‘But what Polybius the Greek physician says is more correct’: sources of knowledge in the glosses to Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy at tenth-century Canterbury

Abstract

Several densely-glossed copies of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy survive from tenth- and early eleventh-century Canterbury and associated centres, which give the impression of intense activity. Such annotation is, of course, a relatively late stage in a long process of accumulation. With the advantage of an overview of all known glosses to the Consolation in surviving manuscripts up to 1100, one can begin to sift out layers and to see the outline of new material as opposed to earlier glossing that travelled with the main text. This paper will seek to answer two questions in relation to these frenetically-glossed books from England: first whether they can tell us anything about the specific interests of, and other texts known to, their late tenth-century creators and users. Secondly, what balance can one see between careful selection and the relentless, even seemingly mindless, accumulation of glosses, which begins to obscure meaning rather than revealing it?