Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations. Gautier Cornut and the Reception of the Crown of Thorns in France

Abstract

Our best evidence for Louis IX’s reception of the relic of the Crown of Thorns in 1239 is a text attributed to Gautier Cornut, the archbishop of Sens, known until now only through 17th century copies. This article examines the medieval evidence for the text, found mostly in medieval breviaries, to examine its early composition, authorship, and circulation. The received text is in fact a composite, made up of two entirely separate compositions, only one of which was authored by Cornut. These two texts were combined as one text sometime before ca. 1270 to formthe version that has been transmitted sinceDuChesne (Historiae Francorum scriptores, vol. v, p. 407-411) through print. The discovery of two medieval versions of the complete text, preserved in the library of SaintVictor inParis, is, further, the occasion for a newedition and translation presented here.

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