The works of the enigmatic seventh-century author Virgilius Maro Grammaticus ('Virgil the Grammarian') are amongst the most puzzling medieval texts to survive. Ostensibly a pair of grammars, they swarm with hymns, riddles, imaginary writers, invented words and attacks on authority. Conventionally interpreted either as a benighted barbarian's unfortunate attempt to write a 'proper' grammar, or as a parody of the pedantic excesses of the ancient grammatical tradition, these texts are desperately in need of a reading which takes into account their many idiosyncrasies. Why should a grammarian preach the existence of twelve different kinds of Latin? Why should he attack the very notion of authority, thereby destabilising his own position? The search for an answer leads via patristic exegesis and medieval wisdom literature to the tantalisingly ill-documented reaches of heterodox initiatory traditions.

This new interpretation of the baffling Latin grammars of the seventh-century writer Virgilius Maro Grammaticus sets aside conventional readings that see them as flawed or parodic. Vivien Law's analysis moves through the broader context of patristic biblical exegesis and early medieval wisdom literature to the ill-documented reaches of heterodox initiatory practices. She situates Virgilius in his intellectual context, and opens important new perspectives for our understanding of medieval literary culture.