“These Lots Never Deceive”: Compiling and Reading the Latin Manuscripts of the Sortes sanctorum

The Sortes Sanctorum, a prognostic and divinatory text known as “lots of the saints,” is present in numerous medieval Latin manuscripts dating from the early ninth to the fifteenth centuries. Scribes, compilers, and readers, including (prospective) priests, monks, and bishops, considered it a significant addition to educational materials such as schoolbooks, Bible glossaries, encyclopedias, and treatises on computus. By offering personal advice, the text gives us a window into the spiritual concerns of medieval readers during times of uncertainty. The diversity of genres associated with the Sortes Sanctorum at the manuscript level demonstrates a broader and more engaged readership than previously recognized. Newly identified manuscript evidence from the ninth to twelfth centuries suggests that the text could adapt to different intellectual settings of the early and high Middle Ages. This study demonstrates that the text transitioned from marginalia to an integral component of main texts, attracting interest within computus and encyclopedic compilations. The research employs a manuscript-centric and paleographic approach, paying close attention to the placement of the text in codices and to the text’s transmission history. These methods help reveal the sociocultural significance of prognostic texts such as the Sortes Sanctorum within the context of medieval knowledge systems.