The Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum is an academic series that publishes critical editions of Latin works by late-antique Christian authors.
Description
The CSEL publishes Latin writings of Christian authors from the time of the late 2nd century until the beginning of the 8th century. Each text is edited on the basis of all the extant manuscripts according to modern editorial techniques, in order to produce a text as close as possible to the original. Each volume includes an introduction, in which the principles of the preparation of the text are explained. Some editions are prepared by the , others by external, internationally renowned experts; the volumes are published after a positive evaluation by an international advisory board: De Gruyter. The CSEL also runs the online database , where CSEL editions as well as editing projects by others are publicly announced. In addition, the CSEL publishes special catalogues for the large extant corpus of medieval manuscripts containing works of Augustine or ascribed to him, in order to make time-consuming research in this field easier. In addition, monographs on topics related to the Latin patristic period and conference proceedings are published at irregular intervals.
History
The CSEL was founded in 1864 by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna in order to produce critical editions of Latin patristic texts – editions that were meant to facilitate the lexicographical work of the Thesaurus linguae Latinae. Before the year 2012 the CSEL was edited by the “Kommission zur Herausgabe des Corpus der lateinischen Kirchenväter” of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The chairmen of this commission were:
After the commission was transferred to the University of Salzburg in 2012, the CSEL became part of the Department of Ancient Studies / Latin at the University of Salzburg.
Evaluation
The series currently consists of about 100 , some with multiple sub-volumes. These volumes have replaced about a third of J. P. Migne's Patrologia Latina, which do not offer critical editions. Some CSEL volumes have themselves been replaced by more recent critical editions, but about two-thirds of them are still considered authoritative standard editions; in fact, the CSEL edition often remains the only critical edition of a given text. In the course of work on the manuscript catalogues as well as on the preparation of CSEL editions, patristic texts which were previously thought lost have been recovered: e.g., the writings of the Spanish heretic Priscillian, the commentary on Revelation by Victorinus of Pettau, 29 unknown letters of Augustine, six of Augustine's sermons, and the full text of the commentary on the gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia. Numerous volumes of the CSEL were incorporated into the digital Library of Latin Texts.
Literature
Rudolf Hanslik, 100 Jahre Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, in: Anzeiger der philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 101, 21–35.
Michaela Zelzer, Ein Jahrhundert CSEL. Evaluation von Ziel und Veröffentlichungen, Sacris Erudiri 38, 75–99.
Dorothea Weber, 150 Jahre Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, in: Edition und Erforschung lateinischer patristischer Texte. 150 Jahre CSEL, herausgegeben von Victoria Zimmerl-Panagl, Lukas J. Dorfbauer, Clemens Weidmann, Berlin 2014, IX-XI.
