¹ This paper has grown out of a study of Lamentations exegesis and the Carolingian liturgy presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May of 1980. A grant from the American Philosophical Society allowed me to examine important manuscripts in Karlsruhe and Munich.Google Scholar

² The first critical edition of a major Carolingian biblical commentary is currently in preparation: Beda Paulus, o.s.b. is engaged in an edition of the In Matthaeum of Paschasius Radbertus for the Corpus Christianorum series. This is a logical first text to receive such honored treatment; the In Matthaeum has clear links to Radbertus’ eucharistic writings, and has long been admired for its sophisticated christology.Google Scholar

³ For a thorough study of the form and theology of Lamentations, see Gottwald, N. K., Studies in the Book of Lamentations (London 1954). Gottwald believes (21) that all five poems were written, by someone other than Jeremiah, between 587 and 538 bce. On p. 20, n. 2, he gives a list of the most useful modern commentaries on the book. For the history of the Jeremiah corpus, see Bogaert, P. M., ‘La tradition des oracles et du livre de Jérémie, des origines au moyen ǎge,’ Revue théologique de Louvain 8 (1977) 305–28.Google Scholar

⁴ The first poem follows the standard order of the Hebrew alphabet in 22 verses, the first beginning with aleph, the last beginning with tau. In the second, third, and fourth chapters, the letters ain (no. 16) and phe (no. 17) are reversed; the third poem has a further variant in that each letter appears three times, for a total of 66 verses. Chapter 5 is a non-acrostic poem. These formal differences have led to the suggestion that the poems were written by a variety of authors. Concerning this, Gottwald states (21) that the first four poems ‘are the work of a single poet [but] with respect to the concluding poem it is impossible to be dogmatic.’Google Scholar

⁵ The best study of the Latin texts of Lamentations is in the introduction to the Biblia sacra iuxta Latinam Vulgatam versionem by the monks of the Pontifical Abbey of Saint Jerome (Rome 1972). The Lamentations text of this edition is exactly that of Weber's, R. Vulgate edition (Stuttgart 1969). Both of these editions were consulted for the discussion of textual variants on pp. 158–59 below.Google Scholar

⁶ This tradition is discussed by Levine, E., The Aramaic Version of Lamentations (New York 1976) 13. Its power is especially evident in the fact (ibid. 9, 13) that the Aramaic Lamentations text printed by Levine mentions the fall of the second Temple in 70 ce, and was probably written as a response to this calamity, also celebrated on the Ninth of Ab.Google Scholar

⁷ On Maundy Thursday, the three lessons of the first nocturn of matins are Lamentations 1.1–14; on Good Friday, Lamentations 2.8–15 and 3.1–9 are read; on Holy Saturday, the readings are Lamentations 3.22–30, 4.1–6, and 5.1–11. For a standard modern edition of this ancient liturgical tradition, see The Hours of the Divine Office in English and Latin (Collegeville, Minnesota 1963) II 1106–9 (Thursday), 1133–35 (Friday), and 1156–59 (Saturday). This is the order dictated by a tenth-century liturgical codex from Saint-Martial, Limoges, Paris, B.N. lat. 740, fols. 175^v–179^r, the oldest manuscript testimony I have found.Google Scholar

⁸ Bishop, E. reviews the evidence for the Gallican invention of Tenebrae in his classic discussion of the so-called Ordo of Saint-Amand, Liturgica Historica (Oxford 1918) 159; see also Duchesne, L., Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution (2nd ed., tr. McClure, M. L.; London 1903) 248–49 for a discussion of the Gallican origin of the chant used in the Holy Week liturgies, and 452 n. 1 for a linking of the lections in the Office to the developing Gallican liturgy of the seventh century. The custom was certainly not of Roman origin; the Carolingian allegorist Amalarius was surprised to find that the clergy at the Lateran knew nothing of Tenebrae: Libro de ordine antiphonarii 44, ed. Hanssens, J. M., Amalarii Episcopi opera liturgica omnia III (Studi e Testi 140; Vatican City 1950) 79–81. In the Liber officialis Amalarius discusses the symbolic importance of the nine prophetic lessons which begin matins on the last three days of Holy Week, but mentions neither Jeremiah nor Lamentations specifically: ed. Hanssens, II (Studi e Testi 139; Vatican City 1948) 470. On the origin of Tenebrae, Hanssens proposes a terminus ante quem non of the fifth century, because of the importance of Cassian in the development of Matins from the office of Vespers: Nature et genèse de l'Office des Matins (Analecta Gregoriana 57; Rome 1952) 45.Google Scholar

⁹ Eusebius, ‘ VI.24.2, and VI.25.2 (ed. Schwartz, E., GCS, Eusebius Werke II² [Leipzig 1908] 572, 574). The second reference states explicitly: ‘,’ but see nn. 10 and 11 below.Google Scholar

¹⁰ ‘Klagelieder Kommentar,’ ed. Klostermann, E., GCS, Origenes Werke III (Leipzig 1901). This text, extant only in Greek, is taken from catenae on the Prophets and the Ochtateuch found in four manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries: ibid. xxxix. It was first studied by Michaele Ghisleri, a Roman Theatine, whose In Jeremiam prophetam commentarii (Lyon 1623) III is taken from one Vatican MS and considerably corrected by Klostermann. For Ghisleri, see the article of Mas, B., Dictionnaire de Spiritualité (Paris 1967) VI 350–51. Ghisleri's edition is printed in PG 13.606–62, under the title ‘Ex Origine Selecta in Threnos’; see Stegmüller, F., Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi (Madrid 1954) no. 6207.Google Scholar

Migne claims that Origen's Lamentations commentary was known to Nicephorus, the Byzantine historian: ‘monitum,’ PG 13.605–6. However, Nicephorus’ list of Origen's works is so highly dependent on Eusebius that it is impossible to know for certain whether the text was actually available in thirteenth-century Constantinople. Compare Nicephorus’ description: ‘,’ PG 145.1101a, to Eusebius, n. 9 above. See also G. Gentz, Die Kirchengeschichte des Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus und ihre Quellen (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 98; Berlin 1966) 64. I am grateful to Brian Daley, of the Weston School of Theology, for his help with the Origen materials.

¹¹ See the edition of Schwartz for Rufinus’ translation of Eusebius’ history. The reference to Lamentations in 6.24.2 is part of a paragraph omitted by the translator (573), and the Latin version (575) of the list in 6.25.2 renders ‘ …’ as simply ‘Hieremias.’ No knowledge of the text was therefore available to the West through Eusebius.Google Scholar

¹² In a long list of Origen's works written for his friend Paula, Jerome mentions ‘In Lamentationes Hierem iaetomos V’: Epistle 33.4 (ed. Hilberg, I., CSEL 54 [Vienna 1910] 250).Google Scholar

¹³ Reiter, Ed. S., CCL 74 (Turnhout 1960). Origen's homilies on Jeremiah and the Lexicon nominum Hebraicorum are cited: see the index, 376. The Lamentations do not figure prominently in this interpretation.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Kelly, J. N. D., Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (New York 1975) 327 n. 16, referring to the prologue of Jerome's commentary on Ezekiel (ed. Glorie, F., CCL 75 [Turnhout 1964] 4), where the following reference is made to Lamentations: ‘Quod opus si per Domini misericordiam ad calcem usque perduxero, transibo ad Hieremiam, qui in Lamentationibus suis sub typo Hierusalem quattuor plagas mundi quadruplici plangit alphabeto.’ Kelly's assertion, based on this one sentence, is a bit tenuous.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Origen's homilies on Jeremiah are edited by Nautin, P., Sources Chrétiennes 232 (Paris 1976); number Jerome's translation is found in PL 25.583–692. The translation is extant in a of ninth-century manuscripts: see Nautin 34–35, and Baehrens, W. A., Überlieferung und Textsgeschichte der lateinisch erhalten Origenes Homilien zum Alien Testament (Texte und Untersuchungen 42.1; Leipzig 1916) 207ff. For a thoughtful comparison of the translation with the original, see Lomiento, G., ‘Note sulla traduzione geronimiana delle omelie sur Geremie di Origene,’ Vetera Christianorum 10 (1973) 243–62. The translation was known to Cassiodorus, De institutione divinarum litterarum 3, PL 70.1114c, and, through him, to Hrabanus Maurus, PL 111.793.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Epistle 30, ed. Hilberg, I. (CSEL 54; Vienna 1910) 243–49, from several manuscripts which might have been available to Hrabanus Maurus. Jerome says about Lamentations: ‘habes et in Lamentationibus Hieremiae quattuor alfabeta, e quibus duo prima quasi Saffico metro scripta sunt, quia tres uersiculos, qui sibi conexi sunt et ab una tantum littera incipiunt, heroici comma concludit; tertium uero alfabetum trimetro scriptum est et a ternis litteris, sed eisdem, terni uersus incipiunt; quartum alfabetum simile est primo et secundo’ 3.245. It is worth noting that the theology of Lamentations does not enter into this account.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Sections 5–12, ed. Hilberg, 246–47. For example, aleph means ‘doctrina,’ beth ‘domus,’ gimel ‘plenitudo,’ deleth ‘tabularum,’ and he ‘ista’; therefore, ‘Prima conexio est “doctrina domus plenitudo tabularum ista,” quo uidelicet doctrina ecclesiae, quae domus dei est, in librorum repperiatur plenitudine diuinorum’: 6.246.Google Scholar

¹⁸ This was unacceptable to the later compiler of the pseudo-Jerome ‘In Lamentationes Jeremiae,’ PL 25.787–92, a treatise which gives an ecclesiological interpretation of the first chapter of Lamentations and begins each verse with Jerome's definition of the meaning of the Hebrew letters. Migne, Admonitio says that this compilation ‘certe videri Bedae,’ but the three late manuscripts listed by Stegmüller (no. 3423) suggest that it was a product of the twelfth century. At any rate, it was not used as a source by either of the Carolingian exegetes of Lamentations.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Lamentations 3.34: ‘Lamed. ut conteveret sub pedibus suis omnes vinctos terrae,’ is a favorite text of Methodius, who quotes it seven times: see Biblia Patristica. Index des citations et allusions bibliques dans la littérature patristique. II, Le troisième siècle Origène excepté (edd. Allenbach, J. et al.; Paris 1977) 210. Aside from this verse, there are only nine references to Lamentations (and none of more than three verses) in the writings of this group of authors.Google Scholar

Lamentations 4.20 (Res. Spiritus oris nostri christus dominus captus est in peccatis nostris cui diximus in umbra tua vivemus in gentibus) is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus (twice), and Tertullian (three times): see Biblia Patristica I, Des origines à Clément d'Alexandrie et Tertullien (edd. J. Allenbach et al.; Paris 1975) 210–11.

Jerome's contemporary, Augustine, cites Lamentations only once in his famous De civitate Dei, 18.33.14; this is again a christological reading of 4.20. It is curious that De civitate Dei, a work which shares the sorrow and dread of Lamentations, does not make further use of the poems.

²⁰ Collationes XIV.viii (ed. Pichery, E.; Sources chrétiennes 54; Paris 1958) 189–93.Google Scholar

²¹ ‘Hierusalem quadrifarie possit intellegi: secundum historiam ciuitas Iudaeorum, secundum allegoriam ecclesia Christi, secundum anagogen ciuitas dei illa caelestis, quae est mater omnium nostrum, secundum tropologiam anima hominis …’: ed. Pichery, 190. This is Cassian's order of the famous four senses of scripture, which in the medieval tradition usually appear in the order: historical, allegorical, moral/tropological, anagogical. In the words of Beryl Smalley, this example ‘caught the imagination of the middle ages and became classical’: The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Notre Dame, Indiana 1964; from the second Oxford edition 1954) 28. For a discussion of Cassian's four senses in the context of patristic allegory, see H. de Lubac, Exégèse médiévale, I¹ (Lyon 1959) 190–93.Google Scholar

²² The first two volumes of the critical edition of Adriaen, M. (CCL 143, 143a; Turnhout 1979) contain books i–xxii; a third volume, containing books xxiii–xxv, is forthcoming.Google Scholar

²³ The number seventeen is taken from the continuation of the Liber de expositione veteris et novi testamenti of Gregory's chancellor, Paterius (PL 79.976–82), a series of biblical extracts from Gregory's writings arranged in the order of the canon. As A. Wilmart has demonstrated, only the first volume of this work can be attributed to Paterius; the second part of the Old Testament compilation (which includes Lamentations) and the New Testament volume are thought to date from the twelfth century: ‘Le recueil Grégorien de Paterius et les fragments wisigothiques de Paris,’ Revue bénédictine 29 (1927) 81–101. But perhaps an earlier compilation of Gregory's citations of Lamentations was done by Hrabanus Maurus: n. 35 below. In the absence of the final volume (and indices) of Adriaen's edition, Paterius and the Paterius continuation is still the only source for the biblical citations of the Moralia.Google Scholar

²⁴ ‘Maxilla quippe Ecclesiae sancti praedicatores sunt, sicut sub Judiae specie per Jeremiam dicitur: “Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimae ejus in maxillis ejus” [Lamentations 1.2]; quia adversitate Ecclesiae illi amplius plangunt qui vitam carnalium confringere praedicando noverunt’: Moralia 13.12.15 (ed. Adriaen; CCL 143a677).Google Scholar

²⁵ For example, Moralia 5.31.55: ‘Vnde sub Judaeae specie per prophetam torpens otio anima defletur, cum dicitur: “Viderunt eam hostes, et deriserunt sabbata eius” [Lamentations 1.7]. Praecepto etenim legis ab exteriori opere in sabbato cessatur. Hostes ergo sabbata videntes irrident, cum maligni spiritus ipsa vacationis otia ad cogitationes illicitas pertrahunt; ut unaquaeque anima quo remota ab externis actionibus Deo servire creditur, eo magis eorum tirannidi illicita cogitando famuletur’ (ed. Adriaen; CCL 143.257).Google Scholar

²⁶ ‘Hinc Jeremias luctum cordis sui considerari deposcens ait: “O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus” [Lamentations 1.12]. Qui enim praesentem vitam non quasi viam transeunt, sed quasi patriam attendunt, luctum cordis electorum considerare nesciunt. Illos ergo ut dolorem suum considerent exquirit quos in hoc mundo contigit animum non fixisse’: Moralia 15.57.68 (ed. Adriaen, CCL 143a793). See also Moralia 32.22.46 (PL 76.663a), and 33.28.49 (PL 76.705c). The logical consequence of a ‘moral’ reading of scripture is, of course, the final redemption of the just, a subtlety of which both Origen and Gregory were surely aware. For a brief but sensitive discussion of Gregory's exegetical methodology and its impact on later authors, see de Lubac I¹ 187–90.Google Scholar

²⁷ This synopsis follows the excellent biography of Hrabanus found in the introduction of McCulloh's, J. edition of the Martyrologium (CCL, cont. med. 44 [Turnhout, 1979] xi–xxiv). Additional bibliography on Hrabanus’ involvement in the political turmoil of this period is found in McCulloh's extensive footnotes.Google Scholar

²⁸ McCulloh says, ‘Psychologically he was faced with having supported a lost cause, and his writings during this period reveal discouragement with the chaos of the political situation in general’ (xviii), with a note referring to several letters of 841–842. By 843, however, Hrabanus had yielded to the conciliatory overtures of Louis the German. In 847, with Louis the German's support, Hrabanus was ordained the Archbishop of Metz, which position he held until his death in 856. See McCulloh, , xix–xxiv.Google Scholar

²⁹ PL 111.793–1272, from the 1534 Basel edition of Petri, H. Lamentations is covered by Books 18–20, PL 111.1181d–1272. The prologue is also edited by Dümmler, E., MGH Ep. V (1893) 443–44.Google Scholar

³⁰ ‘Post Commentariolos quos mea parvitas in Heptateuchum, et in libros Regum, atque in Paralipomenon edidit; post explanatiunculas historiarum Esther, Judith, et Machabaeorum, nec non et voluminis Sapientiae atque Ecclesiastici, aliorumque opusculorum meorum labores, ad extremum in Jeremiam manum misi, ut collectis undique sanctorum Patrum sententiis, hujus quoque prophetae sensus aliquantulum avido lectori aperirem’: PL 111.793a.Google Scholar

³¹ ‘… modo praesens opus expositionis videlicet Jeremiae prophetae, quod bonae memoriae genitori vestro Ludovico Augusto adhuc vivente inchoaveram, et post obitum ejus consummaveram, vestrae devotioni simul et auctoritate committo, ut habeatis illud legatisque, et ad bonum studium nostrum exercendum cum nostris eo utamini’: PL 111.795a. At the end of the next expansive sentence, Hrabanus is even more explicit about Lothar's virtues as a ruler: ‘… sanctissime atque augustissime imperator Lothari, cujus mentem divina sapientia illustrans, non permittit fraude invidorum corrumpi, nec versutia perversorum seduci: sed in aequitatis et justitiae regula conservans, per viam veritatis sedulo deducit’: PL 111.795b.Google Scholar

³² PL 111.795–798a.Google Scholar

³³ ‘… beati Hieronymi explanationes in hunc prophetam nusquam ad integrum reperire potui, sed tantum primos sex libros, qui pertingunt pene usque ad medietatem voluminis prophetici’: PL 111.793b. This is, of course, the sum of Jerome's finished commentary on Jeremiah, see nn. 13 and 14 above. Hrabanus’ sources from chapter 33 of Jeremiah through the end of Lamentations have been studied by Hablitzel, J. B., ‘Kleine Mitteilungen der Jeremias-Kommentar des Hrabanus Maurus,’ Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktiner-Ordens und seiner Zweige 40 (1919–1920) 243–51.Google Scholar

³⁴ ‘Nam fertur Origenis quadraginta quinque homiliis praesentem prophetam Attico sermone exposuisse. Ex quibus quatuordecim tantum translatas inveni, quae me in hoc opere non parum adjuvabant’: PL 111.793c. Hrabanus quoted directly here from Cassiodorus, for whom see n. 15 above.Google Scholar

³⁵ ‘Sic et beatus papa Gregorius non parum nobis in dictando profuit, qui in diversis opusculis suis, more suo, divinorum librorum sententias exponendo, istius quoque prophetae plurima testimonia enodavit’: PL 111.795c–d.Google Scholar

³⁶ ‘His ergo omnibus consideratis, unum opusculum condere disposui, quod tamen in viginti libros dispartire decrevi, ne longitudo librorum fastidium lectori faceret, imo brevitas ad singula discutienda acutiorem redderet. Nec me praesumptuosum aut superfluum quisquam in conditione hujus operis debet dicere … nec jam sibi laborare necesse esse inquirendo, ubi aliorum labore quieti suae invenerit consultum’: PL 111.795d–96a. Further study may show this to be the collection of Gregory's Jeremiah quotations included in the extant Liber de expositione attributed to Paterius: see n. 22 above. However, the selections from Lamentations published in PL 79 are not all included in Hrabanus’ commentary, which gives other passages from Gregory not included in the compilation. This suggests that Hrabanus’ collection, a more complete version than that of the text attributed to Paterius, is no longer extant in its original form.Google Scholar

³⁷ ‘… ipsa pars in unum librum cum caetera prophetia Jeremiae conjungitur, apud quosdam vero sequestratim ponitur, et per se libri nomen habere censetur … ut priscae legis libri apud Hebraeos viginti quatuor esse demonstrentur: quo sub numero viginti quatuor seniores Apocalypsis Joannis inducit…’: PL 111.1181d.Google Scholar

³⁸ PL 111.1182d–84a, where Jerome's Epistle 30 is described as addressed ‘ad Marcellam,’ rather than ‘ad Paulam.’ In both this detail and many variant readings, Hrabanus’ text of the epistle agrees with Hilberg's manuscripts Π (‘Turicensis Augiensis 49 s. ix’) and D (‘Vaticanus lat. 355 + 356 saec. ix–x’). It is only logical that Hrabanus used a form of this letter known at Tours, where he studied with Alcuin.Google Scholar

³⁹ ‘… quo ipse propheta locutus est nos illustrare voluerit, secundum historiam et secundum mysticum sensum exposituri’: PL 111.1181c.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Hrabanus says that all of Lamentations ‘ad Christi et Ecclesiae pertinere sacramenta,’ and, since the soul is the temple of God, it also deals with the struggle of good against evil: PL 111.1184a and 1184c–85a. The anagogical sense is most clearly evident in the final summary, wedged between his discussion of the allegorical and moral interpretations: ‘Sed quoniam finis libri ejus in Lamentationibus propheticis consummatur, nostri quoque opusculi libet finem querimoniis et fletibus terminare, quem propria miseria, et mei similium terrent facinora, futuraeque poenae horrorem incutiunt supplicia, cui jam mundi defectus gravitudinem ingerit, et metus futuri examinis lacrymarum flumina per maxillam producit, ut deprecatio nostrae humilitatis ad indulgentiam provocet clementiam superni judicis. Metuo enim diem judicii, metuo tenebrarum diem, diem tubae diem amarum, diem durum et tristem’: PL 111.1268d.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Cf. PL 111.1216d, where Gregory's treatment of Job 30 follows Lamentations 3.2. Similar examples are found in PL 111.1217–18, and passim. Twenty quotations from the Moralia, two from Gregory's Homily 39, and one each from Gregory's Homily 2, Homily 33, and the Regula Pastoralis are listed by Hablitzel, 248–49.Google Scholar

⁴² Of course, the Psalms were always prominent in the mind of such a dedicated monk as Hrabanus. Five references to Cassiodorus on the Psalms are given by Hablitzel, 248–49.Google Scholar

⁴³ Hablitzel lists (248–49) four references to Jerome's commentary on Isaiah, and one each from Epistle 132, and the commentaries on Ezekiel and Malachi. At PL 111.1185b, Hrabanus refers to Eusebius’ description of the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans (Ecclesiasticae Historiae 3.1–10). He quotes Augustine on Psalm 63 (from the Enarrationes) at PL 111.1214c. Hablitzel (245–47) did not mention Eusebius, but found traces of the Antiquities of Josephus in Hrabanus’ exegesis. These can probably be traced to Eusebius, who quotes extensively from Josephus in Ecclesiasticae Historiae 3.6–8.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ PL 111.1209d, 1214b, 1217b, 1218b, 1221a,c, 1222d, 1228d, 1230a, 1232a, 1235b, 1239c, 1240b, 1241d, 1244b,d, 1246c, 1248b, 1254b, 1255c, 1256c, 1259b, 1261a, 1262a,c, and 1266c. Critical study of the five manuscripts of this commentary listed by Stegmüller (no. 7054) will help to determine how many other passages are original to this interpretation. Hablitzel is loath to admit that such a large part of the Lamentations commentary came from the hand of Hrabanus. He writes (249): ‘Wenn man diese Inhaltsangabe überblickt, so findet man sehr oft eine selbständige Erklärung Hrabans. Bei den Klageliedern habe ich statt Hraban unbekannte Quelle gesetzt, denn es ist schlechterdings nicht immer möglich, festzu-stellen, ob die Auslegung nicht doch aus einem patristischen Autor genommen ist….‘ However, in view of the scant resources for earlier commentaries on Lamentations, there is little reason to deny Hrabanus credit for what cannot be shown not to be his own work.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Vatican, Vat. lat. 520, saec. xi, Italy, where Hrabanus’ commentary on Lamentations (fols. 172^r–187^v) follows Jerome's exposition of Jeremiah (fols. 119^v–173^r). That this juxtaposition was purposeful is apparent from the fact that the book numbers of the two treatises have not been brought into accord. Although the beginning of Book 18 is missing (fol. 173^r begins ‘Habes in lamentationibus Hieremie quattuor alfabeta’; PL 111.1183), Book 19 is clearly rubricated on fol. 179^r, Book 20 on 183^v, even though the last part of Jerome's commentary ends ‘explicit liber vi’ (fol. 172^v). Fol. 187^v has the rubric ‘explicit expositio beati hieronimi presbyteri. in lamentationibus hieremie. prophete,’ which suggests that the composite may have been copied from an earlier exemplar. This manuscript was acquired (fol. 198^v) for the Roman monastery of Sancta Croce in Gerusalemme by ‘Dominus Damianus.’ Its exemplar is unknown; the only earlier manuscript of Hrabanus on Lamentations is Sankt Gallen 282 (saec. ix), a copy of Books 13–20 of Hrabanus’ text.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ PL 111.1181–1216b.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ PL 111.1215c–48b; 1215c quotes from Jerome's Epistle 30.3, ed. Hilberg 245.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ PL 111.1247c–68c, where the conclusion begins.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Hrabanus says the three-fold format of this chapter shows ‘hoc in primis volentes sciri quod haec pars primum calamitatem gentis Judaeae, seu potius humani generis deflendo pronuntiat, deinde sacramentum Dominicae incarnationis ac passionis manifeste exprimit, ubi Judaeorum persecutio innocentis Christi poena ac mors describitur’: PL 111.1215c.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ This conclusion begins at 1268d with a brief discussion of allegorical and anagogical understandings of Lamentations. On 1269a, Hrbanus discusses the plight of ‘civitas nostra interna’ through interwoven quotations taken in order from the first two chapters of Lamentations. This section is a short commentary in the tropological mode which ends at 1271b. The final surge of gratitude for the saving grace of the Incarnation carries a veiled reference to the liturgy (1271c): ‘Scrutemur ergo vias nostras, et “revertamur ad Dominum,” elevemusque corda nostra cum manibus in coelum ad Deum.’ The words in quotation marks paraphrase Lamentations 5.21; the following phrase is, of course, from the Roman Canon of the Mass. The commentary ends (1272c) with a reference to the opening of Augustine's Confessiones: ‘Tui sumus, Domine, ad te pertinemus, et tu nobis miserando consulis, in aeternum coram te vivemus. Fiat, Domino, super nos semper tua misericordia, ut laudem tuam annuntiemus.’Google Scholar

⁵¹ The details of Radbertus’ early life are reported in a laudatory poem written by Engelmodus of Soissons, ‘Ad Ratbertum Abbatem’: MGH, PLAC II 62–66. According to this account, Radbertus was left as an infant at the door of the monastery of Sancta Maria in Soissons, where Theodrada, a cousin of Charlemagne, was abbess. Theodrada's brothers, Adalard and Wala, served as abbots of Corbie in the first decades of the ninth century. Radbertus’ monastic career is clearly tied to his family, as his biographies of Adalard (Vita Adalardi, PL 120.1507–56) and Wala (Epitaphium Arsenii, PL 120.1557–1650; also ed. Dümmler, E., Berlin 1900) show. For further information, see Peltier, H., Paschase Radbert (Amiens 1938) and Mathon, G., ‘Paschase Radbert et l’évolution de l'humanisme carolingien,’ in Corbie, abbaye royale (Lille 1963) 135–46.Google Scholar

⁵² Very few of the dates in Radbertus’ personal chronology have been determined absolutely. We know that he attended the Council of Quierzy-sur-Oise in 849 as abbot of Corbie, but his successor, Odo, filled this function at the Council of Soissons in 853: Grierson, P., ‘Eudes, I^er Évěque de Beauvais,’ Le Moyen Ǎge 6 (1935) 161–98; Peltier, 80–81. The estimations of Radbertus’ death-date range from 859 to 865.Google Scholar

⁵³ Two letters of Lupus of Ferrières (nos. 56 and 57; PL 119.521–22) speak of the difficulties Radbertus had with a younger monk named Ivo, who wished to leave Corbie but was forced by Radbertus to stay and do penance. Peltier suggests (78–79) that a simple generation gap is to blame. There is no evidence that Radbertus’ disputes with Ratramnus over the eucharist and the virginity of Mary had a major part in this decision to leave Corbie, inviting as this theory might seem.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ PL 120.1059–1236d; ‘Prologus ad Odilmannum Severum,’ PL 120.1059c–62a. Odilmannus, under the name of Severus, appears as one of the interlocutors of the Epitaphium Arsenii. The prologue to Book 2 of the Epitaphium indicates that it was written, at least in part, after Radbertus’ retirement from active life: PL 120.1605/06d–1607a. Since Lamentations is quoted extensively here, it seems likely that the Lamentations commentary dates from the same period, ca. 852. Peltier (82–83) suggests that the commentary was written some five years later, after Radbertus’ return to Corbie. His reason for this is a reference in Book 4 to the burning of Paris by ‘piratae’: PL 120.1220c. Peltier sees this as an acknowledgment of the Norman sack of that city in 857, described by the chronicler Prudentius of Troyes as the work of ‘Piratae Danorum’: Prudentii Trescensis Annates (ed. Pertz, G. H.; MGH Script. I [Hannover 1826] 450). Pertz gives the passage from Radbertus in n. 47, showing that he also links the two events. However, Prudentius of Troyes also mentions (441) a Norman invasion of Paris in 845 after which the barbarians were engaged in battle by Frankish troops led by Charles the Bald. A similar description of ‘paganorum et hostium incursiones’ is found in Epitaphium Arsenii II.7 (PL 120.1615a), which shows that Radbertus was aware of earlier ravages of the Northmen.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ ‘Multo cogor longoque confectus vitae taedio, tristes lacrymarum inire modos. Gemebunda jam quia profecto meis praegravata malis inopinate senectus non vocata venit. Quam dum inspicio, specie deformatus, aliena perhorresco, eo quod me subito animo non mutatus, quod fui non invenio, evadere tamen nequeo, illa decipiente, quae amisi. Unde congelatus usu longiori durior effectus, nullis jam emolliri queo fletibus, quamvis multis miseriarum mearum intus forisve premar doloribus. Quibus quotidie saltem ad suspiria propulsus Jeremiae prophetae inter discrimina ultimae vitae, Threnus explanare decrevi’: PL 120.1059c–60c.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ ‘Sicut in divinis Litteris diversa leguntur cantica, ita et Spiritu sancto reserante lamentationes diversae: et sicut proprie appellatur liber Salomonis Cantica Canticorum, ita et appellari queunt Threni Jeremiae Lamentationes lamentationum’: PL 120.1061a.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ ‘… quia sicut omnino praecellunt illa, in quibus sponsus ac sponsa dulcibus fruuntur amplexibus, ita et lamentationes istae vincunt omnia Scripturarum lamenta, in quibus abscessus sponsi ab sponsa; magnis cum fletibus vehementius deploratur: ex quo sola civitas sedere, ac domina gentium quasi vidua, amarissime satis plangitur. In illis quippe canticis, diversae introducuntur ad gaudia nuptiarum personae, in istis vero deversae planguntur’: PL 120.1061b.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ ‘Quibus profecto verbis ostenditur, quod non solum ad praesentia et futura, verumetiam et ad praeterita lamentatio haec superextenditur… . Propterea et nos non minus super ejusdem civitatis ruinam, quam et super Ecclesiae damna, superque animarum discrimina, decrevimus easdem tripliciter exponere lamentationes, et prout oportuerit ad eadem tria tempora sensus dirigere’: PL 120.1063b–64a.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ ‘Ideoque quadruplici Threnos totius lamenti, ut aestimo, contextuit alphabeto: quia tam nos quam et hic mundus quatuor constat conditus elementis, igne videlicet et aqua, aere et terra: ut qui quatuor consistimus existentiis, sub quatuor recte plangamur litterarum alphabetis … ut sub quadrato coeli cardine praesentis saeculi delicta quadrato lugeat alphabeto, et ad lamenta omnia invitet’: PL 120.1063a–b.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ ‘Dans son commentaire des Lamentations, Paschase Radbert est constamment fidèle à cet [i.e., de Lubac's second] ordre; pour désigner le deuxième terme, aussitǒt après l'histoire, il parle tantǒt d'allégorie, tantǒt d'anagogie, tantǒt de sens mystique, etc., sans que cette diversité de vocables trouble jamais la régularité du schéma’: de Lubac I¹ 148.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Thus, it is difficult to see why de Lubac claims that Radbertus belongs to the group which followed the ‘second formula’ of four-fold exegesis, consisting of the order historical, allegorical, tropological, anagogical. Although Radbertus does consistently place allegorical interpretations before the moral, he never ends a passage with the anagogical meaning of a verse.Google Scholar

⁶² For example, in Lamentations 1.1, Radbertus calls this sense ‘spiritualiter’ (PL 120. 1064d); in 1.2, the term is ‘juxta allegoriam’ (PL 120.1066d); 1.5 simply mentions the Church (PL 120.1073b); 1.6 uses ‘mystice’ for the ecclesiological sense (PL 120.1074d). For more examples, see de Lubac I¹, 148 n. 14. 1.3 and 1.4 have anagogical explanations in this place: see n. 63 below.Google Scholar

⁶³ The anagogical interpretation of 1.4 speaks of the ‘viae supernae Sion ac portae’ (PL 120.1071a–b), whereas the ‘juxta anagogen’ of 1.3 is concerned with the trials of the Church on earth (PL 120.1069d–70b).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ For example, the quotations from Deuteronomy 31 and Acts 7 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1184c; Radbertus, PL 120.1064c–d), Daniel 3 (Hrabanus; PL 111.1193b; Radbertus, PL 120. 1090d), Isaiah 63 and Psalm 11 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1193c–d; Radbertus, PL 120.1091d), Psalm 70 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1197c; Radbertus, PL 120.1099d, 1 John 2 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1196a; Radbertus, PL 120.1096c), 1 Peter 2 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1200d; Radbertus, PL 120.1109d), Psalm 73 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1201b, Radbertus, PL 120.111d), and 1 Corinthians 3 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1251c; Radbertus PL 120.1207b), all cited in similar expositions of the same verses.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ For example, Moralia 5.31, quoted in the explication of Lamentations 1.7 (Hrabanus PL 111.1189c; Radbertus, PL 120.1077a—a shorter quotation with other material interjected), Moralia 25.23.49, used in 1.11 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1191c; Radbertus, PL 120.1084b), Moralia 3.32.62 used in 1.20 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1197a; Radbertus, PL 120.1098c), and the conflation of Regula pastoralis 2.7 and Moralia 50.27.43 and Moralia 50.34.15 for 4.1 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1248c, with interpolated material from Matthew 7; Radbertus, PL 120.1199b). Hrabanus’ references to Eusebius are also echoed by Radbertus; both mention Chaldeans, Vespasian, and Titus in their discussions of Lamentations 1.1 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1185b; Radbertus, PL 120.1063c), and Josephus at Lamentations 1.11 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1191b; Radbertus, PL 120.1083c). Both authors also give the same etymology for Edom at 4.21 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1261b–c; Radbertus, PL 1233d–34b).Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Compare the discussions of 1.4 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1187a–b; Radbertus, PL 120.1071b–d), 1.6 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1188c–d; Radbertus PL 120.1074d–75b), which bear some word-for-word correspondences, and the similar analysis of 3.11 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1218d; Radbertus, PL 120.1155a).Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Angelomus of Luxeuil, a contemporary of Radbertus, used the Old Testament commentaries of Hrabanus extensively in his exegesis; see Hablitzel, J. B., ‘Angelom von Luxeuil und Hrabanus Maurus,’ Biblische Zeitschrift 19 (1931) 215–27, and Laistner, M. L. W., ‘Some Early Medieval Commentaries on the Old Testament,’ Harvard Theological Review 46 (1943) 27–46, repr. The Intellectual Heritage of the Early Middle Ages (ed. Starr, C. G.; Ithaca, New York 1957) 181–201. In his analysis of this literary dependence, Laistner suggests a redefinition of Angelomus’ phrase ‘moderno tempore.’ These conclusions are equally apt for Radbertus, who unselfconsciously drew upon Alcuin in several other works.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ The Prologue (PL 120.1063a–64b) loosely follows Jerome, Epistle 30.3, ed. Hilberg 245. Book 2 (PL 120.1104c–1106a) repeats and interprets the seven combinations of letters given by Jerome in Epistle 30.6–12, ed. Hilberg 246–47. The prologue to Book 4 (PL 120. 1197b–98b) also echoes paragraph 3 of Jerome's letter, but gives an entirely original interpretation (based on the significance of the number four) of the importance of the alphabet in this chapter.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ The only direct mention of Jerome (PL 120.1064a) is in the general prologue: ‘Neque silendum putavimus quod propheta sanctus, sicut divinae legis interpres Hieronymus testatur, Threnos tanti lamenti lege metri condiderit.’ The extensive discussions of Jerome's seven combinations of letters at the beginning of Book 2 are laced with references to other biblical passages illustrating the meaning of such phrases as ‘doctrina domus plenitudo tabularum.’ These analyses are consistently along moral and christological lines. It should be noted that there is nothing in Radbertus’ use of Jerome which he could not have taken from Hrabanus rather than directly from the source.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Even the undistinguished letter tau, which Jerome defined as ‘et,’ is woven by Radbertus into the interpretation of a verse: see his commentary on Lamentations 1.6, PL 120.1074c.Google Scholar

⁷¹ The Vergil quotation is a paraphrase of Aeneid 6.730: ‘Hinc metuunt cupiuntque dolent gaudentque,’ for which Radbertus reads ‘Hi metuunt, cupiunt, gaudentque, dolentque’: PL 120.1153a. The verse is used by Radbertus in commenting on Lamentations 3.9, ‘Conclusit vias meas lapidibus quadris,’ in which Radbertus interprets the stumbling-blocks as sin and wickedness crafted by our own hands and by the hands of heretics wishing to trip the Church (PL 120.1153b). The passage in Vergil describes the thousand-year-long cleansing process necessary before souls take on new bodies, a concept of uncertain origin: see Butler, H. E., The Sixth Book of the Aeneid (Oxford 1920) 223–35. Radbertus’ idea of sins’ creating their own punishments is similar, but he does not mention purgatory or the underworld. I am indebted to the late Willam McDermott, C., of the University of Pennsylvania, for his wise and generous advice on this matter. Prudentius is quoted in the interpretation of Lamentations 1.4: ‘Unde et a quodam poetarum, prima credendi via Abraham appellator’ (PL 120.1071b), from Liber apotheosis, 372–75 (ed. Cunningham, M.; CCL 126 [Turnhout 1966] 90). Prudentius is a favorite poet of Radbertus and is quoted frequently in his other works.Google Scholar

⁷² Prologue to Book 3: ‘Sed ut haec quae ad caput pertinent, quaeve ad corpus melius discernantur, commemoranda est illa regula, quam Tichonius unam de septem esse voluit, ex quibus etiam eruditissimi ad intelligendas Scripturas plurimum adjuvantur. Quarum prima est ipsa de Christo et ejus corpore, quando a capite sine permutatione personae ad corpus, vel a corpore transitur ad caput, vel quando ipsa eademque sententia non minus capiti, quam et corpori congruere videtur: nec tamen ab una eademque persona receditur, sicuti in quamplurimis locis Scripturarum recte probatur, sed et in hac lamentatione interdum invenitur, ut est’: PL 120.1141b–c. The reference is to De doctrina Christiana 3.31.44 (ed. Martin, J.; CCL 32 [Turnhout 1962] 104), but C. Maus points out that the quotation comes almost verbatim from the preface of Bede's commentary on the Apocalypse (PL 93.131b–c): A Phenomenology of Revelation: Paschasius Radbert's Way of Interpreting Scripture (Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum, Facultas Theologica, Theses ad Lauream 180; Dayton, Ohio 1970) 63 n. 4. Maus tries to show that Radbertus’ overall hermeneutic was based on the principle of species and genus taken from the Tyconian tradition.Google Scholar

⁷³ That is, the Cogitis me (ed. Ripberger, A., Spicilegium Friburgense 9; 1962), the De partu Virginis (ed. Canal, J. M., Marianum 30 [1968] 53–160, new ed. by Matter, E. A. forthcoming in CL), and the Expositio in Psalmum 44 (PL 120.993–1060). Maus (83–104) discusses the application of the genus/species rule in the Song of Songs quotations in these last two works and the Expositio in Matthaeum (PL 120.31–994).Google Scholar

⁷⁴ See n. 57 above for tropological readings of the Song of Songs. A striking example of the christological/ecclesiological understanding is found in Radbertus' exegesis of Lamentatations 5.16: ‘Cecidit corona capitis nostri vae nobis quia peccavimus,’ which quotes Song of Songs 4.8 and 3.11, and ends ‘Quam sane coronam Ecclesia, quae vere sponsa Christi est, perdit, quando decorem fidei, et integritatem operum ejus amittit in his qui summi videntur in membris Christi. Aut certe corona capitis nostri tunc ruit, quando hi qui videbantur ad decorem et gloriam insigniri, pro diademate in Christo, qui caput est totius Ecclesiae, in perfidiam, vel in scelera, vel flagitia cadunt. Cadit quippe corona capitis nostri, cum hi defluunt, qui in Christo ornamentum videbantur esse decoris: sed tunc vae imminet, cum et hi per diversa coruunt, qui videntur summi: deinde vulgus lasciviens. in peccata et flagitia venit, Hinc est quod propheta simul cum populo, imo pro eo plangit: “Vae nobis, quia peccavimus”’: PL 120.1251b–c.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Book 1 is found in PL 120.1061a–1104b, Book 2 in PL 120.1103c–42a, Book 4 in PL 120.1197c–1238b. Each of these chapters of Lamentations is discussed in approximately forty columns.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Book 3 is in PL 120.1141b–98a, where it occupies fifty-seven columns.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ PL 120.1151b–53d. The exception is samech (Lamentations 3.43–45), treated in PL 120.1177c–79d. Although all three verses are quoted at the beginning of this section, verse 44 (‘Opposuisti nubem tibi …’) is repeated under a second samech title at PL 120.1178d. This may be simply a scribal error in the unidentified ms behind this edition, since the discussion in both sections includes all three verses headed by samech.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ ‘Unde et tertium alphabetum quasi ad quosdam decrevi calentes prophetae fontes, quia excelsiora sunt sub alterius genere metri, ea quae aptantur trimetro, promulgata profundius manum mittere. In quo nimirum opere terni versus una eademque incipiunt littera, quod non ita in tribus Sapphicis constat alphabetis. Sed quia quaedam de Ecclesia sunt, et muita ibi quae de passione Christi altius aperiuntur, altior est sensus requirendus, licet non inveniri posse credam sine fletibus’: PL 120.1139d–42a.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ See n. 72 above.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ ‘Quintus igitur liber non eadem lege est editus, qua praemissi quatuor: sed eorum conclusio in hoc uno recapitulatur, lege rhetorum, qui sub epilogo in fine concludunt et determinant ac dinumerant singulas res breviter, quas attigerant’: ‘Prologus Libri Quinti,’ PL 120.1235d.Google Scholar

⁸¹ ‘Lamentantes ergo sunt, qui pietatis intuitu celsa mente deflent civitatum ruinas, excidia patriae, depopulationes et vastitates, nec non et interitum suorum civium, inter quae connumerant quae jam passi aut certe passuri sunt variis cruciatibus, et contumeliis innumeris. Unde monet Apostolus, charitatem proximi persuadens, gaudere cum gaudentibus, flere cum flentibus. Et quia hic est fratrum amator, teste angelo, qui multum orat pro populo et pro civitate sancta Dei Jerusalem, merito lamentationibus suis vincit omnium lamentationum lamenta: et suis fletibus provocat omnes, ut simul defleant totius saeculi ruinas et peccata’: ‘Prologus Libri Quinti,’ PL 120.1238a–b.Google Scholar

⁸² Book 5 (found in PL 120.1237b–56b, in nineteen columns) is roughly half as long as the commentary on Lamentations 1, 2, and 4.Google Scholar

⁸³ See n. 4 above. Radbertus shows a generally critical approach to his Bible text: see his discussion of the variants of Symmachus and Theodotion for Lamentations 2.14, PL 120. 1131b–cGoogle Scholar

⁸⁴ Compare the citations of Lamentations 2.16–17 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1209d; Radbertus, PL 120.1133b–d), and Lamentations 4.16–17 (Hrabanus, PL 111.1256c–58b; Radbertus, PL 120.1224b–26b).Google Scholar

⁸⁵ PL 120.1180a–1182c; compare Hrabanus’ treatment of 3:46–51, PL 111.1235c–40d.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ The 1969 and 1972 Vulgate editions (for which see n. 5 above) attribute these variants to a textual tradition represented in the stemma codicum by Λ^L (Codex Gothicus Legionensis, Léon, San Isidoro, written ca. 960). For a discussion of this codex, see B. Fischer, Vetus Latina 2 (Freiburg im Breisgau 1951) p. 1^∗ (no. 91).Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Lamentations 1.20 interficit for interfecit (PL 120.1098b; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1196b), 2.1 caelo + in (PL 120.1106b; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1199d), 2.1 est recordatus for recordatus est (PL 120.1107b; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1199d), 2.18 omit per² (PL 120.1135c), 2.19 aquam for aqua (PL 120.1136d; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1212c), 2.20 occiditur for occidetur (PL 120.1138d; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1214b), 3.14 in derisum for in derisu (PL 120.1157b; also Hrabanus, PL 111.1221a), 5.11 humiliauerunt + et (PL 120.1246d).Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Among the variants which do not appear in Radbertus’ Lamentations commentary are 1.10 omit in after intrarent (PL 120.1082a), 1.11 factus for facta (PL 120.1084b), 3.15 omit me² (PL 120.1157b), 3.17 est + a pace (PL 120.1159a), 3.41 ad Deum for ad Dominum PL 120.1176a). Hrabanus Maurus has the variant of this last verse (PL 111.1233b), but this could easily be the result of a common scribal error, as the abbreviations for Deus and Dominus are virtually indistinguishable.Google Scholar

In his commentary on Lamentations 4.13–14, Radbertus has a changed order for both text and title, placing nun. ‘Erraverunt…’ before mem. ‘Propter peccata …,’ PL 120.1221b–c. In what should be verse 14 (nun) Radbertus omits the word ‘sunt’ between ‘polluti’ and ‘sanguine,’ whereas the text reads ‘polluti sunt in sanguine,’ and Hrabanus (PL 111.1255c–56b) gives the standard Vulgate text. There is no parallel to Radbertus’ text in the apparatus criticus of either the 1969 or the 1972 Vulgate editions. Of course, the question of how Hebrew letters are represented in the manuscripts of Latin Lamentations commentaries is an important aspect of this problem. One of the two oldest copies, Karlsruhe, Aug. Perg. CXLVI (a tenth-century copy from Corbie's daughter house, Corvey) notes the Hebrew letters in the margins in brown ink, rather than placing them in the body of the text, or in rubrication. If this was the norm rather than the exception, such differences as the mem–nun reversal of 4.13–14 could happen very easily and not necessarily reflect a variant of the biblical text.

⁸⁹ In discussing the Corbie Bibles, Berger, S. summarizes: ‘En somme, le texte de la bible de Corbie n'est nullement un text espagnol. Le peu qu'il a d’éléments espagnols lui vient du dehors, et les soudres s'en voient encore. C'est par lá que les textes de Corbie se distinguent de ceux de Saint-Denis et Saint-Riquier’: Histoire de la Vulgate pendant les premiers siècles du moyen ǎge (Paris 1893) 108. For the Spanish influences on the Saint-Riquier Bibles (although with no mention of Lamentations) see Berger, 93–100.Google Scholar

The 822 Bible of Saint-Riquier (Paris, B.N. lat. 11504 and 11505) is mentioned by B. Fischer as an Old Latin version of the ‘Spanischer Toletanustyp’ (‘Bibeltext und Bibelreform unter Karl dem Grossen,’ Karl der Grosse II, Das geistige Leben [ed. B. Bischoff; Düsseldorf 1965] 184), but it has not been thoroughly studied. I have not examined these manuscripts.

⁹⁰ PL 120.1084c–87d. ‘… psalterium eorum humiliatur, hymnus conticuit, et exsultatio tota dissolvitur, lumen candelabri exstinguitur … et vasa quaeque pretiosissima transferuntur ad exteros’ (PL 120.1085a) may apply equally to the destruction of the Temple and the extinguishing of the altar rituals from Thursday night until midnight of the Easter Vigil. On the subject of those who pass by on the road, Radbertus says: ‘Ad paschales namque vocati dapes, paschalia celebrantes vota, agnum, ut jussum est ex lege, festinantes comedunt’: PL 120.1085d. This attention to the sufferings of Christ diverts Radbertus to another favorite theme, the sufferings of the Virgin Mary.Google Scholar

⁹¹ The best example in Hrabanus Maurus is PL 111.1227b–28a, where, in commenting on Lamentations 3.28, he includes a long discussion (with resonances of the prologue to the Regula Benedicti) of the types of the monastic life. Radbertus, addressing a fellow-monk rather than an emperor, makes greater use of this theme; for example, ‘Dicuntur ergo genae Ecclesiae … Dicuntur et sicut areolae aromatum quae consitae sunt a pigmentariis [Song of Songs 5.13], etiam ut eos insinuet qui theoricam sectantur vitam, et orationibus die noctuque deserviunt, in quibus vere est pulchritudo ecclesiarum et virtutum odor’: PL 120.1067c. See also PL 120.1074d, 1077a, 1082c–d, 1109c–d, 1123c–d, 1152b–c, 1171a, 1207c, 1213a–14a (an especially interesting complaint against contemporary mores), 1218b–c, 1222b–c, 1226c, and many other places, with the concern for a direct relation to the monastic life becoming more prominent toward the end of the work.Google Scholar

⁹² Besides the Jeremiah commentary, Hrabanus’ commentary on Ezekiel (PL 110.493–1084, prologue ed. Dümmler, E., MGH Ep. 5.475) was intended for Lothar. The unpublished Daniel commentary (prologue ed. Dümmler, E., MGH Ep. 5.467) is dedicated to Louis the German. The Isaiah commentary, also unpublished, was written ‘quorundam amicorum peticioni consentiens’ (prologue ed. Dümmler, E., MGH Ep. 5.501), but is dated after 842, that is, about the time of the treatise on Daniel; it may have also been read by Louis the German.Google Scholar

⁹³ At least as early as the third century bce, two Hebrew versions of the Jeremiah corpus were in circulation. One of these was adapted to look more like Isaiah and Ezekiel by the placement of the oracular material of the book in the middle: see Bogaert's description, 316–23. In the Septuagint tradition, the book of Baruch, a pseudepigraphon dated between 63 and 70 bce, was also conflated with Jeremiah–Lamentations, usually in the order Jeremiah – Baruch 1–5 – Lamentations – Baruch 6. This order in found in the Spanish Vulgate manuscripts Δ^LM (León, Capit. Cath. 6, dated 920, and Madrid, Academ. Hist. 20, ca. 900) and Λ^L (León, San Isidoro, dated 960).Google Scholar

The Theodulfan Bibles (the tradition, including ^E, Paris B.N. lat. 11553, a ninth-century copy from Corbie) place Baruch between Jeremiah and Lamentations. Jerome, following the Masoretic text, rejected the canonicity of Baruch. Alcuinian Bibles followed suit, although at least one extant copy from this tradition (T = Paris, B.N. nouv. acq. lat. 1586, ca. 780, from Tours) places the major prophets in the order Isaiah – Jeremiah – Lamentations – Ezekiel. As Baruch is used liturgically at Easter and Pentecost, there was a gradual reintegration of this book into the Vulgate text; by the thirteenth century it appears in almost all Bible copies, although often written in by a second hand, and no longer separated by Lamentations. For this history, see Bogaert, 324–27 and the notes to the 1972 Rome edition of the Vulgate.

The significance of this history for Lamentations commentaries lies in the changing position of the five poems within the canon. We have very few Latin Bibles written prior to the ninth century, and so cannot be sure of how aware Hrabanus and Radbertus were of these changes. But I expect that both were using Vulgate texts in which Lamentations was cut loose from the Baruch material, and that this relatively new textual circumstance influenced at least Radbertus’ decision to write on the book. The difficult problem of identifying Radbertus’ Spanish-influenced Bible remains.

⁹⁴ Besides the commentaries on the major prophets, Hrabanus wrote on all the Old Testament historical books, Judith and Esther, Wisdom and Ecclesiastes, Maccabees, the Gospels of Matthew and John, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Pauline Epistles: cf. Stegmüller, nos. 7021–77.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ See Stegmüller, , no. 6262 for a list of the MSS, to which should be added Berlin, Sammlung Hilton (1960) 48 ¹, Charleville 15, and Brussels 1375, 1376, and 1377. The Cistercian MSS are: Dijon 68 (49) saec. xii, Citeaux; Troyes 448 and 558, saec. xii–xiii, Clairvaux; Brussels 1375 (II.2564) saec. xii, Sancta Maria de Balerna (near Besançon); Charleville 159, saec. xii, Sancta Maria Signiaci, in the Ardennes.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ I would contend that Radbertus’ theological writings come out of his exegetical endeavors. The context of each major exegetical work is quite specific: after teaching Matthew to novices at Corbie, he wrote a commentary (PL 120.31–994, see the prologues to Book 1, PL 120.31b; Book 5, PL 120.333a; and Book 9, PL 120.643b); this interest led to the famous De corpore et sanguine Domini, written in the middle of his long-term work on Matthew. In a similar fashion, at the request of his friends at Soissons, Radbertus wrote the Cogitis me, an explanation of the Assumption, which sparked the exposition of Psalm 44 (PL 120.993–1060), which was, in turn, instrumental in the De partu Virginis. The possibility that Radbertus also wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs is intriguing. The case of the De benedictionibus patriarcharum (found in only one manuscript, Portsmouth Cathedral, Vertue and Cahill Library 8473, saec. xii, for which see Grierson, P., ‘Un traité De benedictionibus patriarcharum de Paschase Radbert,’ Revue bénédictine 28 [1911] 425–32) is more problematic, since nothing is known of its context.Google Scholar