Liber Regum

The Liber Regum represents a significant yet previously unpublished contribution to the flourishing tradition of twelfth-century Latin biblical epic. Preserved in a single manuscript from the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, this versification of the Book of Kings in elegiac couplets offers a remarkably faithful rendering of the biblical narrative.

This volume presents its editio princeps and provides the first comprehensive study of the poem’s narrative techniques, linguistic features, and metrical design. It situates the Liber Regum within the broader context of twelfth-century poetic engagement with the literal sense of Scripture and revisits longstanding debates regarding its authorship, including a contested ascription to Hildebert of Lavardin.

Scholars of medieval literature, Latin poetry, and biblical reception will find in this volume a valuable resource for exploring the literary, cultural, and intellectual dimensions of a long-neglected yet compelling text.

INTRODUCTION

1. The Liber Regum
Biblical Poetry on the Book of Kings
Versification Strategies
Style
Language
Morphology and Syntax
Meter
Prosody
Metrical Features
Rhymes
Exegesis

2. Authorship
The Intertextual Network and Cultural Background of the Poem
Attribution Hypotheses
Metrical Comparison
Further Remarks
Conclusions

3. The Manuscript Tradition
Manuscript Description
Manuscript Content
History of the Manuscript
Scholarship on the Manuscript
The Structure of the Manuscript

4. Editorial Principles

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abbreviations
Primary Sources
Secondary Literature

APPENDICES
Appendix I. Lexical Features
Appendix II. Metrical Analysis
Appendix III. List of Normalized Forms

LIBER REGUM

INDICES

Index Sacrae Scripturae

Index locorum communium