The Amatory Excerpts of Ovid in the Florilegium Gallicum: Evidence of the Knowledge of this Poet in the Twelfth Century

Ever since L. Traube coined the phrase in 1911, the Twelfth Century has been known as the "Aetas Ovidiana," the century during which Ovid's poetry was read, imitated, excerpted, glossed, and allegorized more frequently than that of any other classical author. The frequency of Ovidian references has led many to assume that the twelfth-century scholars who cited Ovid so often must have enjoyed an intimate and thorough knowledge of the poet's works. Although there are a number of possible sources from which scholars of that age might have encountered Ovid, this study confines itself to the Florilegium Gallicum, described as "de loin le plus important et le plus riche des florileges classiques anterieurs au XIIIe siecle." A careful consideration of the excerpts from Ovid's amatory poetry as they appear in the Florilegium Gallicum reveals that this florilegium offered its readers a very limited and superficial understanding of the poet. The obvious textual manipulation by the excerptor of this important twelfth-century florilegium resulted in a bowdlerized Ovid, drained of most of his wit, wickedness, and vivid physical imagery.