Florus of Lyon

Le manuscrit Paris BNF lat. 7558, copié dans le second quart du IXe siècle, est le seul témoin connu d’un poème introduit par les mots INCIPIT VERSUS  DREPANI  DE  CEREO  PASCHALI, longtemps attribué à Florus de Lyon († vers 860). Cette attribution, qui n’a jamais reçu de justification, remonte à l’anthologie de la poésie latine chrétienne de Georg Fabricius, achevée à Bâle en 1562. Reproduisant l’édition princeps, publiée deux ans plus tôt par les soins de Guillaume Morel, d’un ensemble de poèmes provenant du latin 7558, G. Fabricius avait procédé à un amalgame entre le nom d’auteur donné par l’intitulé du De cereo paschali, Drepanius, et Florus, signature interne de l’un des poèmes anonymes édités par Morel : il avait ainsi créé artificiellement le nom de Drepanius Florus, reçu et accepté par toute la bibliographie ultérieure. Cela n’allait pas cependant sans difficulté, et cette bibliographie, après avoir vu en Drepanius Florus un mystérieux poète du Ve puis du VIIe siècle, s’accorda vers le milieu du XVIIe siècle à reconnaître en lui le diacre Florus de Lyon, dont Drepanius n’aurait été que le surnom — opinion encore imprimée de nos jours. En réalité, Drepanius Florus n’a jamais existé qu’en vertu d’un malentendu créé par G. Fabricius : le manuscrit transmettait des poèmes de Florus de Lyon, et, séparément, un De cereo paschali attribué à Drepanius. Il fallait donc distinguer les deux noms, mais aussi distinguer les deux oeuvres. S’il n’était pas Florus de Lyon, qui était ce Drepanius ? L’histoire littéraire et, plus largement, l’onomastique latine ne connaissent qu’un personnage de ce nom, Latinius Pacatus Drepanius.

Gottschalk of Orbais (808-867):  His influence upon the transmission of Augustinian theology to the future reformers may make him the de facto source of Protestantism.  His name meant “God’s Servant” (Ussher, Elrington 124) and he was an impressed monk who attained to monastic magister and secular professor (Gillis 154, 156).  He was an accomplished poet and hymnist and missionary among the Balkan Bulgars.  He coined the phrase “the German people (Genke, Lectio 1)” and “confessed that God is sovereign…in election and reprobation (H. Hanko, ‘Martyr’),” “defended by orthodox prelates and provincial synods (Prichard 186).”  Incarcerated for two decades as a yurodivy  hermit forgotten by man, he was “one of the saddest characters of early-medieval German culture (Murdoch, Gottschalk).”  The question whether or not Gottschalk belongs to the category of early reformer hinges upon whether he is more like Fulgentius and Augustine [430 or less years before him] on the one side, or Bradwardine and Rimini [430 years or more after him] on the other (Gumerlock, “Gottschalk” 16).  According to Hans von Schubert , “It is not only our right but also our obligation to regard this German Calvin as one of the first heroes of the history of our faith  (H. Hanko, ‘Martyr’).”

The article summarizes the state of the art as regards the late-antique and early medieval direct tradition of Augustine’s De ciuitate Dei, with some new critical insights. It aims to provide a solid basis for future research on the topic and to fill a gap in the existing literature, by critically sifting through the information scattered in the bibliography and bringing it together into a coherent and up-to-date picture. The first part deals with a general overview of the earliest dissemination of De ciuitate Dei and its textual history in the early Middle Ages. In the second part, the complete and partial witnesses dated up to the 9th century that may be used to establish the text of De ciuitate Dei are listed. After an outline of the history of Bernhard Dombart’s edition and its revision by Alphonse Kalb, the last part deals with the little information available so far regarding the genealogical relations between the earliest copies, with a focus on Florus of Lyon’s role in the transmission of the work. Paratexts, readers’ annotations, and variant readings are discussed and mutually integrated, also in light of the recently published articles by Emanuela Colombi (2013 and 2019) and Jesse Keskiaho (2019).

[FR] Le manuscrit Montpellier, BU Fac. Médecine, 157 contient une lettre d'évêque orientale tardo-antique, en traduction latine, dont le texte original grec ne semble pas conservé, et qui est étrangement restée inédite jusqu'à ce jour. Elle y apparaît en tête d'un manuel sur le comput pascal élaboré vers 840 par Florus de Lyon, la « collection De pascha », dont Montpellier 157, copié en 848 par un fidèle de Florus, Mannon de Saint-Oyen, est l'unique témoin conservé. Ainsi, ce recueil carolingien lyonnais serait la seule trace de l'existence de cette lettre — si saint Augustin n'avait pas lu, de manière certaine, ce Liber Timothei episcopi de pascha. En attendant l'édition et l'étude du texte, que je prépare actuellement avec Camille Gerzaguet, ce premier article entend donner des éléments de contexte : description et analyse du manuel de Florus, description matérielle et bio-bibliographie du témoin. On éclaire ainsi à la fois les raisons pour lesquelles Florus a sauvé ce texte rarissime d'une disparition complète, et les raisons pour lesquelles ce texte a échappé jusqu'ici à la vigilance des érudits modernes et des chercheurs contemporains.

[EN] MS. Montpellier, BU Fac. Médecine, 157 contains the Latin translation of an eastern late Antique bishop's letter, whose original Greek text appears to be lost; strangely enough, this text has remained totally unpublished to this day. It is the opening text of a handbook on Easter computus that was compiled around 840 by Florus of Lyons; Montpellier 157, which was copied in 848 by someone we know close to Florus, Manno of Saint-Oyen, is the only extant witness of this " De pascha collection ". This Carolingian Lyonnais miscellany would be the only trace of this letter's very existence — had not Saint Augustine himself drawn upon this Liber Timothei episcopi de pascha. In anticipation of the edition and analysis of this text that I am currently preparing with Camille Gerzaguet, this article explores its general context: a description and analysis of Florus' handbook, as well as a material description and a bio-bibliography of the unique witness. These elements shed light on the reasons why Florus saved this most rare text from oblivion, as well as the reasons why the text escaped, until now, the vigilance of modern and contemporary scholars.

The so-called Codex Seguierianus, Paris, BNF, lat. 10592, a collection of Cyprian of Carthage written in the 5th–6th century, has been described as “the” Cyprian’s manuscript of Florus of Lyon (flor. ca. 825–855). But when cross-referencing every use of Cyprian in Florus’ works and every trace left by Florus within the Seguierianus, these series overlap in one occasion only. In his works, then, Florus nearly always used other manuscripts rather than the Seguierianus — and conversely the traces he left in the Seguierianus are imprints of other Florus’ studies that are not preserved or not yed identified. In particular, Florus used the Seguierianus for editorial purposes, whose impact in Cyprian’s tradition is yet to be assessed.

The Carolingian period is chiefly remembered as a period of renovatio. In joint cooperation, the Carolingian dynasty and intellectual elites saw to revision of a number of practices and texts. Some of the artifacts of these reforms and their agents are well-known. There is Paul the Deacon and his Homiliary, which provided a model sequence of sermons for the whole year; there is Alcuin and his revised Bible, which became the version disseminated by the scriptorium of Tours; there is Benedict of Aniane and his reform of monastic life which was to be organized in accordance with the Rule of Benedict. Then, there was the Caroline minuscule, which supplanted many local variants of script in regions that were controlled by Carolingians, the reform of the liturgy, of schooling and of many other areas of life. Some of the components of the Carolingian renovatio, however, have not been as well-researched. This piece is concerned with one of such less familiar area of the Carolingian Renaissance, the revision of the Psalter in accordance with the rules of the Classical textual criticism.

Couvert est actuellement un simple hameau de la commune de Juaye-Mondaye (Calvados), et son ancienne église paroissiale n’est plus qu’une ruine. Mais avant la Révolution cette église accueillait le culte d’une sainte méconnue, qui n’a fait jusqu’ici l’objet que de peu de recherches, alors qu’elle est l’une des plus anciennement attestées en Normandie : sainte Basile.

La collection de douze compilations de Florus sur l'Apôtre est présentée, jusque dans son édition récente, comme une œuvre que Florus aurait composée telle quelle. Pourtant, beaucoup d'éléments invitent à reconsidérer l'unité supposée de l'ensemble, en même temps que l'histoire de ce corpus à l'époque moderne explique pourquoi et comment s'est forgée l'image moderne qu'on s'est faite de cette documentation.