Hildegund Müller: The early excerpt tradition of Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos

Augustine’s major exegetical works were especially prone to excerption, both because of their length and their complexity. The paper endeavors to explain and chart this process in its earliest stages, from the well-known excerpt collections of the 5th/6th century (Eugippius) to the Carolingian age (Florus, Walahfrid) and will give a survey and an evaluation of the earliest manuscripts, such as the excerpt commentary of Lyon, Bibl. Mun. 426 (and its largely unexplored relative, Einsiedeln 18). There are three questions to be asked: 1) Why, under which circumstances, and by whom were these excerpt commentaries produced?, 2) What is the textual value of these texts for the editor of Augustine?, 3) What is the work/authorial character of collections that are largey dependent on, but not identical with, Augustine’s commentary?