Manuscripts
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, MS 167 Virgil (Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis) with scholia Bernensia
- Latin
- s. ix2
- Continental manuscripts
- parchment
9th-century manuscript of the works of Virgil (Bucolica, Georgica and Aeneis), with commentary running in the outer column. On the first six folia, this is prefaced by paratextual material relating to Virgil’s life and works.
Identifiers
Location
Switzerland Bern, Burgerbibliothek
Shelfmark
167
Provenance and related aspects
Language
Latin
Date
s. ix2
Final third of the 9th century (Bischofff 1998); 2nd half of the 9th century (Munk Olsen).
Origin, provenance
Origin: France, northFrance, north
See more Brittany
See more Bernhard Bischoff (1998) suggests, like others before him, that it was written in Brittany during the final third of the 9th century. The Breton hypothesis is encouraged by the presence of Old Breton glosses, which were previously published by Whitley Stokes. Stokes himself, however, pointed out some errors in the glosses, suggesting that they may have been copied from a Breton exemplar by a scribe who was not himself at home with the Breton language.(3)n. 3 In the course of discussing cultural contacts between Ireland and Brittany, Helen McKee suggests that the Old Breton glosses “seem inspired by Irish”. Helen Simpson McKee, ‘Ireland, Tours and Brittany: the case of Cambridge Corpus Christi College, MS. 279’ in Irlande et Bretagne... (1994): 115.
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Brittany
Brittany
No short description available
See more Bernhard Bischoff (1998) suggests, like others before him, that it was written in Brittany during the final third of the 9th century. The Breton hypothesis is encouraged by the presence of Old Breton glosses, which were previously published by Whitley Stokes. Stokes himself, however, pointed out some errors in the glosses, suggesting that they may have been copied from a Breton exemplar by a scribe who was not himself at home with the Breton language.(3)n. 3 In the course of discussing cultural contacts between Ireland and Brittany, Helen McKee suggests that the Old Breton glosses “seem inspired by Irish”. Helen Simpson McKee, ‘Ireland, Tours and Brittany: the case of Cambridge Corpus Christi College, MS. 279’ in Irlande et Bretagne... (1994): 115.
Origin: France, north-centralFrance, north-central
See more Fleury
See more Auxerre
See more The MS is closely related to a manuscript of Fleury provenance containing Virgil’s works along with the scholia Bernensia (Bern MS 172 + BNF MS 7929). Murgia suggested that it was this exemplar from which Bern 167 copied its commentary on the Aeneid and possibly other parts. Although the exact nature of the relationship between these MSS remains debated, it has enabled scholars to localise the production of Bern 167 in the environs of the Loire region (north-central France), conceivably Fleury or Auxerre, where there would have been frequent exchange of manuscripts. A possible, specific background for the use of a Breton exemplar, as mentioned earlier, is the fact that during the 9th century, the threat of Viking incursions would sometimes lead Breton monks to bring their manuscripts in relative safety to Fleury.(4)n. 4 Marco Mostert, The library of Fleury: a provisional list of manuscripts (1989): 24. The Auxerre hypothesis would find some support in Pierre Daniel’s description of the MS as Autissiodorensis. See below.
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Fleury
Fleury, St. Benedict’s monastery
Monastery on the banks of the Loire in what is now Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire in north-central France.
See more Auxerre
Saint-Germain d'Auxerre
No short description available
See more The MS is closely related to a manuscript of Fleury provenance containing Virgil’s works along with the scholia Bernensia (Bern MS 172 + BNF MS 7929). Murgia suggested that it was this exemplar from which Bern 167 copied its commentary on the Aeneid and possibly other parts. Although the exact nature of the relationship between these MSS remains debated, it has enabled scholars to localise the production of Bern 167 in the environs of the Loire region (north-central France), conceivably Fleury or Auxerre, where there would have been frequent exchange of manuscripts. A possible, specific background for the use of a Breton exemplar, as mentioned earlier, is the fact that during the 9th century, the threat of Viking incursions would sometimes lead Breton monks to bring their manuscripts in relative safety to Fleury.(4)n. 4 Marco Mostert, The library of Fleury: a provisional list of manuscripts (1989): 24. The Auxerre hypothesis would find some support in Pierre Daniel’s description of the MS as Autissiodorensis. See below.
Later provenance: Fleury
See more ass. with Daniel (Pierre) [jurist]
See more At the end of the 16th century, when the abbey of Fleury had been sacked by Huguenots, Pierre Daniel purchased and in effect salvaged a collection of manuscripts from its library. Among them was the present MS, which he describes, on the basis of no known authority, as being from Auxerre (Autissiodorensis).
Fleury, St. Benedict’s monastery
Monastery on the banks of the Loire in what is now Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire in north-central France.
See more ass. with Daniel (Pierre) [jurist]
Daniel (Pierre) ... jurist
(c.1530–1603/1604)
French jurist and scholar of Orléans, who in 1562 managed to rescue a large collection of manuscripts of the library of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire) after it was sacked by the Huguenots. After he died, his library was purchased by the scholars Jacques Bongars and Paul Petau and over time, many of the medieval manuscripts ended up in Bern or the Vatican.
See more At the end of the 16th century, when the abbey of Fleury had been sacked by Huguenots, Pierre Daniel purchased and in effect salvaged a collection of manuscripts from its library. Among them was the present MS, which he describes, on the basis of no known authority, as being from Auxerre (Autissiodorensis).
Hands, scribes
Codicological information
Material
parchment
Dimensions
32 cm × 23.25 cm
32 x 23-23.5 cm
Palaeographical information
Script
Category: Caroline minuscule
Table of contents
Legend
Texts
Links to texts use a standardised title for the catalogue and so may or may not reflect what is in the manuscript itself, hence the square brackets. Their appearance comes in three basic varieties, which are signalled through colour coding and the use of icons, , and :
- - If a catalogue entry is both available and accessible, a direct link will be made. Such links are blue-ish green and marked by a bookmark icon.
- - When a catalogue entry does not exist yet, a desert brown link with a different icon will take you to a page on which relevant information is aggregated, such as relevant publications and other manuscript witnesses if available.
- - When a text has been ‘captured’, that is, a catalogue entry exists but is still awaiting publication, the same behaviour applies and a crossed eye icon is added.
The above method of differentiating between links has not been applied yet to texts or citations from texts which are included in the context of other texts, commonly verses.
Locus
While it is not a reality yet, CODECS seeks consistency in formatting references to locations of texts and other items of interest in manuscripts. Our preferences may be best explained with some examples:
- f. 23ra.34: meaning folio 23 recto, first column, line 34
- f. 96vb.m: meaning folio 96, verso, second column, middle of the page (s = top, m = middle, i = bottom)
- Note that marg. = marginalia, while m = middle.
- p. 67b.23: meaning page 67, second column, line 23
The list below has been collated from the table of contents, if available on this page,Progress in this area is being made piecemeal. Full and partial tables of contents are available for a small number of manuscripts. and incoming annotations for individual texts (again, if available).Whenever catalogue entries about texts are annotated with information about particular manuscript witnesses, these manuscripts can be queried for the texts that are linked to them.
Sources
Notes
In the course of discussing cultural contacts between Ireland and Brittany, Helen McKee suggests that the Old Breton glosses “seem inspired by Irish”. Helen Simpson McKee, ‘Ireland, Tours and Brittany: the case of Cambridge Corpus Christi College, MS. 279’ in Irlande et Bretagne... (1994): 115.
Marco Mostert, The library of Fleury: a provisional list of manuscripts (1989): 24.
In the course of discussing cultural contacts between Ireland and Brittany, Helen McKee suggests that the Old Breton glosses “seem inspired by Irish”. Helen Simpson McKee, ‘Ireland, Tours and Brittany: the case of Cambridge Corpus Christi College, MS. 279’ in Irlande et Bretagne... (1994): 115.
Marco Mostert, The library of Fleury: a provisional list of manuscripts (1989): 24.
Primary sources This section typically includes references to diplomatic editions, facsimiles and photographic reproductions, notably digital image archives, of at least a major portion of the manuscript. For editions of individual texts, see their separate entries.
[dig. img.] Flüeler, Christoph [project director], and Urs Baumann [photographer], e-codices: virtual manuscript library of Switzerland, Online: University of Freiburg, 2006–present. URL: <http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch>.
direct link
[ed.] Hagen, Hermann, Scholia Bernensia ad Vergili Bucolica atque Georgica, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1867.
Internet Archive: <link>
996–998 Periochae Bernenses II (996-998).
Secondary sources (select)
Ziolkowski, Jan, and Michael C. J. Putnam (eds), The Virgilian tradition: the first fifteen hundred years, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2008. xxxix + 1082 pp.
Divided into five sections: 1. Virgil the poet; 2. Biography: images of Virgil; 3. Virgil's texts and their uses; 4. Commentary tradition; and 5. Virgilian legends.
For direct references, see 237, 249, 250, 251, 674
Bischoff, Bernhard, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), vol. 1: Aachen–Lambach, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für die Herausgabe der mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998.
114 [id. 542.]
Lemoine, Louis, “Signes de construction syntaxique dans les manuscrits bretons du haut Moyen Âge”, ALMA: Bulletin du Cange 52 (1994): 77–108.
ALMA – PDF: <link>
81, 85 ff On the use of critical signs.
Mostert, Marco, The library of Fleury: a provisional list of manuscripts, Middeleeuwse Studies en Bronnen, 3, Hilversum: Verloren, 1989.
Incl. a list of Breton manuscripts.
[id. 93.]
Deuffic, Jean-Luc, “La production manuscrite des scriptoria bretons (VIIIe-XIe siècle)”, in: Marc Simon (ed.), Landévennec et le monachisme breton dans le haut Moyen Âge: actes du colloque du 15e centenaire de l’abbaye de Landévennec, 25-26-27 avril 1985, Association Landévennec 485–1985, Landévennec: Association Landévennec, 1986. 289–321.
Lambert, Pierre-Yves, “Les gloses celtiques aux commentaires de Virgile”, Études Celtiques 23 (1986): 81–128.
Munk Olsen, Birger, L’étude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe siècles, vol. 2: Catalogue des manuscrits classiques latins copiés du IXe au XIIe siècles. Livius–Vitrivius, Paris: CNRS, 1985.
704 Not seen.
Murgia, Charles E., Prolegomena to Servius 5: the manuscripts, University of California Publications, Classical Studies, 11, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
Internet Archive – Available on loan: <link>
Savage, John J., “The manuscripts of the commentary of Servius Danielis on Vergil”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 43 (1932): 77–121.
Beeson, C. H., “Insular symptoms in the commentaries on Vergil”, Studi Medievali, Nuova serie 5 (1932): 81–100.
: <link>
Savage, John J., “The scholia in the Virgil of Tours, Bernensis 165”, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 36 (1925): 91–164.
On p. 94 n. 3, signals an additional gloss: Aeneis 2:340, ‘loer cann’. For his reading piller as a gloss to 5.280, see Lambert (1986: 113) above, who reads Lat. pillei (gen. of pilleus).
Lindsay, W. M., Notae Latinae: an account of abbreviation in Latin mss. of the early minuscule period, c. 700-850, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915.
comments: For the supplement, see Bains 1936a
Lindsay, W. M., “Breton scriptoria: their Latin abbreviation symbols”, Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 29 (1912): 264–272.
Digizeitschriften.de: <link>
External links
web page identifiers
page name: Bern, Burgerbibliothek, MS 167
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Bern,_Burgerbibliothek,_MS_167
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/43660
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=43660
page ID: 43660
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=43660
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2019, last updated: December 2023
