NOTE ON NAMES, MONEY, DATES, AND ORTHOGRAPHY

I have used recognizpd English forms of personal names whenever possible. When no English equivalent could be found, I used the nominative singular Latin form. Thus, "Johannes" has been rendered "John," but "Tebaldus" remains "Tebaldus." Although some scholars writing in English refer to the tenth-century bishop and author of the Praeloquia as Rather of Verona, I have chosen to use the Latin form "Ratherius" in this case to avoid confusion with the common adverb "rather." Names of ecclesiastical institutions and places in the Veronese diocese have been rendered in their modern Italian form. This has the advantage of allowing the reader to distinguish ecclesiastical institutions from their namesakes (e.g., San Zeno, the wealthy and powerful monastery, from Saint Zeno, the fourth-century bishop ofVerona).