Texts
Vita sancti Fursei
Incoming data
Life of the Irish missionary St Fursa (d. c. 649). BHL 3209.
Manuscript witnesses
MS
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 7672-7674
Life of Fursa, ed. Heist: 37-55.
f. 62vb–
Text
ff. 100v–105r
Text
Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 865
B2a4* and C4c1* (Krusch). Followed by the Virtutes.
ff. 143r–149v
Text
Heiligenkreuz, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 11
D2b (Krusch). Followed by the Additamentum.
ff. 45vb–48ra
Text
London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero E i/1
context: Cotton Corpus legendary B2a1 (Krusch).
ff. 93r–97v
Text
ff. 51–70v
Text
London, British Library, MS Egerton 2797
B2a2 (Krusch). Followed by a version of the Virtutes which Krusch has assigned to class C and numbered C4c.
ff. 87v–101
Text
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 17137
C3b (Krusch). Followed by the Virtutes (without ch. 1-3) and the Additamentum.
ff. 56v–58v
Text
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 2768A
D1 (Krusch). Followed by the Additamentum.
ff. 61–71
Text
ff. 5v–10v
Text
ff. 104–v108
Text
ff. 114r–124v
Text
ff. 120v–132v
Text
Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Sessoriano 40/ff. 185r-205v
C2a (Krusch). Followed by the Virtutes.
ff. 185ra–199rb
Text
Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 715/vol. 1
C3a (Krusch). Followed by the Virtutes.
ff. 64v–68v
Text
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Arch. Cap. S. Pietro A.5
rubric: Vita sancti Fursei dicta sancti Gregorii papae Manuscript consulted by Ciccarese.
ff. 38v–43v
Text
ff. 110–113
Text
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 1201
Manuscript consulted by Ciccarese.
ff. 31v–34v
Text
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 5772
Preceded by Bede’s version (extract from Historia ecclesiastica) and followed by the Additamentum.
ff. 54rb–57v
Text
ff. 90–96
Text
Wormsley Park, Getty Library, MS BM4149
A1* (Krusch). Followed by a version of the Virtutes (ff. 62v-66v) which Krusch has assigned to class C and numbered C2b.
ff. 55–62
MS
Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, MS Rhen. 81/pp. 352-379
rubric: Incipit vita sancti ac beatissimi Fursei abbatis incipit: Fuit vir vitae venerabilis incl. Additamentum Nivialense de Fuilano Incl. the Additamentum Nivellense. Page 363 is in a different hand whose style has been described as Irish in character and shows an Insular as well as a comtinental letter g.
in section: p. 352–
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.] Heist, W. W. [ed.], Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae: ex codice olim Salmanticensi, nunc Bruxellensi. Lives of the saints of Ireland, from the Salamanca manuscript now of Brussels, Subsidia Hagiographica, 28, Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1965.
37–55 Based on Brussels MS 7672-7674 (Codex Salmanticensis).
[ed.] Ciccarese, Maria Pia, “Le visioni di S. Fursa”, Romanobarbarica 8 (1984–1985): 231–303.
The first two visions omitted from the MGH edition.
[add.] [corr.] Krusch, B., “Vita virtutesque Fursei abbatis Latiniacensis et de Fuilano additamentum Nivialense”, in: Bruno Krusch, and Wilhelm Levison (eds), Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (V), 7, Hanover and Leipzig, 1920. 837–842.
Digital MGH: <link>
[ed.] Krusch, Bruno (ed.), Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (II), MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 4, Hanover, 1902.
Digital MGH: <link>
434–440 (text); 423–434 (introduction) [‘Vita Fursei abbatis Latiniacensis’] Omits the first two visions.
[ed.] De Smedt, Charles, and Joseph De Backer, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae ex codice Salmanticensi, Edinburgh and London, 1888.
Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum – scanned copy: <link>
77–112 Earlier edition. direct link
Secondary sources (select)
Hamann, Stefanie, “St Fursa, the genealogy of an Irish saint—the historical person and his cult”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 112 C (2012): 147–187.
abstract:
The Irish saint Fursa (d. 649) is renowned for his visions of the otherworld, transmitted in a near-contemporary Vita. He also appears in the Irish martyrologies and genealogies, the latter attributing to him a variety of pedigrees on his father's as well as his mother's side. This paper aims to show that by combining evidence from different types of sources; biographies, genealogies (Corpus genealogiarum sanctorum Hiberniae and Corpus genealogiarum Hiberniae), martyrologies (Félire Óengusso, Martyrology of Donegal and Martyrology of Cashel), and several Irish saints' Lives, it is possible to single out the most probable strand of tradition for the saint's origins. As it turns out, Fursa's differing genealogical affiliations mirror the subsequent shifts in political and ecclesiastical developments in Irish medieval history. Viewed from this perspective, the genealogies can supply valuable source material necessary for a biographical approach to a personality of the early Middle Ages.
Hamann, Stefanie, “Die Vita Fursei als chronologische Quelle”, Analecta Bollandiana 122 (2004): 283–298.
Ó Riain, Pádraig, “Les Vies de Saint Fursy: les sources irlandaises”, Revue du Nord 68 (1986): 405–413.
Kenney, James F., “Chapter VI: The expansion of Irish Christianity”, in: James F. Kenney, The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Revised ed., 11, New York: Octagon, 1966. 486–621.
501–502
