Published in The Medieval Aesthetics

Keywords: Keywords: John the Almsgiver, Latin hagiography, Leontius of Neapolis, Re-writing, Translation.

Paris, BNF, Lat. 3820, copied during 14th century, is a liturgical manuscript, an homiliary-legendary, written for its use at the cathedral of St. Trophime in Arles. There the life of John the Almsgiver stands, as it is usual for byzantine martyrologies, in No-vember. The text appears to be a “re-adaptation” of the hagiography written by Leon-tius of Neapolis rather than a proper translation of it, for a selection of its chapters gets a new organization in order to fit the pattern of a more conventional vita. The purpose of this paper is to make a first approach to analyse this scarcely studied text by considering its translation and rewriting techniques.