Medieval manuscripts of Latin sermons transmit many texts copied under the names of famous Church Fathers, such as St. Augustine or St. Jerome. In multiple cases, researchers agree that these sermons were not actually preached by these authoritative figures – they were ‘misattributed’, probably mostly by accident, to the wrong author. This study investigates authorial attribution in (early)medieval manuscripts as a phenomenon, focusing on the possible causes and effects of misattribution. By examining the names that medieval copyists assigned to these sermons in specific manuscripts, we are sometimes able to reconstruct how these compilers treated their sources and designed new sermon collections. In that process of compiling, authorial names were easily misinterpreted. In addition, this study illustrates how texts that were incorrectly copied under Augustine’s name could still contribute to the image of the author ‘Augustine’ that readers of the manuscript may have encountered. The ‘Augustine’ in the manuscripts studied here offers, for instance, practical guidance for Christian living, and preaches about the terrifyingly day of judgement. From this perspective, authorial attributions – whether they are correct or not – and misattributed sermons become fascinating sources for further research.
Iris Denis studied Classics and Literary Studies, specialising in the study of medieval manuscripts. Her research focuses on the reception of Latin texts and the medieval manuscripts in which they are transmitted in various historical contexts.