The “Glossa Ordinaria” on Ecclesiastes: A Critical Edition with Introduction

This dissertation describes the discovery of the earliest version of the Glossa Ordinaria on the Book of Ecclesiastes and presents this text in its first ever critical edition. Included is a study of its sources, its development throughout the Middle Ages and its relationship to other exegesis on Ecclesiastes. The Glossa Ordinaria, which surrounds each verse of the scriptural text with traditional interpretations, stands as the sine qua non of the medieval study of the Bible, a resource whose influence began in the early twelfth century and persists in theological writing beyond the sixteenth century. Despite this, and perhaps because the Glossa’s ubiquity deters scholars from making editions from the available manuscripts, we have only a few editions of Glossa Ordinaria texts. The dissertation begins with the exegetical history of Ecclesiastes, from patristic up to modern approaches to the text. Central to this section is a classification of the main strategies which exegetes throughout history have used to resolve interpretive difficulties in Ecclesiastes. This classification was created to be applicable not only to Ecclesiastes exegesis but to exegesis on all the biblical books. A further approach to the exegetical history of Ecclesiastes is offered by a series of case studies, each posing an interpretive question and then juxtaposing the responses of exegetes and glosses. The subsequent section reveals how the edited text was discovered, this text’s link to the version of glossed Ecclesiastes reproduced in the first printed edition of the Glossa, and the relationship of the versions to their sources. The applicability of the designation “Glossa Ordinaria” to both versions is considered. The final section offers an edition of early glossed Ecclesiastes with the layout of the manuscripts adapted for the printed page, thereby contributing to ongoing discussion concerning the best way to present medieval texts to modern readers.Ph.D.2018-02-12 00:00:0