TOMASZ GAŁUSZKA OP, Various source apparatuses applied in Latin editions of medieval texts: A study based on various editions of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas

SUMMARY

One of the inherent elements of each edition is the research apparatus, consisting of a philological apparatus and a source apparatus. With respect to the source apparatus, this element of the edition has not hitherto been reflected upon in any depth. Therefore, the author, having analysed contemporary editions of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas (prepared primarily by members of the Leonine Commission), briefly presents here several structural models of the source apparatus. In the editions discussed here, he points out two types of source apparatus: 1) the primary source apparatus, and 2) the specialist source apparatus.

The purpose of primary source apparatuses is to identify the sources which have been explicitly signalled in the text of the edition as well as those which, in all probability, were the inspiration for the medieval author himself. Adding any other commentaries (such as historical and doctrinal analyses, parallels to other writers, and so on) is unnecessary and indeed undesirable. After all, it is the work itself that is important, and the editor and his erudition should remain in the background. This type of source apparatus was prepared, among others, by A. Dondaine, P.-M. Gils, L.-J. Bataillon, H.-F. Dondaine, L. Reid and J.-P. Torrell.

In its identification of sources that have been explicitly or implicitly signalled in the work being edited, the specialist source apparatus actually fulfils the same function as the primary source apparatus. The differences between the two types are apparent, though, at the level of substantive content as well as in the structure of the apparatus. In preparing a specialist source apparatus, the editor becomes an educator: he shares his own reflections on the text with the reader. The specialist source apparatus contains an extensive network of references to other writers, a wide historical and doctrinal context, an extensive Latin commentary, a wealth of fragments from both manuscripts and printed texts, and numerous comments and suggestions. It is possible to point out two sub-types of specialist source apparatus, which vary in structure and in the method used to present editorial commentary: the single-level and double-level apparatus. R.-A. Gauthier is regarded as the main promoter of the specialist source apparatus.