Texts

Virtutes sancti Fursei‘The miracles of St Fursa’

  • Latin
  • Irish hagiography
Anonymous Latin text about St Fursa (d. c.650) and his miracles, composed perhaps around 800, or a little later. It was probably written as a supplement to the saint’s first Life, Vita sancti Fursei (7th c.), a role which it maintained in the manuscripts, where the Virtutes is always found in association with the Vita. BHL 3213.
Title
Virtutes sancti Fursei
‘The miracles of St Fursa’
al. Miracula sancti Fursei.
Manuscripts

In Bruno Krusch’s classification of the manuscript witnesses of the Vita and the Virtutes (A-D), the Virtutes is particularly associated with class C. While copies of the Virtutes are also attested with Vitae of other classes, Krusch assigned many of them to class C, too. This list is not yet comprehensive. 

Class C
  • Wormsley Park, Getty Library, MS BM4149
    ff. 62v–66v
    C2b (Krusch), preceded by a version of the Vita which Krusch assigned to class A.
  • The Hague, Royal Library, MS 71 H 66
    C3 (Krusch)
  • Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 715 vol. 1 [s. xi–xii]
    ff. 68v–70v
    C3a (Krusch).
  • Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 17137
    ff. 58v–61
    C3b (Krusch). Version without ch. 1-3, followed by the Additamentum.
  • Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 17625
    ff. 124v–130v
    C4a (Krusch, who mentions this witness in the variant readings).
  • Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 11749
    ff. 10v–13
    C4b (Krusch).
  • London, British Library, MS Egerton 2797
    ff. 101–108v
    C4c (Krusch). Krusch notes that the text has been changed by a later hand.
  • Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 864
    ff. 105–108v
    C4c1 (Krusch). Follows a Vita of class B (B2a4).
  • Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 865 (865 (768)) [s. x/xi]
    ff. 149v–151v
    C4c1* (Krusch). Follows a Vita of class B (B2a4*).
  • Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS lat. quart. 122
    C5 (Krusch).
Class D
  • Rein, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 51
    D2b* (Krusch). Omits ch. 1-3 (cf. Munich MS Clm 17137).
Language
  • Latin
Date
c.800 or early 9th century (Krusch).

Classification

Irish hagiographyIrish hagiography
...

Subjects

FursaFursa
(fl. 7th century)
Irish monk and missionary
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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.] Krusch, Bruno (ed.), Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (II), MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 4, Hanover, 1902.
Digital MGH: <link>
440–449 direct link

Secondary sources (select)

Ó Riain, Pádraig, “Les Vies de Saint Fursy: les sources irlandaises”, Revue du Nord 68 (1986): 405–413.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
May 2011, last updated: September 2022