Western Medieval Manuscripts : Loci communes

Pseudo-Maximos the Confessor

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This fragment consists of a single folio from a manuscript copied in the later 10th century, containing the florilegium known as the <i>Loci communes</i>. This compilation of texts on moral and religious topics spanned Christian and pagan authorities, being organised in 71 chapters each composed of a series of excerpts on a particular theme from the Bible, the Fathers of the Church and classical authors. It was traditionally attributed to the 6th-7th century theologian Maximos the Confessor, but its actual origin is unknown, though its composition must predate the appearance of the earliest surviving manuscripts in the late 9th or early 10th century. This fragment, part of the collection of Constantin von Tischendorf, has been identified as part of a copy of this text which he mentioned finding in the library of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, but the only other part of this manuscript identified to date is another Cambridge University Library fragment, MS Add. 1879.20.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>