Abstract

The florilegium known as ‘Flores moralium auctoritatum’ was compiled, according to the colophon in the MS long regarded as the sole witness (Verona, Bibl. Cap. CLXVIII [155]), at Verona in 1329. In 2010 Guglielmo Bottari drew attention to a second MS (Verona, Bibl. Cap. CCXXXI [394]) containing a longer version of the same collection. This led to important reflection on the relation between the two witnesses and the two versions of the florilegium. The discovery announced here is of a third MS (Metz, Médiathèque Verlaine – Pontiffroy, 171) which contains a “half-way stageµ between the two known versions. This leads to a series of considerations about the relation between the three MSS, as a first step towards more extensive inquiries into the origin and development of the collection. Finally, some coincidences between the florilegium in its fullest form and a collection of sermons by the Franciscan Roberto Caracciolo (15th c.) are noted, without however so far establishing the exact nature of the connectio