Among the hagiographies related to the semi-legendary Breton figure of Saint Machutus, the vita written by Bili (BHL 5116) is probably the best known; however, all the critical editions produced in the last century share the problem of the low number of manuscripts reporting the text. The discovery of new witnesses, especially the codex Hereford, Cathedral Library, P 7 VI (H), will allow not only to produce a new edition, but also to provide some answers to one of the major, yet little-investigated, problems of this text, i.e. which of the many episodes reported by a single witness can be considered original. In this paper all these cases will be discussed, paying particular attention to five new episodes trasmitted by H, the reasons for which all of them has been written and the resulting picture of the author. Finally the possibility that some new pieces could still be added to the enigmatic ‘puzzle’ of Bili’s work will be considered.
Vecchie e nuove tessere per il ‘puzzle agiografico’ della «Vita sancti Machutis» di Bili (BHL 5116) / Abelli, Luca. - In: HAGIOGRAPHICA. - ISSN 1124-1225. - STAMPA. - 2024 - XXXI:(2024), pp. 1-24.
Vecchie e nuove tessere per il ‘puzzle agiografico’ della «Vita sancti Machutis» di Bili (BHL 5116)
Luca Abelli
2024-01-01
Abstract
Among the hagiographies related to the semi-legendary Breton figure of Saint Machutus, the vita written by Bili (BHL 5116) is probably the best known; however, all the critical editions produced in the last century share the problem of the low number of manuscripts reporting the text. The discovery of new witnesses, especially the codex Hereford, Cathedral Library, P 7 VI (H), will allow not only to produce a new edition, but also to provide some answers to one of the major, yet little-investigated, problems of this text, i.e. which of the many episodes reported by a single witness can be considered original. In this paper all these cases will be discussed, paying particular attention to five new episodes trasmitted by H, the reasons for which all of them has been written and the resulting picture of the author. Finally the possibility that some new pieces could still be added to the enigmatic ‘puzzle’ of Bili’s work will be considered.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione