Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865. It is also known as the Latin series as it formed one half of Migne's Patrologiae Cursus Completus, the other part being the Patrologia Graeco-Latina of patristic and medieval Greek works with their medieval Latin translations.
Although consisting of reprints of old editions, which often contain mistakes and do not comply with modern standards of scholarship, the series, due to its availability and the fact that it incorporates many texts of which no modern critical edition is available, is still widely used by scholars of the Middle Ages and is in this respect comparable to the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
The Patrologia Latina includes Latin works spanning a millennium, from Tertullian to Pope Innocent III, edited in roughly chronological order in 217 volumes;
volumes 1 to 73, from Tertullian to Gregory of Tours, were published from 1841 to 1849, and volumes 74 to 217, from Pope Gregory I to Innocent III, from 1849 to 1855.
Although the collection ends with Innocent III,
Migne originally wanted to include documents all the way up to the Reformation; this task proved too great, but some later commentaries or documents associated with earlier works were included.
Most of the works are ecclesiastic in nature, but there are also documents of literary, historical or linguistic interest.
The printing plates for the Patrologia were destroyed by fire in 1868, but with help from the Garnier printing house they were restored and new editions were printed, beginning in the 1880s. These reprints did not always correspond exactly with the original series either in quality or internal arrangement, and caution should be exercised when referencing to the PL in general.
Table of contents
The Patrologia Latina contains authors of the 2nd to 13th centuries, in roughly chronological order, in 217 volumes:2nd–4th c.: 1–19;
4th–5th c.: 20–63;
5th–6th c.: 64–72;
6th–7th c.: 74–88;
7th–8th c.: 89–96;
8th–9th c.: 97–130;
9th/10th c.: 131–136;
10th/11th c.: 137–149;
11th/12th c.: 151–174;
12th c.: 175–205;
12th/13th c.: 206–217.
Authors by rank or background
Secular rulers
- Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus
- Crusader King Baldwin I of Jerusalem
- Roman emperor Constantine I
- Frankish Emperor Charlemagne
- King Charles the Bald
- Crusader Godfrey of Bouillon
- Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
- King Lotharius I
- King Louis the Pious
- King Louis VII of France
Popes
- Pope Adrian IV
- Pope Alexander III
- Pope Anastasius IV
- Pope Benedict I
- Pope Benedict III
- Pope Boniface II
- Pope Calixtus II
- Pope Celestine III
- Pope Clement III
- Pope Cornelius
- Pope Eugene III
- Pope Felix III
- Pope Felix IV
- Pope Gelasius I
- Pope Gelasius II
- Pope Gregory I
- Pope Gregory IV
- Pope Gregory VIII
- Pope Hilarius
- Pope Honorius II
- Pope Hormisdas
- Pope Innocent III
- Pope John II
- Pope John VI
- Pope John XIII
- Pope John XIX
- Pope Innocent I
- Pope Leo I
- Pope Leo II
- Pope Leo IV
- Pope Nicholas I
- Pope Paschal II
- Pope Pelagius II
- Pope Sergius I
- Pope Sergius II
- Pope Simplicius
- Pope Stephen I
- Pope Sylvester II
- Pope Leo IX
- Pope Gregory VII
- Pope Victor III
- Pope Urban II
- Pope Urban III
Other bishops
- Absalon, bishop of Roskilde, Danish statesman and archbishop of Lund
- Adalberon, bishop of Laon
- Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne
- Bishop Saint Ambrose of Milan
- Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury
- Bishop Anselm of Lucca
- Bishop Saint Augustine of Hippo
- Bishop Avitus of Vienne
- Bishop Baldric of Dol-en-Bretagne
- Saint Cassian of Imola, bishop of Brescia
- Bishop of Poitiers Gilbert de la Porrée
- Bishop Saint Gregory of Tours
- Bishop Saint Hilary of Arles
- Bishop Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church
- Bishop Saint Isidore of Seville
- Bishop Ivo of Chartres
- Bishop of Chartres John of Salisbury
- Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc
- Bishop Liutprand of Cremona
- Bishop Saint Martin of Tours
- Bishop of Paris Maurice de Sully
- Bishop Odo of Bayeux
- Missionary Bishop Saint Patrick
- Bishop Saint Paulinus of Nola
- Bishop of Paris Peter Lombard
- Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus
- Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg
- Archbishop of Canterbury Saint Thomas Becket
- Missionary Bishop Ulfilas, bible translator into Gothic
- Archbishop William of Tyre
Other clerics
- Abbot Abbo of Fleury
- Abbot Adam of Perseigne
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Alger of Liège
- archdeacon Anselm of Laon
- Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane
- Abbot Saint Benedict of Nursia
- Abbot Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church
- Presbyter Coelius Sedulius, poet
- Monk Dionysius Exiguus
- Dudon or Dudo of Saint-Quentin, dean of Saint-Quentin
- Helinand of Froidmont
- Gildas of Rhuys and Llancarfan
- Monk Honorius of Autun
- Monk Hugh of St. Victor, philosopher
- Abbot Saint Odo of Cluny
- Benedictine monk Otloh of St. Emmeram
- Petrus Comestor
- Peter Tudebode
- Uncanonized Saint Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny
- Abbot Regino of Prüm
- Prior Richard of St. Victor
- Cistercian Abbot Robert of Molesme
- Robert the Monk
- Monk Rufinus of Aquileia, translator
- Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis
- Orderic Vitalis
- Monk William of Malmesbury, historian
Others
- Tertullian
- Marcus Minucius Felix
- Novatian
- Cyprian
- Arnobius
- Lactantius
- Gaius Marius Victorinus
- Eusebius of Vercelli
- Lucifer Calaritanus
- Symmachus
- Saint Sulpicius Severus
- Pelagius
- Saint Jerome
- Orosius
- Saint Vincent of Lérins
- Saint Prosper of Aquitaine
- Salvian
- False Decretals
- Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
- Boethius
- Magnus Felix Ennodius, Latin rhetorician and poet
- Cassiodorus
- Venantius Fortunatus
- Saint Boniface
- Bede
- Alcuin
- Einhard
- Theodulf
- Rabanus Maurus
- Walafrid Strabo
- Radbertus
- Ratramnus
- Gottschalk
- Johannes Scotus Eriugena
- Hincmar
- Pseudo-Isidore
- Flodoard
- Hroswitha of Gandersheim
- Dunstan
- Aimoin
- Fulbert of Chartres
- Helgaud
- Hermannus Contractus
- Adam of Bremen
- Marianus Scotus
- Bruno of Chartreuse
- Fulcher of Chartres
- Guibert of Nogent
- Raymond of Aguilers
- Walter the Chancellor
- Peter Abelard
- Gratian
- Hildegard of Bingen
- John of Salisbury
- Peter of Blois, French poet and diplomat
- Walter of Châtillon
- Alain de Lille
- Helinand of Froidmont