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- Stenborg, Georg, 1966-
(author)
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Emmo: De qualitate caelestis patriae libri tres. : Edition with an Introduction.
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis contains the first critical edition of the eschatological florilegium De qualitate caelestis patriae by Emmo, compiled, during the Carolingian renaissance, in the first half of the ninth century.The subject matter covered by Emmo is theological and moral, comprising first and foremost the eschatological ends of heaven and hell, but also having a clear moral agenda, to inspire the reader to lead a righteous life through the virtues described and to avoid the vices leading to a sorry end of one’s life. It contains passages of various length from Church Fathers (patres) such as Augustine, Gregory, Isidore, and several lesser known authors of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Each chapter of its three books consists of one or several patristic quotations on a defined aspect of heaven, hell, purgatory or the last judgement, or on charity, patience, obedience and the other virtues, or the power of pious almsgiving and penitence.The primary reader, addressed in the preface, is a 'pater Willelmus', who has not been clearly identified despite several attempts, just as Emmo himself, who is not otherwise known. These questions are not solved definitely in this study either, but the evidence is collected and presented. The historical and intellectual setting of the Carolingian period is also briefly described.The sources of Emmo’s florilegium and his methods of compiling are exemplified and analysed in detail in the thesis. The florilegium genre represents a complex and unstable textual tradition where compilers borrow material either directly from the primary source (a Church Father) or from secondary sources, including other collections and florilegia. This enables several variants of contamination in manuscripts, rendering otherwise conclusive errors dubious as proofs of manuscript relations. This is also discussed in the thesis.
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