Ralph. Ovid and Medieval Schooling: Studies in Medieval School Commentaries on Ovid’s Ars amatoria, Epistulae ex Ponto, and Epistulae Heroidum. Munich: Arbeo-Gesellschaft, 1986.
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A study of the medieval commentaries on the texts named in the title. The author makes a plea for reading medieval commentaries not for their errors or omissions, but for what they have to teach about the Middle Ages.
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Munari, Franco. Ovid im Mittelalter. Zurich, Switzerland: Artemis, 1960.
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Treating all of Ovid’s oeuvre in some degree, this charming little essay concentrates on the poet’s role as the praeceptor amoris through his elegiac poems and the erotic portions of the Metamorphoses. Ovid’s influence on the “Loire Valley poets” (Hildebert of Lavardin, Baudri of Bourgeuil) and Walter of Châtillon is highlighted.
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Rand, E. K. Ovid and His Influence. New York: Cooper Square, 1925.
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This little book by a master deals with all of Ovid’s works and their influence on Latin and vernacular writers. However, even the section on the Metamorphoses concentrates on the theme of love, thus sharing emphasis with Munari’s book.
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Encyclopedic Works

Of the ancient encyclopedias only Pliny’s Naturalis historia survived. The rest of the works listed here are late antique (4th–6th century) and are hard to classify. Martianus Capella’s 5th-century work on the liberal arts is thought to be based on Varro’s encyclopedia of the novem disciplinae. Macrobius’s two main works, Saturnalia and Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, were mined as sources of ancient customs (Saturnalia) and Neoplatonic philosophy and literary criticism (Commentarii). Fulgentius’s Mitologiae (6th century) served as a major source book of Greek and Roman myths for the Carolingian age and afterwards. Recent work on ancient and medieval encyclopedias has concentrated on typology, separating the handbooks that impart the knowledge of disciplines from those that convey information directly. For typologies and functions of premodern encyclopedias see Binkley 1997. Bremmer and Dekker 2010 deals broadly with the transmission of ancient learning through a variety of repositories.

Binkley, Peter, ed. Pre-modern Encyclopaedic Texts: Proceedings of the Second COMERS Congress, Groningen, 1–4 July 1996. Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: Brill, 1997.
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Contains a number of important studies on the typology and functions of premodern encyclopedias, but also much else, including the transmission and reception of encyclopedic texts.
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Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr., and Kees Dekker, eds. Practice in Learning: The Transfer of Encyclopedic Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages. Storehouses of Wholesome Learning 2. Paris and Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2010.
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A collection of important essays dealing with the types of text by which ancient learning was transmitted to the early Middle Ages. Includes studies on encyclopedias, glossaries, and maps.
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Fulgentius, Mitologiae and Virgiliana continentia

This 6th-century author from North Africa was almost certainly not the same person as Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe (also an African of the 5th–6th century). The Mitologiae, a collection of myth summaries, and the Virgiliana continentia, an allegoresis of the Aeneid, were well utilized from the 9th century in the development of medieval mythography. Fulgentius the Mythographer provides a fairly up-to-date bibliography on Fulgentius’s transmission and reception. Laistner 1957 treats his influence in the 9th century.

Hays, Gregory. Fulgentius the Mythographer: An Annotated Bibliography.
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Covers the manuscript tradition, textual criticism, and the commentary tradition as well as other aspects of Fulgentius’s writings.
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Laistner, M. L. W. “Fulgentius in the Carolingian Age.” In The Intellectual Heritage of the Early Middle Ages: Selected Essays. Edited by M. L. W. Laistner, 202–215. London: Oxford University Press, 1957.
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Concentrates on the use of the mythographer by the Irish circle, including John Scottus, Martin of Laon, and Sedulius, among others. There is a separate discussion of the reception of Fulgentius of Ruspe.
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Whitbread, Leslie George. Fulgentius the Mythographer: Translated from the Latin with Introduction. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1971.
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Whitbread’s translations of the Mitologiae (Mythologiae) and Expositio Virgilianae continentiae secundum philosophos moralis are prefaced by brief, but helpful introductions describing the works, their sources, and influence in the Middle Ages and beyond.
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Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae sive Origines

Isidore of Seville (c.570–636) compiled an encyclopedia in twenty books that influenced the entire Middle Ages. The Etymologiae rely heavily on ancient authors, and transmit the heritage of the classical tradition with respect to the liberal arts, philosophy, the sciences, geography, and mythography. Numerous quotations of ancient Latin writers became available to medieval scholars through this source. Barney, et al. 2008 offers a complete English translation and general introduction to the work. Bischoff 1966 surveys diffusion of all of Isidore’s works to the end of the Middle Ages. Hillgarth 1983 is the go-to work for bibliography. Reydellet 1966 is excellent for the manuscript history of the Etymologiae for the early Middle Ages.

Barney, Stephen A., W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof, in collaboration with Muriel Hall. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated with Notes and Introduction. 4th rev. ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
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The authors provide a sensible translation, as they retain in brackets the key Latin and Greek words translated. There is a good introduction, including a brief section on the work’s influence (pp. 24–26); a select bibliography follows.
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Bischoff, Bernhard. “Die europäische Verbreitung der Werke Isidores on Sevilla.” In Mittelalterliche Studien: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Schriftkunde und Literaturgeschichte. Vol. 1. By Bernhard Bischoff, 171–194. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1966.
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An excellent survey of the tradition of all of Isidore’s major works to the 15th century. The article deals with centers of transmission, text-critical matters, important manuscripts, and readers.
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Hillgarth, J. N. “The Position of Isidorian Studies: A Critical Review of the Literature 1936–1975.” Studi Medievali, ser. 3.24 (1983): 817–905.
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This comprehensive bibliography by a leading expert on Visigothic Spain includes works written to 1985 on Isidore’s writings and their influence. Updated as “Isidorian Studies, 1976–1985.” Studi Medievali, ser. 3, 31 (1990): 925–973.
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Reydellet, Marc. “La diffusion des Origines d’Isidore de Séville au haut moyen âge.” Mélanges d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’École Française de Rome 78 (1966): 383–437.
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This study concentrates on the Etymologiae and provides full coverage of the manuscript history in the early medieval period.
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Macrobius, Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

The Commentarii in somnium Scipionis (i.e., a commentary on the “Dream of Scipio” in Cicero’s De republica) exercised varying degrees of influence in the Middle Ages. The work was widely read from the 9th century onward for its offerings on ancient literary criticism, dream theory, numerology, and Neoplatonic teachings (e.g., “the World Soul”). For a survey of the readership and manuscripts see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 222–235. Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) did not include Macrobius in his survey, but listed the manuscripts in a separate article (Munk Olsen 1976). The best survey of the earlier manuscripts of the Commentarii still lies unpublished: Barker-Benfield 1975. Dronke 1974 (cited under Ancient Influences on Medieval Literary Genres and Literary Theory) is important for the influence of the Commentarii on the 12th-century Chartres masters. Caiazzo 2002 is excellent on the glosses and commentaries of the in somnium Scipionis. For a general overview of the reception of the Commentarii see Hüttig 1990. Additional sources include Silvestre 1963 and Stahl 1952.

Barker-Benfield, Bruce. “The Manuscripts of Macrobius’ Commentary in the Somnium Scipionis.” 2 vols. PhD diss., Oxford University Press, 1975.
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Particularly good on the earliest manuscripts, especially the invaluable Bobbio fragments (8th century).
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Caiazzo, Irene. Lectures médiévales de Macrobe. Paris: J. Vrin, 2002.
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An excellent group of studies on the glosses and medieval commentaries to Macrobius’s Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.
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Hüttig, Albrecht. Macrobius im Mittelalter. Ein Beitrag zur Rezeptionsgeschichte der Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis. Freiburger Beiträge zur Rezeptionsgeschichte: Studien und Texte. Frankfurt and New York: P. Lang, 1990.
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Offers very little on manuscripts, but provides a useful general survey of citations and uses of Macrobius in scholia and commentaries.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. “Quelques aspects de la diffusion du ‘Somnium Scipionis’ de Cicéron au moyen âge (du IXe au XIIe siècle).” In Studia Romana in honorem Petri Krarup Septuagnenarii. Edited by Karen Ascani, et al., 146–153. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1976.
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According to Bruce Barker-Benfield in his entry “Macrobius” in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), p. 231, n. 14, Munk Olsen’s list omits about twenty-five manuscripts.
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Silvestre, Hubert. “Note sur la survie de Macrobe au moyen âge.” Classica et Mediaevalia 24 (1963): 170–180.
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A good introductory survey on the survival of Macrobius’s Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. There is little on the Saturnalia other than the remark that it is more utilized than the Commentary.
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Stahl, William Harris. Macrobius. Commentary on the Dream of Scipio: Translated with an Introduction and Notes. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
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The introduction offers a helpful general introduction to the impact of the Commentary on the Middle Ages and beyond, pp. 41–55.
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Macrobius, Saturnalia

The Saturnalia, written in the form of a symposium, deals with Virgil criticism and a variety of topics regarding Roman life and customs. Davies 1969 gives a general overview of the work in his introduction. Kaster 2010 offers new insights into the reconstruction of the text of that work, while Ó Croínín 2003 demonstrates that Irish computist in the 7th century were among the first to make use of the Saturnalia.

Davies, Percival Vaughn. Macrobius, the Saturnalia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
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This work contains an English translation and introduction. In the section “Saturnalia in the Middle Ages” (pp. 23–26), Davies mentions use of the Saturnalia by Isidore in the Etymologiae, by Bede in the Opera de temporibus, and by John of Salisbury in the Policraticus (Book 8, chapters 6, 7, and 16).
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Kaster, Robert. Studies on the Text of Macrobius’ Saturnalia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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The latest work on the reconstruction of the Saturnalia by an authoritative scholar; the author is critical of the now standard edition by James Willis, and suggests a different manuscript base for constructing the text.
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Ó Croínín, Dáibhí. “A Seventh-Century Irish Computus from the Circle of Cummianus.” In Early Irish History and Chronology. Edited by D. Ó Croínín, 99–130. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2003.
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The author demonstrates that among the earliest users of this work on Virgilian topics was a 7th-century Irish scholar who employed portions of the first book of the Saturnalia in his work on chronology. Originally published in 1982.
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Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii

“The Marriage of Philology and Mercury,” written in the 5th century in North Africa, was one of the most influential texts in the Middle Ages. Thought to be based on Varro’s lost Disciplinarum libri novem, the work is an encyclopedia of the seven liberal arts introduced by two books of allegory. The commentary tradition ranges from the 9th to the end of the 15th century. Because of its late date it is not included in the surveys by Reynolds 1983 or Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (both cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). For its importance to the school tradition see Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Index. For the manuscripts see Leonardi 1959–1960; for an overview of the commentary tradition see Lutz 1960–2011. The wide-ranging importance of the allegory of the first two books is treated by Westra 1986, while the growth of mythological explication is a theme of McDonough 2006. Detailed treatments of the 9th-century commentary tradition are given in Teuwen and O’Sullivan 2011.

Leonardi, Claudio. “I codici di Marziano Capella.” Aevum 33 (1959): 434–489.
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Continued in Aevum 34 (1960): 1–99, 411–524. The first installment is an overview of Martianus’s readers and his influence through the ages. The second is a detailed census of the manuscripts with bibliography (where available) for each. Indispensable.
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Lutz, Cora. “Martianus Capella.” Vol. 2, Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. 9 vols. Edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, 367–381. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1960–2011.
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The introduction contains a brief fortuna followed by a catalogue of all the commentaries from the 9th through the 15th century listing the manuscripts, editions, and bibliography for each. See the supplement by Haijo J. Westra, in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 6, pp. 185–186.
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McDonough, Christopher J., ed. Alexander Neckam, Commentum super Martianum. Florence: SISMEL. Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2006.
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The author notes in his introduction that Neckam’s commentary pays more attention to elucidating myths and mythological figures (introducing questions raised in the Third Vatican Mythographer) than his Carolingian predecessors, John Scottus Eriugena and Remigius of Auxerre.
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Teuwen, Mariken, and Sinéad O’Sullivan, eds. Carolingian Scholarship and Martianus Capella: Ninth-Century Commentary Traditions on ‘De nuptiis’ in Context. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011.
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This important collection by leading scholars covers a number of topics related to the 9th-century commentary tradition on Martianus and other secular texts.
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Westra, Haijo Jan, ed. The Commentary on Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii Attributed to Bernardus Silvestris. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1986.
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See especially the fine study of “integumentum” (the allegoresis of secular works) in the introduction, pp. 23–33.
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Pliny (the Elder), Naturalis historia

This mammoth ancient encyclopedia covering hundreds of topics was known from the early Middle Ages and continued in use throughout, but was greatly outdistanced by Isidore of Seville’s more compact Etymologiae. Because of its vast size, medieval libraries tended to hold either groups of books or excerpts in anthologies. For a thorough synopsis see L. D. Reynolds in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 307–316; for the manuscripts to c.1200 see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 248–273. Laistner 1966 deals with Bede’s knowledge of Pliny; Chibnall 1975 provides a readable survey of users throughout the Middle Ages.

Chibnall, Marjorie. “Pliny’s Natural History and the Middle Ages.” In Empire and Aftermath: Silver Latin II. Edited by T. A. Dorey, 57–78. London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975.
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An engaging survey of the work’s fortunes in the Middle Ages, starting with 7th-century use by the Irish and subsequent adoption by Bede; later Insular uses found in Eriugena and the geographer Dicuil. Naturalis historia was read by John of Salisbury at Chartres and was used as a textbook at Laon.
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Laistner, M. L. W. “The Library of the Venerable Bede.” In The Intellectual Heritage of the Early Middle Ages. Edited by Chester G. Starr, 117–149. New York: Octagon, 1966.
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This classic article, though superseded in some aspects, lists the books of the Naturalis historia laid under contribution by Bede in his De natura rerum.
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Epic Poetry

The Aeneid of Virgil, the Bellum civile (Pharsalia) of Lucan, and the Thebaid of Statius were well known throughout most of the Middle Ages. Ovid’s Metamorphoses was rarely cited before the 9th century, and whole copies of the work began to appear only in the 11th century, but its influence in the later Middle Ages was enormous. All these were incorporated into the school curriculum in a number of centers, where they were read alongside the Christian poets Juvencus, Arator, and Sedulius (see Glauche 1970, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, “Einleitung”). There was probably never a time when the Aeneid was not read. In the 7th century it was known in Spain, England, and Ireland. Indeed, as early as c. 700 an Irish scholar produced a Christianized version of the Philargyrius commentary to which he or later scholars appended Irish glosses. See Ancient Commentaries: Philargyrius. Virgil, Lucan, and Statius were known to Alcuin (8th century), who mentions them in his metrical list of works held by the library at York. Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae, though properly an epyllion, is also included here. Though not a curriculum text, the poem was well known, particularly in the later Middle Ages. It sometimes circulated with the Ilias Latina (cited as “Homerus” in the Middle Ages), one of the most important sources for “the matter of Troy.”

The Aeneid

Arguably the most valued secular work studied in the Middle Ages, it is not surprising that the literature on its transmission and influence is correspondingly vast. Much of this includes a survey of Virgil’s other major poems, the Eclogues and the Georgics. This is only right, as the Aeneid normally traveled in manuscript with the other two poems, sometimes accompanied by Servius’s commentary (see cited under Ancient Commentaries). The Enciclopedia Virgiliana in five volumes contains important articles on transmission and ancient commentaries. Still valuable as a general survey is Comparetti 1997 (trans. Benecke). The erudite work by Courcelles and Courcelles 1984 is of value both to medievalists and students of late antiquity. Baswell 1995 is excellent on the history of interpretation; the opening chapters provide one of the best introductions to medieval Virgil interpretation available in English. For a sketch of the manuscript history see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 433–436; for manuscripts from the 9th century (and earlier) to the 12th see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 698–826. The collection listed under Lectures médiévales de Virgile is excellent for Virgil’s reception in Medieval Latin and vernacular literature. Ziolkowski and Putnam 2008 is a superb collection of texts (with translation) relating to the interpretation and reception of the poet from late antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. For recent bibliographies see the entries of Wilson-Okamura 2010 and A Bibliographic Guide to Vergil’s Aeneid, both online.

Baswell, Christopher. Virgil in Medieval England: Figuring the Aeneid from the Twelfth Century to Chaucer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
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The first four chapters relate the antique school tradition of Virgil interpretation to scholastic developments in medieval England, concentrating on allegory and the notion of integumentum. The last two chapters discuss the Roman d’Eneas and Chaucer’s House of Fame. There is a valuable appendix entitled “Manuscripts of Virgil written or owned in medieval England.”
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Comparetti, Domenico. Vergil in the Middle Ages. Translated by E. F. M. Benecke. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
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This older work remains a useful survey of Virgil’s reception in the Middle Ages. The second part of the work (Vol. 2 of the original) discusses the rich tradition of popular legends surrounding Virgil; original language examples are appended. With a new introduction by Jan M. Ziolkowski. English translation of Virgilio nel medio evo. 2 vols. Florence: La Nuova Editrice, 1872.
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Courcelles, Pierre, and Jeanne Courcelles. Lecteurs païens et lecteurs chrétiens de l’Éneide. 2 vols. Mémoires de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, nouvelle série tome IV. Paris: Institut de France, 1984.
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A work of astonishing erudition, the first volume is arranged according to the order of the Aeneid, book-by-book, line-by-line. Almost every line of the epic is accompanied by one or more quotations or echo in a classical, patristic, medieval, or Renaissance author. The second volume (Vol. 2 of the original Italian edition) is a catalogue of illustrated manuscripts of the Aeneid from the 10th to the 15th century.
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Enciclopedia Virgiliana. 5 vols. in 6 parts. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1984–1991.
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This magnificent work remains an authoritative reference work on every aspect of Virgil’s life, writings, and reception.
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Lectures médiévales de Virgile: Actes du Colloque organisé par l’École française de Rome (Rome, 25–28 octobre 1982). Rome: L’école française de Rome, 1985.
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An important collection of articles by outstanding scholars on topics such as Virgil’s influence on Medieval Latin epic, medieval translations of the Aeneid, the use of Virgil in medieval exempla literature––in short, everything to do with the absorption of Virgil into medieval intellectual life.
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Werner, Shirley. A Bibliographic Guide to Vergil’s Aeneid.
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See sections Ancient Scholarship, Commentaries, Editions, Reception and Influence, Transmission and Text; not annotated.
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Wilson-Okamura, David Scott. Virgil in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance: An Online Bibliography. 8th ed. 2010.
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Arranged chronologically, as title indicates; not annotated.
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Ziolkowski, Jan. M., and Michael C. J. Putnam. The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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A valuable catalogue of texts (with translations) of works pointing to the reception of all the works of Virgil; includes commentaries, lives, quotations and echoes of Virgil in medieval poetry, and much else. The detailed table of contents and indices enhance the book’s utility.
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Claudian, De raptu Proserpinae

The panegyrist and occasional poet flourished c.400 CE. Believed to have come from the East, he also left a collection of Greek poems. For the manuscripts and transmission history, as well as speculations on the date and circumstances of the composition of this short mythological poem, see Hall 1969. The De raptu was Claudian’s most influential work in the Middle Ages. On the reception of the oeuvre of Claudian see again Hall in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 143–145. For citations of “Claudian” in Medieval Latin writings see the indices in Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories).

Hall, J. B. Claudian, De raptu Proserpinae. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
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Hall gives a complete census of manuscripts containing De raptu Proserpinae (DRP), pp. 3–33, followed by discussion of the manuscript tradition. “History of Transmission,” pp. 64–76, reveals that DRP was widely read in late antiquity, and in the Middle Ages from Alcuin’s day onward.
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Ilias Latina

This Latin epitome of Homer’s epic written in 1,070 hexameters was all that was known of the great work until the Greek text reached Italy in the Renaissance. The Latin Ilias is thought to have been composed in the 1st century CE by Baebius Italicus. Cited by medieval writers as “Homer,” the work was a major source for “the matter of Troy” known to the Middle Ages, supplementing Virgil’s Aeneid and the forgeries of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis with which it often traveled. For a good introduction to its transmission and reception see P. K. Marshall in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 191–196. For its use as a school text see Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 70–71, and passim (see Index). For the best study to date of the transmission of the work see the introduction to Scafai 1982.

Scafai, Marco. Ilias Latina. Introduzione, Edizione critica, Traduzione italiana e Commento. Bologna, Italy: Pàtron Editore, 1982.
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Scafai traces the readership of this work from late antiquity (Dracontius, Lactantius Placidus on Statius) to its earliest medieval reader Ermenric of Ellwangen, thence to Conrad of Hirsau and the Libera Catonianus. He argues that the archetype of the extant tradition was made by Angilbert of St. Riquier (9th century).
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Lucan, Bellum civile (Pharsalia)

Bellum civile, the title given this work in the manuscripts, was greatly popular in the Middle Ages. The epic was already known to Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, and became a fixture of the schools in the 9th and later centuries as well as the subject of medieval commentaries by Anselm of Laon and Arnulf of Orléans (Glauche 1970, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, pp. 103–104). Two sets of ancient commentaries were also preserved in the Middle Ages (Reynolds 1983, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, p. 215, n. 4). Manuscripts from the 9th to 12th century are listed by Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 25–83. Crosland 1930 gives a good survey of Lucan’s medieval reputation and influence on Old French literature. For the text tradition in the 9th century see Gotoff 1971; for quotations see Sanford 1934. For Lucan’s use in the schools see again Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), index. Sanford 1934 treats quotations; Werner 1998, scholia. For a study of the entire tradition to the nineteenth century see Walde 2009.

Crosland, Jessie. “Lucan in the Middle Ages with Special Reference to Old French Epic.” The Modern Language Review 25.1 (January 1930): 32–51.
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A valuable survey of Lucan’s reputation in the central and later Middle Ages and his influence on Old French literature. According to the author, Lucan enjoyed a reputation equal to or superior to that of Virgil, and was regarded variously as an historian, a philosopher, and a tragic poet.
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Gotoff, Harold C. The Transmission of the Text of Lucan in the Ninth Century. Loeb Classical Monographs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
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Primarily a study of the 9th-century manuscripts and their relationship. An appendix deals with scholia.
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Sanford, E. M. “Quotations from Lucan in Medieval Latin Authors.” American Journal of Philology 55 (1934): 1–19.
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This intelligent article picks through the thousands of Lucan quotations and cites examples of pithy maxims that counsel wise actions or point to general truths. Lucan was especially popular with historians of the 12th and 13th century.
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Walde, Christine, ed. Lucans bellum civile: Studien zum Spektrum seiner Rezeption von der Antike bis ins 19. Jahrhundert. Trier: Wissenschaflicher Verlag, 2009.
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An exceptionally interesting collection on Lucan reception. Articles of medieval interest include an edition of a Medieval Latin commentary, Arnulf of Orléans’s use of Lucan, a Lucan passage set to music, and an Icelandic adaptation of the late 12th century. Volume concludes with selective bibliography to the 19th century.
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Werner, Shirley. The Transmission and Scholia to Lucan’s Bellum civile. Münsteraner Beiträge zur Klassischen Philologie 5. Hamburg, Germany: Lit Verlag, 1998.
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Building on the work of Gotoff 1971, the author investigates the post-Carolingian tradition of Lucan study. Focusing on the Lucan commentary in Yale Beinecke Library MS 673 and its relationship to other Lucan scholia collections, the author concludes that they contain ancient material omitted in the Commenta Berenensia and the Adnotationes super Lucanum.
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Ovid, Metamorphoses

While this, the most famous of Ovid’s writings, defies generic categorization, a number of scholars have treated the work as an epic, an opinion justifiable at least on the basis of meter. From the 12th to the 15th century Ovid was arguably the most imitated and altogether influential classical poet, and the Metamorphoses was by far his most copied work. Coulson and Roy 2000 is the starting point for scholarly study of all works of Ovid; R. J. Tarrant’s entry in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 276–282, gives an outline of the manuscript tradition and a stemma; Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 111–181, does not divide manuscripts according to individual works. Munari 1957 and supplements by the author and by Coulson lay the foundations of the manuscript tradition. Munk Olsen 1995a and Munk Olsen 1995b trace Ovid’s popularity through whole manuscripts and florilegia. Clark, et al. 2011 deals with French, Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine reception of Ovid’s works, particularly the Metamorphoses. The collection by Martindale 1988 concentrates on reception by English vernacular writers, also Ovid’s influence on historiography. For Fausto Ghisalberti’s important studies and editions of the medieval Ovid commentators Arnulf of Orléans, Pierre Bersuire, Jean of Garland, and Giovanni del Virgilio, see Coulson and Roy 2000, bibliography, p. 13.

Clark, James, G., Frank T. Coulson, and Kathryn L. McKinley. Ovid in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
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A useful and original collection of essays on Ovid’s works dealing with their reception in France, Italy, Spain, and the Byzantine world. Of vernacular authors Dante, Chaucer, and Gower receive attention. The Metamorphoses is the focus of four of the essays (two dealing with reception in France, one with reception in Byzantium); one of these discusses visual imagery in the manuscripts. An essay on “pseudo-Ovidiana” concludes the volume.
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Coulson, Frank T., and Bruno Roy. Incipitarium Ovidianum: A Finding Guide for Texts Related to the Study of Ovid in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin 3. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2000.
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An alphabetical list of Ovidian incipits (all works) of verses treated in commentaries with full manuscript references following; an appendix lists verses containing isolated glosses. There are up-to-date lists of manuscripts of all Ovid’s works and a comprehensive bibliography. Supplements in The Journal of Medieval Latin 12 (2002): 154–180; 19 (2009): 88–105.
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Martindale, Charles, ed. Ovid Renewed: Ovidian Influences on Literature and Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
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The medieval essays deal with Ovid’s influence on medieval historiography, Chaucer, and Gower.
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Munari, Franco. Catalogue of the Mss of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement 4. London: University of London Institute of Classical Studies and the Warburg Institute, 1957.
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Supplements in Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica 93 (1965), 288–297, and Studia Florentina Alexandro Ronconi Sexagenario Oblata. Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo, 1970, pp. 275–280. References to further updates are to be found in Coulson and Roy 2000, pp. 148–149.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. “Les classiques latins dans les florilèges médiévaux antérieurs au XIIIe siècle.” In La réception de la littérature classique au Moyden Age (IXe – XIIe siècle). Edited by B. Munk-Olsen, 145–224. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, Université de Copenhague, 1995a.
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Emphasizes the importance of florilegia to the evaluation of an individual author’s reception. Originally published between 1979 and 1980.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. “Ovide au moyen âge (du IXe au XIIe siècle.).” In La réception de la littérature classique au Moyden Age (IXe – XIIe siècle). Edited by B. Munk-Olsen, 71–94. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, Université de Copenhague, 1995b.
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Important for showing the number of manuscripts containing the Metamorphoses vis-à-vis those containing all the others works from the 9th to the beginning of the 13th century; also discusses centers where the Metamorphoses (among other works by Ovid) was copied and the works with which it traveled.
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Statius, Achilleid

Statius’s “other” epic enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages, despite the fact that only one book and part of another survives (this due to Statius’s death rather than an accident of transmission). What remains includes Achilles’ tutelage under Chiron and the famous episode of the hero’s disguising himself as a girl. The work survives in about two hundred manuscripts; it was also anthologized and commented. For a general survey of the reception see M. D. Reeve in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 396–397; for use in the schools see Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), index. Jeudy and Riou 1974 broaden our understanding of the Achilleid tradition through the study of argumenta and accessus. See Sweeney 1997 for an edition of the “Lactantius Placidus” scholia. For a study of an Irish adaptation of the tale see Ó hAodha 1979. With regard to the Lactantius Placidus question, Sweeney 1997 separates Lactantius Placidus from the anonymous (Carolingian) author of the commentary on the Achilleid. Clogan 1968 provides a brief introduction to the reception of Statius in the Middle Ages.

Clogan, Paul, ed. The Medieval Achilleid. Edited with introduction, variant readings, and glosses. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1968.
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The editor provides a brief introduction to the reception of Statius in the Middle Ages, noting its transmission of the Achilleid with Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae in the schoolbook Liber Catonianus. Clogan prints an accessus to the work and a set of scholia.
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Jeudy, Collette, and Yves-François Riou. “Achilléide de Stace au moyen âge, Abrégés et arguments.” Revue d’Histoire des Textes 4 (1974): 143–180.
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A treasure chest of information relating to summaries, epitomes, and accessus to the Achilleid in the Middle Ages. Many of these were unprinted at the time of writing.
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Ó hAodha, Donncha. “The Irish Version of Statius’ Achilleid.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 79.C.4 (1979): 83–137.
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The Irish adaptation of Statius’s epic was made at some time between c.1150 and c.1250, according to the author. It was inserted into the manuscripts of the Irish Togail Troí (“Destruction of Troy”) epic. The tale was reorganized chronologically either by the poet or his source.
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Sweeney, Robert Dale, ed. Lactantius Placidus in Statii Thebaida Commentum. Volumen I. Anonymi in Statii Achilleida Commentum. Fulgentii ut fingitur Planciadis super Thebaiden Commentariolum. Stuttgart and Lepizig: B. G. Teuber, 1997.
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Sweeney disentangles the late antique Lactantius Placidus of the Thebaid commentary from the anonymous author of the Achilleid commentary, which he regards as dependent on Vat. Myth. I, a Carolingian work. Both commentaries descend from same archetype, which is also Carolingian.
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Statius, Thebaid

There are scattered indications that Statius’s major work was known early (e.g., a mention in Alcuin’s famous catalogue of the library of York), but unlike Lucan’s epic, which already enjoyed a strong manuscript tradition by the 9th century, most of the manuscripts of the Thebaid date from the 11th, 12th, and later centuries. For the manuscripts to the end of saec. XII see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Vol. 2, pp. 528–567 (includes both Thebaid and Achilleid); see pp. 526–527 for a list of accessus and commentaries. For a full list of manuscripts see Boussard 1952; for a sketch of the entire tradition see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 304–306. Consult also the list of articles by P. M. Clogan on the gloss and commentary tradition in the bibliography of Mann and Munk Olsen 1997 (cited under Essay Collections), pp. 244–245. For recent work on the commentaries see De Angelis 1997. For its importance to vernacular literature see Battles 2004. A bibliography of the Thebaid’s reception is given in Kissel 2004. For the Lactantius Placidus commentary on the Thebaid see Sweeney 1997 (cited under Epic Poetry: Statius, Achilleid). For Statius’s Thebaid in Dante see Ianucci 1993 (cited under Essay Collections).

Battles, Dominique, ed. The Medieval Tradition of Thebes: History and Narrative of the OF Roman de Thèbes, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Lydgate. New York: Routledge, 2004.
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Covers Statius’s reception as a Latin poet in the Middle Ages as well as his use by the vernacular writers listed in the title.
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Boussard, J. “Le classement des manuscrits de la Thébaide de Stace.” Revue des études latines 30 (1952): 220–251.
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Content is clear from the title; suitable for specialists.
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De Angelis, Violetta. “I commenti medievali alla Tebaide di Stazio: Anselmo di Laon, Goffredo Babione, Ilario d’Orléans.” In Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November, 1992). Edited by Nicholas Mann and Birger Munk Olsen, 75–136. New York: E. J. Brill, 1997.
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Discusses the fortunae of the late antique (?) commentaries attributed to Lactantius Placidus and Fulgentius Planciades in relation to the development of the medieval commentaries mentioned in the title.
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Kissel, Walter. “Statius als Epiker 1934–2003.” Lustrum 46 (2004): 7–272.
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A bibliography of work on Statius in the period named; not annotated. For the poet’s medieval reception see pp. 240–244.
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Epigram

In Roman times this difficult-to-define genre became closely associated with satire and invective in the hands of Catullus (see under Lyric Poetry) and Martial. Usually composed in elegiac distich, the form accommodated a variety of meters including the hexameter, the hendecasyllable, and the scazon (limping meter). The genre found numerous practitioners in the Middle Ages largely due to the influence of Martial.

Martial

Martial enjoyed a modest pre-Carolingian fortuna: his work was anthologized in the Anthologia Latina, and there are two pre-Carolingian manuscripts. Several more (including florilegia) were written in the 9th century, and a fairly steady output followed: see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 94–104. For construction of the stemma see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 239–244. For the complete fortuna see the article by Hausmann 1960–2011. For Martial’s influence in the early medieval period see Bernt 1968; for the later Middle Ages see Maaz 1992.

Bernt, Günter. Das lateinische Epigramm im Übergang von der Spätantike zum frühen Mittelalter. Munich: Arbeo-Gesellschaft, 1968.
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An excellent discussion of the development of the genre in the period studied and a survey of its employment by late antique and early medieval authors. Martial’s influence is discussed throughout; see especially pp. 177–184.
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Hausmann, Frank Rutgar. “Martialis.” In Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. Vol. 4. Edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, 249–296. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1960–2011.
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Gives a full reception history of Martial from late antiquity to the 16th century, including discussion of commentaries. Unfortunately, the author was unable to profit from the later work of Maaz 1992, with the result that the section on the medieval reception is rather thin.
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Maaz, Wolfgang. Lateinische Epigrammatik im hohen Mittelalter: Literarhistorische Untersuchungen zur Martial-Rezeption. Spolia Berolinensia. Berliner Beiträge zur Mediävistik 2. Munich and Zurich, Switzerland: Weidmann, 1992.
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Good discussion of the Problematik of the epigram’s genre; covers a wide range of later medieval epigrammatists with discussion of their dependence on Martial. There is a full bibliography.
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Grammatical Works

What we now call “secondary works” constituted one of the principal means of access to classical lore and culture for many medieval readers. Apart from their obvious utility for teaching language, grammars were rich repositories of citations of classical writers, and in some cases provided the only means of familiarity with them. (Many of the medieval quotations of classical writers come from grammars rather than directly from ancient authors.) Priscian’s Institutiones grammaticae was one of the only available sources for classical Greek quotations (e.g., Homer, Euripides). Kaster 1988 is the classic study of grammar and grammarians in late antiquity. Law 1982 is a fine survey of grammatical texts known and used in the British Isles in the early Middle Ages.

Kaster, Robert. Guardians of the Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988.
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While concentrating on the social role and authority of grammarians, the work also provides valuable information about the lives of the grammarians and what they actually taught.
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Law, Vivien. The Insular Latin Grammarians. Studies in Celtic History 3. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1982.
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An excellent survey of the ancient grammarians known and used in England, Britain (Wales), and Ireland between the 7th and 9th centuries; includes discussion of their usefulness for learning Latin as well as circumstances of transmission. Despites it virtues, the work is somewhat marred by tendency to undervalue Irish contributions.
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Donatus, Ars minor, Ars maior

Holtz 1981 is the essential work for the study of Donatus in the Middle Ages.

Holtz, Louis. Donat et la tradition de l’enseignement grammatical au moyen âge. Paris: Centre nationale de la Recherche scientifique, 1981.
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This is the go-to monograph on Donatus in the Middle Ages. It contains definitive critical editions of the two Donatan grammatical works and a full discussion of their transmission and influence.
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Priscian, Institutiones grammaticae

Apart from its singular importance as a manual on grammar for advanced students, the Institutiones were read and used as a great repository of quotations of Latin and Greek authors. The work spawned a sizable body of glosses, scholia, and commentaries. Baratin, et al. 2009 is an important collection on the reception of Priscian throughout the Middle Ages. Hunt 1980 deals with Priscian’s influence on late medieval grammatical theory. Passalacqua 1978 is the starting point for all work on Priscian’s manuscripts.

Baratin, Marc, Bernard Colombat, and Louis Holtz, eds. Priscien: Transmission et refondation de la grammaire de l’antiquité aux modernes: États des recherches à la suite du colloque international de Lyon 10–14 octobre 2006. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2009.
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Parts 2 and 6 of this large collection contain essays on the transmission and reception of Priscian in the Middle Ages.
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Hunt, R. W. The History of Grammar in the Middle Ages. Collected Papers. Edited by G. L. Bursall-Hall. Amsterdam: John Benjamins B. V., 1980.
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The first three studies in the collection focus on the reception of Priscian and his role in the development of medieval grammatical theory (Petrus Helias, Petrus Hispanus). Includes introduction and select bibliography.
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Passalacqua, Marina. I codici di Prisciano. Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1978.
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A census of all the complete manuscripts and fragments of Priscian’s works known at the time; provides a codicological description (including date) of every manuscript. Fragments are also included.
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Historical Writings

For most of the Middle Ages authors of histories and chronicles possessed only scant resources from the high classical era for their knowledge of events in antiquity. For the most part, resources were limited to works such as Orosius’s propagandistic Historiae contra paganos, Eutropius’s Breviarium ab urbe condita (augmented by Paul the Deacon in the 8th century), an epiptome of Livy, and late antique chronicles. If there is any single explanation for this, it is that historians were not generally regarded as “school authors.” In late antiquity the reading lists were dominated by the choices of grammarians. These favored the poets over prose writers. Whereas the works of Livy and Tacitus were copied in the Middle Ages, we know only a little about their readership. Sallust and Suetonius were better known. Sanford 1944 offers an intelligent discussion on the reasons for the neglect of the major Roman historians in the Middle Ages.

Sanford, Eva Matthews. “The Study of Ancient History in the Middle Ages.” Journal of the History of Ideas 5.1 (January 1944): 21–43.
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Analyzes factors surrounding neglect of the classical historians: neglect of major Roman historians in late antiquity; absence of translations of Greek historians; substitution of epic poets for prose historians; overriding interest in the Bible and popularity of Latin Josephus as supplement to Scripture; peculiar medieval fascination with the Alexander legend.
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Livy

Livy’s immense work Ab urbe condita, transmitted in five groups of ten books (the so-called “decades”) has not survived intact. All of the second decade and half of the fifth are lost. Although different sections of Livy were copied from the early Carolingian period, there are few signs that they were studied before Petrarch; Rather of Verona marks an exception. For the entire tradition see L. D. Reynolds in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 205–214; for manuscripts to c. 1200 see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Vol. 2, pp. 1–16. For the commentary tradition, largely of the Renaissance, see A. H. McDonald in Kristellar, et al. 1960–2011, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, Vol. 2, pp. 331–348. For Lupus of Ferrières’s work on the text of Livy see Young 1932. For use in 10th-century Italy see Billanovich 1959; for Petrarch’s knowledge of work see Billanovich 1951.

Billanovich, G. “Petrarch and the Textual Tradition of Livy.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 14 (1951): 137–208.
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Billanovich shows that Petrarch was owner of the Harleian Livy and copied the final chapters of the third decade into it from another source; he was the first scholar since antiquity to have had access to decades 1, 3, and 4. Petrarch also cites liberally from Livy in his other writings.
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Billanovich, G. “Dal Livio di Raterio (Laur. 63, 10) al Livio del Petrarca (B. M. Harley 2493).” Italia medievale e umanistica 2 (1959): 103–178.
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Includes a study of the marginalia of Rather of Verona (b. 887–d. 974) in Florence, Laur. Plut. 63.20.
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Young, Arthur M. “A New Study of Paris Livy 5726 (T).” Classical Philology 27.3 (July 1932): 232–242.
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Though largely aimed at specialists, the article is of broader interest in that it vindicates the intelligence of Lupus of Ferrières’s autograph corrections of T, a manuscript written at the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th century (hence the oldest surviving manuscript of Livy apart from the Oxyrhynchus Epitome).
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Sallust, Catilina, Jugurtha

Sallust enjoyed a substantial readership from the Carolingian age onward. This is surely because of his propensity to make a moral lesson out of a political event; his praise of virtue and censure of vice rendered him popular with Christian writers. Interest began early. Lupus of Ferrières, the Carolingian humanist, corrected his copy of the Catilina and Jugurtha with the help of another manuscript. Collections of the speeches in both works were made and circulated, and Hadoard of Corbie excerpted them in his Collectaneum. For the text tradition see L. D. Reynolds in Reynolds 1983, pp. 341–347 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts; for manuscripts to c. 1200 see Munk Olsen 1982–2009, Vol. 2, pp. 307–363 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). De Hartmann 2008 discusses interest in Sallust in 11th-century Regensburg. For recent work on Sallust’s late medieval and early Renaissance fortuna see Lee 2010. Osmond and Ulery 2003 offer a good overview; Smalley 1971 is probably still the best general article available. Colish 1990 deals with Stoic themes in classical works and their reception in the early Middle Ages.

Colish, Marcia. The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1990.
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Colish examines Sallust’s moral pronouncements and lays to rest the oft-repeated theory that they stem from Stoic doctrine, though acknowledging that his quest for the moral high ground in part explains his popularity in the Middle Ages. See pp. 292–298.
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De Hartmann, Carmen Cardelle. “Sallust in St. Emmeram: Handschriften und Kommentare in der Bibliothek des Klosters St. Emmeram (Regensburg).” The Journal of Medieval Latin 18 (2008): 1–23.
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De Hartmann discusses growth of interest in the classics at St. Emmeram in the 11th century. Besides works on oratory Lucan and Virgil were also studied, as Otloh attests. Remainder of article studies several manuscripts from Regensburg now in Munich that contain glossed texts of Sallust’s two “monographs.”
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Lee, Charmaine. “Sallustio nel Medioevo.” In Da ‘classico’ a ‘classico’: Paradigmi letterari tra Antico e Moderno; Atti del Convegno della CUSL, Fisciano–Salerno, 8–10 novembre 2007. Edited by Paolo Esposito, 143–151. Università degli studi di Salerno, Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Anticihità 37. Pisa, Italy: Edizioni ETS, 2010.
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The article touches on several facets of Sallust’s fortuna, including illustrated manuscripts, in 14th- and early 15th-century Spain and Italy; includes a discussion of a French version of Sallust’s work entitled Faits des Romains.
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Osmond, Patricia J., and Robert W. Ulery Jr. “Sallustius, Crispus Gaius.” In Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. Vol. 8. Edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, 183–326. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2003.
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A good general survey of Carolingian humanist activity (Hadoard, Lupus). Sallust’s place in the school curriculum, the accessus tradition, and the author’s influence on medieval historiography.
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Smalley, Beryl. “Sallust in the Middle Ages.” In Classical Influences on European Culture 500–1500. Edited by R. R. Bolgar, 165–175. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1971.
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This engaging article offers an excellent overview of Sallust’s readership and gives reasons for his influence under the headings of morals, style, and historiography. The reception-history includes not only quotations and paraphrases, but also a selection of glosses and scholia accompaning Sallust manuscripts.
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Suetonius, De vita Caesarum

Those familiar with the entries in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) will have observed that when the author of an entry writes of almost nothing but manuscripts, it is because almost nothing is known of the author’s audience. An exception is S. J. Tibbetts’s entry on Suetonius in Reynolds 1983, pp. 399–404. Suetonius’s “Lives” enjoyed a solid readership from the 9th century to the 14th, where it appears on Petrarch’s list of favorite books. In the 9th century Einhard modeled his Life of Charlemagne on Suetonius’s Life of Augustus, and Heiric of Auxerre made excerpts of the work that circulated widely. For manuscripts of the “Lives” see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 569–582. For Carolingian writers other than Einhard who used Suetonius see Innes 1997. For a specialized study on the text tradition of Suetonius see Rand 1926.

Innes, Matthew. “The Classical Tradition in the Carolingian Renaissance: Ninth-Century Encounters with Suetonius.” International Journal of the Classical Tradition 3 (Winter 1997): 265–282.
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Innes argues that Einhard was not the only Carolingian scholar to read and make use of Suetonius’s “Lives”; he was also read by members of Einhard’s circle. The author underscores the innovative quality of Einhard’s biographical methods and the adaptation of the classical tradition to new social needs.
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Rand, E. K. “On the History of De vita Caesarum of Suetonius in the Early Middle Ages.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 37 (1926): 1–48.
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Useful for specialists concerned with the problem of transposed material occurring in the earliest manuscripts of the “Lives.”
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Tacitus, Historiae, Annales, Germania, Agricola

It would be fair to say that Tacitus’s writings, of all ancient historical works, were the poorest known in the Middle Ages. Still, one finds traces of their knowledge in the Carolingian period, particularly at German centers such as Fulda and Corvey. The only medieval manuscript of the Annales Books 11–16 was written at Monte Casino in the 11th century; mercifully, a facsimile was made before its destruction in World War II. For the manuscripts see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 580–582; for the text tradition see the entries by Richard Tarrant (Annales, Historiae) and Michael Winterbottom (Germania, Agricola, Dialogus) in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 406–411. For citations consult the indices to Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories). There is a fine comprehensive survey of the entire tradition by Robert W. Ulery Jr. in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, Volume 5, pp. 87–186 (see now the update in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 [cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts], Volume 8, pp. 334–335). Haverfield 1916 is handy, but in need of correction.

Haverfield, F. “Tacitus during the Late Roman Period and the Middle Ages.” The Journal of Roman Studies 6 (1916): 196–201.
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A handy summary of citations and echoes of all of Tacitus’s writings from late antiquity to Petrarch. However, usefulness is limited by vague citation of manuscripts.
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Legal Works

Although not a subject one normally associates with “the classics,” the legal texts compiled under Theodosius II and more especially Justinian played an important role in the Middle Ages with regard to the interpretation of canon law and in the teaching of law in the universities. Dolezalek-Mayali 1985 is an essential source book. Dubreucq 2005 offers a group of studies on Roman law in early medieval France. Kantorowicz and Buckland 1938 presents a group of studies on important 12th-century commentators. Pennington 1996 offers a good starting point for this field of study. Robinson, et al. 1985 is the go-to book for those wanting a good introduction to the European legal tradition beginning with Rome. Von Savigny 1834–1851 remains the ultimate repertory and study. See also Troncorelli 1998 (cited under Representative Centers of Classical Reception: Vivarium) for the importance of Vivarium in the transmission of legal texts, and, generally Haskins 1957 (cited under Introductory Works), chapter 7, “The Revivial of Jurisprudence,” pp. 193–223 (see bibliographical note, p. 223).

Dolezalek, Gero, with Laurent Mayali. Repertorium zur Geschichte der gelehrten Rechte. 2 vols. Repertorium manuscriptorum veterum Codicis Iustiniani. Frankfurt: Vittorio Klostermann, 1985.
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Volume 1 of this important resource provides a rich bibliography on the transmission and influence of Roman law and a summary list of all manuscripts of the Codex Iustinianus consulted (divided into early and late), followed by detailed descriptions of the manuscripts (by library, alphabetically). Volume 2 contains editions of glosses.
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Dubreucq, Alain, ed. “Traditio Juris”: Permanence et/ou discontinuité du droit romain durant le haut moyen âge; Actes du colloque international organisé les 9 et 10 octobre 2003 à l’université Jean Moulin, Lyon 3. Lyon, France: Université Jean Moulin, Centre d’Histoire Médiévale, 2005.
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A collection of essays dealing with aspects of influence of Roman law––mostly in France––during the early Middle Ages. For texts available before the 9th century see the contribution by Jean Vezin, pp. 93–103.
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Kantorowicz, Hermann, with W. W. Buckland. Studies in the Glossators of the Roman Law. Newly discovered Writings of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1938.
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A group of individual studies on outstanding legal scholars of the 12th century, including Irnerius, Bulgarus, Rogerius, and Willielmus de Cabriano.
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Pennington, Kenneth. “Roman and Secular Law.” In Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Edited by F. A. C. Mantello and George Rigg, 254–266. Washington, DC: Catholic University of American Press, 1996.
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A brief and helpful introduction to the subject with attention given to the definition of terms and the principal texts transmitted from late antiquity. Article is followed by a select bibliography.
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Robinson, O. F., T. D. Fergus, and W. M. Gordon. An Introduction to European Legal History. Abingdon, UK: Professional Books, 1985.
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This is the book every nonspecialist needs––a clear and relatively concise introduction to all aspects of European law: Roman, canon, and “barbarian.” Emphasis is on the medieval and early modern periods. The work is well grounded in the primary sources; there is a select bibliography at the end.
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Savigny, F. C. von. Geschichte des römischen Rechts. 2d ed. 7 vols. Heidelberg, Germany: Mohr, 1834–1851.
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Von Savigny’s work is considered to be still the most complete guide to the civil jurists of the Middle Ages and their writings. There is an English translation of the first volume by E.Cathcart, The History of Roman Law during the Middle Ages (Westport, CT: Hyperion Books, 1979).
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Literary Criticism

Roman Latin literary criticism is relatively sparse when judged by the efforts that the Greeks devoted to it. Much of it is scattered throughout works on history and oratory, mainly because Latin writers did not distinguish sharply between poetics and oratory. A good selection of passages dealing with style can be found in Russell and Winterbottom 1972. There is also a plethora of secondary works of ancient literary criticism, but these rarely deal with the fortunae of the works they treat. Arguably, the only classical Latin work devoted entirely to poetics is Horace’s Ars poetica, a work that indeed enjoyed a long influence on medieval and later poetic (and rhetorical) theory.

Russell, D. A., and M. Winterbottom, eds. Ancient Literary Criticism: The Principal Texts in New Translation. Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
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Contains a helpful selection of passages dealing with style.
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Horace, Ars poetica

The fortuna of this work is treated cursorily by R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 182–185. Because the Ars poetica does not have a separate tradition, but is simply included in manuscripts of the works of Horace, it is hard to extract relevant information from Munk Olsen 1982–2009, Volume 1, pp. 413–522 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). For a list of those manuscripts containing the Ars poetica see Brink 1971. For a general introduction the reception of Horace in post-classical times see Hardison and Golden 1995; for a neat synopsis of medieval reception see Friis-Jensen 2007. For more detail on Horace’s influence on Geoffrey of Vinsauf see Woods 2010 (cited under The Medieval Commentary Tradition). See also Friis-Jensen 1990.

Brink, C. O. Horace on Poetry: The “Ars Poetica.” Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1971.
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According to R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983, p. 182 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Brinks’s work has the latest census of manuscripts of the Ars poetica. See, however, Villa 1992 (cited under Lyric Poetry: Horace, Odes).
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Friis-Jensen, Karsten. “The Reception of Horace in the Middle Ages.” In The Cambridge Companion to Horace. Edited by S. J. Harrison, 291–304. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1017/CCOL0521830028Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author’s brief treatment of the Ars poetica, pp. 300–302, covers two early commentaries on that work (The Vienna and Materia commentaries) and Horace’s influence on the art of poetry of Matthew of Vendôme and Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Article concludes with section on further reading.
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Friis-Jensen, Karsten. “The Ars poetica in Twelfth-Century France: The Horace of Matthew of Vendôme, Geoffrey of Vinsauf, and John of Garland.” Cahiers de l’Institut du Moyen-Age Grec et Latin 60 (1990): 319–388.
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Doubtless the most detailed study to date of the medieval fortuna of the Ars poetica and its influence on the leading literary theorists of the 12th century.
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Hardison, O. B., and Leon Golden, eds. Horace for Students of Literature: The Ars Poetica and Its Tradition. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1995.
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A useful introduction to the reception of the Ars poetica from antiquity to the modern era.
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Lyric Poetry

Catullus and Horace, Rome’s two greatest lyric poets, were unequally represented in the Middle Ages. Catullus was barely known; by contrast, Horace’s Odes were known by the end of the 8th century and widely disseminated and commented afterwards. Their preservation kept alive the knowledge of lyric meters and provided the models used by Carolingian and later poets.

Catullus

There are no medieval library entries for Catullus in Becker, Catalogi Bibliotecarum antiqui, and no evidence that he was read in schools according to Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). See Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 1, pp. 87–88; Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 43–45. For indications that Catullus was read in the Middle Ages see Ullman 1960; for the text tradition see Thomson 1978, who notes that the three earliest witnesses of Catullus stem from the 14th century. See also Billanovich 1976 (cited under Scholars and Their Book Collections). For a general survey see R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, pp. 43–45.

Thomson, D. F. S. Catullus: A Critical Edition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978.
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A detailed study of the text tradition (pp. 3–69). Thomas posits a lost Carolingian manuscript between the archetype and the lost Veronensis, the exemplar of the three earliest extant manuscripts (all saec. XIV); see the stemma, p. 69. There is a full bibliography, pp. 65–69.
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Ullman, B. L. “The Transmission of the Text of Catullus.” In Studi in onore di Luigi Castiglione. Vol. 2, 1027–1057. Florence: Sansoni, 1960.
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This readable and comprehensive article concentrates on quotations of Catullus from late antiquity to Petrarch and Salutati. While only no. 62 is preserved in a 8th-century florilegium (separately from the nearly complete text of the lost Veronensis), several other poems are quoted. Medieval scholars who cited Catullus include Heiric of Auxerre, Rather of Verona, and William of Malmesbury.
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Horace, Odes

On the manuscripts to c. 1200 see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 1, pp. 435–522; for the fortuna see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 182–186; for the school tradition see Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 83–100. Villa 1992 provides a complete census of Horace manuscripts. Friis-Jensen 1997 delivers an excellent overview of the Horace commentary tradition in the Middle Ages; Friis-Jensen 2007 details Medieval Latin imitators of Horace’s metrical style; Siewert 1997 shows the importance of the vernacular glossing tradition. For neums (medieval notation for musical notes) to Horace’s Odes see Ziolkowski 2007. For a still useful overview of the tradition of all of Horace’s works in the Middle Ages see Manitius 1893. See also Villa 1995.

Friis-Jensen, Karsten. “Medieval Commentaries on Horace.” In Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November, 1992. Edited by Nicholas Mann and Birger Munk Olsen, 51–73. New York: Brill, 1997.
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An excellent overview of the entire Horace commentary tradition (all works), including the preservation of antique commentaries and the creation of medieval interpretive works. See the bibliography at the end of the article and the section on Horace at the end of the volume, pp. 232–233.
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Friis-Jensen, Karsten. “The Reception of Horace in the Middle Ages.” In The Cambridge Companion to Horace. Edited by Stephen Harrison, 291–304. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1017/CCOL0521830028Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The Odes and Epodes are treated together, pp. 294–300. The essay discusses Carolingian and later imitators of Horace’s metrical style, including Walahfrid Strabo, Sedulius Scottus, Notker Balbulus, Alphanus of Salerno, Metellus of Tegernsee, and Petrarch.
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Manitius, Max. Analekten zur Geschichte des Horaz im Mittelalter (bis 1300). Göttingen, Germany: Dieterich, 1893.
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Deals with the reception of all of Horace’s poems in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The “Inhaltsverzeichnis” at the beginning leads the reader to a rich array of citations and echoes of Horace in classical and medieval authors.
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Siewert, Klaus. “Vernacular Glosses and Classical Authors.” In Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November 1992. Edited by Nicholas Mann and Birger Munk Olsen, 137–152. New York: Brill, 1997.
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A valuable reminder that the vernacular (here Old High German) was used to make the classics accessible to medieval readers. See especially pp. 144–147.
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Villa, Claudia. “I manoscritti di Orazio. I-II.” Aevum 66 (1992): 95–135.
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Continued in Aevum 67 (1993), pp. 55–103. Intended as an exhaustive list of Horace manuscripts to the 15th century (and thus a valuable supplement to Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts).
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Villa, Claudia. “La tradizione di Orazio e la ‘biblioteca di Carlo Magno’.” In Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993. Edited by Oronzo Pecere and Michael D. Reeve, 299–322. Spoleto, Italy: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 1995.
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This article makes a strong challenge to the view that the very early book-list (mentioning Horace) found in Berlin Diez B. Sant. 66 emanates from the court of Charlemagne; the author proposes an Italian origin instead.
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Ziolkowski, Jan. Nota bene. Reading Classics and Writing Melodies in the Early Middle Ages. Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin, Vol. 8. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007, passim.
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Explores the reasons for neuming the classics and provides information about public performances of musical versions of the Odes and the Carmen saeculare.
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Oratory

The great oratorical works of Cicero (Brutus, Orator, and De oratore) and Quintilian (Institutio oratoria) endured a relatively sparse tradition for most of the Middle Ages. The subject was preserved in handbooks of the liberal arts such as Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, Cassiodorus’s Institutes, and Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae. Augustine’s De doctrina Christiana also played an important role. Medieval scholars depended on lists of figurae or schemata found in grammatical works such as Donatus’s Ars maior. The most popular of all antique texts was the Pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium, the fortuna of which began in earnest in the 10th century. Whole texts (integri) of Cicero’s genuine De inventione exist only from the 10th century, but had already been laid under contribution by Alcuin. Cox and Ward 2006 offer new information on De inventione and Rhetorica ad Herennium, but little new on the major works Orator, Brutus, and De oratore.

Cox, Virginia, and John O. Ward, eds. The Rhetoric of Cicero in Its Medieval and Early Renaissance Commentary Tradition. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2006.
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An important collection dealing both with the tradition of classical rhetorical texts and the uses to which they were put in the Middle Ages.
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Late Antique/Early Medieval Reception

For Alcuin’s direct use of De inventione and other Ciceronian works known secondhand see Howell 1941; for the entire Anglo-Saxon tradition see Knappe 1996. For the obscure period between the 5th and 7th centuries see Schindel 1975. The entries in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) must still be consulted.

Howell, Wilbur Samuel. The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne: A Translation with an Introduction, the Latin Text, and Notes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1941.
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Howell shows that the principal source of Alcuin’s Rhetoric was Cicero’s De inventione. He argues that De inventione was laid under contribution before the appearance of the earliest integri (manuscripts containing the complete work); see Reynolds 1983, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), p. 98. Alcuin also used passages from Orator and De oratore drawn from Julius Victor’s (4th century) Ars rhetorica.
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Knappe, Gabriele. Traditionen der klassischen Rhetorik im angelsächsischen England. Anglistische Forschungen 36. Heidelberg, Germany: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1996.
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The title belies the range of this valuable dissertation. Knappe devotes a large portion of her book to the antique rhetorical tradition (including Christian) and the issue of the transmission of ancient oratorical works in the early Middle Ages before discussion of major Anglo-Saxon figures Bede, Alcuin, and Byrhtferth. Highly recommended.
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Schindel, Ulrich. Die lateinischen Figurenlehren des 5. Bis 7. Jahrhunderts und Donatus Vergilkommentar (mit zwei Editionen). Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, philologisch-historische Klasse, dritte Folge, nr. 91. Göttingen, Germany: Vanderhoeck and Ruprecht, 1975.
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Schindel explores the treatises on tropes and figures written in the obscure period between the 5th and 7th centuries, and edits and discusses the important text by the author known as “Isidorus Iunior.” Schindel also demonstrates that the source of Donatus’s list of figures was based on that author’s own commentary on Virgil.
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Cicero, De invention and Pseudo-Cicero, Rhetorica ad Herennium

The gloss tradition of these well-known Ciceronian and Pseudo-Ciceronian works is studied by Ward 2006.

Ward, John O. “The Medieval and Early Renaissance Study of Cicero’s De inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium: Commentaries and Contacts.” In The Rhetoric of Cicero in its Medieval and Early Renaissance Commentary Tradition. Edited by Cox, Virginia and John O. Ward, 3–70. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2006.
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A study of the glossing tradition of these texts with an appendix of “catena glosses.”
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Cicero, De oratore, Orator, and Brutus

These mature works of Cicero were copied, but, with some significant exceptions, little used in the Middle Ages. See the entry by M. Winterbottom, R. H. Rouse, and M. D. Reeve in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 102–109, which provides most of the needed information on these works. Taylor-Briggs 2006 has very little to add to the Reynolds 1983 survey of these texts. Beeson 1930 is an essential study of Lupus of Ferrière’s work as editor/scribe of the De oratore.

Beeson, Charles H. Lupus of Ferrières as Scribe and Textual Critic. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1930.
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A detailed study of Lupus’s work on Cicero’s De oratore illustrating Lupus’s skills as a scribe and corrector of texts. A full facsimile of the Harleianus De oratore is appended.
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Taylor-Briggs, Ruth, “Reading between the Lines: The Textual History and Manuscript Tradition of Ciceero’s Rhetorical Works.” In The Rhetoric of Cicero in its Medieval and Early Renaissance Commentary Tradition. Edited by Virginia Cox and John O. Ward, 77–108. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2006.
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An overview of all the rhetorical works of Cicero, citing new literature and recent manuscript discoveries. There is little new regarding the major works, De oratore, Orator, and Brutus.
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Quintilian, Institutio oratoria

This important work was generally not well known in the Middle Ages despite the existence of numerous extracts; the full text was rediscovered by Poggio in 1416. For a brief account of the fortuna see Michael Winterbottom in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 332–334; manuscripts to c.1200 are listed by Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 293–305. For a detailed survey of the tradition consult Lehmann 1934; for use in the later Middle Ages see Boskoff 1952; for late antiquiity see Schindel 1995.

Boskoff, Priscilla S. “Quintilian in the Late Middle Ages.” Speculum 27.1 (1952): 71–78.
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Adds little to the Lehmann survey, but useful for a quick overview.
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Lehmann, Paul. “Die Institutio oratoria des Quintilianus im Mittelalter.” Philologus 89 (1934): 349–383.
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Especially rich for the late antique and early medieval tradition; emphasizes the role of Anglo-Saxon scholars and “Insular symptoms” in the history of the text. Demonstrates that the full text was known in Germany.
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Schindel, Ulrich. “Frühe Stufen der Quintilian-Überlieferung.” In Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Edited by Oronzo Pecere and Michael D. Reeve, 63–82. Spoleto, Italy: Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1995.
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Provides a list of Quintilian quotations in the late antique grammarians; also argues that the 6th-century excerpt collections (including that of Cassiodorus) offered superior readings to those of the Carolingian “vulgate.”
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Pastoral

In the Middle Ages pastoral was limited almost exclusively to Virgil’s Eclogues. In addition to Servius’s Commentary on the Eclogues, portions of Philargyrius’s Commentary survive in a version with Old Irish glosses; see Ancient Commentaries. However, Virgil’s work inspired a number of medieval imitations, especially in the Carolingian age. See R. P. H. Green 1980 for editions and Quinn 1960–2011 for the fortuna of the Ecloga Theoduli, by far the most influential of the Carolingian or post-Carolingian imitations. On the topos of the ideal landscape (locus amoenus) see Curtius 1953 (cited under Introductory Works), pp. 183–202.

Green, R. P. H. Seven Versions of Carolingian Pastoral. Reading, UK: Department of Classics, University of Reading, 1980.
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Contains texts and annotations of early medieval pastorals by Alcuin, Pseudo-Alcuin, Angilbert, Naso (Modoin, two poems), Paschasius Radbertus, and the pseudonymus Ecloga Theoduli.
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Quinn, Betty Nye. “Ps. Theodolus.” In Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Translations and Commentaries. Vol. 2. Edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller, F. Edward Cranz, Virginia Brown, and Greti Dinkova-Bruun, 382–408. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1960–2011.
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Provides a catalogue of medieval and post-medieval commentaries on the Ecloga, including works by Bernard of Utrecht and Alexander Neckam (?). Scholarly interest in the work was apparently inspired by the belief that the Ecloga was a genuine product of antiquity.
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Philosophical Writings

The Roman philosophical tradition consisted largely of the writings of Cicero, Lucretius (see Didactic Poetry), Seneca, Boethius, and the De deo Socratis of Apuleius. The bulk of it was preserved in manuscripts whose tradition began in the 9th century.

Apuleius, De deo Socratis (+ Ps. [?] Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate and De mundo

Apuleius’s philosophical works were known in the Middle Ages, and at least the “Cupid and Psyche” episode of the Metamorphoses had some currency. For a brief survey see the entry by P. K. Marshall in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 15–16; for the manuscripts (including Pseudo-Apuleian works and commentaries) see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 5–34. For a relatively recent research report see Bajoni 1992. For a helpful account of the reception of Apuleius’s philosophical works in the Middle Ages and Renaissance go to Moreschini 1977.

Bajoni, Marcia Grazia. “Apuleio Filosofo Platonico 1940–1990.” Lustrum 34 (1992): 189–294;
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A detailed report on the research on the philosophical works of Apuleius in the years covered; complete summaries of each item are included. For the medieval reception see pp. 385–388. Index, pp. 299–301.
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Moreschini, Claudio. “Sulla fama di Apuleio nel medioevo e nel Rinascimento.” In Studi filologici, letterari e storici in memoria di Guido Favati. Edited by Giorgio Varanni e di Palmiro Pinagli. 457–476. Padua, Italy: Editrice Antenore, 1977.
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A good orientation to the reception of all of Apuleius’s works concentrating on the philosophical works (including dubia and spuria) and the philosophical interpretation of the “Cupid and Psyche” episode in the Metamorphoses; extends to the scholastic period and beyond.
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Boethius, De consolatione Philosophiae

Boethius, although a Catholic Christian, is included here because the work for which he is best known, De consolatione Philosophiae, is primarily a secular philosophical text (although Christian influences have been argued), and his translations of ancient philosophical works and his other philosophical writings can be read without reference to Christianity. Moreover, he can properly be considered the last writer of Roman antiquity on the ground that he was the last to be fully conversant in Latin and Greek, thus fulfilling the ancient ideal of peritus utriusque linguae. Courcelle 1967 is the starting point for all study of the Latin tradition of the Consolatio. Gibson 1981 gives the best coverage of Boethius’s various philosophical writings; Minnis 1987 offers a good introduction to Boethius’s influence on vernacular literature. Moreschini 2003 covers much of the same material as Troncarelli 2005, but is better suited for the nonspecialist. The latter work is especially valuable for its list of Consolatio manuscripts. Grüber 1997 provides an indispensable bibliography for the period covered.

Courcelle, Pierre. La consolation de la Philosophie dans la tradition littéraire: antécédents et postérité. Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1967.
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A magisterial study of Boethius’s sources and the reception of his great work in the Latin tradition of the Middle Ages. Exploiting the commentary tradition, Courcelle deals with the interpretation of key passages in different periods
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Gibson, Margaret, ed. Boethius: His Life, Thought and Influence. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981.
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This collection of go-to essays by leading scholars is the starting point for anyone interested in the role played by Boethius in the transmission of ancient Greek philosophical texts and ideas to the Middle Ages.
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Grüber, Joachim. “Boethius 1925–1998.” Lustrum 39 (1997): 309–383;
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Continued in Lustrum 40 (1998): 199–259; 52 (2010): 161–180. An exhaustive bibliography of books and articles on all of Boethius’s writings in the years 1925–1998. The last part in Lustrum 52 supplies items missing in the first two installments; it does not update to 2010. Author index, pp. 173–180.
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Minnis, Alistair J., ed. The Medieval Boethius: Studies in the Vernacular Translations of De consolatione Philosophiae. Cambridge, UK; and Wolfeboro, NH: D.S. Brewer, 1987.
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A collection of essays dealing with Old and Middle English as well as French translation of the Consolatio; others deal with the glossing tradition in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Boece.
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Moreschini, Claudio. Varia Boethiana. Storie e testi 14. Naples: M. D’Auria Editore, 2003.
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A readable collection of essays on Boethius’s writings, with emphasis on their philosophical importance and influence. Chapter 4 on the manuscript tradition of the Consolatio is particularly important, since it challenges work done by previous scholars and editors. Though lacking a bibliography, the footnotes lead to the most important literature.
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Troncarelli, Fabio. Cogitatio mentis: l’eredità di Boezio nell’alto Medioevo. Napoli: M. D’Auria Editore, 2005.
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A study of the Consolatio and its diffusion and readership in the early Middle Ages; concludes with a catalogue of Consolatio manuscripts. Suitable for specialists.
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Cicero, “The Leiden Corpus”

The designation refers to three manuscripts in the Universiteitsbibliotheek of Leiden, dated between the 9th and 11th century, which contain De natura deorum, De divinatione, Timaeus, De fato, Topica, Paradox Stoicorum, Academica priora, and De legibus. On these see the entry by R. H. Rouse in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 124–128. For 9th-century excerpts of these works and other of Cicero’s philosophical works (including the Tusculanae Disputationes) see Bischoff 1966–1981 and Hellmann 1906. For Petrarch’s role in the transmission see Reynolds 1995.

Bischoff, Bernhard. “Hadoard und die Klassikerhandschriften aus Corbie.” In Mittelalterliche Studien: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Schriftkunde und Literaturgeschichte. Vol. 1 (3 vols). By Bernhard Bischoff, 49–63. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersmann, 1966–1981.
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Discusses the famous autograph Collectaneum of Hadoard (9th century), with its collection of excerpts of Cicero’s philosophical works (the “Leiden Corpus”), and establishes a significant list of Corbie manuscripts containing classical and secular works. Rarities include the first decade of Livy’s history, Columella, and the Aratea of Germanicus. A German translation and revision of “Hadoardus and the Manuscripts of Classical Authors from Corbie.” In Didascaliae: Studies in Honor of Anselm M. Albaredo. Edited by Sesto Prete. (New York: B. M. Rosenthal, 1961), pp. 41–57.
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Hellmann, Sigmund. Sedulius Scottus. Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters 1. Munich: C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchlandlung, 1906.
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The Collectaneum of the versatile Sedulius Scottus (mid-9th century) contains excerpts of the Tusculanae and the Paradoxa Stoicorum. See especially pp. 92–117.
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Reynolds, L. D. “Petrarch and a Renaissance Corpus of Cicero’s philosophica.” In Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993. Edited by Oronzo Pecere and Michael D. Reeve, 409–433. Spoleto, Italy: Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto Medioevo, 1995.
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A study of a collection of philosophical texts gathered in Madrid, BN 9116, written in northeastern Italy at the end of the 14th century. Contains De natura deorum, Tusculanae Disputationes, Timaeus, De divinatione, Paradoxa (Stoicorum), De finibus, and Academica posteriora. Reynolds’s study of the marginalia suggests that Petrarch inspired the formation of the corpus.
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Cicero, De finibus

This work by Cicero is covered in a survey of eight of Cicero’s philosophical works by R. H. Rouse in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 124–128. For more detail on the medieval reception see Reynolds 1992.

Reynolds, L. D. “The Transmission of the ‘De finibus.’” Italia medioevale e umanistica 35 (1992): 1–30.
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This fine article blends a study of the stages of manuscript transmission (Germany, France, Italy) with that of reception by medieval scholars, including Wibald of Corvey (first half of 12th century), Vincent of Beauvai, Richard de Fourneval, and Dante.
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Cicero, De legibus

This work by Cicero is covered in a survey of eight of Cicero’s philosophical works by R. H. Rouse in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 124–128. Schmidt 1974 offers a study devoted exclusively to the transmission of the De legibus.

Schmidt, Peter L. Die Überlieferung von Ciceros Schrift De legibus in Mittelalter und Renaissance. Munich: W. Fink, 1974.
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A minute study of the text tradition of De legibus from the 9th century to the activities of Petrarch and Poggio. Aimed at specialists.
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Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes

Evidence that this text on Platonic cosmology was read as well as copied is given by R. H. Rouse in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 132–135. For the transmission of the work see Drexler 1961.

Drexler, Hans. Zu Überlieferung und Text der Tusculanen. Rome: Centro di studi ciceroniani, 1961.
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A specialist work on the construction of the text.
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Cicero, De republica

Cicero’s effort to create a Roman counterpart to Plato’s Republic did not survive intact. A full copy of all six books (5th century) appeared in the famous Irish monastery of Bobbio, Italy, but was overwritten in the 7th century with the text of Augustine’s Commentary on the Psalms. Portions of the lower script were recovered by Angelo Mai, who published the first edition of the work (Books 1, 2, and Part of 3) in 1822. Parts of the famous “Dream of Scipio” (Book 6) were preserved thanks to Macrobius’s Commentarii (see Macrobius, Commentarii in somnium Scipionis). Other parts were recaptured from quotations and closer study of the Bobbio manuscript. See Reynolds 1983, pp. 131–132 and Munk Olsen 1982–2009, Volume 1, pp. 117–118.

Munk Olsen, Birger. L’étude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe siècles. Vol. 1. By Birger Munk Olsen, 117–118. Paris: Éditions du Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique, 1982–2009.
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Provides manuscripts of Macrobius’s commentary containing the text of the Somnium “Dream of Scipio”).
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Reynolds, L. D., ed. Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics. Oxford: Clarendon, 1983.
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Provides a general account of the Bobbio manuscript. See especially pp. 131–132.
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Seneca, Dialogues

The term “Dialogues” (Dialogi) includes about a dozen of Seneca’s best-known philosophical essays, for example, De providentia, De ira, De brevitate vitae. These works were transmitted together in a late 11th-century manuscript written at Monte Cassino. For an overview see L. D. Reynolds, “The Younger Seneca, Dialogues,” in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 366–369, and the fuller treatment in Reynolds 1968.

Reynolds, L. D. “The Medieval Tradition of Seneca’s Dialogues.” The Classical Quarterly n. s. 18 (1968): 355–372.
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The famous manuscript Milan, Ambros. C 90 inf. was written at Monte Cassino in the late 11th century, doubtless in the time of Abbot Desiderius (1058–1087). Reynolds hypothesizes that this was copied from another manuscript at Monte Cassino; accordingly, Monte Cassino stands at the head of the entire tradition. Roger Bacon made excerpts of the Dialogues in the 13th century.
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Seneca, Letters (Epistulae morales)

Seneca’s collection of letters known as the Epistulae morales was highly influential in the Middle Ages. The 124 surviving letters were split into volumes in antiquity, and these had different traditions. The first volume (Letters 1–88) enjoyed a wider circulation. For a good overview see L. D. Reynolds in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 369–375, basically a précis of Reynolds 1965, which remains the go-to work on the subject.

Reynolds, L. D. The Medieval Tradition of Seneca’s Letters. Oxford Classical and Philosophical Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.
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This authoritative monograph provides a detailed history of the manuscript tradition of Seneca’s letters, followed by interesting chapters on their fortuna in the early Middle Ages. The letters are cited frequently in the 9th to 12th centuries; the Cistercians played an important part in their circulation and fame.
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Prose Fiction

Petronius’s novel Satyricon and Apuleius’s Metamorphoses (“The Golden Ass”) constituted the two important Roman contributions to the primarily Greek genre variously referred to as the novel, romance, or more generally, prose fiction. Neither of these had a significant fortuna before 1300. The Late Latin Historia Apollonis Tyrii, thought by some scholars to be a translation from Greek, was influential in the vernacular tradition.

Apuleius, Metamorphoses (“The Golden Ass”)

What is today Apuleius’s most widely read book was transmitted together with his Apologia and Florida. The texts were saved in a single manuscript written at Monte Cassino in the 11th century, from which all the other extant manuscripts directly or indirectly descend (on this see Lowe 1920 and Robertson 1924). For a brief sketch of the fortuna see Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 15–16; for manuscripts before the end of the 12th century see Munk Olsen 1982–2009, Volume 2, pp. 11–12, and bibliography, pp. 6–7 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). There are but few indications of knowledge of this work in the Middle Ages, as argued by Haight 1927. Little has been discovered since. Huet’s suggestion (Huet 1909) of the work’s influence on vernacular literature is suggestive, but not proven. However, see Garfagnini 1976 for evidence of early humanist interest; also Moreschini 1977 (cited under Philosophical Writings: Apuleius, De deo Socratis (+ Ps. [?] Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate and De mundo).

Garfagnini, Gian Carlo. “Un ‘accessus’ ad Apuleio e un nuovo codice del Terzo Mitografo Vaticano.” Studi medievali 3. ser. 17.1 (1976): 307–362.
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An edition of a commentary (“accessus”) on the De magia and Metamorphoses in the margins of Part 1 of Florence, Biblioteca nazionale, Naz. II. VI. 2, assigned to the 14th century. If dating is correct, the commentary may represent the earliest humanist interest in Apuelius’s novel.
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Haight, Elizabeth Hazelton. Apuleius and His Influence. New York: Longmans, Green, 1927.
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A rather light introduction to the reception of Apuleius, chiefly in late antiquity (to the 6th century) and again in the Renaissance. One misses the citation of testimonia and a scholarly apparatus. Special attention is given to the reception of the “Cupid and Psyche” tale.
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Huet, G. “Le roman d’Apulée: était-il connu au Moyen âge?” Le Moyen Age, 2d ser., 13 (1909): 22–28.
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Huet discusses the extreme rarity of citations of the Metamorphoses, noting only one by Vincent of Beauvais. The author suggests that a hypothetical lost French manuscript inspired several romans, including the Roman de la rose, which, he argues, utilizes the Cupid and Psyche episode.
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Lowe, E. A. “The Unique Manuscript of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (Laurentian. 68.2 and its Oldest Transcript (Laurentian. 29.2).” The Classical Quarterly 14 (1920): 150–155.
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This paper shows that three works of Apuleius, Apologia, Metamorphoses, and Florida, were preserved uniquely in an 11th-century manuscript written in Beneventan script. The manuscript was subsequently defaced, but it was transcribed into Laurentian 29.2, from which all copies of Metamorphoses descend. Reprinted in E. A. Lowe, The Palaeographical Papers 1907–1965. 2 vols. Edited by Ludwig Bieler, Volume 1, pp. 92–98 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1972).
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Robertson, D. S. “The Manuscripts of the Metamorphoses of Apuelius.” Classical Quarterly 18 (1924): 27–42, 85–99.
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A detailed study of the textual history of the Metamorphoses; useful for specialists.
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Historia Apolonii Tyrii

This anonymous work, generally thought to be a translation of a Greek erotic novel, is assigned loosely to late antiquity. Its influence on Medieval Latin literature was modest (note the paraphrase in the Gesta Romanorum), but the tale attracted a wide readership in its several vernacular versions: Old and Middle English, French, and Byzantine Greek. For the manuscripts and text tradition see Kortekaas 1984; for Latin adaptations and vernacular translations see Archibald 1991.

Archibald, Elizabeth. Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations: Including the Text of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri with an English Translation. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1991.
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Contains a complete survey of medieval and early Renaissance uses of this text throughout Europe.
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Kortekaas, G. A. A. Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri: Prologomena, Text Edition of the Two Principal Latin Recensions, Bibliography, Indices and Appendices. Groningen, The Netherlands: Bouma’s Bockhuis, 1984.
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The introduction contains an exhaustive description of the manuscripts of the two versions and explains their relationship.
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Petronius, Satryricon

Petronius’s work does not survive intact. The best known episode, the Cena Trimalchionis (“Feast of Trimalchio”), is preserved separately in a single manuscript from Yugoslavia copied by Poggio around 1423; the original is lost. Fragments of the rest of the work are preserved in manuscripts prior to 1200. More was recovered in the 16th century. For a list of medieval quotations (some famously by John of Salisbury) and mentions see M. D. Reeve in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), pp. 298–299. For a list of manuscripts to 1200 see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 233–235. There is comprehensive coverage of the writer’s fortuna and the Renaissance commentaries in the entry by Fred Sochatoff in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 3, pp. 313–339. On Petronius as a source of later Medieval Latin comic tales see Colker 1975. The same scholar provides a plausible case that all the strands of the Satyricon known today were known in the Middle Ages (Colker 1992). Martin 1979 makes the same observation based on evidence from John of Salisbury. For more see Vannini 2007.

Colker, M. L. “A Collection of Stories and Sketches: Petronius Redivivus.” In Analecta Dublinensia. Edited by Marvin L. Colker, 179–257. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1975.
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A collection of lusty tales drawing on episodes in the Satyricon.
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Colker, M. L. “New Light on the Use and Transmission of Petronius.” Manuscripta 36 (1992): 200–209.
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Concentrates on quotations and reminiscences. Colker shows that echoes of Petronius turn up in unlikely places such as a commentary on Proverbs composed by an Irish Dominican. The article also shows that all of the work that we possess today was known to the Middle Ages (though not as a whole).
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Martin, Janet. “Uses of Tradition: Gellius, Petronius, and John of Salisbury.” Viator 10 (1979): 57–76.
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The author points out that John of Salisbury cites Petronius from all three branches of the tradition, and speculates that he had access to the entire work, which he might have read in France.
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Vannini, Giulio. “Petronius 1975–2005: Bilancio critico e nuove proposte.” Lustrum 49 (2007): 7–511.
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Research on the medieval reception is presented, pp. 437–444; there are detailed summaries of each bibliographical entry.
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Satire

The ancient satirists Persius, Horace, and Juvenal were fairly widely read from the 9th century onward, and all of them enjoyed status as curriculum authors (see the indices in Glauche 1970, cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts, and Curtius 1953 (cited under Introductory Works). Medieval commentaries on Persius and Juvenal began with Heiric of Auxerre and Remigius in the late 9th century. Their popularity can be explained, in large part, by the observation that the ancient satirists went beyond merely lampooning their targets and engaged in serious social and moral criticism. Bischoff 1971 and Kindermann 1978 remain good introductions to the medieval reception of classical satire.

Bischoff, Bernhard. “Living with the Satirists.” In Classical Influences on European Culture A.D. 500–1500. Edited by R. R. Bolgar, 83–94. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1971.
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This readable study shows that medieval commentaries, though they often rely on ancient commentaries, provide valuable observations and information about medieval intellectual life, including the identification of scholars and schools. The commentaries also reveal developments in the Latin and early French vocabulary relating to immoral behavior.
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Kindermann, Udo. Satyra. Die Theorie der Satire im Mittellateinischen. Vorstudie zu einer Gattungsgeschichte. Nuremberg, Germany: Verlag Hans Karl, 1978.
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An introduction to the medieval reception of this ancient literary genre and the different attitudes regarding its function brought to it by medieval writers.
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Persius and Juvenal

Persius, who today is much less read than Juvenal, was as popular as the younger satirist in the Middle Ages. His work is preserved in approximately six hundred manuscripts, while Juvenal’s numbers are only slightly less (library catalogues record sixty-three entries for Persius against fifty-seven for Juvenal). A number of the manuscripts are heavily glossed, some in vernacular languages; see the catalogue in Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 189–220; for a full census of Persius’s manuscripts see Scarcia Piacentini 1973; for those of Juvenal see Knoche 1940. Not surprisingly, Persius and Juvenal often traveled together in the same manuscript, and a number of the commentaries treat both authors. Rodriguez 2007 contrasts 12th-century commentators on Juvenal with the Cornutus commentary. For a survey of the Persius tradition see the article by Dorothy M. Robathan, P. Edward Cranz, and Paul Oskar Kristeller (with a contribution by Bernhard Bischoff) in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) Volume 3, pp. 201–312; for that of Juvenal see the entry by Eva M. Sanford, Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 1 (1960), pp. 175–238. For citations of both in medieval authors see Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories), indices. Zetzel 2005 and Clausen and Zetzel 2004 bring the antique and early medieval Persius scholia collections up to date. For vernacular glossing of both satirists see Hunt 1991. McDonough 1998 shows that Persius and Juvenal were copied and glossed in the Middle Ages.

Clausen, Wendell V., and James G. Zetzel. Commentum Cornuti in Persium. Munich and Leipzig: K. G. Saur, 2004.
DOI: 10.1515/9783110961553Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An edition of [Pseudo-] Cornutus’s commentary on Persius, which is, in fact, a Carolingian compilation incorporating material from Servius, Virgil, and the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.
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Hunt, Tony. Teaching and Learning Latin in Thirteenth-Century England. 3 vols. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1991.
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For the vernacular glosses on Persius and Juvenal see Volume 1, pp. 60–63; the glosses are in a mixture of (late) Old English and Norman French.
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Knoche, Ulrich. Handschriftliche Grundlagen des Juvenaltextes. Leipzig: Dieterich’sche Verlagsbunchhandlung, 1940.
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The most recent census that exists. According to R. J. Tarrant in Reynolds 1983 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), the census is “far from complete.”
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McDonough, Christopher J. “Classical Latin Satire and the Poets of Northern France: Baudri of Bourgueil, Serlo of Bayeux, and Warner of Rouen.” In Latin Culture in the Eleventh Century: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Medieval Latin Studies, Cambridge, September 9–12 1998. Vol. 2. Edited by Michael W. Herren, C. J. McDonough, and Ross G. Arthur, 102–115. Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin 4. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1998.
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This engaging article by an expert on Latin satire shows that Persius and Juvenal were not only copied and glossed in the Middle Ages but laid under contribution by major Latin poets of northern France.
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Rodriguez, Estella Pérez. “Reading Juvenal in the Twelfth Century.” The Journal of Medieval Latin 17 (2007): 238–252.
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Rodriguez provides a good discussion of the “new” scholia to Juvenal in contrast to the old (Cornutus). The latter part of the article points out the ways in which the commentators made the Satires relevant to their own times.
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Scarcia Piacentini, Paola. Saggio di un censimento dei monoscritti continenti il testo di Persio e gli scoli e commenti al testo. Studi su Persio e la scolastica persiana 3.1. Studi sulla tradizione di Persio e la scolastica persiana. Serie III. Rome: Istituto di lingua e letteratura latina Università di Pisa, 1973.
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Takes the tradition into the Renaissance and provides descriptions and contents of the manuscripts. Addenda and corrigenda in same series, no. 3.2, 1975.
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Zetzel, James G. Marginal Scholarship and Textual Deviance: The Commentum Cornuti and the Early Scholia on Persius. London: Institute of Classical Studies University of London, 2005.
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A monograph outlining the reception of Persius and the commentary tradition through the Carolingian period. Zetzel underscores the “intertextuality” of the early medieval commentary tradition, that is, a commentary on one author imports scholia from commentaries on other authors.
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Horace, Satires and Epistles

In the Middle Ages Horace was better known for his Satires and Epistles than for his Odes––doubtless a reflection of the moral bias of clerical scholars. Dante calls him “Orazio satiro.” For a full census of Horace manuscripts, see Villa 1992 (cited under The Transmission of Classical Latin Texts: Lyric Poetry: Horace, Odes); as yet there is no entry in Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts). Citations are well served by Manitius 1911–1931 (cited under Literary Histories) and specifically by Manitius 1893, and there are several monographs and articles on Horace’s text tradition and the recension of the manuscripts listed in Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 1, pp. 421–423.

Manitius, Max. Analekten zur Geschichte des Horaz im Mittelalter (bis 1300). Göttingen, Germany: Dieterich, 1893.
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Deals with the reception of all of Horace’s poems in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The “Inhaltsverzeichnis” at the beginning leads the reader to a rich array of citations and echoes of Horace in classical and medieval authors.
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Florilegia

Florilegia (anthologies) are highly informative both for establishing the text tradition of a given author and for gauging the author’s popularity at a particular time. They also can tell us if a medieval writer whose location is known was citing from a complete text or from excerpts. Florilegia provided an important source of inspiration for homilies. For a list of classical florilegia manuscripts to the end of the 12th century see Munk Olsen 1982–2009 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Volume 2, pp. 837–877, with rich bibliography, pp. 837–841; for the Freising Florilegium see Babcock 1984 (cited under Elegy: Tibullus); for poetic anthologies see Munk Olsen 1995; for a classical anthology in Orléans see Rouse and Rouse 1979. For a study of their use in “handbooks” see Sanford 1924. Bischoff 1966–1981 (cited under The Transmission of Classical Latin Texts: Cicero, “The Leiden Corpus”), Volume 1, pp. 49–63 discusses a Carolingian florilegium of philosophical texts. Rouse 1979 argues persuasively that the famous Angelicum and Gallicum florilegia emanate from Orléans.

Munk Olsen, Birger. “Les classiques latins dans les florilèges médiévaux antérieurs au xiiie siècle.” In La réception de la littérature classique au Moyen Age (IXe XIIe siècle). Edited by B. Munk Olsen, 145–273. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1995.
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An exhaustive catalogue of classical florilegia to c. 1200. Entries are introduced by a bibliography; an index of authors and an index of incipits are appended. Originally published in Revue d’histoire des textes 9 (1979): 47–121; 10 (1980): 123–172.
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Rouse, R. H. “Florilegia and Latin Classical Authors in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Orléans.” Viator 10 (1979): 131–160.
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Rouse argues that the 12th-century florilegia Angelicum and Gallicum, both highly important classical anthologies, emanate from Orléans. The latter contains rarities including Valerius Flaccus, Sappho’s Letter in Ovid’s Heroides, Tibullus, Petronius, Querolus, and the only complete extant copy of Laus Pisonis. The quotations were intended for use in letter composition.
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Rouse, R. H., and Mary Rouse. Studies on the Manipulus Florum of Thomas of Ireland. Studies and Texts 47. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1979.
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An exhaustive study of the anthology Manipulus florum, compiled in 1306 by Thomas de Hibernia, a friar who studied in Paris. The collection, designed as a source book for preachers, includes quotations by Pliny, Solinus, Gellius, Valerius Maximus, Vegetius, Cicero, Boethius, Seneca, and the proverbia philosophorum.
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Sanford, E. M. “The Use of Classical Authors in the Libri Manuales.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 55 (1924): 190–248.
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This valuable article discusses the compilation of libri manuales (handbooks) from the 9th to the 14th century by category: the liberal arts, rhetoric and dialectic, astronomy, natural history and medicine, agriculture, history, grammar, the art of writing, and so on, followed by anthologies of individual authors, then prose and poetry anthologies. The taxonomy is buttressed by a very full catalogue of examples.
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Representative Centers of Classical Reception

It is helpful to go beyond the study of individual authors and focus on those centers and regions that showed enthusiasm for the study of the classics at particular times, and similarly to look at places or religious houses that regularly included that study. The list is necessarily selective; doubtless many more could be added. Laistner 1957 surveys the scholars and centers that were important for the study of antiquity in the early Middle Ages. Munk Olsen 1995a reexamines the role of the Cistercians in preserving the classics, and Munk Olsen 1995b looks at several 9th-century centers where the classics flourished: Northern France, Lorsch, Echternach, and St. Gall. Riché 1989 covers the same period as Laistner, but focuses on schools and educational methods. See also Glauche 1970 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts), Index, p. 141: “Biblikotheken, alte.”

Laistner, M. L. W. Thought and Letters in Western Europe A.D. 500 to 900. 2d rev. ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1957.
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Still an excellent and serviceable survey of the spread of (Latin) learning from the patristic period to the end of the Carolingian Renaissance. Chapter 10 (pp. 238–250) is devoted to the study of Greek; the first part of chapter 11 (pp. 251–261), to classical Latin literature.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. “The Cistercians and Classical Culture.” In La réception de la littérature classique au Moyen Age (IXe – XIIe siècle). Choix d’articles publié par des collègues à l’occasion de son soixantième anniversaire. Edited by B. Munk Olsen, 95–131. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press (University of Copenhagen), 1995a.
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Provides a salutary correction to the stereotypical view that the Cistercian order was antithetical to the classics. Appendix I contains a catalogue of Cistercian libraries (up to the beginning of the 13th century) that reveals the wide range of Cistercian reading; Appendix II gives a list of 12th-century classical manuscripts of Cistercian origin or provenance.
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Munk Olsen, Birger. “Les Poètes classiques dans les écoles au IXe siècle.” In La réception de la littérature classique au Moyen Age (IXe – XIIe siècle). Choix d’articles publié par des collègues à l’occasion de son soixantième anniversaire. Edited by B. Munk Olsen, 35–46. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press (University of Copenhagen), 1995b.
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Discusses centers where classical poets were read, copied, and glossed. The spotlight is on northern France, St. Gall, Lorsch, and Echternach.
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Riché, Pierre. Écoles et enseigement dans le Haut moyen âge. Paris: Picard Éditeur, 1989.
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Focuses on schools, masters, and methods of education, but attention is also given to curriculum authors, including the classics. Scope embraces late antiquity to the end of the 11th century.
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Bobbio and Lombard Centers

Founded in 612 by the Irish missionary and scholar Columbanus, the monastery of Bobbio (northwest Italy) contained what was perhaps the oldest postclassical collection of books. These included copies of classical works made in Italy in the 4th and 5th centuries and some famous palimpsests, notably Cicero’s De republica. A catalogue of its holdings (and donors) made in the 9th or 10th century survives. For a general study see Richter 2008; for the famous catalogue see Esposito 1931. An overview of the copying and diffusion of classical works in Lombardy is provided by Ferrari 1975.

Esposito, Mario. “The Ancient Bobbio Catalogue.” Journal of Theological Studies 32 (1931): 337–344.
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Argues convincingly that the so-called Munari Catalogue of Bobbio’s early medieval holdings was written in the 9th century.
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Ferrari, Mirella. “Centri di trasmissione: Monza, Pavia, Milano, Bobbio.” Settimane di Studio sull’ Alto Medioevo 22 (1975): 303–320.
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Deals with centers in Lombardy in the 8th and 9th centuries where grammatical and classical works were copied. Lucretius, Macrobius, and some of the philosophical works of Seneca are among works mentioned; the activity of Dungal of Pavia is featured.
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Richter, Michael. Bobbio in the Early Middle Ages: The Abiding Legacy of Columbanus. Dublin, UK: Four Courts, 2008.
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A readable introduction to the abbey’s foundation and early history. Chapter 9 is devoted to the library and its holdings, pp. 140–156.
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Corbie (Northeast France)

Bischoff 1966 (cited under Philosophical Writers: Cicero, “The Leiden Corpus”) discusses Hadoard’s florilegium as a reflection of the classical holdings at Corbie in the 9th century; Ganz 1990 provides a complete census of the works known at Corbie by the end of the Carolingian Age.

Ganz, David. Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance. Sigmaringen, Germany: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1990.
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A study of the scriptorium and library holdings of Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance. A complete list of manuscripts written before the end of the 9th century is given on pp. 124–162. List includes numerous grammatical and philosophical works (especially those of Boethius) in addition to classical literary works, both well-known and rare.
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England in the Later Middle Ages

Smalley 1960 examines the important role played by English friars of the 14th century in putting the classics to good use for moral education and preaching. Thomson 2006 surveys English libraries and schools in the 12th century. See also Rigg 1992, cited under Literary Histories.

Smalley, Beryl. English Friars and Antiquity in the Early Fourteenth Century. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1960.
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Smalley deals with the achievements of those 14th-century English friars who taught and wrote principally about ancient philosophical works, but also commented on classical mythology (John Ridevale). The author also shows how their work influenced the exempla tradition and preaching.
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Thomson, Rodney M. Books and learning in twelfth-century England: The ending of “alter orbis.” Lyell Lectures, 2000–2001. Walkern, UK: Red Gull, 2006.
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A good introduction to what texts were available in 12th-century England and where they were taught.
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Freising (South Germany)

Babcock 1984 examines a florilegium made at Freising in the 11th century by a scholar from Lobbes.

Babcock, Robert G. Heriger of Lobbes and the Freising Florilegium. Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 18. Frankfurt: P. Lang, 1984.
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A study of a classical florilegium (Munich clm 6292) made at Freising in the 11th century, which includes excerpts of Persius, Juvenal, Lucan Claudian, Tibullus, Martial, and Horace inter alia; discusses importance of some excerpts (e.g., Tibullus) for establishing the text. Some of the texts may have been brought from Lobbes (Loire Valley).
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Fulda (Central Germany)

Lapidge 2006 points to the unique collection of classical historical sources available at Fulda by the mid-9th century. Schrimpf 1994 lists Fulda’s holdings of classical texts for the entire Middle Ages.

Lapidge, Michael. The Anglo-Saxon Library. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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Utilizing Bischoff’s Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts, Volume 1, under sub. “Fulda,” Lapidge lists an impressive number of classical works, especially historical texts, written or housed at Fulda in the 9th century. Historical works include Suetonius’s “Lives,” the Scriptores historiae Augustae, Ammianus Marcellinus’s Res gestae, Tacitus, Annales 1–6, plus a separate manuscript of the Agricola and Germania.
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Schrimpf, Gangolf. Mittelalterliche Bücherverzeichnisse des Klosters Fulda und andere Beiträge zur Geschichte der Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda im Mittelalter. Frankfurt: Verlag Josef Knecht, 1994.
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A reconstruction of the medieval library of Fulda. The range of classical texts, including rarities, is remarkable, for example: Aratus (Germanicus), Aristotle’s logica in Latin, Chalcidius on Plato’s Timaeus, a large selection of Cicero’s writings, Livy, Lucan, Macrobius In somnium Scipionis, Martianus Capella, Persius, Plautus’s Aulularia + Ps. Plautus, Querolus, Sallust, Statius, Suetonius, Terence (entire), Horace (entire), and Virgil’s opera maiora.
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Ireland

Apart from Iona, we know little about the holdings of Irish libraries in the Middle Ages. Many of the most important monuments of Irish script are held in continental or English libraries. Much of our knowledge of “books known to the Irish” is derived from printed texts. Herren 1996 offers a survey of classical and secular works known in Ireland (or by Irish scholars) before 800. Kenney 1966 remains the starting point for research on medieval Irish scholarly activity. Miles 2011 presents fresh evidence for the use of classical poetic texts by vernacular authors. Stanford 1970 is still useful for vernacular translations and paraphrases of classical works.

Herren, Michael W. “Classical and Secular Learning among the Irish before the Carolingian Renaissance.” In Latin Letters in Early Christian Ireland. Edited by Michael W. Herren. Aldershot, UK: Variorum, 1996.
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Argues that pre-Carolingian Irish enthusiasm for classical themes and quotations was based largely on late antique sources (grammars, encyclopedias, etc.). Still useful, but in need of updating. Originally published in 1981.
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Kenney, J. F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical. Revised by Ludwig Bieler. New York: Octagon, 1966.
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This remarkable thesaurus of medieval Irish learning is hard to consult, but it contains a wealth of material on the 9th- and 10th-century Irish manuscripts written on the continent, many of them containing glossed copies of classical florilegia, commentaries on classical texts, and grammatical works (e.g., Priscian). Badly in need of updating, it remains indispensable. Originally published in 1929.
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Miles, Brent. Heroic Saga and Classical Epic in Medieval Ireland. Studies in Celtic History 30. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2011.
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Presents valuable new evidence in defense of the older view that classical authors such as Virgil and Statius were known and utilized in Ireland. The work shows in detail how writers of the Irish sagas paraphrased and adapted classical poetic passages to their own needs.
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Stanford, W. B. “Towards a History of Classical Influences in Ireland.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 70.C.3 (1970): 13–91.
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Lists and discusses “free versions” (i.e., vernacular adaptations) of classical themes and translations of classical authors, pp. 35–42.
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Laon (Northeast France)

Contreni 1978 offers a model study of how the masters at the school of Laon utilized their manuscript resources.

Contreni, John J. The Cathedral School of Laon from 850 to 930: Its Manuscripts and Masters. Munich: Arbeo Gesellschaft, 1978.
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An engrossing study of the cathedral library at Laon through a close examination of its manuscripts, many of which contain autograph copies of works and the marginal notes by Laon’s leading masters. Although not rich in classical texts, the library reveals the strong interests of the masters in the study of the Greek language and Virgil.
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Monte Cassino

The famous monastery of Monte Cassino figures prominently in two periods: the early Carolingian era and the later 11th century. Paul the Deacon is a central figure in the first of these, Abbot Desiderius in the second. For classical studies at the monastery in the early period see Holtz 1975; for the 11th century see Newton 1999.

Holtz, Louis. “Le Parisinus latinus 7530, synthèse cassinienne des arts libéraux.” Studi Medievali, 3d ser., 16.1 (1975): 97–151.
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A masterly study of this late 8th-century manuscript from Monte Cassino and an evaluation of its contents (a miscellany of grammatical, rhetorical, and other language-related texts and excerpts) with regard to the study of the liberal arts; stresses the importance of Monte Cassino as a point of diffusion for grammatical texts. Includes two plates.
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Newton, Francis. The Scriptorium and Library at Monte Cassino, 1059–1105. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Although the bulk of this book is devoted to the abbey’s 11th-century history and to palaeographical matters, chapter 5 (Part 2, pp. 96–118) deals with classical manuscripts written at Monte Cassino in that period, including the famous copy of Tacitus’s Historiae and Annales 11–16 (with Apuleius’s Metamorphoses), an illustrated manuscript of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and a collection of works on logic.
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Orléans and Fleury (Loire Valley)

These connected centers were known as focal points for the transmission of classical texts from the 9th to 12th century. For Orléans see Engelbrecht 2008 and Rouse 1979 (cited under Florilegia). For the library of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire) see Mostert 1989.

Engelbrecht, Wilken. “Fulco, Arnulf, and William: Twelfth-Century Views on Ovid in Orléans.” The Journal of Medieval Latin 18 (2008): 52–73.
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Engelbrecht notes that Ovid’s writings were known in Orléans since Theodulf, who founded the library in 798. Remainder of article concentrates on the commentaries and accessus of the three masters named and of the almost disproportionate influence of Orléans’ masters in the Ovid commentary tradition.
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Mostert, Marco. The Library of Fleury: A Provisional List. Hilversum, The Netherlands: Verloren, 1989.
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A reconstruction of the early medieval library that provided a number of important classical texts that were later part of the Reginensis collection of the Vatican Library.
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Vivarium

Almost everything we know about the famous 6th-century library of Vivarium comes from Cassiodorus’s Institutes of Divine and Human Learning, and one cannot be completely certain that all the books recommended by that writer were actually available in situ. Troncarelli 1998 has identified a few remnants of the library on the basis of Cassiodorus’s autograph.

Troncarelli, Fabio. Vivarium: I libri, il destino. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1998.
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The author cites broad agreement on the identification of Cassiodorus’s autograph hand, and uses this criterion to identify books scattered throughout Europe that had belonged to Vivarium. Apart from Virgil and legal texts (Codex Theodosianus, Codex Iustinianus), most of the identified works are biblical or patristic.
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York

York came to prominence in the 8th century thanks to a poem by Alcuin describing the extensive contents of its library, rich for the time. See Godman 1982. For Bede’s library (also in 8th-century York) see Laistner 1966, cited under Encyclopedic Works: Pliny (the Elder), and Lapidge 2006, cited under Medieval Library Catalogues, indices.

Godman, Peter. Alcuin: The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
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See the introduction, pp. lx–lxxv, for a discussion of the library. Classical authors include Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Pompey (Pompeius Trogus), Pliny, Caesar, and Aristotle (presumably the logical works in Boethius’s translations), and grammarians.
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Scholars and Their Book Collections

The term “humanists” is usually reserved for the Italian classical scholars of the 15th and 16th centuries. Entries listed here concentrate on the “transitional figures” of the 14th century and their medieval predecessors. See also above, Histories of Classical Scholarship. Billanovich 1964 discusses books used by Petrarch during his exile in France; Billanovich 1976 surveys the early humanists of Padua. Delisle 1967 reconstructs the library of Charles V (probably the first royal library); Mazza 1966 identifies the books belonging to Boccaccio. Merryweather 1933 treats “bibliomania” among English book collectors throughout the Middle Ages. Sabbadini 1914 (cited under Histories of Classical Scholarship) surveys the activities of humanists and their medieval precursors throughout Europe. Turner 1960 introduces us to Richard de Bury’s Philobiblon. Ullmann 1963 lists the manuscripts belonging to and annotated by Salutati.

Billanovich, G. “La Bibliothèque de Pétrarque et les bibliothèques de France et de Flandre.” In L’Humanisme médiévale dans les littératures romanes du XIIIe au XVIe siècle: Colloque organisé par le Centre de Philologie et de Littératures romanes de l’Université de Strasbourg du 29 janvier au 2 février 1962. Edited by Anthime Fourier, 206–215. Paris: C. Klincksieck, 1964.
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Although there are numerous studies on Petrarch’s work on individual classical authors (e.g., Cicero and Livy), there seems to be no comprehensive reconstruction of his library. Billanovich in this essay discusses books known and used by Petrarch during his exile in France; consult appended bibliography.
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Billanovich, G. “Il Preumanesimo padovano.” In Storia della Cultura veneta. Vol. 2, Il Trecento. Edited by Folena, Gianfranco, Girolamo Arnaldi, and Manlio Pastore Stocchi, 19–110. Vicenza, Italy: Neri Pozza Editore, 1976.
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This magisterial survey covers the activities of the early Paduan humanists concentrating on Lovato and Mussato. The author ferrets out the classical texts they knew from a study of their writings and the epitaphs they composed. Early knowledge of Catullus noted.
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Delisle, Léopold. Recherches sur la librairie de Charles V, roi de France, 1337–1380. 2 Vols. Amsterdam: G. Th. Van Heusden, 1967.
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Delisle reconstructs from inventories what was arguably the first royal library of any size and provides current locations of many manuscripts listed therein. Many works listed are French translations of classical texts. Aristotle’s works, translated by Nicholas Oresme, hold a prominent place in the collection. Reprint of the 1907 Paris edition.
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Mazza, Antonia. “L’invenzione della ‘parva libraria’ di Santo Spirito e la Biblioteca del Boccaccio.” Italia medioevale e humanistica 9 (1966): 1–71.
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A judicious attempt to identify Boccaccio’s books from a 15th-century inventory. Boccaccio’s reading ranged widely from standard Latin classics to the Church Fathers and medieval authors such as Geoffrey of Vinsauf.
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Merryweather, F. Sommer. Bibliomania in the Middle Ages. Rev. ed. by H. B. Copinger. London: Woodstock, 1933.
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A charming survey of book collectors and the libraries they endowed throughout the Middle Ages. Emphasis is on English collectors, beginning with Bede and Alfred and extending to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester’s bequest to Oxford and a bit beyond.
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Turner, E. C., ed. Philobiblon: Richard de Bury. Edited by Michael Maclagan. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1960.
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Text and translation of E. C. Thomas. A bilingual edition of the Philobiblon with biographical and bibliographical introductions. Richard de Bury (1287–1345) makes frequent (and enthusiastic) mention of classical writers and figures of classical antiquity, though evidence for direct acquaintance with classical texts is scant. Includes foreword by the editor. Originally published in 1888.
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Ullmann, Bertold L. The Humanism of Coluccio Salutati. Padua, Italy: Editrice Antenore, 1963.
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Chapter on Salutati’s library (pp. 129–209) forms the center-piece of this excellent book. Manuscripts of works that Salutati wrote, owned, or annotated are organized by country, city, library, shelf-mark, and contents. The ensuing chapter lists authors which Salutati read or annotated; includes classical authors, church fathers, and medieval writers.
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Mythography

Greek and Roman myths reached the medieval West via a range of sources––primary poetic works such as the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses, pseudo-historical writings such as those of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis, the mythological “handbooks” of Fulgentius and Hyginus, and commentaries on individual authors, especially the highly influential commentary of Servius augmented by that of Donatus. The encyclopedic treatment of mythology in the Middle Ages begins with Isidore’s Etymologies, gains momentum in the 9th century (“Vatican Mythographers I–II”), continues through the high Middle Ages, and culminates in Thomas Walsingham’s De archana deorum. Servius, Fulgentius, and Isidore provided the primary materials for the glossing and commenting of mythological passages in a select number of works: the poetic passages of Boethius’s Consolatio, Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, Macrobius’s Commentarii in somnium Scipionis, and all the works of Ovid. Cameron 2004 deals with the preservation of Greek myth in Rome. Except for Chance 1994 (first of two volumes) the period to c.1100 has been largely neglected, though Herren 1998–1999 has partially filled the lacuna for the span 600 to 900. Reid 1993 is very useful for the entire artistic Fortleben of Greco-Roman mythology; Saxl 1915–1953 is indispensable for representations of myths in manuscript illustration. Seznac 1972 highlights the importance of astronomical manuscripts for the knowledge of mythology. See also Kreuz, et al. 2013; Pepin 2008; and Solomon 2011.

Cameron, Alan. Greek Mythography in the Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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Cameron shows that the Romans themselves needed handbooks to understand the ancient myths, and gives a list of what was available. The author argues strongly that a complete commentary on Ovid’s Metamorphoses (the Narrationes) was composed in Roman times and survives in fragmentary condition in Carolingian copies.
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Chance, Jane. Medieval Mythography. Vol. 1, From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994.
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The only comprehensive study of mythography over the entire period. Although these volumes are well researched, cover a big span, and contain a number of interesting observations, the topical organization is difficult to follow and there are a number of factual mistakes and mistranslations. Useful for scholars already acquainted with the subject; good bibliography. Continued in Volume 2: From the School of Chartres to the Court at Avignon, 1177–1350. (2000).
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Herren, Michael W. “The Earliest European Study of Graeco-Roman Mythology (A.D. 600–900).” Acta Classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis 34–35 (1998–1999): 25–49.
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An overview of available mythographic sources from antiquity, the compilation of new aids (glossaries and handbooks), and a selection of expressions of attitudes toward pagan myths as well as a sample of their use in early medieval literature (7th–9th centuries). Addresses lacuna between late antiquity and later Middle Ages.
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Kreuz, Bernhard, Petra Aigner, and Christine Harrauer. Bibliographie zum Nachleben des antiken Mythos. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2013.
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A massive bibliography of the classical mythological tradition to the 19th century. Focus is on the later Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early modern period.
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Pepin, Ronald E. The Vatican Mythographers. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.
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This book contains translations of Vatican Mythographers I–III. The introduction, pp. 1–12, provides a helpful description of the three mythographical works (content, sources, dating, possible authorship). There is a select bibliography at the end.
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Reid, Jane Davidson, with Chris Rohmann. The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts 1300–1990s. 2 vols. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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This remarkably useful resource is organized alphabetically by the name of the mythological figure (Achilles, Adonis, Aeneas, etc.). Each new heading provides a thumbnail sketch of the figure followed by a list of primary sources. This is followed by a chronological listing of works of art––paintings, sculptures, poems, plays, operas, etc.––devoted to portrayals of the figure.
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Saxl, Fritz. Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters. 3 vols. in 4 parts. Heidelberg, Germany: Carl Winter Verlag, 1915–1953.
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A richly illustrated catalogue of manuscripts containing astrological and mythological texts and images. Part 1 is devoted to Vatican manuscripts; Part 2 to Vienna manuscripts; Part 3 (in two vols.) to English manuscripts. Very valuable, but organization puzzling.
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Seznac, Jean. The Survival of the Pagan Gods: The Mythological Tradition and Its Place in Renaissance Humanism and Art. Translated by Barbara F. Sessions. Bollingen Series 38. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972.
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Despite Renaissance focus, Seznac says much on the role of medieval scholars in transmitting myth. Boccaccio’s Genealogia deorum figures prominently. Readers will find discussion of illustrated astronomical texts and developments in the iconography of the gods. Originally published as La survivance des dieux antiques in 1940.
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Solomon, Jon, ed. and trans. Genealogy of the Pagan Gods, vol. 1. Giovanni Boccaccio. I Tatti Renaissance Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
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The first volume of a projected three-volume annotated edition of the Genealogia deorum gentilium that will make the entire work available in a modern English translation.
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The Medieval Survival of Classical Mythological Figures

Ciavolelli and Ianucci 1992 contains essays on Saturn in Dante and the Libro de buen amor; Economou 1972 studies the goddess Natura; Edmunds 1976 deals with medieval adaptations of the Oedipus legend; Friedman 1970 provides a thematic study of the Orpheus myth; Nees 1991 examines and interprets the Hercules figure on the ivories of Charles the Bald; Stanford 1954 contributes a longitudinal study of Odysseus/Ulysses from Homer to Dante, thence to James Joyce and Kazantzakis.

Ciavolella, Massimo, and Amilcare A. Ianucci, eds. Saturn from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Ottawa, ON: Doverhouse Editions, 1992.
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While the bulk of the essays deal with Saturn’s afterlife in antiquity and the Renaissance, two deal squarely with the god’s medieval fortuna: Ianucci’s own “Saturn in Dante” and James F. Burke’s “The Polarities of Desire: Saturn in the Libro de buen amor.”
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Economou, George D. The Goddess Natura in Medieval Literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.
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Traces the Neoplatonic origins of the personification of nature through late antiquity (Chalcidius, Macrobius, Boethius), the Latin Middle Ages, and the vernacular tradition (Jean de Meun, Chaucer).
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Edmunds, L. “Oedipus in the Middle Ages.” Antike und Abendland 22 (1976): 140–155.
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Traces medieval adaptations (Latin and vernacular) of the Oedipus legend to Statius’s account in the Thebaid as mediated by Lactantius Placidus’s Commentary. Edmunds introduces a peculiarly medieval popular tradition connecting Oedipus to Judas and a legendary pope.
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Friedman, John Block. Orpheus in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.
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Deals thematically with the Greek, Latin, and vernacular traditions of this figure (e.g., Orpheus-Christ, Orpheus in the Underworld, “King Orpheus”).
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Nees, Lawrence. A Tainted Mantle: Hercules and the Classical Tradition at the Carolingian Court. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
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Deals generally with the figure of Hercules in Carolingian literature and specifically with the problem of interpreting the Hercules ivories on the throne of Charles the Bald.
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Stanford, William Bedell. The Ulysses Theme: A Study in the Adaptability of a Traditional Hero. 2d ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1954.
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This model study deals with the characterization of one of literature’s most fascinating characters from Homer to Kazantzakis. Included are treatments by the Greek lyric and tragic poets, and Roman poets including Virgil, Horace, and Statius, and medieval writers such as Dante, Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate.
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The Medieval Commentary Tradition

This section deals with the construction of medieval commentaries, the “accessus” tradition, and the question of classical sources used in medieval commentaries. In addition to Kristeller, et al. 1960–2011 (cited under Works on the Transmission of Texts) Coulson and Roy 2000 (cited under Ovid, Metamorphoses), and Ziolkowski and Putnam (cited under The Aeneid) for Virgil, the following books and articles are recommended. Huygens 1970 gives editions and short studies of important accessus texts. Minnis and Scott 1992 contributes an anthology of medieval commentaries with introductions. Quain 1945 analyzes the medieval commentary tradition. Woods 2010 shows how classical rhetorical sources were laid under contribution in commentaries on Geoffrey of Viinsauf’s Poetria nova. McKinley 1996 provides a model for the comparison of different styles of commentary.

Huygens, Robert, ed. Accessus ad auctores, Bernard d’Utrecht, Conrad d’Hirsau Dialogus super auctores. Rev. ed. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1970.
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Critical editions with brief introductions of three of the most important medieval accessus texts.
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McKinley, Kathryn. “The Medieval Commentary Tradition 11–1500 on Metamorphoses 10.” Viator 27 (1996): 117–149.
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Author provides a helpful survey of commentaries on Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 10 by Arnulph of Orléans, John of Garland, the “Vulgate Commentary,” Ovide moralisé, Giovanni di Virgilio, Bersuire, Thomas Walsingham, and Raphael Regius. By limiting study to one book of Ovid the author is able to adduce focused comparisons.
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Minnis, Alistair, and A. B. Scott, eds. Medieval Literary Theory and Criticism, c. 1100–1375: The Commentary Tradition. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
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The standard anthology of medieval commentators from Conrad of Hirsau to Dante, Petrach, and Boccaccio. The selections are prefaced by helpful introductions. The collection concludes with a select bibliography.
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Quain, E. A. “The Medieval accessus ad auctores.” Traditio 3 (1945): 215–264.
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Provides helpful generalizations in dealing with medieval commentaries on secular literature under the headings: (1) the practice of allegory (sanctioned by scriptural tradition; (2) “despoiling the Egyptians” (rationale for studying pagan literature); “the gentile captive” (pruning what is objectionable); (4) authors with authority (establishing canon of Christian and pagan auctores).
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Woods, Marjorie Curry. Classroom Commentaries: Teaching the Poetria nova across Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2010.
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This excellent study deals with the use of classical sources and quotations by medieval commentators on Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s Poetra nova, which elevated the work to the status of a classic in its own right. Horace’s Ars poetica receives much attention throughout.
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Ancient Influences on Medieval Literary Genres and Literary Theory

This topic is, of course, closely connected to the medieval commentary tradition, but focuses more broadly on issues of genre and methods of interpretation. Blumenfeld-Kosinski 1997 applies the notion of translatio to uses of classical myth made by French writers. Cameron 1970 views medieval commentators as precursors of the Renaissance “rediscovery” of ancient allegory. Dronke 1974 explores influences of Macrobius and Martianus Capella on the interpretative methods of the School of Chartres. Jeauneau 2007 offers insights into the notion of translatio studii in successive ages. Lewis 1958 connects the dots between late antique allegorical compositions and medieval romance. Liebschütz 1926 shows the debt of the medieval allegorical tradition to its Greek antecedents. Pépin 1976 does not deal with the Middle Ages, but is required reading for the beginnings of allegory in Greece. Stock 1972 shows the debt of Bernard Silvester to late Latin sources for Platonism. Wetherbee 2011 traces the influence of Boethius’s Consolatio on Alanus of Lille and later vernacular romance.

Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate. Reading Myth. Classical Mythology and Its Interpretations in Medieval French Literature. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997.
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Using the concept of translatio, Blumenfeld-Koskinski shows how French writers of the 14th century read classical myth and translated it into new literary forms. The Roman de la Rose and Ovide moralisé figure prominently.
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Cameron, Don Allen. Mysteriously Meant: The Rediscovery of Pagan Symbolism and Allegorical Interpretation in the Renaissance. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970.
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Although Cameron’s book concentrates heavily on the Renaissance and early modern period, there is some discussion of the interpretative methods of medieval commentators, including Arnulph of Orléans, John of Garland, and especially Boccaccio. A valuable bibliography is appended.
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Dronke, Peter. Fabula: Explorations into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte Band IX. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Cologne: E. J. Brill, 1974.
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A challenging book that discusses 12th-century theories of “fable,” exemplified in myths of the soul, the four spheres, and the cosmic egg. The chief figures studied are Abelard, William of Conches, and Bernard Silvestris. William of Conches’s commentaries on Martianus Capella and Macrobius and Bernard’s commentary on Martianus are highlighted.
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Jeauneau, Édouard. “‘Translatio studii.’ The Transmission of Learning, A Gilsonian Theme.” In “Tendenda Vela”: Excursions littéraires et digressions philosophiques à travers le moyen âge, 1–58. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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The title belies the purport of this splendid essay by a modern master. Not a dry “who-read-what-when-where study,” but an insightful series of “postholings” in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Renaissance inserted to promote understanding of what translatio studii meant to successive ages. Alcuin, Otto of Freising, and Caxton figure prominently.
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Lewis, C. S. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1958.
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Lewis’s old-fashioned book is still worth consulting for the influence of the late antique tradition of allegory as genre of composition (e.g., Prudentius, Martianus Capella) on the late medieval writers of romance, e.g., Jean de Meun, Chaucer, Gower, and Spenser. Originally published in 1936.
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Liebschütz, Hans. Fulgentius metaforalis: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der antiken Mythologie im Mittelalter. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1926.
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An important introduction to the late antique origins of myth allegoresis precedes an edition of a 14th-century christianized “Fulgentius.” There is much of interest on the iconography of the pagan gods.
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Pépin, Jean. Mythe et allégorie: Les origines grecques et les contestations judéo-chrétiennes. Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1976.
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Focusing on the Hellenistic and late antique periods, this book is indispensable to medievalists wishing to understand the continuity of the allegorical tradition and its debt to ancient philosophy, particularly Stoicisim and Platonism. The latter part of the book deals with the divided reaction of Jewish and Christian writers.
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Stock, Brian. Myth and Science in the Twelfth-Century: A Study of Bernard Silvester. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972.
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The study concentrates on Bernard Silvester’s Cosmographia and its debt to Platonism via Macrobius, Chalcidius, Martianus Capella, Boethius, and William of Conches. Influences of Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae are also noted.
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Wetherbee, Winthrop. “Alan of Lille, De planctu Naturae: The Fall of Nature and the Survival of Poetry.” The Journal of Medieval Latin 21 (2011): 223–251.
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The article demonstrates the influence of Boethius’s Consolatio not only on the formal aspects of Alanus’s poem (dream/vision, prosimetrum), but also on its content (idea of Nature). Boethius and Alanus resonate further in the work of Jean de Meun and Gower.
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