Ambrose: Introduction

AUGUSTINE, whom Ambrose baptized, testifies in his CONFESSIONES to Ambrose's profound influence on his spiritual development (see in general Courcelle 1968, Burns 1990, and Stock 1996 pp 53-65; O'Donnell 1991 p 11 points out, however, that Augustine does not often cite Ambrose's works until late in his career, when he finds in Ambrose a standard of unimpeachable orthodoxy in opposition to the Pelagians). JEROME's opinion of Ambrose's works was decidedly mixed (see Paredi 1964b). Although he praised Ambrose's De virginitate and De viduis, he severely criticized his DE SPIRITU SANCTO and was quick to point out Ambrose's indebtedness to other authors. In his DE VIRIS ILLUSTRIBUS CXXIV (PL 23.711), Jerome remarked that he would say nothing of Ambrose, "lest I be blamed either for flattery, or for telling the truth" (trans. in Deferrari 1963 p 32).

In the Middle Ages, Ambrose was generally named along with his two contemporaries and GREGORY THE GREAT as one of four major Fathers of the Church (see De Lubac 1959-64 1/1.26-29). His reputation for eloquence was given a biographical foundation by Paulinus of Milan's story (Vita Ambrosii II.ii, ed. Pellegrino 1961 p 52) of the bees that left their honey in the mouth of the infant Ambrose (the story was retailed by ALDHELM in both the prose and verse DE VIRGINITATE, MGH AA 15.260 and 380-81; trans. Lapidge and Herren 1979 p 84 and Lapidge and Rosier 1985 p 117). His extensive surviving writings include biblical commentaries (all on the Old Testament, except for the commentary on Luke), sermons, dogmatic treatises on the trinity, catechetical instructions, moral and ascetic tracts on Christian virtues and virginity, funeral orations, a substantial collection of letters, and a small but very influential group of hymns.

Ambrose's importance for the Middle Ages lay especially in four major areas: his exegesis, which transmitted the allegorical methods of PHILO and ORIGEN (see Lucchesi 1977 and Savon 1977; for a general study of his exegesis, see Pizzolato 1978); his exaltation of virginity as a Christian virtue and his insistence on the perpetual virginity of Mary (see P. Brown 1988 pp 341-65; Neumann 1962); his defense of orthodox trinitarian doctrines against the Arian heresy (see Meslin 1967; Williams 1995; Markschies 1995); and his initiation of what came to be known as "Ambrosian" hymnody (see Fontaine 1985). These areas of influence are all reflected in the use made of Ambrose's writings by major Anglo-Latin authors. For BEDE the exegete, Ambrose was primarily a source of moral and allegorical interpretation of Scripture, particularly for Genesis and Luke (see Laistner 1935 p 247; the parallels cited from various works of Ambrose in the CCSL editions of Bede's works, noted below under the appropriate entries, do not always qualify as "sources," and must be evaluated with caution). According to CUTHBERT, EPISTOLA DE OBITU BEDAE, Bede on his death bed quoted words attributed to Ambrose by Paulinus of Milan, Vita S. Ambrosii XLV (see Plummer 1896 1.lxxv and clxii). For Aldhelm, the champion of virginity, Ambrose's treatise DE VIRGINIBUS provided a structural model for his own catalogue of virgins (see Lapidge and Herren 1979 p 56). For Alcuin the opponent of Adoptionism, Ambrose's dogmatic treatises DE FIDE and DE INCARNATIONIS DOMINICAE SACRAMENTO were sources of unimpeachably orthodox doctrine on the relationship of Christ to the Father. (Alcuin's list of authors contained in the library of York, in his VERSUS DE PATRIBUS REGIBUS ET SANCTIS EUBORICENSIS ECCLESIAE [l. 1542, ed. Godman 1982 p 122] simply names Ambrose as one of several Church fathers whose works were available there, and it is rarely possible to distinguish between works which were already available to Alcuin at York, those which became available to him only after he left England to join Charlemagne, and those which were available to him at the library of Saint Martin's in Tours. For a discussion of Alcuin's indebtedness to Ambrose, see C. Wright 1998. Bede also composed hymns in the Ambrosian meter, while the Old and New Hymnals incorporated both genuine hymns and later imitations in the Ambrosian meter (see below under HYMNI, and see also the generic entry HYMNALS).

However, despite Ambrose's importance for these Anglo-Latin authors and his widely acknowledged status as an orthodox authority and interpreter of Scripture, his writings were much less influential in Anglo-Saxon England than those of Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory. As Laistner 1935 (p 247) pointed out, "of the four, Ambrose was the least well represented at Wearmouth-Jarrow and possibly in the other English libraries during Bede's lifetime." The evidence gathered here suggests that Ambrose was not a major source for later vernacular authors. Ælfric makes comparatively little use of Ambrose's works, perhaps because so few extracts from Ambrose were included in the HOMILIARY OF PAUL THE DEACON (see HOMILIARIES), upon which Ælfric relied so heavily in his Catholic Homilies (see Smetana 1959. There seems to be no documented use of Ambrose by WULFSTAN. Baker and Lapidge (1995 p xcii) report that they "have been unable to identify any debt to Ambrose in B[YRHTFERTH]'s writings, and it is probably significant that in his Epilogus . . ., B[yrhtferth] specifically names Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory as 'inhabitants of flowering Paradise,' but omits to mention Ambrose here." Presumably no slight was intended, since Byrhtferth elsewhere (ENCHIRIDION, ed. EETS SS 15 114.153-55) calls Ambrose "se haliga wer" and "se getyddosta biscop"!

There is no modern catalogue of the manuscripts of the works of Ambrose judge from Gneuss's preliminary list, Schenkl's inventory of patristic manuscripts in British libraries, (Schenkl 1969) and the other published catalogues we have been able to consult, the manuscript evidence for the circulation of the works of Ambrose in Anglo-Saxon England is unimpressive, indeed meager. If we exclude from consideration hymnals, which usually contain a small number of Ambrose's genuine hymns, only six manuscripts which contain any of his complete works or even substantial extracts were written or possibly owned in Anglo-Saxon England before the eleventh century. Boulogne, Bibliothèque Municipale 32 (37) [HG 799; s.viii?], which contains DE APOLOGIA PROPHETAE DAVID, DE IOSEPH PATRIARCHA, DE PATRIARCHIS, DE PAENITENTIA, and DE EXCESSU FRATRIS, as well as five Epistulae, was written in Italy and later came to France, perhaps by way of England since it contains Anglo-Saxon marginalia and one eighth-century Old English gloss (see CLA 2.735, where the date is given as s. "VI¹"; for the Ambrose gloss [AC C35], see Meritt 1957 p 66). Kassel, Gesamthochschulbibliothek, 2^o Ms. theol. 21 [HG 832], which contains the Apologia prophetae David, may have been written in Northumbria, but was at Fulda by 850 (see CLA 8.1134). No ninth-century manuscript of Ambrose was certainly in England before the eleventh century, although Arras, Bibliothèque Municipale 899 (590) [not in HG], containing the EXPOSITIO DE PSALMO CXVIII, is identified by Lapidge (ML p 61) with an entry in the Sæwold booklist. The ninth-century fly-leaves of Cambridge, Trinity College Library B. 14. 3 (289) [HG 175], which contain fragments of Expositio de psalmo cxviii, are from Nonantola; the manuscript itself "was at Christ Church at the end of the twelfth century" (NRK p 129). The North Italian manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 516 (SC 2570) [HG 581], which contains only Epistula extra collectionem 14 [63] ad Vercellensem ecclesiam, was in Brittany by the tenth century and came to England (Salisbury Cathedral) by the early eleventh (see Rella 1980 p 114; Webber 1992 p 79). Only one tenth-century Ambrose manuscript written or owned in Anglo-Saxon England survives: London, Lambeth Palace Library 414, fols. 1-80 [HG 516], from St Amand, contains extracts from the HEXAMERON, EXPOSITIO EVANGELII SECUNDUM LUCAM, DE FIDE, and DE SPIRITU SANCTO.

Excluding from consideration both New Hymnal manuscripts and manuscripts of Paul the Deacon's homiliary (which usually contain a few extracts from Ambrose's commentary on Luke), nineteen eleventh-century Ambrose manuscripts are listed by Gneuss as having been written or owned in England. Fifteen of these are post-Conquest, and of the four remaining manuscripts which are certainly or possibly pre-Conquest, one contains only a single (albeit substantial) letter. Since many of these manuscripts contain multiple works by Ambrose--information inevitably obscured in their breakdown by individual works in this entry--we list them here [Note that the forthcoming second edition of Gneuss's list will substantially affect the following tabulation, especially for manuscripts dated xi ex., some of which are re-dated to the 12th c. in the second edition (and thus deleted), following following Richard Gameson, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford, 1999); moreover, some Ambrose manuscripts formerly dated to the 12th c. have been re-dated to the 11th c. and thus added to Gneuss's list. The dates of a few earlier manuscripts have also been changed in the second edition]:

xi in.:

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 765 (SC 2544) [HG 595]: Epistula extra collectionem 14 [63] ad Vercellensem ecclesiam

xi:

Cambridge, Trinity College O. 3. 35 (1207) [HG 194]: Hexameron Paris, BN lat. 1751 [HG 881]: De virginibus, DE VIDUIS, DE VIRGINITATE, EXHORTATIO VIRGINITATIS; DE MYSTERIIS; DE SACRAMENTIS; PSEUDO-AMBROSE (?NICETAS OF REMESIANA), DE LAPSU VIRGINIS CONSECRATAE

xi med.:

Arras, Bibliothèque Municipale 346 (867) [HG 778]: Hexameron (Gneuss gives the date of this manuscript as saec. x ex., xi med., without specifying which parts belong to each period; K. Schenkl, CSEL 32/1.XXXX-XXXXI dates the manuscript saec. xi)

London, BL Royal 5. F. xiii [HG 463]: Epistulae, DE OBITU THEODOSII, DE NABUTHAE

xi ex.:

Cambridge, University Library Kk. 1. 23 [HG 20]: Hexameron

Durham, Cathedral Library B. II. 6 [HG 227]: De Ioseph patriarcha, De patriarchis, De paenitentia, De excessu fratris, DE BONO MORTIS, DE OBITU VALENTINIANI, DE PARADISO, DE ABRAHAM, De Nabuthae

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 698 (SC 2521) [HG 588]: DE ISAAC VEL ANIMA, DE FUGA SAECULI, DE IACOB ET VITA BEATA

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 835 (SC 2545) [HG 606]: De Ioseph patriarcha, De patriarchis, De paenitentia, De excessu fratris

Salisbury, Cathedral Library 140 [HG 739]: De fide, De spiritu sancto, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento

xi/xii:

Cambridge, Trinity College B. 3. 9 (88) [HG 162]: Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam

Cambridge, Trinity Hall 26 [HG 203]: De virginibus, De viduis, De virginitate, Exhortatio virginitatis; Pseudo-Ambrose (?Nicetas of Remesiana), De lapsu virginis consecratae

London, British Library Harley 865: [HG 426]: De mysteriis, De sacramentis

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 92 (SC 1901) [HG 543] (England or Normandy): DE OFFICIIS

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 94 (SC 1904) [HG 544]: De Isaac vel anima, De bono mortis, De fuga saeculi, De Iacob et vita beata, De paradiso, De obitu Valentiniani, Epistula extra collectionem 14 [63] ad Vercellensem ecclesiam

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 739 (SC 2736) [HG 593]: De fide, De spiritu sancto, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 768 (SC 2558) [HG 596]: De virginibus, De viduis, De virginitate, Exhortatio virginitatis; Pseudo-Ambrose (?Nicetas of Remesiana), De lapsu virginis consecratae; De mysteriis, De sacramentis

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 792 (SC 2640) [HG 599] (England or Normany): De virginibus, De viduis, De virginitate, Exhortatio virginitatis; Pseudo-Ambrose (?Nicetas of Remesiana), De lapsu virginis consecratae

[Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 804 (SC 2663) [HG 600]: De sacramentis, Epistula extra collectionem 14 [63] ad Vercellensem ecclesiam: from a part of the manuscript now lost, see SC 2/1.479]

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 827 (SC 2718) [HG 605]: De fide, De spiritu sancto, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento

Two manuscripts of Exeter provenance not listed by Gneuss, but dated s. xi ex. by Gameson 1996 (pp 154-55) should perhaps be added to this list: Cambridge, Trinity College B. 14. 30, fols. 58-129 (England): De virginitate, Exhortatio virginitatis; Pseudo-Ambrose (?Nicetas of Remesiana), De lapsu virginis consecratae. Gameson also lists Cambridge, Trinity College B. 14. 30, fols. 1-57--an originally separate volume--as including Ambrose's Epistulae; but the work identified as a letter of Ambrose in this manuscript is actually Odilo of Cluny's Sermo xiv (PL 142.1209), as James 1900-04 (1.427) notes.

Oxford, Bodleian Library 137 (SC 1903) (Norman script and decoration): De apologia prophetae David, De Ioseph patriarcha, De patriarchis, De paenitentia, De excessu fratris, Epistulae 64-68 [74, 75, 78, 80, 26].

The dearth of pre-Conquest Ambrose manuscripts should, of course, be evaluated in the context of the general paucity of pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of patristic originalia (i.e., compilations of complete works). Ker 1960 (p 8) pointed out that "the total number of surviving English manuscripts of any work by the four great Latin fathers written in [pre-Conquest Caroline minuscule] . . . is less than two dozen," and that "the evidence of surviving books suggests that [English scribes of the eleventh century] did not copy the Fathers as often as we might have expected." Substantial collections of works by Ambrose (chiefly the dogmatic treatises and the works on virginity) begin to appear in the late eleventh century as part of a general revival of interest in compiling patristic originalia. Many of these patristic manuscripts were either imported from the Continent or copied from continental exemplars (see Ker 1960 pp 7-8; Webber 1992 pp 141-42).

When the manuscript evidence is supplemented by the evidence of quotations and references, Ambrose's influence appears more clearly, especially for the major Anglo-Latin authors. Acca's remark in his letter to Bede concerning Ambrose's commentary on Luke (CCSL 120.5.33-40) suggests, however, that his works were sometimes too abstruse for less learned Anglo-Saxon readers. But it is also worth noting that certain distinctive motifs in Old English poetry have been traced more or less plausibly to Ambrose, including the concept of mens absentia cogitans in The Wanderer; the description of the allegorical nest in The Phoenix (see under Ambrose's Hexameron); and the depiction of the crucifixion as an athletic contest in The Dream of the Rood (see under Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam).

We have adopted the division and order of Ambrose's works by Maria Grazia Mara (in Pat. 4.144-94: exegetical works; moral and ascetic works; dogmatic works; and miscellaneous works (funeral addresses, letters, and hymns). Note that the column numbering in the two editions of Migne's Patrologia Latina differs for the works of Ambrose (in PL 14-17). All references here are to the first edition (1845) unless specified otherwise. Many of Ambrose's works have been translated in the series The Fathers of the Church (vols. 22, 26, 42, 44, 65) and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series, vol. 10). There is also an edition in progress of the complete works with Italian translation: Tutte le opere di Sant'Ambrogio (Milan/Rome, 1977- ). Secondary literature on Ambrose through 1974 can be located through the bibliography by Beatrice et al. 1981; see also the annotated bibliographies by Piccolo 1970 and Halton and Sider 1982 (pp 348-53). Two major collections of essays (Duval 1974 and Lazzati 1976) marked the sixteenth centenary of Ambrose's elevation to the episcopacy of Milan. The biblical quotations in the works of Ambrose and of Ambrosiaster are indexed in Allenbach et al. 1995. For modern biographies of Ambrose, see Dudden 1935, Paredi 1964, and McLynn 1994; for the Vita S. Ambrosii by Paulinus of Milan, see under ACTA SANCTORUM; and for a Carolingian Vita and the medieval iconography of Ambrose, see Courcelle 1973.

Last modified by Bill Schipper, 30 June 2001