The Disputatio puerorum is a Latin catechism in question-and-answer format. Written in the early 9th century, it may have been intended as a schoolbook for novices and oblates or as a handbook for rural priests.
The Disputatio puerorum is a Latin catechism in question-and-answer format. Written in the early 9th century, it may have been intended as a schoolbook for novices and oblates or as a handbook for rural priests.
The Disputatio is anonymous in the manuscripts, where it was often copied alongside the works of Alcuin of York. This led its first editor, Frobenius Forster, to attribute it to Alcuin in 1777. This attribution became traditional. Its most recent editors reject it, arguing that the text was probably composed in Bavaria, either at Regensburg or Salzburg. Joseph Pucci accepts it as probably authentic, while Donald Bullough and Lukas Dorfbauer attribute it to Alcuin's circle. Its author may be known for convenience as Pseudo-Alcuin.
In the latest edition of the text, the editors argue for the Disputatio as a schoolbook for novices and oblates. They situate it in the context of the Carolingian Renaissance, with its emphasis on church reform and education. David Ganz suggests that it may have been a handbook for rural priests. Rutger Kramer, on the basis of the quality of the earliest known manuscript and its signs of limited use, that it may have been produced for an aristocrat or an ecclesiastic of higher rank.
The Disputatio is divided into nine chapters:
Under human nature, the issues of the imago Dei, the soul and the senses are treated. There are long discussions of thee meaning of spiritus (spirit) and the names of God (of which ten are listed). The name of each book of the bible is explained and the book summarized. Under faith, there is a discussion of the Apostles' Creed. Under ecclesiastical hierarchy, there is a discussion of liturgy.
The Disputatio largely distills information from existing authorities, the most used of which by far are Isidore of Seville's De natura rerum and De ecclesiasticis officiis. Isidore's Etymologies is also used to supply definitions. Other authorities include Augustine of Hippo, Gregory the Great, Bede and the anonymous treatise De traditione symboli. Chapter 2 relies heavily on the Dicta Albini de imagine dei. One passage is derived from Alcuin's De orthographia, which is the latest work cited.
.jpg)
The critical edition by Andrew Rabin and Liam Felsen is based on six complete or partial manuscript copies. The title, Disputatio puerorum, is taken from the base manuscript, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, 458, which was copied for Baldo of Salzburg in the second quarter of the 9th century. The known complete manuscripts are:
Fragments or excerpts are found in:
Ganz notes that the large number of excerpts found in manuscripts may indicate that the Disputatio is a composite text with certain passages or even chapters existing independently before being brought together.