The metrical prologues to the Visigothic Excerpta Canonum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36191/mjb/2022-57-3-1Schlagworte:
Visigothic poetry, medieval poetry, Collectio canonum hispana, Visigothic Spain, early Middle AgesAbstract
This paper offers a study and edition of the Versificationes ad excerpta canonum librorum, a set of epigrams designed to decorate the index of a collection of summaries of conciliar canons and decretals, itself arranged thematically in ten books and known as the Excerpta hispana. The epigrams were written after the Council of Toledo of 656 and before the Council of Mérida of 666, when Ildefonsus was bishop of Toledo. The author was not a gifted or inspired poet, but at least he knew the basics of Latin versification as cultivated in Visigothic Spain in the time of Reccesuinth.