Stilyana Batalova

Book Review: Rigo, Antonio, Мarco Scarpa. La Vita di Romylos da Vidin asceta nei Balcani (1310 ca. – 1376/1380) (Subsidia Hagiographica 99). Bruxelles: Société des Bollandistes, 2022. XI+233 pp., 1 map, ill. ISBN: 9782873650384

This paper contains the first publication of printed excerpts related to Bulgarian history from two historical compilations by Paulinus of Venice. Chronologia Magna sive Compendium is presented according to lat. 4939, National library, Paris (14th c.) and Satyrica historia – according to Ms 445, Jagiellonian library, Cracow (15th c.). As the study and analysis of these manuscripts demonstrate, the compendia contain many accounts related to Bulgarian history – from the formation of the Bulgarian state in 681 up to the dynastic marriage of the Latin emperor of Constantinople Henry in 1213. All of the motifs from Bulgarian history, which Paulinus selected and included, are significant and fully aligned with the aims, which he had set himself in the prologue to Satyrica historia. These motifs are not merely a compilation of successes and failures, but are to form a body of well researched information, which will serve to edify posterity, based on the historical experience of the Roman and other kingdoms. Interpreting the evidence in Paulinus’ accounts in light of his stated approach, it appears that after their appearance on the European stage (681) the Bulgarians played the role of the defenders of Christian Europe (717) and the armament of God (811 г., 1205 г.). Their joining the Christian family of the European people is also recounted (865) through the example of the determination and beatitude of the Bulgarian ruler who defended the new faith even against his own son. Additionally, the Bulgarians are described as participants in events related to Byzantine history (705), as well as being adversely affected by the expansion of the unconverted Hungarians (907, 970, 1003). The accounts related by Paulinus are re-workings of earlier sources he was apparently well acquainted with. It can be argued that the present publication identified those sources with significant accuracy. The mistakes in the dating that occur in Paulinus’ compilations are often attributable to him connecting events to significant historical episodes or historical personalities, around which he builds a whole chapter or rubric of the narration. Sometimes the anachronisms are due to the sources he used. The study of the context, in which motifs related to Bulgarian history are placed allowed me to identify the sources of the material and the method of compilation employed by Paulinus of Venice. Last but not least, the analysis of the content of the motifs allowed me to establish that Dandolo mainly used information from Historia satyrica, but perhaps also consulted with Chronologia magna. He included in his chronicle almost all the motifs from the works of Paulinus, with the exception of the chronological note on the death of Nicephorus I Genik and the episode on Walter Senzavohir. Thus, the publication of the fragments from Historia satyrica and Chronologia magna clarified the origin of those passages in the chronicle of Andrea Dandolo about which D. Angelov wrote that they are connected to earlier historiographical sources but their origins are in need of further investigation.

The paper deals with the motif of the conversion to Christianity of the Bulgarians in Chronica Pontificum Romanorum by Thomas Ebendorfer. The examination of the text together with fragments taken from other Latin chronicles reveals that in Thomas Ebendorfer’s chronicle there is no uniting of the Cyrillo-Methodian motif and the one about the conversion of the Bulgarians by their prince Boris. To some extent such a development of the motif is foreordained by the invention of source unused before then in Latin historiography. Most probably it was Liber pontificalis since in the text on the pontificate of pope Nicolaus I in the both works in question some resamblances were found which are not peculiar for the early mediaeval Latin historiographical narrative in the Chonicle by Reginon of Prum.

Manuscript cataloguing can serve to make information about text and image traditions available to scholars in humanities, and the ease of Internet publication now makes it possible to disseminate this information broadly and efficiently.The present provides a brief account of the available databases.

The present article is part of a dissertation work on the same topic. In the publication there is a new classification of the texts, constituting the Latin tradition of the hagiographic legend of St. Eustathius Placidas and systematization of the well-known copies of more popular hagiographic works about the saint. There are conclusions about the genealogical relations between the different versions, their distribution in chronological and spatial aspect has been traced and problems for further studies on the topic have been outlined.