CODEX E LA FILOSOFIA MEDIEVALE IN TOSCANA: DAL TEMPO DI DANTE ALLA FINE DEL TRECENTO

The catalog of philosophical manuscripts conserved in Tuscan libraries can help us reconstruct the texts that contributed to Dante’s philosophical education. While CODEX is a valuable research tool for such an undertaking, this digital archive must be used carefully, because the map that CODEX gives us today does not coincide with the map of the manuscripts that were in circulation at the time of Dante. The reconstruction, where possible, of the origin and dating of the manuscripts as well as of the itinerary that a certain manuscript followed before reaching its current library collection can be significant for reconstructing Dante’s philosophical milieu. When combined with other digital humanities sources, however, the results become even more significant. For example, although the DanteSources digital library neither includes all of Dante’s the works nor all the authors that he used, the results it provides to a search for Dante’s philosophical quotations nevertheless illuminate the principal masters and works of his philosophical background. When this list of masters and works is combined with an investigation of the philosophical manuscripts conserved in the libraries of Tuscany, the result provides a map of the philosophical authorities in the age of Dante, illuminating the intellectual milieu in which Dante and his contemporaries operated.