Liber Consolatorius | Vincent of Beauvais

Liber consolatorius ad Ludouicum regem de morte filii

A letter of consolation

In the months following the death of crown prince Louis in January 1260, Vincent wrote a letter of consolation, the Liber consolatorius ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii (or Epistola consolatoria de morte amici), for a grieving king Louis. From this text it is evident that Vincent, at that time of writing, had stopped working at Royaumont.

List of surviving manuscripts

Key

I - Additional information on the speculum text as present in the manuscript, or on other texts present in the manuscript, or on material damage; D - Date of the manuscript; P - Country, region or place of production; if available, information on the scribe(s) of the manuscript; O - Medieval and pre-modern owners of the manuscript; L - Hyperlink to digital facsimiles of the manuscript.

29 surviving manuscripts of the Liber consolatorius ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii are known today:

Alba Iulia, Biblioteca Batthyaneum, Ms. I 114, ff. 1r-47r
- D: 1429.
- P: Central Europe?
- O:
- L: A digital facsimile is available in the Biblioteca Digitala Nationala of Romania.

Alba Iulia, Biblioteca Batthyaneum, Ms. I 137, ff. ??
- D:
- P:
- O:

Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, B.VI.2 (Msc. Patr. 154), ff. 1r-35r
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O: Carmelite monastery of Bamberg.

Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, B.VIII.15, ff. 61r-86r
- D: Ca. 1400.
- P:
- O: Dominicans at Basel; Hugonetus de Boegenss (?), citizen of Zurich.

Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, B.VIII.31, ff. 156r-213v
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and two of his theological works, the Liber de laudibus beate Marie Virginis and the Liber de laudibus sancti Johannis Evangeliste. The ms. was possibly used as a source to the Basel 1481 incunabulum edition by Amerbach.
- D: Early 14th century.
- P:
- O: Dominicans at Basel.

Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 308
- D: 14th century.
- P: France.
- O: Since 1988 owned by the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

Brescia, Biblioteca Queriniana, A. VII. 26, ff. 71r-110v
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Brussels, Bibliothèque royale, II 943, ff. 2r-45v
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: 14th century.
- P:
- O:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, 325, ff. 100r-153r
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: First quarter of 14th century (before 1325).
- P: Possibly written for John of Stratton, camerarius of Norwich Cathedral.
- O: John of Stratton, camerarius of Norwich Cathedral; given by him to Norwich Cathedral Priory before 1325; Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575); bequeathed to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1574.
- L: Digital facsimile.

Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, 3106, ff. 1r-58r
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Eton College Library, 119, ff. 183r-201r
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ashburnham 947, ff. 144r-149v
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: First half of 14th century.
- P: Italy.
- O: Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore O.S.B.; an anonymous doctor utriusque iuris; Count Boutourlin; Marchese Giuseppe Pucci of Florence, early nineteenth century; purchased by Guglielmo Libri in 1840; sold to Lord Ashburnham of London in 1847; acquired by the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in 1844.

Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 26.17, ff. 1r-42v
- D: 13th century.
- P: France.
- O:
- L: Digital facsimile.

The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 72 J 53, ff. 85r-114v
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: Middle of 15th century.
- P: England (Oxford?).
- O: Acquired by Bernard Scheurleer in 1818; purchased from him by the Royal Library.

London, British Library, Add. 38689, ff. 105r-139r
- I: The ms. is part of Add MS 38684-38720 (Phillipps Manuscripts), a collection of 37 items in Latin and several vernacular languages, dating 12th century-19th century.
- D: 14th century.
- P: France.
- O: Hugues and Jehan d' Ailly, Conseillers du Roi (14th/15th century); Celestine priory of St. Antoine at Amiens (15th century); Chardin, bookseller, of Paris (19th century); Sir Thomas Phillipps (MS. 818); purchased at a sale of a portion of the library of Phillipps in 1913.

London, British Library, Harley 2423, ff. 1r-38v
- D: 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 15th century
- P: England or France.
- O: Charles Davis († 1755), bookseller; sold to the Harleys on 29 October 1722; sold to the British nation in 1753.
- L: A digital image of fol. 1r.

Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, 651 (566), ff. 83v-137r
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Madrid, Biblioteca nacional de España, 10254 (olim Plut. II. Lt. N, no 7), ff. 119r-150r
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium. The ms. was formerly joined to another manuscript of 130 folios containing Aegidius Romanus’ De regimine principum, now ms. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Houghton Library, f.MS Typ. 195H.
- D: First half of 14th century.
- P: Southern France or Catalonia, possibly by a German scribe.
- O: Acquired by Don Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marqués de Santillana (1398-1458) or his son Don Diego Hurtaldo de Mendoza, Duque de Infantado († 1479); obtained by the Duque de Osuña in 1841; purchased by the Spanish Ministry of Education in 1884 and given to the Biblioteca Nacional in 1886.
- L: Digital facsimile.

Oxford, Merton College, 110, ff. 327v-359v
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: First half of 15th century.
- P: England, possibly written by a scribe of German origin.
- O: Acquired by Merton College after 1450 and before 1697.

Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, 1032, ff. 117r-139r
- D: 14th century.
- P: France (Paris?).
- O: Paris, cl. Grands-Augustins O.E.S.A.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 16390, ff. 15r-54v
- I: Part of a miscellany volume. The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: 13th century.
- P: France.
- O: Pierre de Limoges, member of the Collège de Sorbonne (2nd half of 13th century); Sorbonne library?
- L: A digital copy of a monochrome microfilm is available in the Gallica database.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 18124, ff. 1r-78v
- D: 14th century.
- P:
- O: Paris, cl. Jacobins de la Rue Saint-Honoré O.P.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, nouv. acq. lat. 1469, ff. 2r-60v
- D: 13th century.
- P:
- O: Cluny?

Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale, 658 (O.51), ff. 1r-60r
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale, 659 (O.48), ff. 1r-41r
- D: 13th century.
- P:
- O:

Salamanca, Biblioteca Universitaria, 2001, ff. 1r-112v
- D: 14th century.
- P:
- O: olim Madrid, Biblioteca del Palacio 1037.

Uppsala, Carolinabiblioteket, C-616, ff. 71v-100r
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De morali principis institutione and De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: Second half of 14th century (ca. 1383).
- P: Northern Germany.
- O: Dominican priory of Lübeck; sold to the Dominican priory in Stockholm after 1407; property of the Swedish crown by the end of the sixteenth century; given to the University of Uppsala in 1620.

Valencia, Biblioteca de la Catedral, Núm. 296, ff. 1r-15v
- D: 15th century.
- P:
- O:

Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 819, ff. 1r-55v
- D: ca. 1300.
- P:
- O:

Lost manuscripts

4 further manuscripts are known that are lost today. They belonged to libraries at:

Florence, Dominican house of Santa Maria Novella;
Ravenna, Dominican house San Domenico;
Venice, Dominican house of San Giovanni e Paolo, 15th century;
York, Cathedral.

Editions before 1700

Rostock, Fratres Domus Horti Viridis ad Sanctum Michaelem, [1477]
[Vincentius Bellovacensis], De liberali ingenuorum institutione pariter ac educatione.
1a-34a: De morali principis institutione
34a-104b: De eruditione filiorum nobilium
104b-147b: Epistola consolatoria de morte amici
Digital facsimile of a copy kept by the Staatsbibliothek Preußisscher Kulturbesitz at Berlin: 4° Inc 1990.5

Basel, Johannes Amerbach, 1481
Vincentius Bellovacensis Opuscula. Scilicet: libri de gratia: libri laudum Virginis gloriose: liber de sancto Johanne evangelista: liber de eruditione puerorum regalium: Liber consolatorius de morte amici.
Digital facsimile of a copy kept by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at Munich: 2 Inc.c.a. 1122.

Modern editions and translations

Latin text

A digital edition of the prologue is available in the Bases Textuelles of the former Atelier Vincent de Beauvais at Nancy (Prologues du Speculum Maius).
Von Moos, P., Die Trostschrift des Vincenz von Beauvais für Ludwig IX. Vorstudie zur Motiv- und Gattungsgeschichte der `Consolatio'. In: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 4 (1967), pp. 173-218 [reprinted in: `Consolatio'. Studien zur mittellateinischen Trostliteratur über dem Tod und zum Problem der christlichen Trauer, 3 vols., Munich 1971-72].
Vergara Ciordia, J. and F. Calero Calero [eds.], Vicente de Beauvais, Epístola consolatoria por la muerte de un amigo. Edición bilingüe. Madrid 2006 (UNED, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos 665, Autores Medievales & Renacentistas 1) [reprinted: 2010].
[Latin text with Spanish translation]

Translations

Vergara Ciordia, J. and F. Calero Calero [eds.], Vicente de Beauvais, Epístola consolatoria por la muerte de un amigo. Edición bilingüe. Madrid 2006 (UNED, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos 665, Autores Medievales & Renacentistas 1) [reprinted: 2010].
[Latin text with Spanish translation]

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