L’influenza dell’epistolografia per l’affermazione dell’ autografia d’autore (sec. XI-XIII)

The aim of this ongoing research is to suggest and try to demonstrate the importance of epistolography as a testing ground for the practice of autography and for the elaboration of theories about its value and usefulness. The purposes could be very different, as well as the contexts: in the case of a letter that contained important (for example, political) information it could be the need for secrecy or the will to confer authority to the text, even if it had not the formal elements of a document. Another possible interpretation of autography, as a token of affection, has its roots in classical antiquity (Cicero, Seneca) and seems to resurface in the middle ages and especially in these centuries, in which it is possible to trace the development of a peculiar conception of writing as a somewhat personal and often intimate activity. A third domain is religious: not only autography could be seen a proof of humility, but autograph letters could be perceived as “relics” containing a mark of the spiritual charisma of their authors - hence the stories of miracles performed by saints’ letters, but also the practice of writing autograph letters of blessing. The letter-collections appear as a very suitable source for such a reconstruction of the context in which some authors started to write with their own hand; moreover, identifying declarations of autography or other references to autograph letters in the texts allows us to value the cultural importance of these cases even when the manuscripts did not reach us.