De computo

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De computo is a computist script of the Franconian scholar, later abbot of the Fulda monastery and archbishop of Mainz , Rabanus Maurus (about 780-856).

Emergence

The creation of the work can be seen in the broader context of the Carolingian church and educational reform , which not least aimed at raising the level of education of the clergy in order to enable them to fulfill their spiritual duties. Basic knowledge in the field of computistics was essential to calculate the correct date of Easter . The demand that all priests should be familiar with the Computus was therefore tirelessly repeated both by Charlemagne and by the bishops of the Franconian Empire. But even beyond the calculation of Easter, the calculation of time was by no means a worldly matter, because God, as Lord of creation, was also Lord of the sequence of times. So whoever dealt with the calculation of time and calendar systems tried to better understand the work of God at the same time.

The writing De computo was 820 as part of Rabanus work as magister scholae in Fulda. The reason for its creation was the questions asked by an otherwise unknown monk named Marcharius to Rabanus about problems of the calculation of time.

Sources and content

For the drafting of his work, Rabanus used primarily the works of the Anglo-Saxon Beda Venerabilis ( De temporibus , De natura rerum , De temporum ratione ). In addition, he used the writings of Isidore of Seville ( De natura rerum , Origines sive Etymologiae ), as well as the Argumenta and the Easter tablets of Dionysius Exiguus .

It was the intention of the Fulda schoolmaster to summarize the computistic subject matter in a manual for the lesson, so the text contains little that is independent. Evidence of the cited or paraphrased authorities is largely dispensed with - this also points to the character of the work as a manual for school use.

De computo is organized as a dialogue between a master's degree and his student. The student asks questions on subjects related to computistics, which the teacher answers, while at the same time directing the student to further questions. The text is roughly divided into five sections. First, Rabanus goes into the nature of numbers and (Roman) numerals in general (Chapters I-VIII). In the second section (Chap. VIIII-XXXVI) it then goes over to the time itself and its terminology. He dedicates himself to the time units from the atomus over hour, day, month and year, v. a. based on Beda and Isidore, where he used the material in z. Sometimes organized in a very independent way for learning purposes. Section 3 (chap. XXXVII-LIII) deals with the sun, moon, planets and stars and their movements in relation to each other, before the fourth section (chap. LIIII-XCII) deals with the Easter calculation and thus computistics in the narrower sense . The last section is devoted to the classification of the complex of topics in God's plan of salvation. Among other things, there are reflections on the mystical meaning of Easter (Chapter XCIII: De mistica significatione paschae ).

Reception and transmission

De computo has come down to us in 16 manuscripts that were written between the 9th and 17th centuries. The focus of the reception still points to the first half of the 9th century: six manuscripts date from this period. Their origins range from central and southern Germany (Fulda, Regensburg, Lake Constance region, Reichenau) to northern Italy. A first edition was obtained by the French church historian Étienne Baluze (1630-1718). Baluze presumably relied on the manuscript F from the third quarter of the 9th century, which is now in the Paris Bibliotheque nationale .

List of manuscripts

  • A: Avranches, Bibliothèque municipale 114 (12th century, Normandy?), F. 98-132
  • B: London, British Museum , Additional 10801 (17th century, copy from a Fulda copy), f. 1-59v
  • C: Oxford, Bodleian Library , Canonici miscellaneous 353 (827-829, Fulda), f. 2-53v
  • D: Einsiedeln, Abbey Library 319 (996, Einsiedeln), p. 157-274
  • E: Exeter, Cathedral Chapter Library 3507 (10th century), f. 1v-58
  • F: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale , Fonds latin 4860 (9th century, Diocese of Constance), f. 119v-135v
  • G: Sankt Gallen , Abbey Library 878 (approx. 825, Reichenau), p. 178-240
  • H: London, British Library , Harley 3092 (9th century, Fulda?), F. 29-39v
  • I: Sankt Gallen, Abbey Library 902 (9th century, southwest German / Alemannic area), p. 105-152
  • L: Leiden, library of the Rijksuniversiteit , BPL 191 BD (12th century, Middle Rhine area), f. 1–26v
  • M: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek , Codex lat. 14221 (9th century, Regensburg), f. 23-60v
  • N: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Codex lat. 14523 (10th century, Regensburg), f. 2-48v
  • O: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Codex lat. 17145 (12th century, Schäftlarn / Bavaria), f. 41-56v
  • P: Padua, Biblioteca Antoniana I. 27 (9th / 10th century, northern Italy), f. 1-44v
  • R: Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana 885 (14th century, England), f. 312-346
  • V: London, British Museum, Cotton Vitellius A. XII (11th century, southern England), f. 10v-40v

literature

Edition

  • Rabanus Maurus: De Computo , ed. v. Wesley M. Stevens , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979 (Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis; 44), pp. 163–331.

Secondary literature

  • Arno Borst : Computus. Time and Number in the History of Europe , Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 2004 (Small Library of Cultural Studies; 28).
  • Brigitte English : The Artes Liberales in the Early Middle Ages. (5th - 9th century). The quadrivium and the computus as indicators of continuity and renewal of the exact sciences between antiquity and the Middle Ages (= Sudhoff's archive. Supplements 33). Steiner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06431-1 (also: Bochum, Univ., Diss., 1991/92).
  • Josef Fleckenstein : Educational reform of Charlemagne , in: Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume 2: Beggars to Codex of Valencia , Artemis Verlag, Munich / Zurich 1983, Sp. 187–189.
  • Maria Rissel: Reception of ancient and patristic science with Hrabanus Maurus . Studies on Carolingian intellectual history, Herbert Lang / Peter Lang, Bern / Frankfurt am Main 1976 (Latin language and literature of the Middle Ages; 7).
  • Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979 (Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis; 44), pp. 165–197.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Josef Fleckenstein: Educational reform of Charlemagne , in: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Volume 2: Beggarwesen to Codex von Valencia , Artemis Verlag, Munich / Zurich 1983, Sp. 187-189
  2. ^ Arno Borst: Computus. Time and number in the history of Europe , Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 2004, p. 38.
  3. ^ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, pp. 166-167.
  4. ↑ On the dating cf. Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, pp. 188-189.
  5. ↑ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, p. 177.
  6. ↑ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, p. 176: " The contents of Hraban's Computus reflect his previous seventeen years of teaching straightforwardly from the classic sources of the Dionysian-Bedan tradition . "
  7. ↑ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, p. 178.
  8. ↑ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, pp. 178-188; the older proposal by Maria Rissel: Reception of ancient and patristic science in Hrabanus Maurus. Studies on the Carolingian intellectual history , Herbert Lang / Peter Lang, Bern / Frankfurt am Main 1976, pp. 30-40, according to Stevens, should be rejected due to various shortcomings, while their discussion of the content in general (Ibid., Pp. 41-75 ) is quite useful.
  9. ↑ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, p. 181.
  10. ^ Wesley M. Stevens: Introduction , in: Rabani Mauri Martyrologium / De Computo , Brepols, Turnhout 1979, pp. 190–197.