Neue Textzeugen des Carmen ad Astralabium des Petrus Abaelardus

Abstract

The first complete edition of Peter Abaelard's Carmen ad Astralabium had been published by Jean-Barthelemy Haureau in 1895, but unfortunately, it was badly hampered by the lack of any critical apparatus. Abaelard's poem had to wait 90 years for its first critical edition by Josepha Marie Annais Rubingh-Bosscher in 1987. Written and submitted as a thesis at the University of Groningen, it has been only privately printed. Therefore, a new edition is being prepared in Groningen, destined for the Corpus Christianorum. Although Rubingh-Bosscher knew of and used 11 more or less complete manuscripts, new witnesses have corne to light that preserve excerpts ranging from 19 to 119 lines. In this paper, I have described Leipzig, Universitatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 212; Reims, Bibliotheque municipale, Ms. 521; Troyes, Bibliotheque municipale, Ms. 215; Wien, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 901. In light of these new discoveries I have discussed the text of some passages, probably misunderstood by Rubingh-Bosscher. Of greât interest are two epigrams, each citing two lines from Abaelard's Carmen. I have argued that the epigrams might be remains of the original poems from which Abaelard later compiled his long collection of sayings and proverbs. This would greatly enhance our understanding of the genesis of the Carmen ad A stralabium.