Fournival and Propertius: a note on the early history of Leiden, Voss. lat. O 38

Abstract

Leiden Voss. Lat. O 38, the fragmentary thirteenth-century manuscript of Propertius (A), is known to have been associated with the circle of Richard de Fournival (1201-1260). Although the rubricated titles are in the same hand as the scribe of the text, numerous marginal notes appear in a different hand (m.2), which must antedate the transcription of the manuscript by (or for) Petrarch around 1333. This article argues that, given the nature of the marginalia, their apparent relation to the ink used in the decoration of initials (c. 1230-50), and a striking error in the tituli, both the formulation of the tituli and the marginal hand m.2 can be attributed tentatively to Fournival himself, or to a close contemporary associate of his.