Accessus ad auctores: History and Key Facts

The accessus ad auctores ('introduction to authors') was a literary genre of the Middle Ages. Originally, an accessus was the introduction at the beginning of a commentary on a classical author, containing background information on the author and his work. Beginning in the 12th century, these accessus were excerpted from the commentaries and published in separate collections. It is to these collections that modern scholars give the name accessus ad auctores. Invariably written in Latin, they were designed for the use of students of Latin grammar.

The standard accessus was arranged as a series of questions in the form headings followed by their answers. Four distinct schemes of organization are recognized based on the choice of headings:

The Servian scheme is based on the prologue to Virgil's Aeneid written by the 4th-century grammarian Servius. It covers seven headings: (1) the life of the poet, (2) the title of the work, (3) its genre, (4) authorial intention, (5) the number of volumes, (6) the order of the volumes and (7) an explanation or interpretation.

The rhetorical scheme is based on the septem circumstantiae (seven circumstances) of classical rhetoric: (1) who, (2) what, (3) where, (4) by what means, (5) why, (6) how and (7) when. It was favoured, for example, by the 9th-century commentator Remigius of Auxerre.

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