TEXTUAL HISTORY AND RECEPTION OF THE "QUEROLUS" IN THE MIDDLE AGES

This article traces the reception and textual history of the anonymous comedy Querolus from antiquity through the Middle Ages. While few people appear to have had first-hand knowledge of the comedy, there was a reasonably wide circulation, and acquainted with it were the likes of Heiric of Auxerre, John of Salisbury, and Petrarch. While there is some indication of a small tradition in Southern Germany, its textual history centers around the Loire Valley, notably Orleans: From there, around 1150 it makes its way to England (connected with John of Salisbury), and shortly after 1300 it takes the well-trodden path to Italy via Avignon (Petrarch, Guglielmo da Pastrengo). But from the middle of the 12th century onwards, most readers appear to know the Querolus through the copious sententious excerpts that formed part of several florilegia and, notably, the Speculum Maius of Vincent of Beauvais.