Nicolaus Maniacoria

Nicolaus Maniacoria (c. 1100 – c. 1160) was a Roman churchman, Hebraist, biblical commentator and textual critic. He is known today for his knowledge of languages and his theoretical sophistication.^[1][2][3]

His first name may be anglicized Nicholas^[4] or italianized Nicolò.^[2] His surname is spelled many ways: Maniacoria, Maniacutia, Magnacutius, Magnacoze, Manicoria and Maniacocia.^[2]

Life

What little is known of Nicolaus' life has been pieced together from his writings.^[2] He was probably born shortly after 1100 in Rome. Around 1145, he was a deacon of San Lorenzo in Damaso. During this period, he wrote his Suffraganeus bibliothecae and several saints' lives.^[5] He copied a complete Bible for a woman named Constantia, who died in 1144 or 1145. She may have been his mother.^[6] He also copied the Psalms for a nun and noblewoman named Scotta, including marginal notes on variations in the Hebrew text.^[5]

Nicolaus later joined the Cistercians.^[7] He may have entered Tre Fontane Abbey,^[2] but this is not certain.^[5] A proposed connection with Santa Pudenziana is also uncertain.^[2] He may have later served as a canon at the Lateran Basilica,^[5] but his too is uncertain.^[2] There is no basis for the claims that Nicolaus was a cardinal or a papal librarian.^[2]

Nicolaus probably died around 1160.^[5]

Works

Nicolaus' magnum opus, the Suffraganeus bibliothecae (meaning 'aid to the Bible'), is a commentary on the literal sense of the Old Testament.^[5] He wrote it shortly after the election of Pope Eugene III in February 1145.^[3] It is most famous for its theoretical introduction, in which outlines the three ways in which a text can become corrupted in copying (addition, substitution, omission) with examples of each. In the commentary itself, Nicolaus cites Jerome, Pseudo-Jerome, the Glossae biblicae vaticanae, Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra and Hugh of Saint Victor's De sacramentis.^[5]

During his Cistercian period, Nicolaus wrote the Libellus de corruptione et correptione Psalmorum, a critical study of the text of the Latin Psalter.^[5]