The Codex Sangallensis 190 and the Preservation of Letter Collections in Gaul during Late Antiquity

During Late Antiquity, the circulation of letters provided a primary means by which aristocrats and ecclesiastics of the western Roman world exchanged information, maintained ties of friendship, and fostered class consciousness. These phenomena are illustrated well in one of the most important manuscript witnesses to the role played by epistolography during this period, the Codex Sangallensis 190, now in the Stiftsbibliothek in St Gallen (Switzerland). No other manuscript contains so many unique letters. It preserves in their only extant copies the letters by and to Ruricius of Limoges, six letters of Faustus of Riez, letters by and to Desiderius of Cahors, a letter of the abbot Evantius, and, perhaps most notably, two letters written by and to anonymous women. This study investigates not only the manuscripts' texts, but also its materiality and, in particular, the roles played by the scribes, correctors, and archivists who created and preserved the manuscript and its contents.