A polyptych in the margins: accounting notes from early tenth‐century Laon

This paper provides the first edition and thorough examination of marginal notes added to a ninth‐century Carolingian manuscript (Laon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 424). A detailed paleographic, codicological, linguistic, and historical analysis of these additions allows us not only to trace their provenance to the early tenth‐century see of Laon but also to show that their anonymous author was a high‐status cleric on the episcopal staff. The range of his practical marginalia – which included polyptych notes, lists of payments, and a list of names – points at various accounting practices he was involved in and indicates that he played an important role in facilitating the social power of ecclesiastical lordship over its localities.