Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

of manuscripts of the sermons which survive from the ninth century attest to Caesarius’
popularity. 76 Carolingian churchmen found resonance in Caesarius’ decision that the right
to preach should not be confined to bishops: as much of the population as possible should
be exposed to discussions of the faith.
Benedict appears to have gathered much of his material by uniting smaller
collections of texts. Bonnerue has tentatively identified the sources for the texts Benedict
used. 77 To summarize, comparison with other manuscripts shows that one group of Gallic
and Frankish rules probably went to Benedict under the auspices of the monastery of St-
Martin of Tours; 78 a second came from a pre-existing corpus of hispano-visigothic rules
or its sources, again hinting at a Septimanian origin or connection for the collection; 79 the
remainder of the texts (including the Arles works), which are largely those unknown from
other sources, were listed in a ninth-century catalogue from Fulda in the same order,
suggesting a common source for the Codex and the catalogue. 80 To some extent,
therefore, Benedict’s inclusion of Caesarius may simply build on continuing awareness of
and regard for his work. Clearly Benedict’s use of Caesarius in the Codex needs to be
compared with his use of other writers, and the locus for that will be a consideration of
Caesarius’ works in the Concordia regularum.
Caesarius in the Concordia regularum
In many ways the Concordia regularum is a much less fluid and more fixed text.
Its purpose is clear, and made explicit in its prologue 81 : this was the work that Benedict
Alcuin’s breviarium on the virtues and vices apparently composed for count Wido. However, it is unclear
whether Alcuin was aware that his citations were in fact from sermons of Caesarius; they are attributed to
Augustine. A reason for this can be deduced from the case of Caesarius’ sermon 18, which Alcuin used for
chapter 14 of his work, but which was itself drawn largely from Augustine’s sermon 82 (Delage, Sermons
au peuple, I, 469).
76 See Morin, Sermones, CCSL 103, xxvii to cxxii, passim. Morin lists forty-two manuscripts containing
the sermons that date from the late eighth or ninth centuries.
77 P. Bonnerue, Benedicti Anianensis Concordia Regularum CCCM 168 (Turnhout, 1999) 84-93.
78 RIVP, 2RP, 3RP, RPS, RColM, RColC.
79 RMac, Vita Pachomii, 6 other Pachomian texts, Theodore Epistula, Orsiesius Liber, RBas, RCons, RI,
2 nd council of Spain, RFruc, RCom, RCas.
80 P. Bonnerue Benedicti Anianensis Concordia Regularum CCCM 168 (Turnhout, 1999), 90-2.
81 P. Bonnerue Benedicti Anianensis Concordia Regularum CCCM 168 A (Turnhout, 1999), 3-4.
233