Critical edition of In Apocalypsin of Rupert of Deutz

The purpose of this research is the critical edition of Commentaria in Apocalypsin Ioannis libri XII by the Benedictine abbot Rupert of Deutz (1075-1129) with an introduction to the edition and an analysis concerning structure, concept, method and contents of the work. The critical edition has been a non answered request of the scientific research. Rupert, who is known as an exegete, liturgist, historian, dogmatist, hymnist, visionary and advocate of the classical tradition of the Gregorian reform, joined in his monumental work deep speculation with mystic experience and intimacy. He is considered as the "father of the German symbolism" and at the same time as a thinker with the largest influence in the German speaking area of the 12th century. He was repeatedly characterised as a "theologian of mediation", who found the way to a successful and unique junction of auctoritas and ratio, tradition and progress, spiritual and scientific theology, which is a concern of any epoch. The influence exerted by this theologian on art in the ending period of the Romanesque and the early Gothic is probably unique, especially in the Rhein-Maas-area and in the Southern German-Austrian area. He is thought to be an innovator in many subjects for instance with his positive image of people and women. He paved the way for the development of modern sciences and arts, being the first who dared to consider the artes illiterales as disciplines of science. As a visionary and mystic theologian he exercised an influence on the mystic. His works were mainly adopted and studied in the 12th an 13th centuries, and in the time of Reformation. There importance continually increased since the end of the 19th century. The discussion about his thoughts is still at its beginning. In Apocalypsin was part of important researches in the 20th century, especially by Dempf (1929), Beitz (1930), Kamlah (1935), Magrassi and Ratzinger (1959), Kahles (1960), Beinert (1973), Haacke (1974), Rauh (1975), McGinn (1975-1999) and Van Engen (1983). So far, there has not been an in-depth analysis which deals extensively with this work of Rupert`s as well as with its theological, exegetical and philosophico-historical contents. An analysis that examines content, structure, concept and particularities of the interpretation of the bible applied here, as well as the theological method and the overall focus of In Apocalypsin precisely, is to be compiled due to the critical edition of the text which is based on 14 preserved manuscripts. The critical text with the necessary indices (biblical-, sources-, subject- and names indices) is indispensable as preparatory work for this analysis. The introduction to the edition will give an explanation of the method and the criterions, placing in front a detailed description of the manuscripts and their bibliography followed by its stemma. The introduction will also propose the most important research results concerning the genesis, time and context, reason, address, intention, structure and plan (concept) of the work, including a concise statement of contents. The project, which is planned to be performed in cooperation with the Abbey of Siegburg and Dr. Chr. Winterer (Germany) and the CETEDOC (Belgium), will last, because of the quite extensive text (ca. 500 pages) and the mass of non-identified quotations, 36 months. Director of the project is Prof. DDr. Gerhard Leibold. Others persons involved are Dr. habil. Hans Kraml and Dipl. theol. Rainer Klotz.

The Critical Edition of Commentaria in Apocalypsin Ruperti Tuitiensis with its different apparatuses and registers offers to scientific research a completely new basis for approaching this influential text and the result of this editionproject will affects theology, philosophy, history, art history, religious studies and research in manuscript tradition. Ruperts theological method of an allegorical and symbolic-typological interpretation of the Book of Revelation generated a commentary with new structure and a lot of innovative interpretations. Rupert comments all verses of the revelation often extensively and explains each single verse almost only by referring to other parts of the holy scripture. For the critical edition we took account of all preserved manuscripts: Bruxelles Bibliothèque Royale cod. 9578-9580 (St. Laurentius, Liège), Erlangen UB cod. 79 (Heilsbronn), Heiligenkreuz Stiftsbibliothek cod. 83, Klosterneuburg Stiftsbibliothek cod. 254, Ljubliana Narodna in Univerzitetna Knijznica cod. 14 (Sitten), München BSB Clm 11329 (Polling), München BSB Clm 22230 (Windberg), Pommersfelden cod. 218 (Erfurt, St. Peter), Praha Nrodn Muzeum cod. XIV D 2, Salzburg Stiftsbibl. St. Peter a VIII 6, Warszawa Biblioteka Narodowa cod. II 8014 (Rein), Wien ÖNB cod. 723 (Mondsee), Wiener Neustadt (in Stiftsbibl. Heiligenkreuz) cod. B 6 (Neukloster), Innsbruck UB cod. 386 and the two independent printings of Köln 1526 by Johannes Cochläus and Nürnberg 1526 by Johannes Petreius. The lost manuscript from Admont, Deutz, Leuven, Lippoldsberg, Prüfening, Trier, Walderbach and Wiblingen were not findable any more. Verifiable dependent textversions are not considered for the critical edition except in the building of the stemma and the description of manuscripts. The apparatuses for quotations and biblical passages increased considerably and the text is corrected conspicuously in relation to former editions and will be published in Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis in a printed and an digital version. Within the compilation of registers we made for our study on In Apocalypsin, we also continued several complete registers, which we started in our last Rupert-project and which assemble all scriptural passages, quotations and other sources found in the complete oeuvre of Rupert. In Innsbruck we organised a four-day international conference in 2009 entitled Tot sacramenta quot verba - Commentary tradition of the book of revelation from its beginning to the 12th century with a special focus on Ruperts Commentary. The proceedings of this very productive interdisciplinary cooperation will be published soon. Mainly connections and extrapolations in the tradition of commentaries especially to Ruperts commentary were discussed.