Monastic remembrances of the dead: In the shadows of Monte Cassino and Santa Sofia di Benevento. An edition and study of the necrology of Santa Maria del Gualdo Mazzocc

A necrology is a calendric record of the names of the dead of a religious community. Reading from the necrology was part of the liturgical commemoration of the dead in the chapter room. This was a post-Carolingian development in the practice of suffrages, the theological foundations of which are rooted in scripture and tradition, and the medieval forms of which included the prayer of the eucharistic canon, votive masses, and the monastic office of the dead.;The form that a necrology took developed over the course of several centuries, from occasional entries in martyrologies to separate libelli contained in deluxe chapter books. One of the finest surviving chapter books of the Middle Ages is now in Vatican City, at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, and has the shelfmark, Vaticanus latinus 5949.;The manuscript was copied about the year 1200, in a scriptorium within the Beneventan cultural region of southern Italy. The most likely place of origin was the abbey of Santa Sofia in Benevento. The book was produced for use at an independent Benedictine priory, some forty kilometres north of Benevento, Santa Maria del Gualdo Mazzocca. The textual traditions of the libelli constituting the chapter book are traceable both to Santa Sofia di Benevento and to the abbey of Monte Cassino. The book is written in Beneventan minuscule as are more than two thirds of the names recorded in the necrology.;The necrology contains 960 names recorded in 861 scribal entries. These entries comprise the record of the dead of Santa Maria from the foundation of the monastery in the twelfth century to its demise in 1507. The scribes of the necrology entered names according to formal conventions which changed and developed over time. All of the dead are recorded as brothers of the monastery, whether they were intramural or extramural, religious or secular.