Le Breviari d’amor de Matfre Ermengaud

The Breviari d'Amor dates from 1288 (and was probably completed around 1292), is about 34,500 lines long and written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. It exists in twelve full or almost full manuscripts and twelve fragments. It is written in Medieval Occitan and is the product in part of a long theological tradition and in part of the courtly tradition. This is the first edition to be published since the two-volume work of Gabriel Azaïs (1862-1881), which was of great merit for its time, but used only four of the manuscripts. The numbering of the present edition follows that of Azaïs, given the many works which allude to the Breviari.This didactic text has necessarily been labeled as "encyclopaedic" and this is certainly not a matter of dispute, although, in terms of the subject matter, it is very unusual since the emphasis is not only theological but also courtly. It conforms to the general perspective adopted by summae but the particular integration of the theological aspects with the debate on the nature of fin'amor makes it unique.

The four volumes (volumes II to V) of the complete text have been already published, each with a selective glossary and bibliography. The present, first volume, is the Introduction.