Introduzione allo studio critico dei Sermones de tempore di Iacopo da Varazze*

Abstract The author examines the homiletic production of James of Voragine, especially the Sermones de tempore. The collection was published in the seventeenth century by Rudolf Clut, but until today a study that examines the entire manuscript tradition has been missing and this kind of information is essential for the realization of a new critical edition The article presents the results obtained by a first critical study, conducted on eighteen manuscripts, selected on the basis of dating and origin (Italy, Germany, France and Czech Republic). The results of the recensio codicum reveal the existence of four families: a first Italian family (called α) has a good text; a transalpine family (β) is very corrupt; the family γ comprises a text composed in an unknown scriptorium; finally the family δ has an Eastern origin and is contaminated. This reconstruction presents interesting points of contact with the manuscript tradition of James of Voragine’s Sermones quadragesimales and Sermones de sanctis studied by Giovanni Paolo Maggioni and shows that the transmission of these collections was probably conveyed by the members of the Dominican Order.