Paenitentiale Bedae

*Paenitentiale Bedae*
Paenitentiale Bedae
	Folio 96v from the Sélestat manuscript (Cod. 132), showing the beginning of the Paenitentiale Bedae
Also known as	Paenitentiale Pseudo-Bedae
Audience	Catholic clergy
Language	medieval Latin
Date	ca. 730?
Authenticity	questionable
Manuscript(s)	four, plus fragments
Genre	penitential, canon law collection
Subject	ecclesiastical and lay discipline; ecclesiastical and lay penance

The Paenitentiale Bedae (also known as the Paenitentiale Pseudo-Bedae, or more commonly as either Bede's penitential or the Bedan penitential) is an early medieval penitential handbook composed around 730, possibly by the Anglo-Saxon monk Bede.

Background

Manuscripts and transmission

There are four extant manuscripts that contain the Paenitentiale Bedae, all dating to the ninth century, ranging geographically from northeastern France to the Main river region. The sigla given below (W₉, Z₂, etc.) are those introduced by Reinhard Haggenmüller.

Siglum	Manuscript	Contents
Mp₂	Montpellier, Bibliothèque universitaire (Faculté de Médecine), MS 387, fols 1–80 (written middle of ninth century northeastern Francia)	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Se₂	Sélestat, Bibliothèque humaniste, MS 132 (written middle of ninth century, possibly in Mainz)	rites for exorcism; incantations; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti; Paenitentiale Bedae; Excarpsus Cummeani
T₅	Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Codex Fragm. 100 A, w, x, y and z + Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, MS 895 fragm. + Donaueschingen, Hofbibliothek, MS 925 Fragm.[1] (written about 800 probably in northern Italy)	Epitome Hispana (fragmentary; excerpts);[2] Paenitentiale Oxoniense II (fragmentary); Paenitentiale Ecgberhti (prologue and c. 4.15 only, possibly once followed by further Paenitentiale Ecgberhti material); a series of penitential excerpts[3] (fragmentary; including excerpts from Paenitentiale Umbrense book I, Paenitentiale Cummeani, and Paenitentiale Burgundense); Paenitentiale Bedae[4] (first preface and first sentence of second preface[5] only, possibly once followed by further Paenitentiale Bedae material)
W₉	Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex lat. 2223 (written beginning of ninth century in the Main river region)	Paenitentiale Theodori (U version); Paenitentiale Bedae; Paenitentiale Cummeani (excerpt); Capitula iudiciorum (previously known as the Poenitentiale XXXV capitulorum); Libellus responsionum; miscellaneous creedal and theological works; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti
Z₂	Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Car. C 176 (D 64), fols 1–136 (written ca 850×875 in eastern Francia)	xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Haggenmüller divided the four main surviving witnesses of the Paenitentiale Bedae into two groups, based broadly on the regions in which they were produced, the nature and arrangement of their accompanying texts, and shared readings in the Paenitentiale Bedae itself.:[6] the 'Rhine-Main river' group consists of the oldest manuscripts (W₉ and Se₁), while the 'East-Frankish' group (Mp₂ and Z₂) represents a slightly older tradition.

The Paenitentiale Bedae is also transmitted in somewhat altered form as part of two later penitential texts known as the Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti (or Preliminary Stage of the Unified Bedan-Ecgberhtine Penitential, in which the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti is affixed to the end of the Paenitentiale Bedae) and the Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti (or Unified Bedan-Ecgberhtine Penitential; like the Preliminary Stage, but the whole is now preceded by the prefaces of both the Paenitentiale Bedae and the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti), and in greatly altered form in the still later Paenitentiale mixtum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti (or Merged Bedan-Ecgberhtine Penitential, in which the chapters of both the Paenitentiale Bedae and the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti are mixed together and arranged by topic).

Editions

The Paenitentiale Bedae itself has been edited twice and reprinted once:

F.W.H. Wasserschleben, ed., Die Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche (Halle, 1851), pp. 220–30, printing from W₉. This edition is currently standard.
- W. Stubbs with A.W. Haddan, eds, Councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3 (Oxford, 1873), pp. 326–34, reprinting Wasserschleben's edition of W₉.
- H.J. Schmitz, ed., Die Bussbücher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (Mainz, 1883), pp. 556–64, printing an incomplete text of the Vorstufe from Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 12673 (up to c. 5.11), to which is appended a reprint of the final chapters of Wasserschleben's edition of W₉.

Much more numerous are editions of the Paenitentiale Bedae in the later modified forms mentioned above, namely the Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti, the Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti, and the Paenitentiale mixtum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti. These works, which present the Paenitentiale Bedae material in sometimes greatly modified form, have been edited and reprinted many times since the early modern period.

The Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti has been edited four times:

E. Martène and U. Durand, eds, Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum historicorum, dogmaticorum, moralium, amplissima collectio ..., 9 vols (Paris 1724–1733), vol. VII, cols 37–49, printing from a now lost St-Hubert manuscript.
H.J. Schmitz, ed., Die Bussbücher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (Mainz, 1883), pp. 573–87, printing an incomplete text of the Vorstufe from Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 12673.
H.J. Schmitz, ed., Die Bussbücher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (Mainz, 1883), pp. 556–64, printing an incomplete text of the Vorstufe from Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 12673 (as above).
H.J. Schmitz, ed., Die Bussbücher und das kanonische Bussverfahren, nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (Düsseldorf, 1898), pp. 654–59, printing the Sonderrezension der Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti from Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 294, fols 78–136, with variant readings from the W₉ text of the Paenitentiale Bedae.

The Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti has been edited three times and reprinted nine times:

J. Heerwag, ed., Opera Bedae Venerabilis ... omnia in octo tomos distincta ... (Basel, 1563), VIII, cols 1127–34, printing from a now lost manuscript.
- A. Augustín, ed., Canones paenitentiales quibus ordine succedunt ... (Tarragona, 1581), pp. 107–19, reprinting Heerwag.
  - G. Rocchi, ed., Antonii Augustini Archiepiscopi Tarraconensis opera omnia ..., 8 vols (Luca, 1765–1774), III, pp. 298–308, reprinting Augustín.
- H. Spelman, with J. Stephens and J. Spelman, eds, Concilia, decreta, leges, constitutiones in re ecclesiarum orbis Britannici ... ab initio christianæ ibidem religionis, ad nostram usque ætatem ... Tom. I: ... a primis Christi seculis usque ad introitum Normannorum ... (London, 1639), pp. 281–88, reprinting Heerwag.
  - Conciliorum omnium generalium et provincialium collectio regia, 37 vols (Paris, 1644), XVII, pp. 517–29, reprinting Spelman.
    - P. Labbè and G. Cossart, eds, Sacrosancta concilia ad regiam editionem exacta quæ nunc quarta parte prodit auctior, 16 vols (Paris, 1671–1672), VI, cols 1611–1619, reprinting the Collectio regia.
      - N. Coleti, ed. Sacrosancta concilia ad regiam editionem exacta, quæ olim quarta parte prodit auctior studio Philip. Labbei, & Gabr. Cossartii ..., 23 vols (Venice, 1728–1733), VIII, cols 359–366, reprinting Labbè–Cossart.
      - G.D. Mansi, ed., Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio ..., 31 vols (Florence, 1759–1798; repr. with 22 additional volumes containing supplementary material, Paris and Leipzig, 1901–1927), XII, cols 489–498, reprinting Labbè–Cossart.
        J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiæ cursus completus sive bibliotheca universalis ... omnium SS. patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum qui ab ævo apostoloca ad usque Innocentii III tempora floruerunt ... series secunda (= Latina) ..., 217 vols, (Paris, 1844–1864), LXXXIX, cols 443–454, reprinting Mansi.
        
        J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiæ cursus completus sive bibliotheca universalis ... omnium SS. patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum qui ab ævo apostoloca ad usque Innocentii III tempora floruerunt ... series secunda (= Latina) ..., 217 vols, (Paris, 1844–1864), XCIV, cols 567–675, reprinting ???.
J. Morin, ed., Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione sacramenti poenitentiæ tredecim primis seculis in ecclesia occidentali ... (Paris, 1651), Appendix, pp. 32–6, printing from a now lost Saint-Hubert manuscript.
B. Albers, "Wann sind die Beda-Egbert’schen Bussbücher verfaßt worden, und wer ist ihr Verfasser?", Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht 81 (1901), pp. 393–420.

The Paenitentiale mixtum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti has been edited twice and reprinted twice:

F.W.H. Wasserschleben, Beitraege zur Geschichte der vorgratianischen Kirchenrechtsquellen, (Leipzig, 1839), pp. 126–45, printing from Cologne, Erzbischöfliche Diözesan- und Dombibliothek, Codex 118.
F. Kunstmann, ed., Die Lateinischen Pönitentialbücher der Angelsachsen, mit geschichtlicher Einleitung, (Mainz, 1844), pp. 142–75, printing from Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 3851 and Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 3853.
- F.W.H. Wasserschleben, ed., Die Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche (Halle, 1851), pp. 248–83, reprinting Kunstmann's edition of the Paenitentiale mixtum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti.
- H.J. Schmitz, ed., Die Bussbücher und das kanonische Bussverfahren, nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (Düsseldorf, 1898), pp. 679–701, reprinting Kunstmann's edition of the Paenitentiale mixtum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti.

Notes

These seven palimpsest fragments currently contain penitential canons that, some time around the year 800, were written over uncial copies of a lectionary and sacramentary. On the contents and original unity of these fragments, see Körntgen, Studien, pp. 98–108.
The order of contents given here is that of the reconstructed manuscript as presented by Körntgen, Studien, pp. 100–108.
Note that it is not clear on the basis of Körntgen’s reconstruction of this manuscript whether this series is part of the same penitential text as the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti material that precedes it.
Haggenmüller, Die Überlieferung, pp. 292–93, has argued that this is the beginning of the Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti; however, it is just as likely that this is an abbreviated version of the two prefaces preceding the Paenitentiale Bedae as found in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex lat. 2223 (see next note).
The sentence reads: Institutio illa sancta que fiebat in diebus patrum nostrorum et reliqua. The origin of the second Bedan preface is controversial. Haggenmüller presumed, without argument (see e.g. Die Überlieferung, pp. 132, 147, 149, 151), that it was merely an abbreviation of the Ecgberhtine prologue (also beginning Institutio illa), but it is just as likely that the Ecgberhtine prologue is an expansion of the second Bedan preface. It is significant, for instance, that the earliest extant copy of the Paenitentiale Bedae, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex lat. 2223, contains the second preface; the three later copies of the Paenitentiale Bedae omit it, however. Without stating his reasoning Haggenmüller argued that the second preface had been inserted into Vienna 2223's exemplar, though he declined to explain why this was done. There is thus no compelling reason to agree with Haggenmüller on this point. Rather, the originality of the second Bedan preface should be taken for granted on the authority of the earliest witness (Vienna 2223), until a compelling counter-argument is put forward. There is an obvious explanation as to why the later witnesses of the Paenitentiale Bedae omit the second preface. Haggenmüller has already shown that in the second half of the eighth century the Paenitentiale Bedae and Paenitentiale Ecgberhti were in circulation in the same Continental centres, and often in the same manuscripts; they were even being compared against and mixed with each other. In such a scenario, it is easy to imagine scribes choosing not to include the second Bedan preface because they knew it to exist (in what to them seemed like fuller form) as the beginning of the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti, which they had already copied out (or were intending to copy out) in the same manuscript. This hypothesis is in fact supported by the present manuscript fragment (T₅), which Körntgen’s reconstruction has shown to have contained, first, a full Ecgberhtine prologue, and then later the first and second Bedan prefaces, though the second has been abbreviated to the point of nearly being omitted entirely: Institutio illa sancta que fiebat in diebus patrum nostrorum et reliqua, as if the scribe understood that what was to follow was already known to the reader from earlier on. T₅ thus seems to represent a transitional form, the missing link between a Paenitentiale Bedae with the second preface and a Paenitentiale Bedae without it. There is no doubt that the direction of evolution witnessed by T₅ points to the gradual obsolescence, rather than the abrupt interpolation, of the second Bedan preface.
Haggenmüller, Überlieferung, 129–49.

Bibliography

Reinhold Haggenmüller, Die Überlieferung der Beda und Egbert zugeschriebenen Bussbücher, Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe III, Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 461 (Frankfurt am Main, 1991).
Ludger Körntgen, Studien zu den Quellen der frühmittelalterlichen Bußbücher, Quellen Und Forschungen Zum Recht Im Mittelalter 7 (Sigmaringen, 1993).

External links

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[1] These seven palimpsest fragments currently contain penitential canons that, some time around the year 800, were written over uncial copies of a lectionary and sacramentary. On the contents and original unity of these fragments, see Körntgen, Studien, pp. 98–108.

[2] The order of contents given here is that of the reconstructed manuscript as presented by Körntgen, Studien, pp. 100–108.

[3] Note that it is not clear on the basis of Körntgen’s reconstruction of this manuscript whether this series is part of the same penitential text as the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti material that precedes it.

[4] Haggenmüller, Die Überlieferung, pp. 292–93, has argued that this is the beginning of the Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti; however, it is just as likely that this is an abbreviated version of the two prefaces preceding the Paenitentiale Bedae as found in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex lat. 2223 (see next note).

[5] The sentence reads: Institutio illa sancta que fiebat in diebus patrum nostrorum et reliqua. The origin of the second Bedan preface is controversial. Haggenmüller presumed, without argument (see e.g. Die Überlieferung, pp. 132, 147, 149, 151), that it was merely an abbreviation of the Ecgberhtine prologue (also beginning Institutio illa), but it is just as likely that the Ecgberhtine prologue is an expansion of the second Bedan preface. It is significant, for instance, that the earliest extant copy of the Paenitentiale Bedae, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex lat. 2223, contains the second preface; the three later copies of the Paenitentiale Bedae omit it, however. Without stating his reasoning Haggenmüller argued that the second preface had been inserted into Vienna 2223's exemplar, though he declined to explain why this was done. There is thus no compelling reason to agree with Haggenmüller on this point. Rather, the originality of the second Bedan preface should be taken for granted on the authority of the earliest witness (Vienna 2223), until a compelling counter-argument is put forward. There is an obvious explanation as to why the later witnesses of the Paenitentiale Bedae omit the second preface. Haggenmüller has already shown that in the second half of the eighth century the Paenitentiale Bedae and Paenitentiale Ecgberhti were in circulation in the same Continental centres, and often in the same manuscripts; they were even being compared against and mixed with each other. In such a scenario, it is easy to imagine scribes choosing not to include the second Bedan preface because they knew it to exist (in what to them seemed like fuller form) as the beginning of the Paenitentiale Ecgberhti, which they had already copied out (or were intending to copy out) in the same manuscript. This hypothesis is in fact supported by the present manuscript fragment (T₅), which Körntgen’s reconstruction has shown to have contained, first, a full Ecgberhtine prologue, and then later the first and second Bedan prefaces, though the second has been abbreviated to the point of nearly being omitted entirely: Institutio illa sancta que fiebat in diebus patrum nostrorum et reliqua, as if the scribe understood that what was to follow was already known to the reader from earlier on. T₅ thus seems to represent a transitional form, the missing link between a Paenitentiale Bedae with the second preface and a Paenitentiale Bedae without it. There is no doubt that the direction of evolution witnessed by T₅ points to the gradual obsolescence, rather than the abrupt interpolation, of the second Bedan preface.

[6] Haggenmüller, Überlieferung, 129–49.

Bede
Works	De natura rerum Ecclesiastical History of the English People Paenitentiale Bedae The Reckoning of Time
People	Benedict Biscop Ceolfrith Ecgbert of York Hwaetberht Nothhelm Wilfrid
Topics	Jarrow Hall Bede Museum List of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey Moore Bede Saint Petersburg Bede