Eleventh-Century Commentary on the Epistles of Saint Paul: the Role of Glosses in Pauline Exegesis

Eleventh-Century Commentary on the Epistles of Saint Paul: The Role of Glosses in Pauline Exegesis

Ann Collins

Paul’s epistles have endured as touchstones for Christian identity through- out the centuries. Paul spoke of unchanging truths with relevance for each age, becoming “all things to all men” in every generation (1 Cor 9:22). As a person and thinker, Paul offered everything exciting to eleventh-century sensibilities. He supplied the right material to an emerging academic cul- ture when scholarly institutions and methods were under review. Here was a teacher who upheld the truth against ideological foes, who wielded the sword of divine force as well as the quick wit and sharp tongue of human talent. Fittingly, the epistles were among the most frequently studied sections of the Bible in the eleventh century, but many commentators glossed Paul and the Psalms in tandem.1 These texts seem oddly matched, combining the zest of the verbal contest with the poetry of the liturgy, and contrasting the bravado of Paul to the humility of David. However, both the earthly and spiritual were marks of Paul’s character. A man who was squarely planted on the earth, Paul was also “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2), or as one commentator put it, snatched up “beyond every creature and all the elements” to the knowledge of spiritual things.2 This too was the goal of eleventh-century exegesis. Exegetes admired—and copied—Paul’s pugnacity and wordiness, but they desired his insight. Their fascination with Paul sprang from their own questions and doubts. Could a cham- pion of the truth use worldly methods in his arguments? How could false

1 Beryl Smalley, “La Glossa Ordinaria: quelques prédécesseurs d’Anselme de Laon,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 9 (1937), 365–400. With the exception of the Psalms commentary attributed to Bruno (P.L. 152), these commentaries survive in frag- ments. Glosses on the Psalms thought to be written by Manegold of Lautenbach, Berengar, and Lanfranc are identified in Smalley, “La Glossa Ordinaria,” pp. 374–78, 395–97. See also Margaret Gibson, “The Twelfth-Century Glossed Bible,” Studia Patristica 23 (1989), p. 242, n. 49; Margaret Gibson, Lanfranc of Bec (Oxford, 1978), pp. 52–53. Commenting on both the Psalms and Paul was a practice continued by later exegetes, Anselm of Laon, Gilbert de la Porée, and Peter Lombard. 2 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin—Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Phill. 1650, fol. 88v; hereafter PB Phill. 1650. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek—Muenchen, Clm 18530a, fol. 51r; hereafter BSB Clm 18530a. Gloss on 2 Cor 12:2. 176 ann collins ideologies and their proponents be implicated? And, ultimately, what was the truth to be sought? In the eleventh century, scholars’ identification with Paul yielded innovative approaches to exegesis and influenced origi- nal formats, methodologies, and theological interpretations. The lessons of exegesis found public expression in the mid-eleventh century when a theological contest of Pauline scale drew upon scholars’ verbal skills to define the meaning of the eucharistic change.

1. The Commentators

Pauline commentaries included the books attributed to Paul (Romans through Philemon), as well as the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews. Unfortunately, the eleventh-century record for Pauline exegesis is frag- mentary. A small number of commentaries survive, few are complete, and ascertaining their authorship is problematic. Existing commentaries indicate the outlines of a “great movement” of scholarly endeavor, but as Beryl Smalley warned, we must “eke out our knowledge by guesswork” in order to identify its personnel and methods.3 The identification of manuscripts and authors is ongoing. Surviving manuscripts indicate that some of the great men of the eleventh century wrote commentaries on St. Paul. While few complete commentaries have survived, some material was absorbed into later collections. These compendia are the only sources for glosses attributed to Drogo, Berengar, Hermann, and Manegold. Two manuscripts contain Berengar and Drogo material, identified by Smalley as Berengar of Tours and Drogo of Paris.4 Additional material attributed to Berengar survives in manuscripts of Rob- ert of Bridlington’s and Anselm of Laon’s commentaries.5 A further manuscript source for Berengar preserves material attributed to “Armannus,”

3 Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (1952; repr. Notre Dame, Ind., 1964), p. 46. 4 Bern, Bürgerbibliothek Bern 334, part ii, fols. 86r–156r; hereafter BB Bern 334, ii. Vati- can City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 143, fols. 1r–184v; hereafter Vat. lat. 143. The manuscripts contain five Drogo glosses in common. There are approximately forty- five Berengar glosses. About half of these are found in both manuscripts; other glosses are unique to one manuscript or the other. All the Drogo glosses and a number of the Berengar glosses are edited in Smalley, “La Glossa Ordinaria,” pp. 390–94. 5 Four glosses are found in common in the commentaries. Manuscripts are cited in Smalley, “La Glossa Ordinaria,” p. 389, n. 45 and Margaret Gibson, “The Place of the Glossa ordinaria in Medieval Exegesis,” in Ad Litteram: Authoritative Texts and their Medieval Readers, ed. Mark D. Jordan and Kent Emery, Jr. (Notre Dame, Ind., 1992), pp. 26–27, notes 65, 67.