Traduir a l’edat mitjana: el repte d’editar la Legenda aurea de Jacobus de Voragine en català

Abstract

The Catalan translation of the Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine has been considered by Meyer and by Coromines
as a version very close to its Latin model. However, a review of the preserved manuscripts allows us to note remarkable
differences from the Latin model as well as among the Catalan manuscripts. In this work we take as a basis the manuscript
E (ms. N-III-5, Madrid, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial) to analyse structural, editorial
and textual changes in the Catalan compilation: structural changes, such as those related to the arrangement of chapters;
editorial changes, such as the deletion of extensive fragments in some chapters or the replacement of the version of a
chapter with another one other than that by Voragine; and textual changes, such as the variants that characterize the two
branches into which the translation evolves. These changes allow us to characterize the formation and the evolution of this
compilation. We take as a point of reference manuscript E, representative of one of the two branches of the translation,
in contrast with P (ms. Espagnol 44, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France), representative of the other. In E there
are important internal differences in the wording of each chapter and differences with respect to the other preserved
manuscripts. In some chapters, the wording of E is very different from that of P, with a less literal version of the Latin text,
a wording that will serve as a model for the later print tradition. Editing this compilation based on manuscript E involves
taking into account the rest of the preserved manuscript evidence, as well as the Latin text, in addition to considering the
chapters added in this manuscript.