Texts
  1. Home
  2. Texts
  3. Sermunculus de vita sancti Winwaloei

Sermunculus de vita sancti Winwaloei

  • Latin
  • prose

Short, homiletic redaction of the vita of St Winwaloe, in 17 lectiones. BHL 8962.

First words (prose)
  • Ad exponendum vobis, dilectissimi fratres, huius diei celebritatem, quam nobis venerabilem sancti Winwaloei merita attestantur, ...
Manuscripts
Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 842 [s. xii]
ff. 86v–89v
Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 865 [s. xii]
ff. 108–111v
(Unidentified)
The Bollandist edition is based on a manuscript from Marchiennes abbey and another from Montreuil. The former may correspond to Douai MS 842. The latter remains unidentified.
(Unidentified)

A life of St Winwaloe with the same opening words (Ad exponendam vobis) is listed in a catalogue of Dover priory (D VII, no. 169). It is not known if this copy would have corresponded to the present text, or possibly to the derivative, interpolated version (Vita interpolata) linked to below.

Language
  • Latin
Date

“peut-être par un Breton réfugié à Montreuil, entre 920 et le XIIe siècle au plus tard (date de ses deux manuscrits conservés: Douai, BM 842 et 865)” (Poulin).

Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships
Related: Vita interpolata sancti WinwaloeiVita interpolata sancti Winwaloei

A short redaction of the vita of St Winwaloe, based on an abridged, homiletic redaction (BHL 8962, called Sermunculus de vita s. Winwaloei by J.-C. Poulin). BHL 8953. A distinct feature of the present version is that it also borrows an episode relating to St Ethbin from the Vita brevior, with a unique conclusion in which both saints travel to Ireland.

Classification

Subjects

origins of Brittany (narrative world), c. 4th-6th centuuries
origins of Brittany (narrative world), c. 4th-6th centuuries
id. 63849

The time of migration and settlememt in Brittany, c. 4th-6th century, typically associated with the founding rulers (Conan Meriadoc, Gradlon/Grallon, Guiomar/Guigemar, etc.) and early founding saints (e.g. Paul Aurelian, Samson of Dol, Tudwal/Tugdual of Tréguier, Winwaloe of Landevenneg, Brioc, Malo, Corentin of Quimper, Paternus/Padarn, Goueznou).

Gwenolé
Gwenolé
(supp. fl. 6th c.)
Reputed founder, first abbot and patron saint of Landévennec in Cornouaille (now in Finistère, Brittany).
See more

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Acta sanctorum quotquot toto orbe coluntur, vel a catholicis scriptoribus celebrantur, 68 vols, vol. 6: Martius I (1–8), Antwerp: Ioannes Meursius, 1668.
Google Books: <link>
254–255 [‘Alia vita ex MSS Marchianensi & Monstroliensi’]

Secondary sources (select)

Poulin, Joseph-Claude, “Les réécritures dans l’hagiographie bretonne (VIIe-XIe siècles)”, in: Monique Goullet, and Martin Heinzelmann (eds), La réécriture hagiographique dans l’occident médiéval: transformations formelles et idéologiques, 58, Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke, 2003. 145–194.
 : <link>
188
James, Montague Rhodes, The ancient libraries of Canterbury and Dover: the catalogue of the libraries of Christ Church Priory and St. Augustine’s Abbey at Canterbury and of St. Martin’s Priory at Dover, Cambridge: University Press, 1903.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
421, 460 (cf. note on p. xciii) Catalogues of Dover priory.
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
January 2023, last updated: June 2023
Retrieved from ‘https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Sermunculus_de_vita_sancti_Winwaloei&oldid=291328’