The Visigothic Manuscripts of Cassiodorus' Expositio Psalmorum: Codices, Texts, and Scripts

Abstract

Of Cassiodorus' Expositio Psalmorum, only three manuscripts copied in Visigothic script between the 9th and 11th centuries have survived, all of them belonging to the peninsular Hispanic tradition. Their geographical origins are in the abbey of Gellone and the monasteries of San Pedro de Cardeña and San Millán de la Cogolla. In this work, a comparative analysis of these testimonies in the codicological, textual and palaeographic fields is carried out, from which it is deduced that they are independent of each other, ruling out possible links between them. It also addresses the possible relationship established by critics between the testimonies made in Burgos and La Rioja, while reviewing some of the accepted assertions about the production of manuscripts throughout the early Middle Ages in both monastic centres.