| Common name of collection | Saint Omer collection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type of collection | Letter collection (hypothetically) (explanation and all of this type) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date (relevant parts) | between 1080 and 1085 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commentary | There are two manuscripts containing material of Gregory VII:
Saint Omer 188
and Boulogne 72, both
preserving the same items and both containing the same version of
the texts which is significantly different from the one in the register.
The manuscripts are clearly related. But how? Boulogne 72 contains some
obvious mistakes and omissions, so it cannot be the ancestor of
Saint Omer 188. The other way round is a little bit more likely,
but there are three minor scribal errors in Saint Omer 188
where Boulogne 72 has the correct text. While a clever copyist
could have correct them, it is unlikely that he would have re-ordered the items: In Saint Omer 188
Registrum VII, 16 is at the very end - written by a different hand.
Whereas in Boulogne 72
Registrum VII, 16 is the fifth item. I guess the main scribe
of the Gregory VII letters in Saint Omer 188 had simply forgotten
to copy it and another canon supplemented it later, while Boulogne 72
preserved the correct order. (What makes it more complicated is that
Registrum VII, 16
is also in Saint Omer 194 but in a version
quite close to the register text. To be honest, I cannot explain
that fact.) So, because I think a common ancestor of both manuscripts is likely to have existed, I dare to establish a new
hypothetical collection which I call "Saint Omer collection".
I believe that the changes made in the letters are mostly done out of stylistic reasons. (Maybe as a kind of exercise.) I cannot find any (political) tendency/bias. One important consequence is: Ep. vagans 24 (†? = suspicious) and Ep. vagans 41 (†? = suspicious), which are both only in the Saint Omer collection and its two descendants, are now under suspicion of being altered or even interpolated. See commentary to Ep. vagans 24 (†? = suspicious). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May have contained (7 different items) |
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| Show visualisation of tradition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Item with a reference to this collection |
