“Dantes Dicit.” Notes on Dante as Auctoritas in the Medieval Academic Community

Abstract

Dante’s articulate and sometimes critical attitude towards the academic community is evident in several of his works, specifically in Paradiso. To understand the actual extent of this ‘anti-academic’ attitude, this study considers the magistri of the higher schools and the holders of university chairs to observe their position regarding the Commedia. The study aims to ascertain whether the poem was regarded as a teaching text in the 14th and 15th centuries, and particularly whether it was referred to in the textual hermeneutics practiced in lectio. The analysis examined the utilization of the Commedia within schools and universities as an authoritative text in the commentary on the canon of the auctores maiores. The inclusion of Dante’s glosses in various manuscripts recalled to provide erudite data, lexical interpretations, exempla, and sententiae, reflects the progressive integration of the poem within the academic community. This integration signifies its acknowledgment among the auctores employed in exegetical practices, a phenomenon observed across various geographical regions as evidenced by the analyzed manuscripts.

1. Introduction

Dante’s relationship with the school and university community (the earthly scole), which often involved profound criticism, has been analysed by researchers, who, in the last few decades, have reached a crescendo of interest in the poet’s works and in his intellectual formation. Specifically, in Paradiso, Dante expresses more pronounced attention to “school knowledge” and delineates his readership more precisely: only those who are endowed with the necessary intellectual equipment and who have given themselves «per tempo al pan de li angeli» (Par. II, 1–15) could follow Dante’s poetry in the last cantica (Pegoretti 2021). Dante’s vision of doctrine is primarily the Word of God, whose «full comprehension may not be mediated by any method but through the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit, the only “assistant” of the magister Christ, in a classroom that is the “heart” of the learner’» (Pegoretti 2018, p. 177). However, there is no lack of echoes of the scole, whose workings are known to the poet. A passage in which Dante’s critics hold diverse positions is the simile of the «baccialier» in Par. XXIV, 46–51, wherein Dante alludes to and adopts elements of academic methods and ceremonies. However, the poet introduces evident modifications, particularly when he does not follow the procedures of scholasticism («ingegno di sofista», Par. XXIV, 81) in dealing with the “esame” of faith (Barański 2021a, 2021b). Dante was undoubtedly familiar with the practices underlying the scholastic method, such as the disputatio, which he could witness and probably practise publicly, as evidenced by the Questio de aqua et terra held in January 1320 in the church of the canons of the Verona cathedral, although its authenticity remains disputed.1 Such a scientific approach to the Commedia is adapted in a personal manner by the poet, as recently observed by Barański and Pegoretti (Barański 2021a, 2021b; Pegoretti 2022). Specifically, Pegoretti astutely notes how, in Paradiso, Dante resorts to a form of “anti-dispute”, shifting the dialectical structure of the sophists’ controversial practice towards authentic knowledge guaranteed by revelation and the poet-pilgrim’s direct vision of the truth (Pegoretti 2022).

The literature on Dante’s intellectual formation has considered the places, times, and how he acquired his doctrinal knowledge at different periods of his life. This analysis draws from biographical information provided by Dante himself or by ancient biographers, as well as the cultural context in which the poet was immersed. In addition, the sources of his knowledge have been considered, comprising books, complete works, commentaries, compilationes and florilegia, and oral expressions of cultural transmission, such as public readings and the sermons of preachers.2

The exploration of the poet’s stance on organized methods of knowledge elaboration and transmission can be supplemented, as I aim to do in this study, by analysing the positions expressed by the magistri working in secondary schools and universities towards the Commedia. Dante’s remarkable fortune grew progressively during the 14th and 15th centuries. This growth can also be traced through the numerous fragmentary testimonies and the minute quotations from the Commedia.3 This study explores Dante’s glosses, which serve as commentary on the text used for teaching. These insertions testify to the elevation of the poem to the status of a “memorable” classical work, meaning it is firmly entrenched in the memory of the commentator and reader, comparable to the works of the Latin auctores magni (Contini 1976, p. 74).

The importance of the study of the Commedia as a repository of doctrinal material, scholarly data, lexical interpretations, exempla, and sententiae to be used in commentaries on classical Latin authors has been illustrated by Alessio (1996). Here, Alessio’s study served as a basis for extending the analysis to scholastic contexts, particularly at the highest level known as the “de tertio latino”. At this level, the canon of the auctores maiores was adopted for readings and commentaries. This canon included the prose writers Sallust and Cicero, and the poets Juvenal, Lucan, Horace, Ovid, Persius, Statius, Terence, Virgil, and (from the 14th century) the tragedian Seneca.4 The use of Dante’s poem in the exegesis of the Latin classics represents a novelty due to its authorship by a modernus and, notably, its composition in the vernacular, «an expression of a culture and ideology that was actually considered foreign to the Latin one» (Alessio 1996, p. 4; cf. Rossi 2015, pp. 513–14). These novitates are even more interesting in the case of commentaries on the classics produced within didactic contexts. The appearance of quotations from the Commedia in the commentaries on the auctores maiores coincided with the gradual inclusion of Dante among authors commented on by teachers in advanced schools and in the rhetorical-grammatical curriculum of the universities’ arts faculties (Rosso 2018, pp. 103–271).

This study follows the promotion of Dante as auctor and auctoritas in the century following the poet’s death. This period was characterised by a progressive intensification of the circulation of the Commedia, reaching its peak between the 14th and 15th centuries. The evidence examined here are those originating from scholastic circles. Whenever feasible, these testimonies are situated within their geographical context to outline an initial profile of the “Dantean spaces” where the scholastic reception of the poem was most prominent. The corpus taken into account was compiled through the analysis of previous studies. In addition, some information has emerged from research on manuscript catalogues, particularly from the catalogues of fragmentary manuscripts of the Commedia5. These catalogues provided leads that were subsequently verified by autoptic examinations of manuscripts.

2. Dante Glosses in Commentaries Prepared for School

The approach of the lectio in the medieval school envisaged textual hermeneutics primarily based on using auctoritates to resolve problematic passages and illustrated theories and possible allegorical interpretations.6 The introduction of Dante’s poem into university schools was marked by the Florentine lectures given by Giovanni Boccaccio in October 1373. Shortly thereafter, Benvenuto da Imola lectured on the poem at the University of Bologna in 1375, likely as an unofficial reading, and in the University of Ferrara, in the winter of 1375–1376. Additionally, magister gramatice Francesco da Buti publicly commented on the poem at the University of Pisa from 1385.7

2.1. Attestations in the Tuscan Area

The earliest documented instances of Dante’s glosses were observed in higher schools, such as that of the Florentine Zono de’ Magnali. Zono served as a magister in Bologna during the 1320s, possibly after studying there in the preceding decade. He later became a magister scholarum in Montepulciano and was also active in the Veneto. In 1336, he produced a successful commentary on the Aeneid in Montepulciano, in which he used a tercet from the Inferno (Inf. XXXII, 130–32) in glossing Aen. VI, 480.8

The subsequent presence of Commedia in glossography occurred several decades later. A reference to Dante as auctoritas in the doctrinal sphere was made by the anonymous glossator of Seneca’s tragedies, preserved in the ms. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 37.5.9 In the verse of the chorus of Oed. 980, which reflects on the futility of resisting the destiny governing the destiny of mankind («Fatis agimur, credite fatis»), the commentator introduces a gloss with the Christian interpretation of destiny. Here, destiny is construed as a providential disposition, as expressed by Dante and other «our theologians» («nostri theologi»). Unlike the Florentine poet, these theologians lack the distinct identity:

[…] Et est intentio istius cori ponere stabilitatem fortune et instabilitatem fatalis eventus. Et hoc propter Edipum, qui, licet multis modis vellet aufugere, tamen evitare non potuit quod Layo et sibi dictum et revelatum fuit ab Apolline, et sic ponendo iudicium suum de fato dicit “Fatis”. Et nota quod, secundum Dantem et alios nostros theologos, sententia ista est falsa.

(f. 75v).10

Poetry has the capacity to convey profound truths of theological and philosophical significance. In this light, we could interpret one of Dante’s glosses in littera textualis, found in the margins of the corpus of Seneca’s tragedies, preserved in the manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 37.1, composed in the early 15th century, possibly in Padua and belonging to the Pisan Antonio di Lupardo da Vecchiano, and approximately at the end of the 15th century, to his son Carlo.11 The manuscript preserves an extensive corpus of marginal postillae based on commentum to the tragedies composed by Nicholas Trevet. A long quotation from Purg. XVIII, 22–39, where love is depicted as a phenomenon of the soul and delivered through the voice of Virgil, showcases a meticulously organized discourse with rigorous employment of scholastic terminology. The authority attributed to these tercets from Dante’s poem explains their inclusion as commentary on the verses of Oct. 557–58.12

In the role of auctoritas in historical-antiquarian or mythological news, Dante is echoed in the remembered commentary on Seneca’s tragedies preserved in the Laurentian manuscript Plut. 37.513, as well as in the manuscript Pistoia, Biblioteca Forteguerriana, A 4, which preserves the comedies of Terence. The latter manuscript, copied by the humanist Sozomeno da Pistoia in the first decade of the 15th century, contains reading exercises by Antonio da San Gimignano, who was Sozomeno’s teacher, as well as by the Pisan notary and teacher Francesco da Buti.14 The reference to the Athenian Taide in Eun. 391 is commented by Sozomeno with a citation from the tercet Inf. XVIII, 133–35, where Taide is placed among the flatterers punished in the second bolgia.15 This quotation is interesting because Sozomeno diverges from contemporary commentators of the Commedia, who retrieve the Terenzian source to provide information about Taide (as seen, for instance, in Iacopo Alighieri’s commentary on Inferno).16

Some manuscripts used in the school transmit Dante’s glosses among the authorities commenting on Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae.17 In the Tuscan area, Dante’s postillae are documented in the manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 78.20. This manuscript was copied by the young scribe possessor Bartolomeo di Pietro Nerucci da San Gimignano in 1419, while he was attending the grammar school of master Mattia Lupi da San Gimignano in Prato.18 Bartolomeo Nerucci, who served as a notary and ludimagister in Colle Val d’Elsa, San Gimignano, Prato, Volterra, and other Tuscan localities, was also a commentator on Dante. He added numerous interlinear glosses and comments in the margins of the Boethian text. Among these glosses, Bartolomeo inserted the verses Purg. XIX, 19–24 and Purg. XIX, 7–9 to comment on the passage in Cons. I, pr. 1, 8–14, which mentions Sirens.19 Additionally, a second hand added the verses Inf. VII, 91–93 to the margins of f. 14r, where Boethius treats Fortune (Cons. II, m. 1).20

2.2. Emilia-Romagna Region

Closely related to the school environment is the manuscript Berkeley, Bancroft Library, f 2 Ms AC 13 c 5, a miscellany collected in northern Italy during the decades between the 14th and 15th centuries (certainly before 1420) by an anonymous collector who also transcribed most of the texts. The choices made by the copyist-compiler show an apparent grammatical and rhetorical interest, possibly linked to a teaching activity, as indicated by the authors included (Seneca and Cicero). This is further evidenced by the section dedicated to the accessus to the classics, all of whom were employed in the school, including Lucan, Ovid, Sallust, Statius, Boethius, and Valerius Maximus. The latter is represented by the Proem to the Expositiones to Valerius Maximus, written by Benvenuto da Imola between 1385 and 1387, during his tenure in Ferrara.21 The manuscript includes, on ff. 27v−33v, the preambulum to the reading of the Pharsalia composed by magister Pietro da Parma (Preambulum sive introductio libri Lucani editum per magistrum Petrum de Parma), a text that shows clear correspondences with the accessus to the Lucanian text written by Benvenuto da Imola.22 The preambulum contains frequent quotations from Petrarch, which are rare for the 14th-century commentaries. Additionally, Dante is present as auctoritas, recalled, as in Benvenuto da Imola’s commentary on Lucan, in a passage concerning the tribune Curion («Hunc Curionem Dantes ponit in Inferno sine lingua»: see Inf. XVIII, 100–2).23 Furthermore, the tercet Inf. XXVIII, 97–99 «confirmat» a judgement expressed by Aristotle, which is also present is Benvenuto da Imola’s lectura ferrarese of Lucano, dating from 1377–1378.24 In addition, a specific interest in Dante is evident in the well-known epitaph preserved on f. 73r «Theologus Dantes, nullius dogmatis expers», written by Giovanni del Virgilio and transmitted by Boccaccio in the Trattatello in laude di Dante. This epitaph highlights Dante’s qualities of theologian, philosopher, and poet.

Information regarding the places where Pietro da Parma taught is lacking. However, his close contact with the Veneto region, especially with the cultural circles of Padua, is evident from his recovery of Petrarchan texts and the linguistic patina of Dante’s quotations. In contrast, Pietro Canefi’s accessus to Stazio on ff. 8r−11r, dated Ferrara 1389, and the remembered Expositiones of Benvenuto da Imola to Valerio Massimo hint at the manuscript compiler’s relations with the scholastic milieu of Ferrara. A pupil of Pietro da Parma, Federico Spezia, or de Peciis, was originally from Ferrara. Spezia served as a manuscript mediator between Francesco Barbaro and Ambrogio Traversari and was associated of Coluccio Salutati.25 During the Council of Constance, where he attended as legate of Alfonso of Aragon, Spezia appended some commentary glosses to the collection of Cicero’s orations preserved in the manuscript Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Ross. 957, copied in Constance in 1415 «tempore Concilii».26 The marginalia were particularly increased in correspondence with the Catilinariae and Philippicae orations. In a passage from Phil. XI, 24, Spezia observes the divergences in the judgements on the Caesaricide Brutus set out in Ciceronian discourse («Reddite prius nobis Brutum lumen et decus civitatis») and in Inf. XXXIV, 64–66 («Ergo non in centro inferni ponendus, ut eum describit Danthes»).27 The reference to Dante, although to manifest a dissent from the auctoritas, might be from the widespread recognised interest in the Commedia during the years of the Council of Constance.28 However, Spezia’s inclination to resort to modern authors in his commentary on the classics might also be ascribable to the influence of the school of Pietro da Parma.

The commentary to the Pharsalia transmitted in the manuscript Praha, Národní Knihovna České Republiky, VIII. H. 8, was copied in 1410 by the Marche student Giovanni di Pietro di San Lorenzo in Campo, while studying at the school of master Valentino da Matelica.29 The same scribe provided details about his life in the manuscript, mentioning that he had graduated in civil law from the University of Padua in the late 1420s. He also held positions as tax judge in Ravenna (1426), vice-podestà in Forlì (1437), and tax officer in Rimini (1439).30 Unfortunately, information about Valentino da Matelica is limited. With caution, he could possibly be identified as Valentino di Ciccolino, a long-time magister scholarum in Rimini. In 1383, he was sent by Galeotto Malatesta as his ambassador to Lombardy (Tonini 1880, pp. 384–85; 1884, p. 41). Dantesque glosses (Inf. XX, 46–51; Par. I, 16–17; Par. IV, 84; Par. VIII, 67) are utilized as sources of historical information understood and known to the lectio hearers. Sometimes, these glosses are cited mnemonically, without particular attention to the textual correctness of the verses.31 The recollection of a commentary on Virgil attributed to Dante, deemed original by Valentino da Matelica,32 «an extreme result of the widespread opinion on the very close link between Dante and Virgil» (Alessio 1996, p. 15, note 40).33 Regarding the nature of this commentary, it is interesting to note how the passage «per Ydram ignorantiam» derives from the commentary to the Aeneid composed by Bernardo Silvestre in the early part of the 12th century.34 This writing was fairly widespread in the last centuries of the Middle Ages and was reused, without being cited explicitly, by Coluccio Salutati in De laboribus Herculis. In this work, Salutati mentions an «allegorizator Virgilii» in correspondence with the passage in question.35

In addition to auctores being closely related to scholastic contexts, Justin’s Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum preserved in the manuscript Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D 50 inf. is noteworthy. The manuscript was completed in 1447 by the prolific copyist Iacopo da Pergo, commissioned by the civis of Fano Nicolò Martinozzi, secretary of Malatesta Novello and a bibliophile (Petoletti 2007, pp. 286–89). The dense glossographical apparatus commenting on the text can be traced back to Martinozzi. Among several ancient and modern sources, Martinozzi utilized Pier della Vigna’s periphrasis for envy (Inf. XIII, 64–66) to comment on Justin’s scathing passage (XXXI, 6, 1) regarding the behaviour of courtiers in King Antiochus’ court towards Hannibal.

2.3. Marca Anconetana

The notable codex Bologna, Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Fondo Breventani, K1, ms. 17, a manuscript from the later 14th or early 15th century, circulated within the public schools of Marca Anconetana.36 This manuscript was presented as a book for grammatical and rhetorical instruction. Folios 1r−49r are occupied by Poetria nova, a treatise on rhetoric in poetry dating back to the first 15 years of the 13th century. This text was utilized in the teaching of latinantes and popular in the arts faculties of Central European universities.37 Geoffroy de Vinsauf’s text, presented in a Gothic textualis script, is followed by shorter texts written later. On ff. 50r−52r, there is a Latin etymological lexicon with several keywords, arranged alphabetically. These entries are drawn from the Liber derivationum of Uguccione da Pisa. The italic script used, dating from the mid 15th century, bears similarity to the script used by the scribe of the glosses to the Poetria nova and the short excerpt from the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium (I, 3), which is copied in the upper margin of f. 1r. The manuscript end includes brief writings traceable to didactic contexts. On f. 54v, amid Latin proverbs and brief sentences, there is an excerpt from the Anticlaudianus of Alain of Lille, a Middle Latin poem renowned for its didactic orientation. Specifically, verses II, 343–362, are selected, focusing on the dense enumeration of intellectual abilities, highlighting their pinnacle in antiquity (Bossuat 1955, pp. 82–83).

Following this allegorical and doctrinal text, often associated with the Commedia, several tercets of Dante’s poem are presented on ff. 55v−56r in two columns, written in a cursive script later than the text of the Poetria nova. In the upper margin of f. 56r, the manuscript’s owner explains that he received it from Giacomo da Padova, who served as chancellor to the Paduan condottiere Antonio da Rivo. Antonio held the Roman castellania of Castel Sant’Angelo during the pontificate of Eugene IV (1431–1447). Additionally, Eugene IV enfeoffed Antonio with the castle of Piediluco, near Terni.38 The note indicates that Antonio de Rivo was present in the town of Fermo, suggesting that the transfer of manuscript ownership happened in the 1430s in the territory of the Marca Anconetana, if not in Fermo itself. At the end of the century, the codex was in possession of a Serafino di ser Domenico, who may have bought it from Giacomo da Padova, as suggested by the note immediately following the first entry. A later italic hand in the codex mentions the purchase of the manuscript by Eusebio di ser Antonio, who, on 24 August 1494, received the codex from Serafino di ser Domenico for 20 bolognini, paid in the presence of various witnesses, including one from Patrignone, a town in the Marca region.39 Another scribe further mentions the possessor Eusebio in a note, partially legible, in the lower margin of f. 1r.40 The signature of the copyist in the colophon on folio 49r is illegible, preventing us from determining where the manuscript was produced. However, our data indicate that the manuscript circulated in the Marca Anconetana, a fact not contradicted by the reference to bolognini, a currency also in use circulated in the Marca region.

Dante’s verses were written by the same person who made the first purchase note of the manuscript. This handwriting can be dated to the third or fourth decade of the 15th century. The verses, all taken from the canticles on Purgatorio and Paradiso,41 might have been chosen due to their primarily moral and edifying nature. This selection parallels the inclusion of two Latin passages, located in the upper part of the right-hand column on folio 56v, which interrupt the sequence of excerpts from the Commedia. These Latin passages focus on themes of justice and prudence in the conduct of life and government, aligning with the moral tone of Dante’s verses. The first passage, extracted from the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise Secretum secretorum, emphasises one of the teachings Aristotle imparted to Alexander. It highlights the significance of a wise ruler, replaced by sapientes in the manuscript, who prudently prepares for forthcoming events and adversities.42 Following this, there is a selection from the sermon De iustitia et correctione fraterna, attributed to St Augustine, as was common in the Middle Ages. It recounts how Rome maintained its greatness and at peace under the governance of rulers sapientes, but declined when justice was lost under the leadership of young and inexperienced rulers.43

2.4. Eastern Piedmont and Lombardy

An interesting presence of Dante is attested by the scholastic miscellany Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Nouv. Acq. lat. 552. This manuscript transmitting a partial copy of Cicero’s Laelius de amicitia (1–70) along with a collection of texts typical of the late medieval and humanistic schools. These texts were utilized to prepare latinantes for access to the classical auctores, including Prudentius’ Dittocheon (or Eva columba) and the Ecloga Theoduli.44 The two auctores minores are accompanied by short prophecies, prayers, and extracts from the Bible. Datable to the 1460s, the manuscript bears on f. 50r, at the end of the Eva columba, a note that recalls Giorgio Raspini of Ameno (Novara), a gramatice professor active in Robbio, in the diocese of Vercelli, who penned the major part of the codex, completing the copy in 1464.45 Additionally, in the lower margin of f. 137v a contemporary cursive hand specifies the location of its transcription as Vertemate, within the diocese of Como.46 Another scribe, less acquainted with these texts, transcribed the incipits and verses of Theodulum’s text using a Gothic textualis script, attributing authorship to Theodorus.47

The manuscript takes us to small village schools, where not only Commedia but also its commentators were known. On f. 23v, verses from Purg. III, 112–17 were recorded, accompanied by a Latin explanatory note drawn from Benvenuto da Imola’s commentary («Nota quod Manfredus denominavit se potius ab ista sancta femina quam a patre peccatore. Quia fecit sicut mulus qui interrogatus a leone cuius filius esset respondit: “sum nepos equi”»).48 Following this text are verses from Purg. III, 118–23, accompanied by the comment «Nota quod Aristoteles, Plato et Avicena non potuerunt per cognitionem humanam scrutari et comprehendet divinitatem et ordinem eius».49 The excerpts from the Commedia were placed on the left-hand side of the sheet, with the central space occupied by a diagram depicting the angelic hierarchies («Angelicum nomen»), oriented perpendicular to the direction of the writing. The verses are related to the text inserted on the right-hand side of the sheet, focusing on the theme of predestination. This text quotes a passage from the Pauline epistle to the Romans (11:33), which is erroneously attributed to Matthew, followed by the text:

preces, elimosine et alia bona iuvant animas in purgatorio. Venerabilis Virgilius: Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando [Verg., Aen. VI, 376]. Nota quod quando peccator revertitur ad peccata post confessionem et penitentiam ipsorum, tunc reddit ad pristinum statum et est sibi clausa porta purgatorii.

The compiler elaborates on the subject in the lower margin of f. 55v by inserting tercet Purg. III, 37–39, along with a Latin commentary sourced from Benvenuto da Imola.50

A rare instance of utilizing the Commedia for commentary on a late medieval work is represented by Bartolino Valvassori’s commentary on Albertino Mussato’s tragedy Ecerinis, which was inspired by Seneca’s tragedies.51 The commentary is preserved in the manuscript Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, G 111 inf., which is a composite paper codex showcasing segments of Bartolino Valvassori’s teaching program. Valvassori, a magister from Lodi, also served as the copyist for most of the manuscript. After teaching in Cremona in 1405, Bartolino held one of the two active chairs of grammar and rhetoric at the University of Bologna in the academic years 1405–1406. He later relocated to the school of Caravate (Varese) in 1419.52 The works found in ms. Ambrosiano G 111 inf. were compiled by Valvassori himself and by his son and pupil Bassiano. In October 1400, Bassiano completed a copy of Albertino Mussato’s Ecerinis with marginal commentary on folios 22r−34v. The scholastic utility of the manuscript is attested by the notes from the late 15th century by the student Antonius Rozonus, who added his name to some folios. The codex contains a recollecta of a commentary on the first six books of the Aeneid, featuring corrections and glosses by Valvassori himself, a commentary on Book IV of the Virgilian poem, and Proba’s Cento Vergilianus, accompanied by scholia useful for teaching purposes. The commentary on the Ecerinis appears to be intended for the magister’s personal reference. Throughout various annotations, the commentator makes references to well-known lexicographical sources, including Uguccione da Pisa’s Derivationes and Eberard of Béthune’s Graecismus. Additionally, notable authorities such as Seneca’s Epistolae ad Lucilium and, at one instance, the Commedia, are cited. The portrayal of Ezzelino da Romano (f. 23r, vv. 60–61: «[Ecerinus] Qualis? [Adeleita] Necis pronosticus ventrem levas | Cruentus infans, fronte crudeli minax») is enhanced in the margin with historical details provided by Inf. XII, 109–10 («Dantes canto 12 dicit: “E quela fronte c’ha ‘l pel così nero è Azolino”») and Benvenuto da Imola’s commentary on the Commedia («per quo dicitur quod erat pilosus, turpis, niger, habens unum pilum longum super naso qui erigebatur quando erat iratus et tunc fugieba‹n›t ab eo»).53

2.5. Italy Median

The contexts of grammar teaching in central Italy are elucidated by ms. 190, preserved in the Library of the Abbey of Montecassino. This parchment codex, copied during the late 13th or early 14th century, transmitting a collection of grammatical texts, including a metrical grammar attributed to Petrus Latro accompanied by two anonymous commentaries, as well as Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae.54 In the margins and between the lines of the Boethian text, a hand from the first half of the 14th century affixed a dense set of glosses in Latin and vernacular, in both Latin and the vernacular. These annotations include postillae featuring quotations from the Commedia, characterised by a local linguistic patina.55 The variants introduced in Dante’s passages indicate mnemonic quotations inserted to clarify a term, such as the pape of Cons. I, pr. 6, 6 (p. 117), as elucidated in Inf. VII, 1–3.56 Additionally, they provide further historical references to a passage, as seen in the mention of the blissful «prior aetas», uncorrupted by luxury, in Cons. II, m. 5, 1–7 (p. 132), which is echoed in Purg. XXII, 151–53.57 Moreover, they highlight the instability that worldly fame brings to a person’s name, as depicted in Cons., II, m. 7, 17–18 (p. 137), and further exemplified by the stories of Brutus, Lucretia, Julia, Martha, Cornelia, and Saladin in Inf. IV, 127–29.58 The reference to the tercet from the canto of suicides (Inf. XIII, 25–27)59 in relation to Cons., II, pr. 5, 19–30 (p. 131), lacks clarity. The encounter with Pier della Vigna could potentially allude to the Boethian concept to measure one’s according to the opportunities presented by nature rather than by ambition and desire.

The citation of the tercet from Inf. VII, 91–93 in the Boethian discussion of Fortuna (Cons. II, p. 2), as found in the margins of the manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 78.20,60 is replicated on folio 16r of Laurentian ms. Plut. 89 sup. 87. Additionally, on this folio, there is a gloss with verses from Inf. I, 97–100, affixed to Cons. II, m. 2,61 which might allude to greed, symbolized in the Commedia by the she-wolf. Furthermore, on f. 15v there are verses Purg. XII, 55–57, where the commentator extracted historical information on the Persian King Cyrus mentioned in Cons. p. 2, 11.62 The Boethian manuscript, which preserves the accessus and commentary by Nicholas Trevet, was produced for the school in later 14th century. In the 1430s, it was possessed by Valentino di Antonio of Suessa Aurunca while he attended the school of the master Tono, in Teano. Subsequently, it transitioned to the Tuscan area.63

3. The Commedia in Academic Commentaries

In the few attestations of Dante’s glosses commenting on the classics subject of university lecturae, references to the poem retain the forms and functions encountered hitherto in advanced schools. Dante is recalled as a moral author in the 20 tercets (Inf. XXVII, 94–123; Inf. XIX, 91–117; Purg. III, 37–39), characterized by a northern linguistic patina. These glosses are positioned at the end of the manuscript Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek-Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Mscr.Dresd.Dc.152 (f. 231r), rather than in the margins of the text as is customary. The watermarks of the manuscript indicate its production in Lombardy (Pavia, Milan, Como) during the transitional period between the 14th and 15th centuries.64 The manuscript transmits the corpus of Seneca’s tragedies with the commentary of the Anonymous to Botticella. Additionally, it features scholarly interventions and textual amendments executed by a meticulous scribe. Notably, this copyist employed a humanistic minuscule script, exemplifying the entire text and commentary, including verses from the Commedia. Dante’s inserts to the manuscript possess a clear gnomic and moral edification character.65 Despite the absence of explicit indications, it is noteworthy that this codex likely had connections with the advanced scholastic circles and arts faculties of the universities in northern Italy. During the decades when the manuscript was produced, Seneca’s tragedies were commonly utilized by rhetoric masters in these academic settings.66

In the scholastic context of the Dominican Studium of Santa Caterina in Pisa, it is believed that the extensive Lectura Epistolarum Senecae took shape, likely as a result of multiple lectures. This work was penned in several stage between approximately 1374 and 1396 by the Dominican Domenico da Peccioli, theologian and Grammaticus. Within the Lectura Epistolarum Senece, the canon of classical, biblical, and patristic authors is enriched with elements of medieval lexicography, as well as references to Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch.67 Dante’s quotations and mentions, mainly formulated from memory, serve the purpose of «fixing pregnant concepts» (Rossi 2015, p. 516) and offering historical-mythological insights or reinforcing lexical interpretations.

The manuscript Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1690, which contains a complete copy of Statius’ Thebaid written in Gothic rotunda script, could likely have originated within a university milieu. The same copyist affixed the colophon on f. 146v, wherein he fell into the widespread confusion regarding the poet Publius Papinius Statius with the Latin rhetorician Lucius Statius Ursulus.68 The exegetical activity is evidenced by the 187 comparationes identified in the text of Statius. The same number of comparationes is referenced in the colophon of the manuscript of the Thebaid Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 91 inf. 10. This manuscript was finished copying in 1404 by Giovanni Berto del Friuli, while he was a student in Bologna.69 Among the glosses affixed in the margins and in interline of the Palatino Latin 1690 manuscript by a non-Italian, likely German, hand, the verse Theb. V, 29—which echoes Ipsipile’s account of the fall of Troy recounted by Aeneas to Dido in Aen. II, 3—is commented with the tercet Inf. V, 121–23. This tercet is summarized and placed perfectly synchronised with Virgilian text («Sicut Eneidos: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem. Et elli a me: “non è maggior dolor” etc. Dantes»).70

In academic circles north of the Alps, verses from the Commedia were included in the manuscript Melk, Benediktinerstift, Cod. 1153. This manuscript is a composite miscellany of humanistic taste dating to the middle decades of the 15th century. In contains texts in both Latin and German and originates from the Benedictine Abbey of Melk. This institution had close ties with the University of Vienna, whose faculty of arts could be linked to texts used in rhetorical-grammatical teaching, such as Pseudo-Ovid’s De vetula (ff. 89r−132r) and Enrico da Settimello’s Elegia (ff. 133r−148v).71 The colophon of the section of the manuscript occupied by Leonardo Bruni’s translation of Basil the Great’s work Ad adolescentes (ff. 25r−35r) indicates that the manuscript was copied in Vienna on 28 July 1460 by Pietro Gotfart de Corona, a Transylvanian magister artium. Gotfart was a professor at the University of Vienna and served as rector in 1473. On f. 64v, two tercets from Dante’s work are inserted to testify and explain, alongside other classical authors, mythological information, specifically concerning the swift death and rebirth of the phoenix (Inf. XXIV, 106–11).72 The university context of this section of the manuscript is indicated by the intimatio of a poetry lecture at the University of Vienna recorded immediately after Dante’s verses.

The composition of this manuscript predates the group of codices that convey the feature description of the fabulous bird, originating in the late 15th century and lacking apparent connections to university circles. Additionally, Cod. 1153 presents only the section of the Ovidian verses Met. XV, 391–402 from the later corpus of manuscripts, which instead testifies to a compact anthology of works related to the theme of the phoenix, comprising Lactantius’ De ave phoenice, Claudian’s De phoenice versus, Pliny’s De phoenice (Nat. Hist. X, 2), and the Ovidian verses transmitted in Wolfenbüttler, Herzog August Bibliothek, Guelf. 6.7 Aug. 2°, f. 377v,73 and, not in entirety but with the constant presence of the Ovidian section, in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Lat. 459, f. 103v,74 Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. XII, 232 (=3985), sez. 4, f. 5v,75 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Lat. 3110, f. 199r.76 An exception is the extravagant transmission of verses Inf. XXIV, 106–11 from the thematic anthology, in the manuscript Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, 603, f. 83r.77

We can shed less light on the academic context in which Dante’s gloss was added to the philosophical texts of the scholastic tradition transmitted in the manuscript Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, F 141 sup., which was produced in northern France during the first half of the 14th century. The manuscript preserves several Aristotelian treatises in Latin translation, accompanied by a nearly contemporary commentary. Among these treatises, the Ethica and Politica received intensive annotation by the humanist Ugolino Pisani in 1436–1437, during his time as a law student at the University of Bologna. Subsequently, the codex was circulated within the university (possibly Padua), as suggested by the “conduxit” note placed in 1447 on f. IIIr.78 Finally, it came into the possession of Ambrogio Griffi, a Sforza physician and protonotary apostolic, who died in 1493.79 In the left margin of f. 23v, in correspondence with the moral virtue depiction of magnanimity developed in Eth. IV 3 1125a 12–14 («Sed etiam motus gravis, lentus magnanimi videtur esse, et vox gravis, et locutio stabilis»), there is a postilla, written in elegant Gothic cursive of the late 14th century. This postilla identifies the source of the «spiriti magni» of Dante’s Limbo in Inf. IV, 112–14. In this passage, the dittology lentus and gravis becomes tardo and grave («Ex hoc loco sumpsit Dans [sic] poeta illud poeticum: “Gente v’erano con ogi tardi e gravi | de grande actorità ne lor sembianti | parllando rato con voce suave”»).80

Interest in Commedia emerges from the codex on legal topics Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 1391. The parchment manuscript, produced in the 14th century, probably in Bologna, transmits the Glossa ordinaria in Decretales by Bernard of Parma and the Apparatus in Novellas Innocentii IV by Bernard of Compostella junior.81 On f. IIIr, there is the Virgilian quotation from Aen. II, 270–71, 274 («Ecce mihi ante oculos mestissimus Hector | Visus adesse mihi largosque effundere fletus | Heu mihi qualis erat»), to which another hand has placed two verses from Purg. I, 31–32 («Vidi presso di me un veglio solo, | degno di tanta»).82 The connection between the two passages is the manifestation, in a dream state, of characters presented as exempla (Hector and Pompeian Cato, respectively).

Dante’s presence is noted in theological literature within the manuscript Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 782, an interesting 13th-century miscellany of theological texts. This compilation reflects the exegetical production of the early Franciscan school of Paris, represented by several quaestiones—including the important and controversial De doctrina theologiae, which might be from Alexander of Hales and a direct source of the Summa Halensis—alongside collationes to the Holy Scriptures and commentarii to the Sentences of Peter Lombard (Chavero Blanco 1999). At the end of the tabula of the codex, a later hand dated to the first half of the 15th century filled the space at the top of f. IIv with quotations from St Augustine’s De Trinitate (III, 4, 9). Additionally, a second copyist inserted one of the last tercets of Dante’s poem («e perché el tempo passa che m’asonna | qui faren puncto come bon sartore | che com’egli a del panno fa la gonna»: Par. XXXII, 139–41) and verses 148–50 of Petrarch’s Triumphus Pudicitie («Fra gli altre la vestal vergine pia | che baldanzosamente corse al Tibro, | per purgarsy d’ogni fama ria»). Although these three texts may not share a coherent thematic connection, the inclusion of works by two modern poets in a collection primarily consisting of theological texts is still noteworthy.

4. Notes on the Reception of the Commedia in the Studium Generale of Pavia

The scholastic centres and universities concerned with Dante’s glosses are predominantly found in the northeastern quadrant of Italy. The initial reception of Dante at the University of Pavia, established in 1361 with a diploma from Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg, appears to have been relatively subdued.

Dante’s presence as auctoritas has been identified in magister Giovanni Travesio’s prolusion to Lucan’s poem (Principium Lucani), preserved in the manuscript Strasbourg, Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire, 23. This codex was transcribed by 1443 by Giacomo Mori, a canon and chronicler from Piacenza in friendship with influential Visconti courtiers and humanists active in the 1430s in Milan and at the University of Pavia. Mori himself studied at the local faculty of arts and medicine and briefly attended Lorenzo Valla’s rhetoric lessons.83 Lucan’s work, which held a central place in school curricula from the 12th century onwards, became associated with the Commedia, possibly from the two poets’ marked interest in close historical events, unlike other epic poems focusing on the foundation events.84 The reception of the Pharsalia in the Commedia is also well known to Dante’s critics, evident in the places where Dante quotes characters from this text or translates parts of it.85 In November 1373, Travesio inaugurated his rhetoric courses «in generali Studio Papiensi» with a commentary on the Pharsalia. In the opening of the expositio, he recalled the first tercet of Paradiso (Par. I, 1–3) to define the divine power86 and invoked the help of the Muses with verses from Inf. II, 7–9.87

During the temporary transfer of the Studium generale of Pavia to Piacenza (1399–1402), Travesio’s teaching, still based on rhetorical-grammatical commentaries but with increasing space assigned to the reading of the classics,88 was complemented by the lectura Senece, assigned to Giovanni della Mirandola, and the lectura Dantis et auctorum, assigned to the magister Filippo da Reggio (Maiocchi 1905, pp. 420–22, no. 571). The lack of comprehensive sources from these years makes it challenging to fully comprehend the extent to which the lectura Dantis was established and embraced in Piacenza. Specifically, the absence of lists of teachers and professors at the University of Pavia for the last years of the 14th century makes it impossible to know whether some of these chairs were already established in Piacenza prior to the transfer of the Studium and if they were later integrated into the university school system. Furthermore, the list published by Rodolfo Maiocchi might not be a «list of Pavia’s lectors» for the year 1399, as he claims. This document, recorded by the legum doctor and chronicler Alberto da Ripalta in his Annales Placentini, catalogues the active lecturers of the Studium generale, along with the corresponding stipends granted by the host community. It is probable that this list encompasses not only the year 1399 but also includes all the years during which the university operated in Piacenza. This suggestion is supported by the extensive range of teachings listed, which seems excessive for a single academic year (Alberto da Ripalta 1731, coll. 939–41).

The salary assigned to the lectura Dantis et auctorum, equal to just under a quarter of that attributed to Travesio for his reading of the authors, indicates that Dante’s teaching was positioned at the lower end of the pay scale. This suggests a somewhat restrained initial enthusiasm for the poem within the Lombard Studium. On the holder Filippo da Reggio, an unknown magister, an identification hypothesis could be cautiously proposed.89 A commentary by Filippo da Reggio, a professor of rhetoric, on the fourth book of the pseudo-ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium is preserved in the manuscript Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, 3206. The codex, completed on 23 June 1458 by the Veronese student Giuliano de Peregrinis de Sancto Zillio, later found its place in the library of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Vienna.90 This Filippo da Reggio may have been the same individual who taught in public schools in the Veneto area. In 1449, the municipality of Treviso hired the «famosus et eximius gramatice professor» Filippo da Reggio «ad docendum gramaticam pueros et adolescentes in civitate Tarvisii et legendum poesiam et rethoricam omnibus audire volentibus» for five years. Additionally, in 1454, Filippo introduced an aspiring notary to the tabellionatus exam in Treviso.91 During the years 1456–1458, Filippo da Reggio moved to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ferrara, where he was employed with a mid-level salary.92 Therefore, he might have held in this Studium his lectures on Book IV of the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of which the student Giuliano de Peregrinis left a trace in June 1458.93 If further evidence confirms that this professor is indeed the same Filippo da Reggio mentioned as the lecturer on Dante in the Annales Placentini by Alberto da Ripalta, it would suggest that the first reader of the Commedia at the University of Pavia was likely a young scholar at the beginning of his career. This would present a distinct cultural profile compared to contemporary readers of Dante at the universities of Padua and Tuscany-Emilia.94 Moreover, interest in Dante’s poem might not have been as pronounced in academic circles within the Visconti principality compared to the cultural milieu surrounding the Milanese court (Zaggia 1993, pp. 342–49, 353–55; 1998).

5. Conclusions

The presence of Dante’s glosses in the commentary on classical Latin authors underscores the acknowledgment of the Commedia as a significant work among the texts of the authorities employed in the school and university, particularly in regions such as Veneto and Tuscany-Emilia. However, this recognition was not uniform or consistent. Note that even the most well-equipped magistri engaged in commenting on the Commedia were not particularly inclined to incorporate Dante’s text into their classics’ reading. This is exemplified by the case of Benvenuto da Imola, who, in his commentary on Virgil’s Eglogues, resorted only five times to quotations from the poem he had long taught in his school.95

The recovery of Dante’s references in glossography and the composition of commentaries on Commedia within universities represents a manifestation of the poem’s assimilation into the academic community, where it occupied a place in the cultural landscape of commentators and readers. Dante, a cultural man with an unconventional education, was also brought into university circles during the period under consideration by certain biographical writings that promoted a veritable cult of the poet’s intellect.96 Notably, Boccaccio’s early draft of the Trattatello in laude di Dante presents an apologetic reinterpretation of Dante as both a poet and a distinguished theologian. In this narrative, the greatness of his doctrine makes it entirely plausible that the doctores of the Paris Studium allowed Dante, in his capacity as a magister theologiae, to determine a quodlibet in what was still the preeminent centre of theological studies in Christian Europe.97 Similarly, Giovanni Bertoldi da Serravalle, a renowned pupil of Benvenuto da Imola and a master of theology, played a key role in popularizing the legend that Dante was a student at Oxford.98

The integration of Dante’s poem among the reference texts of the commentary on classics might have influenced the adaptation of the poet’s thought to the conceptual schemes of the masters. In this regard, the incorporation of a tercet from the Commedia by the theologian Domenico da Pecchioli99 in his Lectura Epistolarum Senece is intriguing. Domenico, almost certainly quoting from memory, included the verses Par. XXIX, 85–87 as a commentary on Ep. CVIII, 36.100 The reading «Voi ve n’andate» quoted by Domenico instead of the correct «Voi non andate» it radically overturns Beatrice’s criticism of men’s philosophical arguments (Barański 2013, p. 290, note 78). However, it attenuates, at least in this passage, an “anti-academic” position that Domenico da Peccioli might have perceived as conflicting with the ideas of an author such as Dante, who, by the late 14th century, was increasingly regarded as a figure within the academic world.