Research Catalog

Title

The making of the Historia scholastica, 1150-1200 / Mark J. Clark.

Author

Clark, Mark J., 1957-

Publication

• Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, [2015]
• ©2015

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, issuing body.

Description

xvi, 322 pages; 24 cm

Summary

In the theological landscape of the later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica stands out as a conspicuous yet strangely overlooked landmark. Like the Sentences of Peter Lombard, the History towers over the early scholastic period, and it was the extraordinary success of these twin towers that ensured the joint ascendancy of the reputations of the two masters. Indeed, we find one medieval writer after another testifying to the greatness of the man whose nickname had become synonymous with a voracious appetite for knowledge, and the encyclopedic work whose extraordinary dissemination and influence over several centuries made it the medieval popular Bible. Based on wide and insightful reading of the manuscripts and printed texts not only of Peter Comestor but also of his master, Peter Lombard, and his student, Stephen Langton, this study offers a persuasive new argument about the genesis and formation of the Historia scholastica. At the same time it harnesses new evidence from biblical glosses and from Langton's lecture courses to analyze the development and reception of the History at Paris in the decades between the 1160s and the 1190s. In the course of this analysis, the History is revealed as a living, prototypically scholastic text, changing constantly at the hands of the magistri who, in adding to and altering the text, readily and anonymously placed their stamp on Comestor's masterwork even as they used it in their teaching. That the History proved so malleable is a testament to Comestor's genius, for he invented a novel method for introducing the Bible to students. Unlike the Gloss, the History presented just the historical/literal tradition and did so in a format that offered students both the scriptural text and the tradition of literal glosses in a single, unified historical narrative. Additionally, Comestor chose a felicitous narrative structure for the History, organizing its chapters into discrete topics that could be easily adapted to a master's individual courses. By reorganizing biblical history in cogent fashion, and by establishing the narrative coherence of the salvific events related in the Old and New Testaments, Comestor charted a course in scholastic biblical education that was as fresh as it was to prove durable.

Series Statement

• Studies and texts ; 198
• Mediaeval law and theology ; 7

Uniform Title

• Studies and texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) ; 198.
• Mediaeval law and theology ; 7.

Subjects

• Langton, Stephen, -1228 > Manuscripts
• Petrus, Comestor, active 12th century > Influence
• Petrus, Comestor, active 12th century > Historia scholastica
• Scholasticism
• Glossa ordinaria
• Theology > History > Middle Ages, 600-1500
• Langton, Stephen, -1228 > Influence
• Petrus, Comestor, active 12th century > Manuscripts
• Bible > Criticism, interpretation, etc > History > Middle Ages, 600-1500

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in electronic format.

Language (note)

• Includes Latin texts of selected chapters from Peter Comestor's Historia Genesis and from his Historia evangelica, together with three versions of Stephen Langton's course on each of these texts.

Contents

Machine generated contents note: ch. One Formerly Famous but Long Since Forgotten: Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica -- I.Fortuna -- II.Historical Contexts and Historiography -- a.Comestor and the Lombard -- b.Comestor and the Victorines -- c.Comestor and the Glossatores -- d.Comestor in the Schools -- III.Concluding Observations -- ch. Two Lessons Learned in the Classroom: Comestor's Lectures on the Glossed Gospels -- I.Comestor's Classroom Experience -- a.Ordering Biblical Text and Glosses -- b.History and Mystery -- ch. Three From the Gloss to the History -- I.The Gloss as Introductory Biblical Textbook -- a.The Problem of Scale -- b.The Problem of Organization -- ch. Four Towards a Better Textbook: The Making of the Historia scholastica -- I.The Building Blocks of the History -- a.The Bible -- b.The Glosses -- c.Extra-Biblical Sources -- II.Method and Structure -- a.Comestor's Abridgement of Scripture and the Tradition of Glosses -- b.History Alone -- ch. Five The Case for a "Langton" Edition of the History -- I.The Quest for a Pre-Scholastic Edition of the Comestor's History -- a.The Problem of the "Notes" to the History -- II.Langton as a Witness to the Early Textual History of the Historia scholastica -- a.Comestor and Langton at Paris, ca. 1160 to ca. 1180 -- b.Langton and the "Notes" to the History -- III.Towards a "Langton" or "University" Edition of the Historia scholastica -- ch. Six Stephen Langton: Comestor's Student, Collaborator, Colleague -- I.The Formation of the University Text: The Pre-1176 Series of Lectures -- a.Langton as Textual Witness -- b.Langton as Student -- II.The Formation of the University Text: Revising the Pre-1176 Lectures and the History -- a.Langton as Colleague -- b.Langton as Disciple -- c.Langton as Collaborator -- III.The Final, Magisterial Revision -- ch. Seven Langton's Course on the Historia scholastica: The Making of a University Textbook -- I.The Series of Lectures -- II.From Lecture Course to Textbook -- III.The Second, Revised Edition -- a.Refining the Course -- b.Correcting the Magister Historiarum -- c.A Magisterial Voice -- IV.The Creation of a Lasting Tradition -- ch. Eight Conclusions -- Textual Appendices -- A.1.The prefaces and opening chapters of Comestor's Historia Genesis -- A.2.The prefaces and opening chapters of the first version, namely the classroom lectures, of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia Genesis -- A.3.The prefaces and opening chapters of the second version, namely the first revision (accomplished before 1176), of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia Genesis -- A.4.The prefaces and opening chapters of the third version, namely the second revision (accomplished before 1193), of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia Genesis -- B.1.The prefaces and opening chapters of Comestor's Historia evangelica -- B.2.The prefaces and opening chapters of the first version, namely the classroom lectures, of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia evangelica -- B.3.The prefaces and opening chapters of the second version, namely the first revision (accomplished before 1176), of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia evangelica -- B.4.The prefaces and opening chapters of the third version, namely the second revision (accomplished before 1193), of Stephen Langton's course on the Historia evangelica.

Call Number

JFE 16-6142

ISBN

• 9780888441980
• 0888441983
• 1771101709
• 9781771101707
• 9781771101701 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2015513567

OCLC

918259750

Author

Clark, Mark J., 1957- author.

Title

The making of the Historia scholastica, 1150-1200 / Mark J. Clark.

Publisher

Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, [2015]

Copyright Date

©2015

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Studies and texts ; 198

Mediaeval law and theology ; 7

Studies and texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) ; 198.

Mediaeval law and theology ; 7.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Additional Formats

Issued also in electronic format.

Language

Includes Latin texts of selected chapters from Peter Comestor's Historia Genesis and from his Historia evangelica, together with three versions of Stephen Langton's course on each of these texts.

Added Author

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, issuing body.

Other Form:

Clark, Mark J., 1957-, author. Making of the Historia scholastica, 1150 1200. Studies and texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) Mediaeval law and theology Studies and texts ; Mediaeval law and theology ; (CaOONL)20159055431

Research Call Number

JFE 16-6142