medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (d. ca. 525) is too well known to require an account in this context. For a brief overview (unfortunately scanting Boethius' medievally very influential arithmetical and musical writings) see John Marenbon's entry on him in the _Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy_:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/boethius/
Boethius' cult at Pavia is at least as old as the thirteenth century; it was confirmed papally by Leo XIII in 1883. The choice of the day -- Boethius' supposed _dies natalis_ -- is thought to have arisen from 23. October being the feast day of a homonym easily replaceable on liturgical calendars in Pavia: St. Severinus of Köln. Here's a view of Boethius' tomb in Pavia's basilica di San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro:
http://tinyurl.com/ssgz6
Some period-pertinent images of Boethius:
a) as depicted (at right, presenting the book to to his father-in-law Symmachus) in a mid-ninth-century copy of his _De arithmetica_ (ca. 845; Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Msc. Class. 5 [olim HJ IV 12]):
http://tinyurl.com/258t229
b) as twice depicted in an eleventh-century (or later eleventh- / earlier twelfth-century) copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ and other writings (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 6401):
1) second from left; at far left, Philosophia (fol. 5v; pen-and-ink drawing):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105096135/f26.item.zoom
2) lower register, author portrait (fol. 158v; illumination):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105096135/f332.item.zoom
c) as depicted (at upper left, as an authority on music) in an earlier twelfth-century copy of his _De arithmetica_ and _De musica_ (ca. 1130; Cambridge University Library, Ms. Ii.3.12, fol. 61v):
In color, zoomable image:
http://tinyurl.com/ptqj7p6
grayscale:
http://www.jcsparks.com/painted/musica.jpg
d) as depicted (expandable images) in several fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ (in Middle French) and of a Latin-language commentary on the _Consolatio_:
http://tinyurl.com/2p7vjt
e) as depicted (left margin, at left in the second image from bottom; at right, the martyrdom of pope St. John I) in a pen-and-ink drawing in a later fourteenth- or earlier fifteenth-century abridgement of Godfrey of Viterbo's _Pantheon_ (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 4935, fol. 47v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8455934w/f104.item.r=.zoom
f) as twice depicted (upper miniature [historiated initial "C"]: teaching students; lower miniature: in prison) in a late fourteenth-century copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ (ca. 1385; Glasgow, Glasgow University Library, Ms. Hunter 374 [olim V.1.11], fol. 4r):
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/chaucer/H374_0004r.jpg
g) as twice depicted (upper miniature: in bed, visited by Philosophia; lower miniature [historiated initial "C"]: in prison) in an earlier fifteenth-century copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ (ca. 1401-1425, Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 6405, fol. 1r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8490090z/f9.image.zoom
h) as depicted (his execution and that of Symmachus) by the Rohan Master and collaborators in an earlier fifteenth-century copy of Boccaccio's _De casibus virorum illustrium_ in its French-language translation by Laurent de Premierfait (ca. 1401-1425; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 226, fol. 236r):
http://tinyurl.com/24c3qkm
i) as depicted (before Theodoric; in prison) in an earlier fifteenth-century copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ in its French-language translation by Jean de Meun (ca. 1426-1450; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 1092, fol. 1r):
http://tinyurl.com/2cmtrja
j) as depicted (second from right, being exiled by Theodoric; at far right, Symmachus) in a later fifteenth-century copy of Laurent de Premierfait's French-language translation of Boccaccio's _De casibus virorum illustrium_ (ca. 1451-1475; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 230, fol. 235r):
http://tinyurl.com/zlrjcyp
k) as twice depicted by the Coëtivy Master on a detached leaf from a later fifteenth-century copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae in Middle French translation (ca. 1460-1470; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 42):
1) at far left, facing Philosophia and the seven liberal arts (leaf 2v):
http://tinyurl.com/z6hjwcj
2) at far left, being instructed by Philosophia about the role of God (leaf 3r):
http://tinyurl.com/gru4h6n
l) as depicted (at lower left, observing Fortune's wheel) in a later fifteenth-century copy of Laurent de Premierfait's French-language translation of Boccaccio's _De casibus virorum illustrium_ (1467; Glasgow, Glasgow University Library, Ms. Hunter 371-372 [olim V.1.8-9], fol. 1r):
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/chaucer/H371_0001r.jpg
m) as thrice depicted (at left: in his study; at center; suckling with Symmachus at Philosophia's bosom; at right: visited in prison by Philosophia) in a late fifteenth-century copy of his _Consolatio Philosophiae_ with a translation into Flemish (1492; Paris, BnF, ms. Néerlandais 1, fol. 12v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84511055/f28.item.r=Flamand.langFR.zoom
n) as depicted (left margin, second image from top) in a hand-colored woodcut in the Beloit College copy of Hartmann Schedel's late fifteenth-century _Weltchronik_ (1493; _Nuremberg Chronicle_), fol. CXLIv:
https://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/book/6th_age/left_page/45%20(Folio%20CXLIIv).pdf
Best,
John Dillon
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