La notice de l’empire est si connue que ….: riscoprendo uno studio di Louis Gabriel Comte du Buat-Nançay

«La notice de l’Empire est si connue que ...». Rediscovering a Louis Gabriel Comte du Buat-Nançay essay · The article explores the date proposal of the Notitia dignitatum made by the historian Louis Gabriel Comte du Buat-Nançay in chapter seven of L’Histoire ancienne des peoples de l’Europe. It differs from the interpretation given by Guido Panciroli, the first commentator of the Notitia. Du Buat-Nançay’s thesis is that the Notitia Dignitatum was composed during the reign of Honorius (395-423), but that there are insufficient elements to establish whether it was written before or after the death of Arcadius (395-408). The hypothesis formulated by the Norman scholar therefore represents an important junction in the historiographical debate concerning the Notitia Dignitatum, and here we will retrace the main arguments that allowed him to suggest a date so different from the usual one.