Identifier: Fragmenta Manuscripta 125

Date: 1200-1250

Contents: Peter Riga, Aurora

Language: Latin

Location: England

Peter Riga (c. 1140-1209) was a French poet and a canon of Reims cathedral and St. Denis in Paris. The Fragmenta Manuscripta collection has a leaf from his best-known work, Aurora—a poem on the bible with a focus on allegorical and moral interpretations.[1] The poem was well known in the Middle Ages, with numerous surviving examples.[2] It was referenced by other poets, including Chaucer in his Book of the Duchess.[3] For more on medieval poems, see Poetry.

NOTES
[1] P.E. Beichner (ed.), Aurora Petri Rigae Biblia Versificata: A Verse Commentary on the Bible, 2 vols. (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1965).

[2] K. Young, “Chaucer and Peter Riga,” Speculum 12 (1937): 299, footnote 2.

[3] Young, “Chaucer and Peter Riga;” “Peter Riga,” Encyclopedia.com, updated August 29, 2020, https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/peter-riga.