Lupus Servatus - Literary Contribution

Literary Contribution

Lupus made a tireless quest of manuscripts of classic authors, as it has long been known to readers of his letters. It is because of his passion for copying and preserving manuscripts so that they may be passed on that he is regarded as an influential literate figure and the first humanist. Though his personal works and letters discuss theological matters it was not his chief interest. Philology was his desired area of expertise. Scholars have increasingly become aware of the detailed examination that Lupus undertook when studying his acquired texts. The scholar E.K. Rand of Harvard University reveals:

"...no less than five manuscripts that contain the corrections or collations of Lupus and one that is entirely written by that scholar himself."

These manuscripts are rewrites of Cicero's De Oratore, De Inventione, Letters, Commentary on Virgil (whom Lupus directly knew) and a revision of Codex Bernisis 366 and his Epistolae.

Over the years modern scholars have made investigations as to what Lupus had participated in. Charles H. Beeson has been the foremost scholar on Lupus Servatus. Beeson took to studying the different handwriting styles of manuscripts according to area of the Early Middle Ages. He concluded that Lupus had written or been a part of copying texts more than originally thought. Lupus had a rigid adherence to the rules of the Roman grammarians for the division of syllables, whereby any pronounceable group of consonants is placed with the following vowel. Lupus not only conformed to this rule in his personal practice, but also made the texts that he collected adhere to the style.