Texts
Altus Prosator
- Hiberno-Latin
- Hiberno-Latin texts
Latin hymn
Author
Ascribed to: Colum Cille
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Colum Cille
(fl. 6th century)
founder and abbot of Iona, Kells (Cenandas) and Derry (Daire).
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Manuscripts
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS M 32 sup [s. ix1/3]
ff. 83–85
f. 229
Irish manuscripts :
pp. 237a–238a
Heavily glossed. Text with Irish prose introduction. Altus Prosator proper begins on p. 237b
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 (E 4. 2) = Irish Liber hymnorum [s. xiex–xiiin]
ff. 11–13
context: Irish Liber hymnorum
Heavily glossed. Lacks stanzas 14-21.
pp. 2–8
context: Irish Liber hymnorum
Text with preface and some glosses. The hymn proper begins on p. 3.
English manuscript:
Language
- Hiberno-Latin
Date
“written in Ireland or Britain, in his [Columba’s] time or not long afterward” (Carey).(2)n. 2 John Carey, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings (2000): 29. “Its affiliations in style and language together with its sources and what may be traced of its early history, are entirely compatible with its having originated in Ireland in the seventh century” (Stevenson).(3)n. 3 Jane Stevenson, ‘Altus Prosator’, Celtica 23 (1999): 364.
Provenance
Origin: Ireland
See more Iona
See more Jane Stevenson argues that the poem may be attributed to “a writer based in Iona” and that Iona’s connections with Northumbrian as well as Southumbrian centres is a likely conduit for the transmission of the text in Anglo-Saxon milieux (cf. Adomnán’s De locis sanctis, which Bede learnt of through King Aldfrith).
Ireland
No short description available
See more Iona
Í (Choluim Chille) ... Iona
No short description available
See more Jane Stevenson argues that the poem may be attributed to “a writer based in Iona” and that Iona’s connections with Northumbrian as well as Southumbrian centres is a likely conduit for the transmission of the text in Anglo-Saxon milieux (cf. Adomnán’s De locis sanctis, which Bede learnt of through King Aldfrith).
Textual relationships
Thirteen stanzas were incorporated by Hrabanus Maurus in his poem De fide catholica.
(Possible) sources: EtymologiaeEtymologiaeLearned encyclopedic work by Isidore, archbishop of Seville (d. 636), towards the end of his life.Affatim glossaryAffatim glossaryView incoming data
Related: Hisperica faminaHisperica famina
Latin poem. Cases have been made for Irish authorship, but more recent commentators have also pointed out the Breton provenance of the surviving manuscripts.
Sources
Notes
The following list of manuscripts as well as the list of editions below are based primarily on Jane Stevenson, ‘Altus Prosator’, Celtica 23 (1999).
John Carey, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings (2000): 29.
Jane Stevenson, ‘Altus Prosator’, Celtica 23 (1999): 364.
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
- Critical editions
[ed.] Blume, Clemens, “Pars altera: Hymnodia Hiberno-Celtica saeculi V.IX.”, in: Clemens Blume [ed.], Die Hymnen des Thesaurus Hymnologicus H. A. Daniels und andere Hymnen-Ausgaben. I. Die Hymnen des 5.-11. Jahrhunderts und die Irisch-Keltische Hymnodie aus den ältesten Quellen, 51, Leipzig: O. R. Reisland, 1908. 257–364.
Internet Archive: <link>
271–283
[ed.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson [ed. and tr.], The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, Henry Bradshaw Society, 13, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation and notes
Manuscripts used, with sigla:
- T = Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 = Liber hymnorum (see pp. x-xiii)
- F = Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 2 (see pp. xiii-xvi)
- 19th-century copy for Reeves (William) (not used by the editors)
- A = Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS C 5 inf = Antiphonary of Bangor
- B = Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 = Leabhar Breac
- C = Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.1.10 = Book of Cerne
- D = London, British Library, MS Harley 7653
- E = Montpellier, École de Médecine, MS 218
- G = St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 2
- H = St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 577
- I = Orléans, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 169 (146)
- J = London, British Library, MS Royal 2 A xx
- K = cxcv / St. Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 86a/1 (one folio in Karlsruhe)
- L = Cork, University College, Book of Lismore
- M = Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS M 32 4
- N = London, British Library, MS Harley 2965 = Book of Nunnaminster
- O = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 514 (copy of O'Donnell's Beatha Choluim Chille)
- P = Basel, University Library, MS A vii 3 (a Greek psalter)
- Q = Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 8(?) (another copy of O'Donnell's Life)
- R = ccxxi / St. Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 86a/1
- S = Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D ii 3 = Stowe Missal
- V = Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. lat. 482
- W = Dublin, Trinity College, MS 80 = Antiphonary of Kilmoone
- X = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 615
- Y = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 505
- Z = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 485
- Δ = Cologne MS (formerly at Darmstadt)
- Θ = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512
- Π = Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 18665
- Σ = Cambridge, St John's College, MS C 9 = Southampton Psalter
- Ψ = London, British Library, MS Harley 585
Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link>, <link>, <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link>, <link>
Vol. 1, 62–65 (preface), 66–83 (hymn) Edition based primarily on the Irish manuscripts. direct link direct link
- Editions from single manuscripts
[ed.] Riefferschied, A. [ed.], “Die Ambrosianische Bibliothek in Mailand”, Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil-hist. Klasse 67 (1871): 467–568.
544–546 Text from Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS M 32 sup.
[ed.] Boucherie, A., “Mélanges latins et bas latins”, Revue des langues Romanes, 3rd series, 7 (1875): 5–41.
12–26 ‘Hymne abécédaire contre les antitrinitaires’, text from Montpellier, École de Médecine, MS 218.
[ed.] Gilbert, John T. [ed.], Facsimiles of national manuscripts of Ireland, 5 vols, Dublin: Public Record Office of Ireland, 1874–1884.
Four parts in five volumes; photozincographed “by command of Her Majesty Queen Victoria by Major-General Sir Henry James” (d. 1877), who was director-general of the Ordnance Survey; vols 2–4 have imprint “selected and edited [by Gilbert] under the direction of the Right Hon. Edward Sullivan, Master of the Rolls in Ireland”.
Vol. 4.2 (1884), 131–133 (Appendix XXI). Text from Franciscan A 2.
[ed.] Ó Longáin, Joseph, J. J. Gilbert [eds], Eugene OʼCurry, and Brian OʼLooney [co-authors], Leabhar Breac, the Speckled Book, otherwise styled Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre, the Great Book of Dun Doighre, 2 vols, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1872–1876. Lithographic facsimile edition of a transcript made by Joseph Ó Longáin.
[ed.] Todd, James Henthorn, Leabhar imuinn: the Book of Hymns of the ancient Irish Church, 2 vols, Dublin: Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, 1855–1869.
Internet Archive – fasc. 1 and 2: <link> Internet Archive – fasc. 1: <link> Internet Archive – fasc. 2: <link> Digitale-sammlungen.de – fasc. 1: <link> Digitale-sammlungen.de – fasc. 1: View in Mirador
Vol. 2, 201–251 Text from TCD 1441.
[ed.] Muir, Bernard James [ed.], A pre-Conquest English prayer-book (BL MSS Cotton Galba A.xiv and Nero A.ii (ff. 3-13)), Henry Bradshaw Society, 103, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1988.
32–39 Text from Cotton Galba A xiv.
- Translations
[tr.] Carey, John, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
29–50, 275
[tr.] Clancy, Thomas Owen (ed.), The triumph tree: Scotland's earliest poetry AD 550–1350, Canongate Classics, 86, Edinburgh: Canongate, 1999.
Translations, with notes. Latin texts translated by Gilbert Márkus, Welsh texts by Joseph P. Clancy, Gaelic and Old English texts by Thomas Owen Clancy, Norse texts by Paul Bibire and Judith Jesch.
95–99
[tr.] Clancy, Thomas Owen, and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
[tr.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson [ed. and tr.], The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, Henry Bradshaw Society, 13, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation and notes
Manuscripts used, with sigla:
- T = Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 = Liber hymnorum (see pp. x-xiii)
- F = Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 2 (see pp. xiii-xvi)
- 19th-century copy for Reeves (William) (not used by the editors)
- A = Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS C 5 inf = Antiphonary of Bangor
- B = Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 = Leabhar Breac
- C = Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.1.10 = Book of Cerne
- D = London, British Library, MS Harley 7653
- E = Montpellier, École de Médecine, MS 218
- G = St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 2
- H = St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 577
- I = Orléans, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 169 (146)
- J = London, British Library, MS Royal 2 A xx
- K = cxcv / St. Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 86a/1 (one folio in Karlsruhe)
- L = Cork, University College, Book of Lismore
- M = Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS M 32 4
- N = London, British Library, MS Harley 2965 = Book of Nunnaminster
- O = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 514 (copy of O'Donnell's Beatha Choluim Chille)
- P = Basel, University Library, MS A vii 3 (a Greek psalter)
- Q = Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 8(?) (another copy of O'Donnell's Life)
- R = ccxxi / St. Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 86a/1
- S = Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D ii 3 = Stowe Missal
- V = Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. lat. 482
- W = Dublin, Trinity College, MS 80 = Antiphonary of Kilmoone
- X = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 615
- Y = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 505
- Z = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 485
- Δ = Cologne MS (formerly at Darmstadt)
- Θ = Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512
- Π = Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 18665
- Σ = Cambridge, St John's College, MS C 9 = Southampton Psalter
- Ψ = London, British Library, MS Harley 585
Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link>, <link>, <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link>, <link>
Vol. 2, 23–26, 140–153 Translation of Irish preface and glosses only, with notes direct link direct link
Secondary sources (select)
Stevenson, Jane, “Altus Prosator”, Celtica 23 (1999): 326–368.
Celtica – PDF: <link>
Wesseling, Margaret, “Structure and image in the Altus Prosator: Columba's symmetrical universe”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 8 (1988): 46–57.
web page identifiers
page name: Altus Prosator
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Altus_Prosator
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/8527
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=8527
page ID: 8527
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=8527
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
January 2012, last updated: January 2024
Continental manuscripts :(1)n. 1 The following list of manuscripts as well as the list of editions below are based primarily on Jane Stevenson, ‘Altus Prosator’, Celtica 23 (1999).