• Brittany (?)
• Loire Valley (?)
• Fleury (?)

• Corbie?
• Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

• Hisperic literature
• Poetry

Liosmonocus, Libellulus sacerdotalis (with interlinear glosses).

• Possibly written in Brittany
• Probably written by a Breton scribe

Although a Corbie ex-libris occurs at fol. 1r, it is not sure whether the specific codicological unit considered here (fols 208–219) was ever in Corbie; in any case, it was certainly not written there (note that the Corbie provenance is accepted in Deuffic 2008: 125 and Lemoine 2010: 219, n. 19, where the author points out that 'plusieurs mss bretons proviennent de cette grande abbaye royale', listing, in addition to the present codex, Paris, BnF, Lat. 12021 and Lat. 13029; to these we should add Lat. 13957 and, possibly, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 42).

The Libellulus sacerdotalis—of which this is the only surviving copy—begins with an informative titulus: Incipit libellulus sacerdotalis quem Liosmonocus heroico met[ro compo]suit. Lege in pace. This may well be the same Liosmonocus whose name also appears in a colophon in Rome (Città del Vaticano), BAV, Reg.lat.296. This individual appears to have been a Breton scribe / scholar active during the ninth century, in Brittany and/or at Fleury, and he might also be the scribe of some of the works copied in the Vatican MSS Reg.lat.81 and Reg.lat.1260 (cf. Grosjean 1956: 38–40). The Libellulus sacerdotalis (edited in 1899 by De Winterfeld in MGH Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, vol. IV, 1, pp. 276–95) is an interesting (and still under-studied) religious poem in hexameters, adopting some Hisperic vocabulary (cf., e.g., Grosjean 1956: 40; Lemoine 2010: 219).

In conclusion, a Breton origin for this MS is certainly possible, but if it is true that Liosmonocus worked at Fleury at least for some time, an origin in that scriptorium cannot be ruled out either.

BnF Archives et Manuscrits; Deuffic 2008: 125; DGVB 7; Dumville 2005: 59–60; Ganz 1990: 156; Grosjean 1956: 38–40; Guillotel 1985: 25–6; Lemoine 2010: 219; L&S §829; PMSB 313 (§90); Riché 2004: 20; Smith 1992: 170 (n. 92).

• https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10525100r