This article reconsiders all the additions and marginalia and some of the reader marks in the Cathar manuscript J II 44 held by the National Central Library of Florence (Firenze, Biblioteca nazionale centrale, Conventi soppressi, ms. J II 44, also known under the shelf mark I II 44), revises the identification of scribal hands, and draws some conclusions concerning the genesis of the codex. The additions and reader marks, underestimated and partly misinterpreted in Antoine Dondaine's, Arno Borst's and Christine Thouzellier's classical presentations of the manuscript and in Dondaine's and Thouzellier's editions of the main works it contains, are in fact important evidence of further use of the manuscript. Careful reassessment of the reader marks and additions shows that they do not come from an inquisitorial environment as Borst and Thouzellier argued for some of them, but mostly point to the context of Lombard Catharism in the mid-thirteenth century. The additions exhibit at least two rather unexpected strands in the thought of the scribes/readers of the compilation, the first being moralistic and sapiential, the second, apocalyptic. Finally, a reconsideration of the content suggests (1) disconnecting the part "On Striking the Shepherd" from the part "On Persecution", which helps partly to resolve an important codicological issue concerning the composition of the manuscript, and (2) disconnecting both of these parts from the Liber de duobus principiis proper and drawing it nearer to later additions and marginalia in the codex.
This article reconsiders the origin of the codex Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. PA 36 (also known under the shelf-mark fonds Adamoli, ms. A.I.54), containing an Occitan translation of the New Testament and a Cathar text known as the Ritual of Lyon. Despite scrutinizing the manuscript since the mid-nineteenth century, scholars have fallen short of suggesting convincing arguments concerning its genesis. Building upon earlier linguistic findings and considering internal as well as external evidence, we argue that the codex as well as the Ritual of Lyon are connected with a spirited early-fourteenth-century attempt at restoring Cathar Christianity in Languedoc, headed by Peter Autier. The Ritual of Lyon was clearly produced in a context very similar to the one in which Peter Autier and his companions operated. In contrast with the older Ritual of Florence, it presupposes permanent itinerancy and institutionalises the extension of ritual competences from the ordained ministers to the "elder one" and even to ordinary "good men". Besides such general convergences, there are five quite distinctive parallels connecting the Ritual of Lyon with the circle of Peter Autier: two very specific rules of conduct, one regarding money found when travelling, and the other, a snared animal; a distinctive distributive use of the Occitan word "be" (the good); the insistence on using a tablecloth during the consolamentum; and the use of the word covenesa (i.e. convenensa) in the context of the consolamentum, unknown outside the circle of Peter Autier. These connections indicate that the codex of Lyon is one of those portable Bibles that we know were used by Peter Autier and his companions.
This article describes the manuscript of Thomas Cisterciensis Commentaria in Cantica canticorum, which is deposited in the library of Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov.