Research Seminar: Scribal Agency in Text and Paratext: Niccolò da Osimo’s Quadriga litteralis (1441–1445)

In this paper, I will discuss my recent research on the textual tradition of Niccolò da Osimo’s Quadriga litteralis, a Latin handbook of Christian doctrine, composed for the education of Franciscan friars between 1441 and 1445. The aim of my work is to prepare an edition of the section De humilitate (On humility) within the Quadriga. While analysing the copies transmitting this text, I encountered challenges common to all efforts of editing medieval texts, particularly the crucial steps of establishing a stemma codicum and selecting a copytext. How should we choose a base exemplar within a textual tradition that lacks an autograph and is preserved in copies produced within a narrow time frame? Although the theoretical principles of textual criticism are well established in the academic tradition, ecdotics (editing methodologies) must often adapt to the unique challenges posed by the specific state of surviving manuscripts. Using the case of the Quadriga litteralis, I will show how paleographical and codicological analyses of extant exemplars can help us in guiding and justifying our editorial choices.

Andrea Mancini studied at the Universities of Bologna, Florence and Macerata, originally in the fields of Cultural Anthropology and History of Religions, before coming to Leeds to do his PhD in Medieval Studies. He completed his thesis in 2023 entitled The Role of Niccolò da Osimo in the Franciscan Observant Reform (1370–1453). From 2023-25, he was a postdoctoral researcher for the project GAČR Observance Reconsidered: Uses and Abuses of the Reform (Individuals, Institutions, Society) at Palacký University, Olomouc. Andrea started work as an assistant editor at the International Medieval Bibliography in Leeds in October 2024.