Anonymus

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This article is about ancient anonymous writers. For the Canadian metal band, see Anonymus (band).

Anonymus is the Latin word for anonymous, the correct English spelling. The Latin spelling, however, is traditionally used by scholars in the humanities to refer to an ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Very many such writers have left valuable historical or literary records, among them this very partial list:

• Two separate writers both known as Anonymus Valesiani or Anonymus Valesii, authors of the two halves, separated by a century or more, of a manuscript on Late Antique Roman history, the Excerpta Valesiana
• The Anonymus of Ravenna (Anonymus Ravennatis), author of the Ravenna Cosmography, a Late Antique geographical work
• The Anonymus Einsiedlensis, the author of the Einsiedeln Itinerary
• The Anonymus Gestorum Hungarorum, the author of a medieval work on the history of Hungary
• Gallus Anonymus - early XIIth century, the author of the first history of Poland
• The Anonymus of Placentia (or Piacenza), who left an account of their visit to 6th‑century Jerusalem
• The Anonymus of Turin (often referred to by the Italian Anonimo di Torino), writer of a catalogue of churches of Rome
• The Anonymus Banduri, the author of the Πατρια Κωνσταντινοπολεως, a 10th‑century topography of Constantinople
• The Anonymus de Rebus Bellicis, author of a Late Antique work on warfare
• The Anonymus Hispanus Chisianus (named after the library where the manuscript was found; sometimes referred to by the Italian Anonimo Spagnuolo), author of a medieval work on churches and relics in Rome
• An Anonymus de antiquitate Urbis, stated by Christian Hülsen to be a mere copier of the Roma Instaurata of Flavio Biondo.
• The Anonymus Ανταττικιστης (the Anti-Atticist Anonymus), an opponent of Phrynichus Arabius, valuable for the study of ancient Greek vocabulary
• The Anonymus Mellicensis, of the 8th century, author of a work on ecclesiastical writers
• The Anonymus Seguerianus, of the 3d century, whose work is useful for the study of 1st century rhetoric.
• The Anonymus Gestorum Francorum, author of the Gesta Francorum, an account of the First Crusade
• The Anonymus of York (or Norman Anonymus), author of a 14th‑century religious/political tract on the right of kings
• The Anonymus of Dubrovnik, author of 15th‑century Annals of that city.

Sometimes Anonymus refers not to an author, but to a manuscript copyist. Few manuscripts were signed, so the list might be extended almost indefinitely, but some manuscripts can be said to have transferred some of their importance to the copyist; in the manuscript tradition of Phaedrus, for example, it is common to refer to the Anonymus Nilanti, a 13th‑century copyist named after the scholar who edited him in 1709.