Reading Orosius in eleventh-century Moissac: text and annotation in Paris BnF lat. 4871

Abstract The text of Orosius’s Historiae preserved in Paris BnF lat. 4871 was copied at the southern French abbey of Moissac in the mid-eleventh century. This article uses this understudied manuscript to explore the roles Orosius could play in the intellectual life of a medieval monastic community. In particular, it focuses on the abundance of glosses and a distinctive prologue (the so-called Praefatiuncula in Orosio) that were copied as part of the Historiae and which shaped how readers at Moissac engaged with the text. A close examination of these paratexts reveals previously unnoticed connections between Moissac and northern French and especially Breton centres of learning. Moreover, the paratexts point towards a particular context of use, namely grammatical instruction. Taken together, these aspects provide new texture and historical depth to the long-held assumption that Orosius was regarded as a canonical source in the medieval period.