Two Contemporary Gregorian Editions of Pope Gregory the Great\u27s Regula Pastoralis in Troyes MS 504

It has long been recognized that the most authoritative MS. preserving Pope Gregory the Great\u27s Régula pastoralis is MS. 504 in the Bibliothèque Municipale of Troyes. This Roman uncial MS. dates from the beginning of Gregory\u27s papal reign (590-604). Jean Mabillon first suggested that this MS., if not the author\u27s autograph, was at least written under the Pope\u27s eyes (1). Both E. Châtelain (2) and E. A. Lowe thought that Mabillon\u27s suggestion was probably correct. Lowe pointed to the « numerous alterations, corrections over erasure, and marginal insertions — all by a contemporary hand — which suggest that our manuscript represents the author\u27s revision of a preliminary edition of his work ; the corrected version is closer to the text as we have it today » (3). Most recently B. Bischoff, ever cautious, has at least agreed that the MS. is a product « nell\u27ambiente del grande pape » (4). Unfortunately none of the editors of the 89 printed editions (1470-1953) has recognized the existence of this preliminary edition (5). However, what Lowe termed a preliminary edition is in fact a full-fledged first edition which enjoyed an independent (albeit often contaminated) existence for many centuries, and it was only with the advent of the printed text that this Gregorian first edition disappeared (6