An Edition of an Unstudied Early Carolingian Sermon Collection

Abstract

This article consists of a study and edition of a previously unpublished cycle of nineteen early medieval Latin sermons. This collection survives mostly intact in two ninth-century manuscripts in the monastic library of St. Gall, while two later manuscripts from Italy and Germany bear witness to a few individual pieces from the cycle. Among the more interesting characteristics of these sermons are their simple, rustic language, which is heavily influenced by Vulgar Latin in both syntax and vocabulary; and their thorough dependence on the Hiberno-Latin Reference Bible (De enigmatibus) for basic scriptural exegesis. The author argues that the collection was originally composed for an uneducated public in the late eighth or early ninth century, probably in a Romance-speaking area of the Carolingian Empire.