The fate of Cassiodorus’ Variae during the Early Middle Ages is largely unknown, since the manuscript tradition begins with the eleventh century, and long quotations taken from them are attested only from that period. However, words or expressions reminiscent of the Variae occur more than once in Charlemagne’s letters to Byzantium, in the works of Paschasius, and in the Donation of Constantine. The author of the epistles sent by Charlemagne’s to the East Roman emperor was aware of the ideological context of Variae 1.1, and the same is true for the Donation of Constantine. At the same time, Paschasius used Cassiodorus as a source of elegant words and expressions, thereby treating him like a classical author. It is impossible to ascertain whether Carolingian writers had access to all books of the Variae, or only to a substantial selection of letters (similar for instance to the manuscript containing the Epistolae Austrasicae), but there is a high degree of likelihood that they knew quite a few epistles of Cassiodorus, and were able to appreciate the political messages conveyed by them.
University of Tübingen, Germany - ORCID: 0000-0002-9629-5119
Titolo del capitolo
Cassiodorus’ Variae in the 9th Century
Autori
Marco Cristini
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-664-3.09
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2022
Copyright
© 2022 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Between Ostrogothic and Carolingian Italy
Sottotitolo del libro
Survivals, revivals, ruptures
Curatori
Fabrizio Oppedisano
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
262
Anno di pubblicazione
2022
Copyright
© 2022 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-664-3
ISBN Print
978-88-5518-663-6
eISBN (pdf)
978-88-5518-664-3
eISBN (xml)
978-88-5518-666-7
Collana
Reti Medievali E-Book
ISSN della collana
2704-6362
e-ISSN della collana
2704-6079