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28 Martianus Capella and the Carolingians: Some Observations Based on the Glosses on Books I–II from the Oldest Gloss Tradition on De nuptiis SINÉAD O’SULLIVAN This paper pays tribute to my former teacher, Jennifer O’Reilly, by examining the Carolingian reception of Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis. It concerns the transformation of late antique inheritance in the early medieval West, a topic at the core of both our interests. The oldest gloss tradition on Martianus’ De nuptiis, one of three major Carolingian efforts to elucidate the work,1 provides insight into the centrality of an author whom Joseph Scaliger (1540–1609) and many after him have regarded as barbarus scriptor.2 In this paper I examine the glosses for clues to Martianus’ strong appeal for ninth-century scholars, especially from the first two books of De nuptiis, whose lengthy allegorical fantasy frequently received the glossators’ most concentrated attention. His ninth-century vogue, together with his pre-Caroline reception,3 have been documented but often not explained.4 The oldest gloss tradition is sometimes attributed to the famous Carolingian scholar Martin of Laon, but no consensus to its authorship obtains.5 In the extant manuscripts, the glosses are usually written by more than one scribe. These scribes sometimes appear to have worked in tandem. What they have left us comprises multiple, overlapping layers of annotations , corrections, additions and emendations. Their work displays keen interest not only in elucidating and interpreting but also in establishing the text of De nuptiis. Though this tradition of glossing is fluid in form, it comprises a relatively stable and coherent body of commentary, hence a reasonably reliable basis for drawing inferences about the Carolingian reception of the text. Glosses are both marginal and interlinear in the extant ninth- and tenth-century manuscripts.6 Rarely do they appear as a running commentary.7 Notable is the sheer number of glosses shared by all or many of the manuscripts Martianus Capella and the Carolingians 29 transmitting the tradition. This degree of sharing strongly suggests not so much random accretion as a larger and more diffuse process of transmission. Codicological and palaeographical evidence further supports the idea that the tradition was well established. Teeuwen, for example, has demonstrated that many of the manuscripts were actually laid out to contain both glosses and text.8 In addition, the glosses were often contemporary with the text. Most of the extant manuscripts date to the second half of the ninth century, with the oldest surviving manuscript dating to the first half of the ninth century (Leiden, Universiteitsbiliotheek, Voss. Lat. F. 48). Copying and dissemination happened in many of the key intellectual centres of the Carolingian world: Auxerre, Corbie, Rheims and Fleury. And glossing activity was not just centred in the Loire valley, northeastern and eastern France, but also spread further eastwards towards Lorsch (Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, BPL 36) and Cologne (Cologne, Dombibliothek MS. 193, and possibly London, British Library, Harley 2685).9 The oldest gloss tradition is not, however, the only witness to Carolingian scholarly interest in Martianus. Other indications that De nuptiis was a central text for ninth-century scholars are not difficult to find: the large number of extant manuscripts from the period; the presence of all nine books in many manuscripts, which are actively corrected, annotated, illustrated and supplied with alternative readings; the frequent copying and circulation of the text; the production of two other major commentaries; the abundance of glosses comprising all three commentaries, attesting to enormous scribal activity, especially in the allegorical books; the glossators’ interest in the poetry, classical content, pagan imagery, cosmological setting, philosophical currents and secular disciplines; and the identification of Martianus as an authority on certain disciplines, for example astronomy.10 Such industrious devotion, which undoubtedly helped to establish the reputation of De nuptiis henceforth in the Middle Ages, is in sharp contrast to the post-medieval reception of his work, which leaves a legacy of strong criticism. Later resistance, if not strident critical objection, suggests, in its focus on Martianus’ language, style and form, a fundamental cultural rift between us and the Carolingians. Martianus’ language and style render him more than a little abstruse, particularly in the allegorical books. And modern commentators have often been less than enthusiastic in their praise. While there have been efforts to appreciate the literary achievements of Martianus, most notably in the work of Fanny LeMoine, Danuta Shanzer and Sabine Grebe, clearly a profound stylistic gulf separates Martianus’ ninth-century readers from the majority [18...

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