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2174

Liber Decennalis

Century: 11

Latin

Dioc. Liège
Duchy of Lower Lotharingia

INCIPIT

Incipit liber decennalis in modum dialogi compositus. Interrogatio discipuli: Cum temporum scriptores diversi, quamvis diverse, annos mundi collectos usque ad Christi nativitatem perduxerint, satis superque miro, cur nullus eorum primum mundi annum aperte designatverit, sed nec annum dominice nativitatis vel passionis certa temporis proprietate denotaverint.

EXPLICIT

Super hiis omnibus nos instruit evidenter felix abbas Gillitanus, qui scribit, quod Dionisius non composuit totum secundum magnum cyclum annorum DXXX duorum, sed tantum initium secundi magni cycli, id est cyclum quinque cylorum decennovennalium ad imitationem Cyrilli ... Quapropter monemus lectorum, ut, dum prefati et venerabilis Dionisii quintus cyclus explicitus fuerit, ad nostros subsequentes ut diximus cyclos V transitum faciat et absque ulla erroris caligine dies festissimos paschales vel lunas per ordinem de ratione repperiet.

Sigebert de Gembloux, Sigebert van Gembloers, Sigebertus Gemblacensis

Sex: M- Bio: ?ca. 1026, probably in the environs of Gembloux; ca. 1050 teacher in St Vincent's abbey in Metz; 1070-1 return to the abbey of Gembloux; + 5 oct. 1112. One of the most important medieval chroniclers, best known for his Chronica.-Status author (order, function): Benedictine Monks (OSB)

EDITING

Location:abbey of Gembloux - Date:1092, probably revised for a second time in 1111 (Wiesenbach, 1977; Chazan, 1999). Verbist (2002) doubts the existence of a second redaction phase. - Commission: /

SIZE

CONTEXT

ABSTRACT

The Liber Decennalis was actually a newly designed Easter table preceded by an elaborate prologue, that intended to substantiate Sigebert’s chronological innovations. In the only surviving manuscript the table is lost, but the prologue is preserved. This prologue is a dialogue between a ‘magister’ and a ‘discipulis’ divided into three books. The first book deals with some theoretical issues concerning the dating of the act of creation and of Christ’s passion. These theorems are applied in the second book to determine the time of creation and of the crucifixion, and, as such, correcting the accounts of Beda Venerabilis (†735) and of Dionysius Exiguus (†33 n.Chr.). Finally, the third book acts as a sort of appendix in which different kinds of chronological questions are answered such as the exact day of Christ’s passion and his age at that time.

SOURCES

INFLUENCE

MANUSCRIPTS

Roma, Bibliotheca Angelica, 1413

TRANSLATIONS

EDITIONS

Wiesenbach (J.), in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 12 (Weimar, 1986) 175-297

LITERATURE

CHAZAN (M.), L'Empire et l'histoire universelle. De Sigebert de Gembloux à Jean de Saint-Victor (XIIe-XIVe siècle) (Paris, 1999) 96
VERBIST (P.), 'Een elfde-eeuwse dialoog tussen een leermeester en een leerling: het Liber decennalis van Sigebert van Gembloux', in: R. Bauer, et al. (eds.), In de voetsporen van Jacob van Maerlant: Liber amicorum Raf De Keyser. Verzameling opstellen over middeleeuwse geschiedenis en geschiedenisdidactiek (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Symbolae Facultatis Litterarum Lovaniensis, Series A, 30) (Leuven, 2002) 101-113
VON DEN BRINCKEN (A.-D.), 'Kritik an Marianus Scottus und anderen Chronologen im 'Liber decennalis in modum dialogi compositus' von 1092', Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters, (1961) 231-238
WIESENBACH (J.), 'Der Liber decennalis in der Hs. Rom, Bibliotheca Angelica 1413, als Werk Sigeberts von Gembloux', Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters, 33 (1977) 171-18

LINKS

Desiderata:

Contributor:
Xavier Baecke

Update:
2012-09-12 17:11:44