Abstract/Hauptbeschreibung (Englisch)

Following the principles of ‘material philology’, the paper investigates the first recension of the manuscript tradition of Liber de Regno Sicilie, a chronicle that focuses on the main events of the Norman court of Sicily between 1154 and 1169. The study analyses the two extant witnesses (Vat. lat. 10690 and Par. lat. 5150) in their graphic, material and paratextual elements, ascribing them to specific contexts of book production; moreover, their comparison defines a new relationship between the two witnesses. Finally, the division of the text into sections in the oldest manuscript (Vat. lat. 10690) could come from the first stages of the circulation of the Liber and, at the same time, could suggest a new hypothesis about the composition of the work.