In his prologue, Vincent of Beauvais writes that having completed his treatise on the Lord’s Prayer (‘Our Father’), he now takes up the pen to comment on the prayer Hail Mary (‘Ave Maria’) as well. Vincent calls it a prayer frequently prayed by both laity and clerics in his lifetime. Good to know for present-day readers is that in the 13th century, the Hail Mary consisted only of this text

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Ave Maria gratia plena

Dominus tecum.

benedicta tu in mulieribus

et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.

 

Only in the 16th century, the remaining text of what we now know as the Hail Mary was finally added. The prayer is known from sources since the 11th century, but it is not clear how long it existed at that time.

 

Vincent's treatise consists of 10 chapters, covering successively the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, the fullness of her grace, her intimacy with the Lord, the blessing of the Virgin and the blessing of the fruit in her womb.

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Source: observations of Eva Albrecht.

 

List of surviving manuscripts

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Key

 

I - Additional information on the speculum text as present in the manuscript, or on other texts present in the manuscript, or on material damage; D - Date of the manuscript; P - Country, region or place of production; if available, information on the scribe(s) of the manuscript; O - Medieval and pre-modern owners of the manuscript; L - Hyperlink to digital facsimiles of the manuscript; R - Reference to manuscripts listed in other parts of the inventory, with which this manuscript at the time of its production constituted a set of volumes. Manuscripts that have been collected into a set by a single medieval collector (library) within several decades, are indicated with cf.

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8 surviving manuscripts of the Tractatus in salutatione beate Virginis Marie ab angelo facta (or Expositio salutationis angelice) are known today:

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• Brussels, Bibliothèque royale, 8327-42, ff. 120v-129r

  • I: The text belongs to the second part of a composite ms. This part also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 14th century.

  • P:

  • O: A Dominican friar (fol. 1r: Liber fratris Brunonis (?) Ordinis Predicatorum); Jesuit house at Antwerp; Bollandists (S.J.) at Antwerp.

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• Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek, 309, ff. 34v-46r

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 14th century.

  • P:

  • O:

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• Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm 11360, ff. 75r-110r

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 14th century.

  • P:

  • O: Petrus Allardi; cl. Polling O.Can.Reg.

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• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 14889, ff. 20r-29r

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 14th century.

  • P:

  • O: Paris, cl. St. Victor Can.S.Aug.

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• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 14958, ff. 141v-152v

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 13th century.

  • P:

  • O: Paris, cl. St. Victor Can.S.Aug.

  • L: A monochrome facsimile (microfilm) is available for consultation in the Gallica database.

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• Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 16492, ff. 250r-258r

  • I: The prologue to the text is missing.

  • D: ca. 1300

  • P:

  • O: Pierre de Limoges; Paris, Sorbonne.

  • L:A monochrome facsimile (microfilm) is available for consultation in the Gallica database.

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• Semur-en-Auxois, Bibliothèque municipale, 29, ff. 124v-148r

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: ca. 1400.

  • P:

  • O:

  • A digital facsimile (microfilm) is available for consultation in the Bibliothèque virtuelle des manuscrits médiévaux of the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes at Paris.

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• Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ottob. lat. 19, ff. 24v-37v

  • I: The ms. also contains Vincent's Expositio in orationem Dominicam.

  • D: 14th century.

  • P:

  • O:

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Editions before 1700

 

No early editions of this treatise have been made.

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Modern editions and translations

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Latin text

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• A digital edition of the prologue is available in the Bases Textuelles of the former Atelier Vincent de Beauvais at Nancy (Prologues du Speculum Maius).

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Image: Semur-en-Auxois, Bibliothèque municipale, 29, f° 124vo.