La première sélection des manuscrits de l’abbaye de Moissac (Janvier 1678)

In 1678, the canons of Moissac – as legal successors of the Benedictine monks – decide to donate the medieval manuscripts of the abbey of Moissac to minister Colbert. The very first inventory of the manuscripts, compiled in January 1678 by canon Foulhiac from Cahors, has thus far been overlooked by scholars. Noting the editing-process of the text it becomes clear that the inventory has been compiled following the order in which the manuscripts were encountered within the archive, and furthermore that the archival storage must have been in utmost disarray. This first selection numbered 101 manuscripts. A few weeks later, canon Foulhiac drafted a new inventory, this time encompassing 129 manuscripts. During the following months more manuscripts emerged. The first inventory furthermore shows that the selection of manuscripts to be sent to Colbert heavily depended on the personal interests of canon Foulhiac, of Colbert and Baluze, his librarian, and of Foucault, Colberts administrator. Eventually, about 144 volumes, mainly historical and patristic manuscripts, were sent to Paris and incorporated into Colberts library, and thus saved. But at least 70 manuscripts, mainly of a biblical or liturgical nature, as well as around 20 codices dealing with Canon Law, which were deemed of lesser interest, remained either in Montauban, from where they were sold off and dispersed throughout Europe, or in Moissac, from where they have disappeared, most likely on the occasion of the revolutionary autodafe of November 1, 1793.