Re: Tractatus de deficatione sexdecim heroum, text and translation
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 16:00
To my interlocutor at the Analecta Bollandiana last March -
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If the Legendary, Breviary, or Cartulary survives, it is probably in Paris.
Becquet (p. 26 [2]), following the AA.SS. preface (p. 851 l.), notes that François de Blois was helped by "Antoine Wyon d'Hérovalle.", in AA.SS. "Antonius Wion Dominus Herovallius" (I don't understand the abbreviation "CL. V."). This latter is Antoine Vion d'Hérouval, 1606-1689. According to his entry in the extended Louis Moréri, Grand Dictionnaire Historique (1759; t. 10, p. 655, attached), he also supplied Labbe with "une infinité des pièces qui ont paru dans sa bibliothèque et dans sa collection des conciles." From his biography you can glean his importance for 17th century erudition. He bequeathed much of his collection to the Maurists (basic information from Vion's wikipedia page -https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_V ... 3%A9rouval ). I assume that whatever survived is now in the BnF.
Vion and de Blois were from Meulan, Gaucher's birthplace. Labbe and Picard (copyist of Vita in lat. 14366?) were based in Paris. Labbe and de Blois probably did not travel to Limoges to consult their breviaries and other documents directly, but got them from Vion (and he got them from ... correspondants?). Picard copied from...? The AA.SS. incipit matches de Blois ("Ex Cartulario sancti Stephani Lemovicensis" - the same "cartulary" (not the Legendary)) source as he gives for the pericope in cap. XI) and Picard perfectly, except for punctuation and omitting the "h" in Rothomagensi. Labbe adds "Igitur" before "Gaucherius", and spells Mellentensis instead of Meuthlensis. Labbe has edited somewhat - he adds the alternative spelling Methlensis in brackets. But "igitur" is also present in Becquet's medieval Vita.
De Blois 1652
Gaucherius territorio Rothomagensi Meuthlensis oppidi indigena fuit
Ex Cartulario sancti Stephani Lemovicensis
AA.SS. 1675 p. 851
Gaucherius, territorio Rotomagensi, Meuthlensis oppidi indigena fuit, parentibus religiositate clarissimi procreatus
Ex MS. Legendario Lemovicensi
So we have to wonder how loosely they used the terms "cartulary" and "legendary"; the AA.SS. legendary text is identical to de Blois' cartulary, or, we are dealing with at least two different books with identical text. Labbe's text is "ex antiquo codice ms. Ecclesiae Lemovicensis", which matches the annotation hand in Picard, in the postscript which mentions the four verses "in veteri codice eiusdem Prioratus aureliensis qui servatur in archivis Collegii nostri lemovicensis." This seems to be the Cartulary with the verses that Becquet identifies (pp. 27-28, and note 19) as that edited by Gaston de Senneville in 1900, "Cartulaire des prieurés d’Aureil et de l’Artige en Limousin," Bulletin... Limousin, XLVIII
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... checontact
But - there is no Vita of Gaucherius in that cartulary!
Finally, the other 17th century manuscript source Becquet mentions, lat. 17670, is from Saint Magloire, also in Paris. I was mistaken to hastily think it was from Limoges. My authority for this provenance, besides the spare BnF "Histoire de la conservation: Saint-Magloire" (it was not clear to me if that were merely the last owners), is Jacques Boussard, Historia pontificum et comitum Engolismensium, 1957, p. lxvi. "
Le ms. lat. 17670 de la Bibliothèque nationale. Ce recueil sans titre provient de la bibliothèque du couvent de Saint-Magloire de Paris, de laquelle il passa dans celle des frères Sainte-Marthe."
I have not been able to see Becquet's own words on 17670, mentioned among the bibliographic cards at the BnF webpage listing, Revue Mabillon 46 (1956), p.200.
Since I haven't seen it, I can't say if it contains the passage, but I trust that it is divided into six readings, as Becquet implies.
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If the Legendary, Breviary, or Cartulary survives, it is probably in Paris.
Becquet (p. 26 [2]), following the AA.SS. preface (p. 851 l.), notes that François de Blois was helped by "Antoine Wyon d'Hérovalle.", in AA.SS. "Antonius Wion Dominus Herovallius" (I don't understand the abbreviation "CL. V."). This latter is Antoine Vion d'Hérouval, 1606-1689. According to his entry in the extended Louis Moréri, Grand Dictionnaire Historique (1759; t. 10, p. 655, attached), he also supplied Labbe with "une infinité des pièces qui ont paru dans sa bibliothèque et dans sa collection des conciles." From his biography you can glean his importance for 17th century erudition. He bequeathed much of his collection to the Maurists (basic information from Vion's wikipedia page -https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_V ... 3%A9rouval ). I assume that whatever survived is now in the BnF.
Vion and de Blois were from Meulan, Gaucher's birthplace. Labbe and Picard (copyist of Vita in lat. 14366?) were based in Paris. Labbe and de Blois probably did not travel to Limoges to consult their breviaries and other documents directly, but got them from Vion (and he got them from ... correspondants?). Picard copied from...? The AA.SS. incipit matches de Blois ("Ex Cartulario sancti Stephani Lemovicensis" - the same "cartulary" (not the Legendary)) source as he gives for the pericope in cap. XI) and Picard perfectly, except for punctuation and omitting the "h" in Rothomagensi. Labbe adds "Igitur" before "Gaucherius", and spells Mellentensis instead of Meuthlensis. Labbe has edited somewhat - he adds the alternative spelling Methlensis in brackets. But "igitur" is also present in Becquet's medieval Vita.
De Blois 1652
Gaucherius territorio Rothomagensi Meuthlensis oppidi indigena fuit
Ex Cartulario sancti Stephani Lemovicensis
AA.SS. 1675 p. 851
Gaucherius, territorio Rotomagensi, Meuthlensis oppidi indigena fuit, parentibus religiositate clarissimi procreatus
Ex MS. Legendario Lemovicensi
So we have to wonder how loosely they used the terms "cartulary" and "legendary"; the AA.SS. legendary text is identical to de Blois' cartulary, or, we are dealing with at least two different books with identical text. Labbe's text is "ex antiquo codice ms. Ecclesiae Lemovicensis", which matches the annotation hand in Picard, in the postscript which mentions the four verses "in veteri codice eiusdem Prioratus aureliensis qui servatur in archivis Collegii nostri lemovicensis." This seems to be the Cartulary with the verses that Becquet identifies (pp. 27-28, and note 19) as that edited by Gaston de Senneville in 1900, "Cartulaire des prieurés d’Aureil et de l’Artige en Limousin," Bulletin... Limousin, XLVIII
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... checontact
But - there is no Vita of Gaucherius in that cartulary!
Finally, the other 17th century manuscript source Becquet mentions, lat. 17670, is from Saint Magloire, also in Paris. I was mistaken to hastily think it was from Limoges. My authority for this provenance, besides the spare BnF "Histoire de la conservation: Saint-Magloire" (it was not clear to me if that were merely the last owners), is Jacques Boussard, Historia pontificum et comitum Engolismensium, 1957, p. lxvi. "
Le ms. lat. 17670 de la Bibliothèque nationale. Ce recueil sans titre provient de la bibliothèque du couvent de Saint-Magloire de Paris, de laquelle il passa dans celle des frères Sainte-Marthe."
I have not been able to see Becquet's own words on 17670, mentioned among the bibliographic cards at the BnF webpage listing, Revue Mabillon 46 (1956), p.200.
Since I haven't seen it, I can't say if it contains the passage, but I trust that it is divided into six readings, as Becquet implies.
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