Boethiana Mediaevalia: A Collection of Studies on the Early Medieval Fortune of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius masterpiece, The Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524) can be counted among the most popular books of the early Middle Ages: it was extensively copied, glossed, commented upon, and translated. But how did the medieval West rediscover it? Where did the text resurface at the end of the eighth century? How did ninth- and tenth-century scholars react to this complicated book, replete with Platonic lore yet devoid of explicit references to Christ? How did translators such as Alfred and Notker cope with the difficult philosophical vocabulary of the text they turned into Old English and Old High German? A few answers are ventured in the present book, whose purpose is to examine the impact of the last great book of late Antiquity upon the Latin and vernacular culture of the ninth and tenth centuries.