The Idda Collection

Transcription

The Idda Collection

Tel: (212) 717 7273
Fax: (212) 717 7278
[email protected]
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The Idda Collection: Romanesque Biblical Manuscripts c. 1000 to 1240
New York, NY 10021
The Idda Collection:
Romanesque Biblical Manuscripts c. 1000 to 1240
|
7 th Floor, Penthouse
catalogue 19
23 East 73 rd Street
|
Laura Light and Christopher de Hamel
Preface by Sandra Hindman
| Catalogue 19 |
EXHIBITION:
APRIL 9 TO MAY 2, 2015
23 East 73 rd Street
7 th Floor, Penthouse
New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 717 7273
[email protected]
www.lesenluminures.com
www.textmanuscripts.com
© SANDRA HINDMAN 2015
ISBN 978-0-9915172-6-8
LES ENLUMINURES
PARIS • CHICAGO • NEW YORK
| Table of Contents |
| Preface |
| Introduction |
| 1 | The Liesborn Gospels
21
| 2 | Gospel Lectionary
49
| 3 | Gospel Lectionary
67
| 4 | The Rebdorf Psalter
87
| 5 | The Buxheim Psalter
103
| 6 | BRUNO, Correction and Completion of PATERIUS
127
| 7 | JEROME, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
147
| 8 | GREGORY THE GREAT, Moralia in Job
159
| 9 | AUGUSTINE, Enarrationes in Psalmos
175
| 10 | ORIGEN, Homiliae in Genesim et Exodum
189
| 11 | HAIMO OF AUXERRE,
Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
207
| 12 | HUGH OF SAINT VICTOR,
Dialogus de creatione mundi; and Homiliae in Ecclesiasten
225
| 13 | Vulgate Bible, Job with the Glossa Ordinaria
243
| 14 | Vulgate Bible, Epistles of St. Paul with the Glossa Ordinaria
259
| 15 | Vulgate Bible, Gospel of Mark with the Glossa Ordinaria
279
| 16 | Vulgate Bible, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles
with the Glossa Ordinaria
297
Northwestern Germany (Liesborn Abbey?), c. 980-1000
Northern Spain, Catalonia (Ripoll?), c. 1040-60
Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Lorvâo?, or Northern Spain), c. 1140-60
Southern Germany, c. 1130-60
Southern Germany (Augsburg?), c. 1220-40 (before 1235?)
Germany, Swabia (St. Blaise Abbey?), c. 1090-1100
Italy (Northern?), c. 1125-50
Northern Italy (Morimondo Abbey), c. 1150-75
Austria (Lambach Abbey), c. 1150-1175
Austria (Lambach Abbey?) c. 1150-1175
Northern Germany, Thuringia (Erfurt), c. 1175-1200
Eastern France (Lorraine?), c. 1150-75
Northern Italy, c. 1125-40
Northern Italy (Milan?), c. 1140-60
Northern Italy (Tuscany?), c. 1150-1175
Southern Europe (Spain?), c. 1175-1200
| Bibliograpy |
| Biographies |
| Acknowledgments |
| Copyrights |
4
7
11
314
318
319
320
5
| Preface |
| The Idda Collection |
The sixteen manuscripts in this catalogue contribute to the history of the first
millennium of the Bible in the Latin West. The project for a catalogue like this is,
in itself, almost unimaginable in the twenty-first century. There has probably
never before been a trade or auction catalogue devoted exclusively to codices
(not fragments) of the Bible – or indeed of any other type of medieval manuscript
– of this early date.
To compose the present catalogue, we were able to assemble a selection of
exceptional manuscripts from one of the great European private collections of
medieval manuscripts and art at the highest level. Distinguished for its unusual
focus on monastic study, the collection is especially rich in early manuscripts.
The name, the Idda Collection, has a special resonance for its owners. The Swiss
saint Idda of Toggenburg (c. 1140-1226) retreated after an unhappy marriage to
a local count first to the forest and then at the end of her life to a Benedictine
convent, the Cloister of Fischingen. Coins and medals (the imagery used
throughout this catalogue) issued already in the fifteenth century depict her with
the faithful stag, her escort in the forest and on her final journey to the cloister.
The compelling story of her life extolls her monastic ideals, with specific
reference to the gem-studded Psalter that served her for her daily devotions – an
image that vividly conjures up many of the manuscripts from the collection that
are contemporary with Idda‘s lifetime. The sale of some of these precious
manuscripts, far from depleting this important collection, is intended to raise a
capital sum for the preservation and future enhancement of the rest of the
collection.
6
7
The remarkable volumes in this catalogue include relatively straightforward
examples of the biblical text, such as Gospel Books and Psalters. Also included
are texts through which the medieval reader would have known the Bible –
Lectionaries with the biblical readings arranged for church services,
commentaries especially on the Old Testament, and glossed Bibles of individual
books of the New and Old Testaments. The earliest manuscript is the stunning
Liesborn Gospels that dates from the end of the first millennium and is preserved
in a unique fifteenth-century carved wooden treasure binding. Only one
manuscript, the Buxheim Psalter, dates after the year 1200. Most of the volumes
thus fit squarely in Romanesque Europe, and they come primarily from the
Germanic countries, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula. Not only is the early date
of these manuscripts astonishing, but so too is the fact that we know much
about their places of origin in some of the most famous monastic communities
of medieval Europe.
Catalogues published by Les Enluminures are always a team effort. In this
instance, two world-renowned specialists on the medieval Bible are the major
contributors (see biographies at the end of the volume). Laura Light, whose
books and articles are fundamental for the study of the origins of the thirteenthcentury Bible, was largely responsible for the admirable scholarly entries. She
was joined by Christopher de Hamel, a specialist on the study of the Bible in the
years before 1200, who contributed to the entries and whose marvelous
introduction lucidly sets the stage for what follows. I am hugely grateful to them
both, to Gaia Grizzi, who directed the project, and to every person on our team
who toiled for many months on this landmark catalogue for the history of the
Bible.
Sandra Hindman
8
9
| Introduction |
| The First Millennium of the Bible |
It is a truism to describe the Bible as the most successful book ever written. More
biblical manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages than any other texts and over
the widest possible range of languages and origins, from three continents; the
Bible was the first substantial book printed in Europe (in Mainz, c. 1454), and
even now it is still the best-selling book in print throughout the world. Its text
has been transmitted with more fidelity to the original than any other writings
from the ancient world, with infinitely more manuscript evidence to back this
up (and undoubtedly more rigorous scholarship on the subject). We all know
what a Bible is. It is a volume of multiple components from Genesis to
Revelation. About two-thirds of it is the Old Testament, the body of early
Scriptures and prophecies inherited from the Jews, and its final part comprises
the New Testament, from the Gospel narratives of Jesus through to predictions
of the Last Judgment and the end of the world. We think of Bibles as single
compact volumes, the portable handbooks of the Christian faith.
This is a catalogue of biblical manuscripts made during the first thousand years
of the history of the text in Europe. Every item here is an essential part of that
story of the transmission of the Scriptures. Not one of them corresponds to a
Bible as just defined. That is a remarkable fact.
For one thing, during the first millennium of Christendom (and most of the
history of Judaism), the individual books of Scripture generally circulated as
separate volumes or as small clusters of books bound together. If we could have
peeped into the treasure chests of a church or monastery in the time of Jerome
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(c. 342-420), we would have seen individual Gospels, Psalters, Epistles, books of
Kings, Jewish law, and so on, all more or less identical in phrasing to the
respective components of modern Bibles, but all of very different sizes and
formats. The shape and scale of each manuscript would tell us about how they
were used and read, including little books of Psalms for private devotion and
great Gospel Books in ornamental bindings for carrying in procession into church.
No one would expect to read them in any particular order, and groupings of texts,
if there were more than one in any volume, might vary greatly. The first
catalogue description of the Liesborn Gospels (no. 1), as late as 1219, described the
manuscript as comprising all four texts in a single volume, as if that were not
necessarily self-evident. The modern order of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, was not entirely fixed even in Jerome‘s time, when they were
sometimes presented as Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John.
The Buxheim Psalter and the Liesborn Gospel Book here are the nearest in this
catalogue to straightforward components of a normal Bible text as we use it
today (nos. 5 and 1). In both these manuscripts, however, the familiar texts are
accompanied by other travelling companions from late antiquity. The Psalms
are attended by a calendar, litany, and prayers. The four Gospels are in the
company of canon tables, capitula lists, and prologues. Their composite natures
take us back in direct lines of transmission to the needs of the early Christians in
the late Roman Empire. Even the astonishing binding of the Liesborn Gospels is
an echo of something from far back into the distant past. This manuscript and
its ancestors were not being used primarily as laptop narratives of the life of
Jesus for interested readers, but as sacred symbols for display and use in the
liturgy, precious and sacred even when they were closed. Carolingian and
Ottonian Gospel Books were probably not actually read very often at all, which
may explain the remarkable preservation of so many early manuscripts, including
this one. For practical purposes, the Gospel texts selected for use during church
services would usually have been read aloud from Lectionaries (nos. 2 and 3).
For most of the congregation (and we are speaking of a time in the history of a
text when the majority of people were illiterate), contact with actual words of
the Gospels would have been principally through Lectionaries. Although the
selection and sequence of texts depend on the needs of particular services, these
manuscripts are less encumbered with accretions than Gospel Books and
Psalters. Neglect Lectionaries at our peril if we want to understand the impact
of the Gospels on the population of medieval Europe.
Most knowledge of the Scriptures in the Middle Ages, however, was probably
acquired through oral telling of the stories and through homilies and sermons
which were spoken aloud. This practice goes back to the very beginning. Jesus
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himself read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth and then
preached on the text (Luke 4:16-22); the missionaries in Acts tell their audiences
of Christ‘s ministry but without use of the Gospels, not then written. The first
of the very great Christian biblical expositors was Origen (c. 185-c. 254) (no. 10).
He lived at a time when the early Church was still a persecuted minority. Origen
could, in theory, quite easily have known someone who had met someone who
had seen Jesus alive. His surviving homilies (many are lost) are strongly
influenced by the technique of biblical interpretation promulgated by the Jewish
Platonist, Philo of Alexandria (d. c. 50 A.D.) Read Origen and we are
eavesdropping on conversations from apostolic times. Origen treats the
Scriptures as a conscious code to be deciphered into multiple layers of meaning,
literal, moral, and allegorical. He was self-consciously Christian in a period when
Christianity still felt the need to distinguish itself from Judaism, which gives
added interest to his commentaries on Genesis and Exodus, at the heart of the
Jewish Torah. If there were Old Testament passages which Origen found
inconsistent with his own position and credibility, he interpreted them primarily
as allegorical and symbolic, rather as liberal Christians today understand the
miracles of Jesus.
By the time of Jerome (no. 7), Christianity had become the religion of the Roman
Empire, following the edicts of Constantine from 313 onwards. Jerome was the
principal translator of the Latin Vulgate text of the Bible, and so he is reflected
in every one of the manuscripts described here. He had access to the famous
Hexapla of Origen himself, a polyglot anthology of parallel texts of the Old
Testament Scriptures in the ancient versions and translations, now extant only
in fragments. Jerome‘s immense learning and understanding of the complexities
of textual transmission and interpretation set a standard of biblical scholarship
which is still valid even today. He stands at the beginning of the great age of the
Latin patristic writers on the Bible. The second giant name is that of his slightly
younger contemporary, Augustine of Hippo (354-430). His massive work on the
Psalms, the Enarrationes in Psalmos (no. 9), treats the biblical text as primarily
allegorical, rather than literally. The third and final writer in the supreme trinity
of patristic commentators is Gregory the Great (c. 540-604). His Moralia in Job
(no. 8), the ultimate monastic text, takes the puzzling biblical narrative of the
sufferings of Job and interprets it entirely as an allegory and guide to ideal
Christian behavior. It was through Gregory that one of the least known books of
the Old Testament thus became universally famous. Gregory‘s huge influence is
seen in the many manuscripts and adaptations of his texts, including the work
by his own notary, Paterius (d. 606) (no. 6). Even Haimo of Auxerre (d. c. 865/6),
in the Carolingian court (no. 11), was dependent on the technique of Gregory in
his allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs. Indeed, unless one explains
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the Song of Songs as primarily symbolic at multiple levels, it would be hard to
understand how it merits inclusion in the Scriptures at all.
reference Bibles, from the late twelfth century onwards, a format which has
been with us ever since.
Notice how all the biblical books commented on here by the Church fathers are
from the Old Testament – Genesis and Exodus, the Psalms, Job, and the Song of
Songs. The patristic writers all considered such texts to be quarries for excavating
prophecies or prefigurations of the New Testament, or as concealed allegories to
be recognized and deciphered. That was the monastic method of study, slow
and meditative. A monk would read a sentence at a time, and then ruminate on
it, turning it over and over in his mind, even after the book had been returned to
its chest in the cloisters or library. Manuscripts offered here belonged to the
monasteries of Santa Maria de Colomba, Morimondo, Petersberg in Erfurt,
Ochsenhausen, and others (nos. 13, 8, 11, and 6). Of course monks used
commentaries on books of the New Testament too, but in some ways these were
less useful, because the narratives there were more straightforward and
Christological and were to be taken at face value.
Biblical commentators necessarily quote from the Bible passages they are
discussing, usually extensively. An author can only use the version of the text
available to him in his own time. In reading Origen, or Jerome, or Gregory, for
example, we have indirect access to the exact readings of long-lost uncial codices
of the Scriptures in the possession of those saintly authors in third-century
Alexandria, fourth-century Palestine, and sixth-century Rome, respectively.
Through citation, we are glimpsing witnesses often far older and more
breathtaking than any early manuscripts of the Bible now extant. Even Gregory,
in his introduction to the Moralia (no. 8), explains that the papal court in his time
used both the Latin Vulgate of Jerome and the earlier Vetus Latina, and that he
himself has decided to use either version in his commentary, depending on the
nuances of meaning required in any particular context. A traditional mainstream
commentator like Gregory may therefore be a witness to readings from a Bible
text of legendary rarity. Of course all commentaries themselves carry their own
stemmas of textual descent, including subconscious correction by later scribes
against Bibles then more familiar to them, but they nonetheless carry littlestudied genetic lines back to long-gone manuscripts of the early Church. Their
family trees are largely independent from those of Bibles without commentaries.
The great turning-point in the use of the Bible came in the early twelfth century
with Hugh of Saint Victor (d. 1142), master in the Augustinian schools of theology
in Paris, which later evolved into what became the first university in northern
Europe (no. 12). Hugh was not a monk but a canon, a subtle distinction. Canons
were clerics who reached out into the secular world. Hugh taught that the literal
meaning of Scripture had to be understood first of all, and that the Old
Testament needed to be studied within a framework of chronological history.
Only then, he believed, could one begin to seek layers of allegory and mystical
meaning. This was revolutionary in its time.
Contemporary with Hugh of Saint Victor were the masters teaching in the French
cathedral schools, also canons, including Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) and Gilbert of
Auxerre, “the Universal” (d. 1134). They perfected the complex biblical format
known as the Gloss (nos. 13, 14, 15, and 16). This too restored the centrality of
Scriptural narrative, which runs like a stream down the middle of the pages and
from book to book of the entire biblical corpus, from Genesis to Revelation.
Around it, in the margins and between the lines, are carefully selected quotations
from Origen, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, Haimo, and the others. The reader
thus had easy access to almost a thousand years of traditional interpretation,
by glancing to the left or right, but the Bible text itself was the central tree from
which these supplementary branches sprouted. Glossed books transformed the
perception and use of the Scriptures into texts available in commerce,
independent of monasteries. Private people bought them. From sets of glossed
books it was only a short step to the production of comprehensive one-volume
14
An appreciation of medieval Bibles and biblical commentaries as footsteps in
the ancestry of the modern Bible has been a feature of book collecting since the
Renaissance. The huge documentation of the Latin Scriptures gives them an
incomparable academic importance for the study of textual transmission, which
is more comprehensive than with any other text known in the Middle Ages. Some
collectors have gathered Bibles from a high Catholic standpoint, regarding the
Scriptures as an eternal symbol of the universal church. One such was Estelle
Doheny (1875-1958), papal countess, former owner of nos. 1, 6, and 15. For her,
the Liesborn Gospels were the counterpart of her Gutenberg Bible, the two pillars
of her faith. Many collectors, however, came to Bibles from the very low
churches. They include Quakers, Baptists, and evangelicals. For them the text of
the Bible is their most personal and precious inheritance. Outstanding collections
of Bibles and early scriptural commentaries were assembled by, among many
others, Andrew Gifford (1700-1784), Baptist minister; Francis Fry (1803-1886),
Quaker and abolitionist; and Alexander Peckover (1830-1919), Quaker banker of
Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and owner of no. 7.
Throughout history, early Bibles have often been the most personal possessions
of collectors, perhaps because to many people, myself included, biblical books
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resonate both as texts and as objects. It is curious, in looking through the
provenances of items described here, that there are manuscripts from the private
collections of E. H. Dring (1864-1928), managing director of Quaritch, and Lionel
Robinson (1897-1983), one of the brothers who owned the entire residue of the
Phillipps Collection: of the tens of thousands of manuscripts which passed
through the hands of both these men, these were the items they held back
personally (nos. 5 and 16). Bibles too have often commanded high prices. If one
had to guess the most valuable books in the world, as book collectors do at
dinner parties, the candidates would probably all be biblical (the great Isaiah
from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Codex Sinaiticus, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the
Book of Kells, a Gutenberg Bible on vellum …). These were always valuable books.
The last (and indeed only) time that the Liesborn Gospels appeared in a
bookseller‘s catalogue was in the possession of Messrs Rosenbach in 1945, when
it was described in capital letters as “ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE
MANUSCRIPTS OF THE GOSPELS IN PRIVATE HANDS.” If that was valid seventy
years ago, it is even truer now.
Christopher de Hamel
Parker Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Senior Vice-President, Les Enluminures
16
17
| 6 | Paterius
| 5 | Buxheim Psalter
| 1 | Liesborn Gospels
| 11 | Haymo of Auxerre
| 4 | Rebdorf
Psalter
●
Liesborn
●
Erfurt
●
St. Blasien ●
Ochsenhausen
Morimondo
●
Lorvâo
Ripoll
●
●
●
●
Rebdorf
Buxheim
●
Lambach
Chiaravalle della Colomba
| 9 | Augustine
on the Psalms
●
|3|
Portuguese
Lectionary
| 10 | Origen
| 2 | Catalonian
Lectionary
18
| 8 | Gregory,
Moralia in Job
| 13 | Job, glossed
19
|1|
The Liesborn Gospels: Gospel Book
In Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment
Northwestern Germany (Liesborn Abbey?), c. 980-1000
The finest manuscript of the greatest of all texts, big, heavy, Ottonian,
wide pages, huge initials, spacious, clear, legible, stately, monumental,
sacred, for swearing oaths and for carrying in procession, an altar book,
a holy artifact, a relic, prepared before the fulfilment of the first
millennium; signed by its scribe, presented by a woman to a community
of women, the oldest known book from Liesborn; from the time of the
Vikings and the end of the migration period in Europe; corrected and
evidently used, with extraordinary care; complete, in astonishing
condition, treasured for a thousand years, bound for six hundred, famous
for two centuries; in a binding of extreme significance; almost
unimaginable in private hands, unrepeatably free of export restrictions,
unobtainable, awe-inspiring, astonishing, a survival of wonder.
Gospel Books throughout the Middle Ages were considered the physical
embodiment of the Word of God – sacred books, kept in the church treasury, and
carried ceremoniously to the altar during Mass. The holy character of these books
was reflected in their elaborate treasure bindings, often decorated with gold and
gemstones and perhaps even with relics. The binding on the Liesborn Gospels
with its moving depiction of the Crucifixion is apparently a late fifteenth-century
replacement of an earlier treasure binding.
Gospel Books include the complete biblical text of each of the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Public reading of the Gospels was part of the
church‘s liturgy from the early days of Christianity, and by medieval times, there
were at least two biblical readings at each Mass. The second and most important
of these was always from the Gospels. Each Sunday or feast day was assigned an
p. 17, Canon Tables, The Liesborn Gospels
21
appropriate Gospel passage. The final text in this Gospel Book is a list of the
Mass readings, or pericopes, for the liturgical year (a capitulary or capitulare
evangeliorum), allowing users to find the correct passage within the Gospel Book
itself. Lists like these go back to the seventh and eighth centuries, linking this
book to the liturgical practices of the very early Middle Ages (Klauser, 1972).
Medieval Gospel Books are among the most famous and precious of all medieval
manuscripts. Celebrated early examples include the Book of Durrow (late
seventh century), the Lindisfarne Gospels (early eighth century), the Book of Kells
(late eighth century), the Vienna Coronation Gospels (c. 800), the Lorsch Gospels
(early ninth century), and the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (late ninth century).
A later medieval example, the Gospel Book of Henry the Lion (c. 1180), sold in
1983 for more than ten times the then highest price for any manuscript. Some
of the most opulent of all were made in the Ottonian period, named after the
Holy Roman Emperors of the dynasty beginning with Otto I, who was anointed
at Aachen in 936. These include the Gospels of Otto III (late tenth century), the
Codex Aureus of Echternach (c. 1030) and the Golden Gospels of Henry III
(c. 1045). The Liesborn Gospels, to our knowledge, is the last Ottonian Gospel
Book still in private hands.
This manuscript was written near the end of the tenth century. The script is an
upright broadly spaced caroline minuscule: ascenders are slightly clubbed or
wedge-shaped, ampersand is used for “et” and internally, ligatures for ‘ct‘, ‘st‘
are used often, as well as a ligature for ‘ns‘ using a majuscule ‘N‘; the second
scribe notably also uses a ‘rt‘ ligature. All these support a date shortly before the
year 1000. The script may be compared with a copy of Paul the Deacon, Homilies,
dated between 993-1006 (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 6256,
Kirchner, 1955, no. 41) (fig. 1.1 of f. 7v). We know the identity of the second scribe,
since he signed the colophon at the bottom of p. 337 in Rustic capitals:
“Gfrxxbrd[us] Diaconus Anno Primo Ordinationis Suȩ Hoc Libellum Scrkpskt.”
His name, “Geruuardus” (or Gerwardus) and the word, “scripsit” (wrote) are
partly in simple code, with the vowels replaced by their following consonants. In
translation, the colophon reads, “The deacon Gerwardus wrote this book in the
first year of his ordination.” It is very unusual indeed for any Gospel Book to be
signed by its scribe at all, and the half concealment of his name is perhaps from
22
p. 337, colophon (detail), The Liesborn Gospels
p. 6, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
23
humility. Alternatively, we might wonder whether he used this code for the
opposite reason, as evidence of his cleverness. Each Gospel begins with a
decorative page, composed of the titles and opening words of the text, copied in
a combination of majestic capitals and large interlace initials, drawn in red, and
infilled in pale yellow, occasionally with touches of green. This type of decoration
goes back hundreds of years to ninth-century Carolingian models. It is a solemn
volume, and the lack of lavish gold and silver pigment and pictorial decoration
focuses the attention on the sacred text itself.
There are no traces of Gerwardus in the archives of Liesborn (although almost
nothing survives from the early years of the foundation), but the name
Gerwardus does appear twice in the necrology of a Sacramentary, Düsseldorf,
ULB, MS D 1, from the house of canonesses in Essen (Huth, 1986, pp. 255 and 264;
see also Müller, 1987, pp. 341-2). One entry, datable to the second half of the
tenth century, records his death, “4 kal. Septembris oviit Geruuard diaconus et
monachus.” It is possible that this deacon at Essen was indeed the scribe of the
Liesborn Gospels. There were close connections between the two houses, and
the necrology includes names of many people not necessarily from Essen itself.
Liesborn is in Westphalia in Northwestern Germany, in the diocese of Münster.
The abbey was founded in the second half of the ninth century as a convent for
canonesses of noble birth. It was destroyed in 1126, and was re-founded in 1130
by Bishop Egbert of Münster (1127-1132) as a community for Benedictine monks.
This volume is the earliest surviving manuscript from this important foundation,
and the only known volume that dates to the original foundation for women. A
twelve-line poem on p. 2 dedicates it from Berthildis to the patron saint of
Liesborn Abbey, Saint Simeon: “Sancte senex Symeon, Domini dilate responso …
in vita aeterna quae scribe fecerat ista” (Venerable Saint Simeon, known by the
promise of the Lord that you would not see death before seeing Christ in life,
whom you joyfully embraced with your arms, accept this book, presented with
a pious heart from the mother of the pious servants. May Christ be pleased, that
at the request of this patron, Berthildis will be entered in the Book of Life and will
as a prudent virgin join the lovely wedding feast of the Groom, then the one who
will be led into the Kingdom of Heaven with the righteous is the one who bore
the Lord Christ on the arm. May whoever reads this, always say, may she rest in
eternal life, who let this be written). The wording suggests that Berthildis was
an abbess (she is called “the mother of pious servants”). Traditionally, she has
been identified with the eleventh abbess of Liesborn in the list of the abbesses
in the history of Westphalia by Bernard Witte, a monk from Liesborn (written c.
1500-30, but published in 1778). There is, however, some difficulty accepting this
theory. Witte did not include dates, but Oderadis, the second to the last abbess
24
p. 2, dedicatory poem, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
25
26
Binding, upper cover, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
Binding, lower cover, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
27
who follows Berthildis in this list, was abbess around 1100, when she built the
present church tower (dated stylistically and by archaeological evidence). The
Berthildis in Witte‘s list, if it is accurate, therefore probably lived sometime near
the end of the eleventh century.
The patron saint of the original foundation at Liesborn was Saint Simeon, and
among the abbey‘s treasures was a relic of his arm. When it was re-founded for
monks in 1130, the abbey was dedicated to Saints Cosmas, Damian, and Simeon.
The manuscript remained at Liesborn when it became a Benedictine monastery
for monks; a later medieval ex libris was added after the verses in honor of
Berthildis, “Liber sanctorum martirum Cosme Damiani et Symeonis prophete in
Lisborn.” Liesborn grew to have an impressive library, and two catalogues of the
collection survive, dating from 1219 and 1795. This Gospel Book is recorded in
both of them; it is the forty-eighth item in the 1219 catalogue (Rose, 1905, II.3, p.
1444, “4 Evangelistae – 1 Vol.”), and it is listed as O 67 in the 1795 catalogue (Rose,
1905, II.3, p. 1442). The abbey was suppressed in 1803. Many of its books,
including this one, were initially acquired by the university library at Münster.
Fifty-six manuscripts survive from Liesborn, now in collections in Berlin,
Copenhagen, Wolfenbüttel, Krakow, and still in Münster.
The present binding of this Gospel Book is one of its most unusual and impressive
features. The front cover is a thick oak board with a relief carving of the
Crucifixion in the center, and the four symbols of the evangelists in large roundels
at each corner: the angel for Matthew, the eagle for John, the lion for Mark, and
the winged ox for Luke. Originally painted in gold, red, blue and flesh colors,
there has been a considerable loss of pigment on the uncarved surfaces and
edges, but even today the deep blue and scarlet are striking. This may well have
been intended to imitate (and possibly replace) an earlier treasure binding, such
as the binding of the Freckenhorst Golden Book, copied at a nearby Abbey in the
eleventh century (Hinz, 2000, pp. 85-89) (fig. 1.2), or the Goslar Gospels, Munich,
BSB, Clm 837, with a tenth-century ivory Crucifixion and twelfth-century silver
gilt surround, on a wooden panel. Like the binding of the Liesborn Gospels, the
silver treasure binding of the Mondsee Gospel Book from Regensburg, Baltimore,
Walters Art Museum, MS W.8, has the Crucifixion in the center, in this case on
gold under a rock crystal, surrounded by ivory plaques depicting the four
Evangelists (fig. 1.3). Marks from metal fittings from a previous binding are still
visible on p. 1 of the Liesborn Gospels. The style of the carving is consistent with
the Lower Rhine or Westphalia.
The lower cover is a more traditional brown leather covering over a wooden
board, decorated with stamps including impressions of two different tools of
30
p. 29, Gospel of St. Matthew, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
31
32
pp. 112-113, Gospel of St. Mark, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
33
34
pp. 174-175, Gospel of St. Luke, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
35
the Virgin Mary standing on a sickle moon and holding Jesus, and another
showing the Lamb of God. This leather cover was certainly made at Liesborn,
and can be assigned to the “Hauptwerkstatt” bindery, and probably dated before
1515 (Kroos, 1977; Schunke, 1979; Overgauuw and Priddy, 2003, p. 40). A very
similar stamped binding is still at Liesborn in the Museum, on a copy of Johannes
Gerson, Opera, volume 3, dated 1514 (Museum Abtei Liesborn, Inv. Nr 00/156E).
A treasure binding constructed from a wooden relief carving is certainly
exceptionally rare and may be unique (Overgauuw and Priddy, 2003). It dates
from the important period in the Liesborn‘s history after it had joined the
Bursfeld Congregation in 1464, probably during the abbacy of Heinrich von Kleve
(1464-90). Bernard Witte in his chronicle of the abbey praised Heinrich von Kleve
for building the church and the abbey, and for commissioning numerous works
of art, including the altarpiece by the Liesborn Master (mostly now in London,
National Gallery). Alternatively, it may date to the abbacy of the next abbot,
Johannes Schmalebecker (1490–1522), who is mentioned in chronicles for his work
with the library. The artist was trained in the Rhenish-Westphalian tradition,
and the carving may well have been done at the abbey where the binding was
certainly made.
This Gospel Book is one of the few surviving manuscripts from this time period
from Northwestern Germany, and the only manuscript from the diocese of
Münster. Some scholars have suggested that it may actually have been made at
Werden or at Corvey (Martin Schøyen corresponded on this subject in 1988 with
Joachim Wollasek, Hartmut Hoffman, and others), but with no comparable
extant manuscripts from the diocese of Münster, this is a matter of uncertainty.
Its presence at Liesborn shortly after completion is in no doubt.
This is an expansively laid-out volume that would have been very easy to use for
public liturgical reading. It is also equipped with a number of traditional
accessory texts that circulated with the Gospels. The Canon Tables, presented in
a series of arches with decorative capitals in red and yellow wash, date back to
Eusebius of Caesarea in the fourth century. He divided the Gospels into
numerous short sections corresponding to events within the text (Matthew, for
example, has 355 sections). He then compared all these passages, identifying
passages common to all the Gospels, passages found in three of the Gospels, in
two, or those that were found in only one, assigning each case to one of ten
tables. Here the Gospel text is divided into these short sections, and a marginal
apparatus lists not only the number of the appropriate Canon Table, but also
lists the parallel passages found in the other Gospels. Each Gospel also begins
with a numbered capitula list summarizing the contents; the biblical text is
divided into corresponding chapters that begin with red initials and are numbered
in red.
36
Later evidence of use includes the arresting diagram now on the first page of the
Gospel Book. Probably added in the twelfth century, this diagram shows the way
to salvation by linking the seven petitions of the Lord‘s prayer, the seven gifts of
the Holy Spirit and the seven earthly conditions of the Beatitudes (poor in spirit,
hungry, mourning, etc.). This is an early version of a text of this type, known in
five other manuscripts, the earliest an eleventh-century manuscript from
Southwestern Germany (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibl., Cod. Guelf. 70,
Weissenburg, f. 131v). All the known copies of this diagram apart from the copy
in the Liesborn Gospels are found in manuscripts of one of the Gospels with
marginal glosses (Rehm, 1994, section 3.3.1, pp. 55-62; see also Hamburger, 2009,
for a different Pater noster diagram).
Liesborn, Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: i (former flyleaf, paginated 1-2) + 169 folios on parchment, with later
added parchment flyleaves conjoint with front and back pastedowns, modern pagination in pencil
top outer corner recto 1-337 [338], complete (collation i8 [beginning p. 3; 3, pp. 7-8, and 6, pp. 1314 are single) ii8 iii6 iv-vi8 vii8 [-8, before p. 109, cancelled with no loss of text] viii-x8 xi8 [-4, before
p. 163 and -6 through 8, cancelled with no loss of text] xii-xiii8 xiv6 xv-xxi8 xxii8 [-5 through 8, cancelled
with no loss of text] xxiii6 [-5 through 6, cancelled with no loss of text] xxiv2), quires are signed in
Roman numerals followed by a ‘q‘ in the first seventeen quires (primus q[uaternus] to xvii
q[uaternus], p. 256) in the lower outer corner on the last leaf, ruled in hard point with the top two
and bottom two horizontal rules full across and with double full-length vertical bounding lines,
some prickings upper margin (justification 258-255 x 163-160 mm.), written in brown ink in a caroline
minuscule in twenty-four long lines by two scribes (the second scribe beginning on p. 257), the
capitulare evangeliorum copied by the second scribe in a smaller script in thirty-seven long lines,
(justification 268-250 x 175-170 mm.), rubrics and running titles in rustic capitals in red, THIRTEEN
PAGES OF CANON TABLES IN ARCADES, columns with bases and foliate capitals, some shafts with
simple interlace and other decoration, outlined in red and heightened with yellow, five pages with
text in large square capitals, INCIPITS TO THE GOSPELS IN LARGE LETTERS DECORATED WITH LEAFY
SCROLLS AND INTERLACE, drawn in red and heightened with yellow, the usual references to the
Ammonian sections in the margins of the Gospels, in excellent condition, apart from negligible
staining at edges of some leaves, lower half of f. 163 (pp. 326-7) excised. Bound in a later fifteenthcentury treasure binding, likely modelled on the original binding (described below), with thick
wooden boards (flat with square edges and corners, not shaped or bevelled), back cover of brown
37
leather tooled in blind with three borders of four fillets forming a broad outer border framing a
rectangular center panel scored with diagonal lines, all decorated with stamps, with metal
cornerpieces and a central boss, and two metal fasteners, closing around small metal pegs in the
outer edge of the upper board, re-backed (modern leather spine), back cover with some scuffs to
outer edges, and wear, front cover now missing much of its original paint and gilt, but sound and
overall in good condition, housed in a blue leather vertical case lettered “Liesborn/ Gospels. Written
for Berthildis/ Great-Granddaughter of/ Witikind the Great/ Original Manuscript/ Xth Century,” with
a small round red label (“40”). Dimensions 304 x 242 mm.
TEXT: p. 1, [Circular Pater Noster diagram added in the twelfth century, with a series of concentric
circles, outer ring], incipit, “Subscriptus patrie reditum docet ordo figure”; [second ring], incipit, “vii
peticionares”; [third ring], incipit, “Dona sancti spiritus”; [inner ring], incipit, “Beatitudo”; [center],
incipit, “Deus”; – p. 2, [dedicatory poem in hexameters], incipit, “Sancte senex symeon domini dilate
responso … in vita aeterna que scribi fecerat ista”; [below, ex libris added in a fourteenth- or
fifteenth-century hand], incipit, “Liber sanctorum martirum Cosme Damiani et Symeonis prophete
In Lisborn”; – pp. 3-15, [Prologues to Matthew], Beatissime Papae Damaso Hieronimvs, incipit,
“Novum opus me facere …” [Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no. 595]; p. 6, Prologus Quattuor Evangeliorum,
incipit, “Plures fuisse …” [Stegmüller 596]; p. 8, Eusebivs Carpiano Fratri Salutem, incipit, “Ammonius
quidem Alexandrinus …” [Stegmüller 581]; p. 10, Hieronimvs Damaso Papa, incipit,“Sciendum etiam
ne quis …” [Stegmüller 601]; p. 11, Incipit Argvmentum Secundum Mathevum, incipit, “Matheus ex
iudęa sicut in ordine …” [Stegmüller 590]; p. 11, Incipit Breviarium Eiusdem, incipit,
“I. Natiuitas Christi magi cum muneribus …; II. Regressio ihesu ex ęgypto in nazareth …” [Capitula
or “Breviarum” I-XXVII; de Bruyne, 1914, series A; Stegmüller 11016]; pp. 16-28, Canon Tables, I-X;
pp. 29-107, Gospel according to Matthew; [p. 108, blank but ruled]; pp. 109-112, [Prologue to Mark],
Incipit Argvmentum Secundum Marcvm, incipit, “Marcus evangelista dei …” [Stegmüller 607]; p.
110, Incipit [Arg: expunged] Breviarivm, incipit, “I. De iohanne baptista et uictu et habitu eius …; II.
De socru petri a febribus liberata …” [Capitula I-XIII; de Bruyne, 1914, series A; Stegmüller 11016];
pp. 113-164, [opening rubric on p. 112] Gospel according to Mark; pp. 165-174, [Prologue to Luke],
Incipt Argvmentum Evangelii Secvndum Lvcam, incipit, “Lucas Syrus Antiochensis …” [Stegmüller
620]; p. 166, Incipivnt Capitula, incipit, “I. Zacharias uiso angelo …; II. Symeon iustus christum …”
[Capitula I-XXI; de Bruyne, 1914, series A; Stegmüller 11016]; [p. 174, Explicit for Capitula and incipit
for Gospel, full page, written in large capital letters]; pp. 175-264, Gospel according to Luke; pp.
265-267, [Prologue to John, rubric on p. 264], Incipit Argvmentum secundum Iohannem, incipit, “Hic
est Iohannes …” [Stegmüller 624]; p. 265, Incipit Breviarivm Secvndum Iohannem, incipit, “I.
Pharisęorum leuitę interrogauit ...; II. Ihesus ad cenam de aqua vinum fecit …” [Capitula I-XIIII; de
Bruyne, 1914, series B=A; Stegmüller 11016]; pp. 268-327, Gospel according to John; [Gospel ends mid
p. 327, bottom half of the folio is now missing; p. 328, blank, with notes, mostly erased, and a small
drawing of a bust-length man, perhaps 12th-century]; – pp. 329-337, Incipit capitulare Evangeliorum
de circulo anni. In vigilia natalis domini, incipit, “Secundum matheum kapitulum iii. Cum esset
desponsata vsque salvuum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum ...”; [Klauser, 1935, overall similar
to type ∆, with new feasts including Kilian (contemporary correction from Cyriacus), and Gereon];
[Colophon in rustic capitals] Gfrxxbrdus Diaconus Anno Primo Ordinationis Suȩ Hoc Libellum Scrkpskt;
[p. 338, blank].
SCRIPT: The script is an upright broadly spaced caroline minuscule, ascenders are slightly clubbed
or wedge-shaped, ampersand is used for “et” and internally, ligatures for ‘ct‘, ‘st‘ and majuscule ‘Ns‘;
the second scribe, Gerwardus, notably uses a ‘rt‘ ligature as well.
ILLUSTRATION: pp. 16-28, thirteen pages with the ten Canon Tables, in decorative arched
frameworks constructed with different styles of architectural capitals, touched with pale yellow; p.
29, Gospel of St. Matthew, with the opening word, “Liber” in large initials made of interlace in red
outline partially colored in pale yellow, with touches of green; p. 17, Gospel of St. Mark, with the
opening “IN” of the first word “Initium” in large intertwined initials in red outline with interlace and
leafy finials, touched with pale yellow; with three lines of capitals, alternately red and black; pp. 174175, Gospel of St. Luke, two pages of handsome display capitals in alternate lines of red and yellow,
38
p. 34, marginal concordance and quire signature, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
39
with the opening letter, ‘Q‘[uoniam] in red outline with interlace and white vine, touched with pale
yellow and red; p. 268, Gospel of John, interlace ‘I‘[n] running almost the full-length of the page,
with the opening words in display capitals.
Generally similar interlace initials are found in an eleventh-century Gospel Book from Saxony,
probably from Corvey, Bamberg, SB, MS Msc. Bibl. 96 (fig. 1.4 of f. 53), and in a copy of Gregory the
Great, Moralia, from Mainz, c. 1000, Munich, Bayerische Staabsbibliothek, Clm 8102 (Klemm, 2004,
cat. 203, Abb. 454) (fig. 1.5 of f. 1).
BINDING: Discussed above. Upper cover: thick oak board with recessed CARVED RECTANGULAR
RELIEF OF THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE FOUR EVANGELISTS‘S SYMBOLS in large roundels at corners,
gesso with polychrome and a punch and gilded decoration. The style of the carving is consistent with
the Lower Rhine or Westphalia. The lower cover, blind-tooled leather over a thick wooden board,
certainly made at Liesborn (Kroos, 1977; Schunke, 1979, p.154 no. 60, p.197 no. 10, p.198 no. 29,
p. 29 no. 35), probably before 1515 (Kroos, p. 42; Overgauuw and Priddy, 2003, p. 40, suggest that
blind-stamped bindings were not made at Liesborn after this date).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written at the end of the tenth century as suggested by the
evidence of script and decoration in Westphalia in Northwestern Germany, probably at Liesborn;
copied by two scribes; the second, the deacon Gerward, signed his name in cipher as “Gfrxxb rd[us]”
on p. 337. A twelve-line poem on p. 2 dedicates this book, presented by Berthildis, to the patron
saint of Liesborn, Simeon. 2. Present at Liesborn until its secularization in 1803. Later medieval ex
libris, p. 2: “Liber sanctorum martirum Cosme Damiani et Symeonis prophete in Lisborn.” Recorded
in the 1219 and 1795 catalogues of their library (forty-eighth item in the 1219 catalogue; Rose, 1905,
II.3, p. 1444, “O 67” in the 1795 catalogue, Rose, 1905, II.3, p. 1442). 3. Recorded in the university
library at Münster in 1821 according to the Repertorium der Urkunden u.d. Archivakten des Klosters
Liesborn, no. A140/2 p. 4 (cf. Liesborn Ausstellung, 1965, p. 49 note 13). 4. In 1826 owned by Dr.
Ludwig Tross (1795-1864), professor at Hamm, in Westphalia; his note on the front pastedown. 5.
Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), who purchased it in 1830 from Tross (pencil note,
front pastedown); his manuscript 4735 (Phillipps catalogue, p. 78, MS 4735 “Evangelium Berthildis”).
Then by descent to his heirs, the Fenwick family, Cheltenham; sold to Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach (18761952), Philadelphia. 6. Belonged to the Countess Estelle Doheny (1875-1958), one of the greatest
women book collectors in the United States, who purchased it from Rosenbach in 1950 (described
in Bond and Faye, 1962, p.13 no. 53); Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John‘s Seminary,
Camarillo, California, MS 53); Doheny sale, Christie‘s, Estelle Doheny Collection: part II, Medieval and
Renaissance Manuscripts, December 2, 1987, lot 139. 7. Belonged to Martin Schøyen (b. 1940), Oslo
and London, whose collection is described as the largest private manuscript collection formed in the
twentieth century; his MS 40. 8. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: The medieval catalogue of Liesborn Abbey from 1219 (Rose, 1905,
vol. II.3, p. 1444; Müller, 1987, p. 52). BERNARD WITTE, History of Westphalia, written c. 1500-30,
appendix, describing this manuscript and transcribing the dedicatory poem (R. P. Bernardi Wittii
ordinis s. Benedicti … Historia antiquae occidentalis Saxoniae, sec nunc Westphaliae …, Monasterii
Westphalorum, 1778, p. 753). Liesborn library catalogue dated 1795, O 67 (Rose, 1905, vol. II.3, p.
1442; cf. Müller, 1987, p. 52). “Repertorium der Urkunden und der Archivakten des Klosters
Liestborn” (now Staatsarchiv Münster, Repertorium Nr. A 140/2), after 1821. THOMAS PHILLIPPS, The
Phillipps manuscripts: Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomae Phillipps, Bt.,
impressum typis Medio-Montanis, 1837-1871, reprint with an introduction by A. N. L. Munby,
London, 1968, no. 4735. Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts in the Estelle Doheny Collection, Los
Angeles, 1946, part II, p. 4 and plate II. A. N. L. MUNBY, The Formation of the Phillipps Library up to
the Year 1840, Cambridge, 1954, p. 33, and 158, number 4735. E. WOLF AND J. F. FLEMING, Rosenbach:
A Biography, London, 1960, pp. 570-71. W. H. BOND AND C. U. FAYE, Supplement to the Census of
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, New York, 1962, p. 13, no.
53. RUTH MEYER, “Die Initialhandschriften des Liesborner Klosterbibliothek,” in Liesborn, Kunst und
Geschichte der ehemaligen Abtei, Oelde, Westf., 1965, pp. 43-49, at p. 44 and note 13. RICHARD
40
p. 1, Pater noster diagram, The Liesborn Gospels (reduced)
41
“Medieval Manuscripts and Early Printed Books,” A Bibliophile‘s Los Angeles. Essays for the
International Association of Bibliophiles on the Occasion of their XIVth Congress, ed. John Bidwell,
Los Angeles, 1985, pp. 43-80, at pp. 49 and 50. HELMUT MÜLLER, Das Bistum Münster 5. Das
Kanonissestift und Benediktiner Kloster Liesborn, Germania Sacra, Neue Folge 23, Die Bistümer der
Kirchenprovinz Köln, Berlin, 1987, pp. 40, 49, 60, 340-342. MICHAEL WESSING, Museum Abtei
Liesborn: Heimathaus des Kreises Warendorf; Museumsführer und Geschichte der Abtei, 1989,
pp. 67-68, abb. 29. L. A. MORRIS, Rosenbach Abroad: Pursuit of Books in Private Collections,
Philadelphia, 1988, p. 42, no. 4. SIGRID KRÄMER, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters,
Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge, Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Ergänzungsband 1, Munich,
1989-1990, p. 493. ANDREAS FINGERNAGEL, Die Illuminierten Lateinischen Handschriften Deutscher
Provenienz Der Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, 8.-12. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden,
1991, p. 32. J. BIDWELL, “Bible Collections in Los Angeles,” A Thousand Years of the Bible: an
Exhibition of Manuscripts from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, and Printed Books from the
Department of Special Collections, University Research Library, UCLA, Malibu and Los Angeles, 1991,
p. 12. C. DE HAMEL, “Chester Beatty and the Phillipps Manuscripts,” The Book Collector, Autumn
1991, reprinted, A. S. G. Edwards, ed., The Pleasures of Bibliophily, London and New Castle,
Delaware, 2003, pp. 240-49, at pp. 246-47. O. D. POPA, Bibliophiles and Bookthieves: The Search for
the Hildebrandslied and the Willehalm Codex, Berlin and New York, 2003, pp.122 and 126. EEF
OVERGAAUW AND BENNIE PRIDDY, Das Liesborner Evangeliar, The Schøyen Collection, Oslo/London,
MS 40, Warendorf, 2003.
ROUSE,
Das Bistum Münster 5. Das Kanonissestift und Benediktinerkloster Liesborn,
Germania Sacra, Neue Folge 23, Die Bistümer der Kirchenprovinz Köln, Berlin 1987.
MÜLLER, HELMUT.
OVERGAAUW, EEF AND BENNIE PRIDDY .
Das Liesborner Evangeliar, The Schøyen Collection,
Oslo/London, MS 40, Warendorf, 2003.
REHM, ULRICH.
Bebilderte Vaterunser-Erklärungen des Mittelalters, Baden-Baden, 1994.
Verzeichniss der Lateinischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin,
Zweiter Band: Die Handschriften der Kurfürstlichen Bibliothek und der Kurfürstlichen Lande, Dritte
Abteilung, Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Dreizehnter Band,
Berlin, 1905.
ROSE, VALENTIN.
SCHUNKE, ILSE.
Die Schwenke-Sammlung gotischer Stempel und Einbanddurchreibungen, Berlin,
1979.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Germania Sacra
http://adw-goe.de/en/research/research-projects-within-the-academies-programme/germania-sacra/
On Liesborn
http://rep.adw-goe.de/handle/11858/00-001S-0000-0003-16EE-D
EXHIBITED: Conference of European National Librarians, Oslo, September, 1994; Museum Abtei
Liesborn, March 30 - May 11, 2003; “Klostersturm und Fürsten Revolution,” in the Museum für Kunst
und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund, May 24 - August 17, 2003; “Verbum Domini I,” an exhibition of
Bibles and interfaith religion at the Vatican that debuted on 1 March 2012.
LITERATURE
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for
Books, New York, 1995 (on Sir Thomas Phillipps as a collector).
BASBANES, NICHOLAS A.
DE BRUYNE, DONATIEN.
Sommaires, divisions et rubriques de la Bible latine, Namur, 1914.
“HAEC FIGURA DEMONSTRAT: Diagrams in an early-thirteenth century
Parisian copy of Lothar de Segni‘s De Missarum Mysteriis,” Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 58
(2009), pp. 7-78.
HAMBURGER, JEFFREY F.
“Verborgene Schätze. Die mittelalterlichen Handschriften der Stifts- und
Dechaneibibliothek Freckenhorst,” in Freckenhorst, 851 - 2001: Aspekte einer 1150 jährigen
Geschichte [aus Anlaß des 1150 jährigen Ortsjubiläums], ed. Klaus Gruhn, Warendorf-Freckenhost,
2000, pp. 83-99.
HINZ, ULRICH.
HUTH, VOLKHARD. “Die Düsseldorfer Sakramentarhandschrift D1 als Memorialzeugnis. Mit einer
Wiedergabe der Namen und Namengruppe,“ Frühmittelalterliche Studien 20 (1986), pp. 213-298.
KIRCHNER, JOACHIM.
Scriptura Latina libraria, a saeculo primo usque ad finem Medii Aevi, Munich,
1955.
Das Römische Capitulare Evangeliorum: Texte und Untersuchungen zu Seiner
Ältesten Geschichte, Münster in Westf., 1935.
KLAUSER, THEODOR.
KROOS, RENATE. “Härkelse iut‘n Wastfölsken un Lippsken - Mittelalterliche Einbandstempel von
Liesborn, Falkenhagen und Lippstadt,” Westfalen 55 (1977), pp. 40-52.
KLEMM, ELISABETH. Die ottonischen und frühromanischen Handschriften der Bayerischen
Staatsbibliothek, Wiesbaden, 2004.
42
43
Fig. 1.1
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 6256, Paul
the Deacon, Homilies, f. 7v
44
Fig. 1.2
Münster, Museum für Kunst und Kultur,
Westfälisches Landesmuseum,
Inv. Nr. G-1008 LG, Codex aureus of
Freckenhorst, treasure binding
45
Fig. 1.3
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, MS
W.8, Mondsee Gospels,
treasure binding
Fig. 1.4
Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek,
MS Msc. Bibl. 96, Gospel Book, f. 53
Fig. 1.5
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,
Clm 8102, Gregory, Moralia in Job, f. 1
46
47
|2|
Gospel Lectionary
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Northern Spain, Catalonia (Ripoll?), c. 1040-60
High-quality, top-end, grand, expensive, stately, well-written, graceful,
unforgettable, beautifully laid out, finely preserved, southern European
Gospel Lectionary; a weighty museum-quality manuscript (would suit any
owner of an ivory or Limoges enamel plaque seeking the perfect receptacle
for its installation on the upper cover); calligraphic hands worth the effort
of disentangling, touching Visigothic and documentary scripts, maybe in
the context of an episcopal household; from a world of incense, velvet,
Roman marble, candlelight, pilgrims, miracles, and sanctity; spectacular
frontispiece, like a Mozarabic carpet, with echoes of patterns traded across
Europe; intense madder red, coral pink, sea blue, metallic green; in almost
perfect condition for a thousand-year-old book; published in color in the
Monumenta Codicum Manu Scriptorum of H. P. Kraus, the greatest
bookseller‘s catalogue of modern times.
A Gospel Lectionary includes the Gospel readings for the Mass, arranged
according to the liturgical year (this manuscript also includes prayers for many
of the feasts). Biblical readings are a central part of every Mass. Most Masses
included two readings of which the second and more important was always from
the Gospels. Although these Mass readings or pericopes were entirely biblical,
complete Bibles were probably rarely used liturgically. Instead, there were a
number of different types of specialized manuscripts for this purpose. Gospel
Books were common, especially early in the Middle Ages, such as that from
Liesborn (no. 1), equipped with lists of the Gospel readings in liturgical order
(capitularies or capitulare evangeliorum). Gospel Lectionaries, however, were an
even more practical solution, and included only the text of the appropriate
pericopes arranged in the order of the liturgical year rather than in the order of
the Bible (see also no. 3).
49
50
ff. 4v-5, full-page illuminated ‘L‘, Gospel Lectionary
51
The Gospel Lectionary therefore lies at the very heart of medieval religious belief
and practice, and provides a close-up view of worship in the medieval Church.
Because Lectionaries were usually copied from other Lectionaries rather than
from complete Bibles, they can sometimes preserve readings of considerable
textual value. The history of the Vulgate in Spain is of special interest, and the
text of this Lectionary deserves careful study and comparison with Spanish
Gospel Books and Bibles.
We do not know exactly where this Lectionary was copied. There are no medieval
ex libris notes or other evidence of ownership. Nonetheless, the cumulative
evidence of its text, script, and decoration, suggests that the manuscript was
copied at Santa Maria de Ripoll, one of the most important monasteries in
eleventh-century Catalonia, or at a monastery within Ripoll‘s sphere of influence.
First of all, it is clearly for monastic use. It includes readings for the feasts of
Saint Benedict and his translation, and there is an added marginal note on f. 116
stipulating that at this place during the reading, the brother were to rise up (“Ibi
surgant fratres”). The style of the illumination is consistent with an origin in
Catalonia. On f. 223 there are readings for the dedication of a basilica (In
dedicatione basilicae). The Abbatial Church at Ripoll was accorded the special status
of “basilica,” and this term is used in documents describing its dedication in 1032.
The manuscript belongs to the moment in the mid-eleventh century when the
old Mozarabic rite of Catalonia was being superseded by the Roman. Remnants
of distinct Mozarabic traditions occur here, for example, in the indication for the
season of Lent to begin on the Sunday following Ash Wednesday (Dominica
initium quadragesima, f. 43v). The script too points to a date around 1040-60. It
is copied in an expert, rather calligraphic caroline minuscule, with features
characteristic of Spanish scripts, such as the frequent use of an open-topped ‘a‘
(resembling ‘u‘). This letter form derives from Visigothic minuscule, the uniquely
Iberian script descended ultimately from provincial Roman cursive. Other
Spanish features here include the form of ‘z‘ (both the zig-zag form and a cedillac), tironian-7 for “et” with a long flat top stroke, and abbreviations including
“dis” for discipulis, 'n', with a superscript line for “non”, “omia” for “omnia”,
“dmc” for “dominica,” and spellings (e.g. “hȩdifcanti”). A manuscript of the
Phaenomena of Aratus copied at Ripoll in 1056, Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana, MS Reg. lat. 123, shows many of these features including the open ‘a‘
(Puigvert, 1998) (fig. 2.1).
The Lectionary includes one very striking full-page decoration based on the word
“Liber,” for the Gospel reading for Christmas Day: “Liber generationis Ihesu
Christi, filii David, filii Abraham …” (Matthew 1:1-16), with wild, spiky vines,
52
f. 116, “Ibi surgant fratres,” Gospel Lectionary
53
54
ff. 90v-91, initials, Gospel Lectionary
55
animal-heads spouting flames, and gorgeous colors, including deep purple with
red spots, soft blue, and dark green. It is entirely consistent with illumination
from Ripoll and related scriptoria, such as Vic (we thank Matthew Wetherby for
sharing his research on this manuscript; to be published). One example from
Ripoll itself is the initial ‘F‘ from the opening folios of the Ripoll Bible, Vatican
City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 5729, that shows similarities
with the illumination in this Lectionary, as does the vivid green color used in the
Bible in the illustrations for Genesis and Ezekiel. Similar infilling of foliates and
flourished tips of leaves are found in the initial ‘Q‘ in a sermon manuscript from
Ripoll from the mid-eleventh century (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1954, fol. 20v)
(fig. 2.2). In a wider arc, the Roda Pontifical, Arxiu Capitular de Lleida, MS RC 36
(formerly MS 16) (fig. 2.3), copied c. 1000, has a similar frame, and Arxiu i
Biblioteca Episcopal de Vic, MS 44, f. 87v (formerly, Vic, Museo Episcopal inv. 7501)
(fig. 2.4), partially dated 1064, has similar spouting dragon heads. Vic and Ripoll
were very close geographically and institutionally in the eleventh century (Oliba,
who died in 1046, was abbot of Ripoll and bishop of Vic).
Some of the most striking comparisons for the style of this decoration illustrate
the international nature of the monastic world in the eleventh century. Catalonia
maintained close artistic links with both France and Italy; in fact this Lectionary
was at one time attributed to Milan (Kraus, 1974). Its artists have stylistic links
with the work of an Italian artist, Nivardus, who worked in France at the abbey
of Fleury earlier in the eleventh century (Nordenfalk, 1953). The full-page and
bordered initial ‘L‘ from the Gospel of Matthew in Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1126 offers
close comparison to the mise-en-page of the Gospel Lectionary described here
(fig. 2.5), and the spiky foliates and the interlace of the borders in Los Angeles,
Getty Museum, MS Ludwig V 1, also attributed to Nivardus, compare similarly
(Teviotdale, 2011). Stylistic similarities can also be found in another manuscript
probably copied at Fleury c. 1000 by a different artist, Baltimore, Walters Art
Museum MS W. 3 (in particular, the bird-like heads with red foliage flowing from
their mouths) (fig. 2.6). In the early eleventh century Fleury shared close
connections to the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll in Catalonia, including
documented exchanges of books.
The organization of this manuscript is of special interest, suggesting that it was
copied from an exemplar arranged differently. Later in the Middle Ages, certainly
by the twelfth century, most liturgical books arranged their contents according
to the Temporale (or Proper of Time, the Sundays and festivals commemorating
the Life of Christ) and the Sanctorale (or Proper of the Saints, including feasts
celebrating the Virgin Mary). Early lists of readings, in contrast, were organized
according to the calendar year, with the feasts of the Temporale and Sanctorale
56
f. 141v, initials, Gospel Lectionary
57
mixed together (for example, see the organization of the readings in the
Capitulare evangeliorum in the Liesborn Gospels, no. 1). In this Lectionary sections
of the Temporale alternate with sections including feasts for the Sanctorale,
following seamlessly from one to the next. The manuscript begins with
Christmas (later, most manuscripts would begin with the first Sunday in Advent),
followed by the series of feasts through the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. This
section of the Temporale is followed by feasts of the saints from January through
the end of March, which are in turn followed by feasts from the Temporale
beginning in Lent, and so forth. The two feast days added at the very beginning
of the manuscript, Ambrose (7 December), and Mark (25 April), seem to have
been omitted in error in their proper places, and so were added at the beginning.
The summer Sundays are counted after Pentecost (in contrast with the much
earlier practice seen in the Liesborn Gospels, no. 1), but the inclusion of Trinity
Sunday at the end of the series immediately before the first Sunday in Advent is
noteworthy. Trinity Sunday, celebrated on the Sunday following Pentecost, was
mandated for the whole church very late in the Middle Ages in 1334. Its
placement in this manuscript is in keeping with liturgical custom in the eleventh
century.
Everything about this volume is extraordinarily elegant. The pages are slightly tall
in shape, with generous margins. We know that it is the same size today (or very
close) as it was when it was first made, since it preserves the marginal prickings
made when the pages were ruled. The layout is well-proportioned, with ample
room between each line. This was a volume that was easily read and well-suited
for its function as a volume for public reading. The script is very beautiful, and
obviously the product of well-trained scribes. Some majuscules within the text
are neatly highlighted with careful strokes of red, yellow or blue. This is not an
arbitrary detail of decoration, but reflects very old practices in presenting the
biblical text. Each lection begins with a colored initial, most often red, but
sometimes in blue; these are always attractive, and notable for their ingenuity.
Since this is a lectionary, many are the letter ‘I‘ for readings beginning “In illo
tempore” (At that time …). The scribe took care to vary their shape. The
decorative majuscules preceding the illuminated pages were probably a twelfthcentury addition (see also no. 3), but are in keeping with this aesthetic inclination.
Spanish Romanesque manuscripts are extremely rare and almost never find their
way onto the market. A manuscript this early, and of this quality, from Spain is
especially important. It is a lovely volume, noteworthy for its animated and
vibrantly colored full-page initial introducing the Gospel reading for Christmas
Day, but also for the decorative initials on each page.
58
f. 154, prickings and notes for the rubricator, Gospel Lectionary
59
ff. 34-140, Temporale from Septuagesima to Letania maior (25 April) [Reading for Good Friday ends
f. 127v; f. 128rv was left blank except for a rubric on f. 128v, Sabbato sancto; blank space for initial
remains on f. 129]; ff. 140v-141v, Sanctorale, Vitalis to Gordianus and Epimachus (28 April-10 May);
ff. 142-146, Temporale, Ascension to the octave of Pentecost; ff. 146v-162v, Sanctorale, Gervasius and
Protasius to Andrew (16 June-30 November) [Among the feasts included are John the Baptist, the
translation of Benedict, Lawrence, Assumption, Nativity of Mary, All Saints, Martin, Cecelia, Clement
and Andrew]; ff. 163-214, Temporale, first Sunday after Pentecost to the end of Advent [Feasts are
counted after Pentecost (concluding with Dominica xxv), followed by Trinity Sunday, and four
Sundays in Advent]; ff. 214v-221v, Common of Saints including a prayer designated (in the rubric)
for Felicity (f. 221v), but containing the prayer used for any virgin martyr; ff. 222-226, Votive Masses:
De sancta cruce, Pro quacumque tribulatione, In dedicatione basilicȩ (two readings, ff. 223-224v),
concluding with readings for a Mass for the dead, In agenda mortuorum; ends mid f. 226; remainder
and f. 226v, blank.
Ripoll, porch
PHYSICAL DESRIPTION: 226 folios on parchment, modern foliation in pencil bottom inside
corner, complete (collation i4 [1, pastedown] ii-iii8 iv8 [with a small slip inserted between 6 and 7
before f. 27] v-xx8 xxi6 xxii8 [2, f. 164, and 7, f. 169 are single] xxiii-xxix8), no original catchwords or
signatures, quires numbered in a modern hand in pencil bottom inner corner on the first leaf, ruled
in hard point with the top two or three and bottom three or four horizontal rules full across, double
vertical bounding lines, vertical lines apparently executed for each bifolium individually, lines scored
four sheets at a time, prickings in three outer margins throughout (justification 157-152 x 91-82
mm.), written above the top ruled line in brown ink in a caroline minuscule in seventeen to eighteen
long lines, except quire ten, ff. 69-76, with twenty-one long lines, blank space for initial on f. 129,
some notes for the rubricator visible in the far outer margins, red rubrics, majuscules at the
beginning of a line are copied between the outer bounding lines, capitals touched in yellow, red or
blue, numerous very attractive and inventively shaped large (seven- to one-line) red or blue initials,
some with decorative void spaces within the initials, often decorated with opposite color, ONE FULLPAGE INTERLACE INITIAL ‘L‘ (Liber) on f. 5 in shades of blue, bright red, and yellow on a deep purple
and green ground, WITH FULL BORDER, some flaking of pigments on f. 5, rust stains with holes and
minor damage at center of the upper edges of ff. 1-6, suggesting that the volume was chained at
some point before being rebound, otherwise in remarkable condition for its age and rarity. Modern
binding of suede leather over early wooden boards, fairly thick and extending only slightly beyond
the book block, spine with two raised bands, head and tail bands, with brass clasp closing back to
front, in excellent condition, housed in modern fitted black box with red leather labels on spine,
lettered in gilt “Gospel Lectionary; Spain, Catalonia?, c. 1075.” Dimensions 234 x 145 mm.
TEXT: [There are no divisions into sections in the manuscript according to the Temporale or
Sanctorale; each feast follows the next seamlessly. The sections in the description below, used for
clarity, are not found in the manuscript.] ff. 1-3, blank; f. 3v, In natali sancti ambrosii, incipit, “Deus
qui nos annua beati ambrosii confessoris tui atque pontificis sollempnia frequentare …”; In sancti
Marci euangelistae, incipit, “Deus qui beatum Marcum euangelistam tuum …” [Readings for the
Feasts of Ambrose (December 7) and Mark (April 25)]; ff. 4-28, Temporale from the Christmas vigil
to the fifth Sunday after Epiphany [Begins with the Christmas Vigil (Matthew. 1:17-21) on f. 4; f. 4v,
originally blank, now has Initium sancti Euangelii Secundum Matheum, copied in decorative capitals,
introducing the text on f. 5, which is the first word of Matthew‘s Gospel (“Liber”), with the text of
Matthew 1:1-16 continuing on ff. 5v-6v; followed by the readings for the three Masses of Christmas
(“Exiit editum”, “Pastores loquebantur” and “In principio”), beginning on f. 7. Christmas is followed
by the usual saints from Stephen through Silvester, and the feast of the Circumcision; note that the
Sundays are counted from Christmas, and not Epiphany, and there are therefore six Sundays
following Christmas]; ff. 28v-33v, Sanctorale, Marcellus to the Annunciation (16 January-25 March)
[Readings for the feasts Marcellus (16 January), Prisca, Agnes, Vincent, Conversion of Paul, Agnes
secundo, Purification, Chair of Peter, Gregory, Benedict (21 March), and the Annunciation (25 March)];
SCRIPT: Discussed in detail above. Other distinctly Spanish features include the use of multiple (and
often peculiar) forms for a single majuscule letter (e.g., ‘D‘ on ff. 11v-12, 29v-30, 31v-32; ‘S‘ on
ff. 114v-115, 156v-157; and ‘I‘ on ff. 139v-140, 141v-142, and 207v-208). The display script on f. 4v,
added in the twelfth century, is characteristically Spanish as well; see for example the Bible, Lérida,
Capitular Archives, MS 1, from Catalonia, in the last quarter of the twelfth century (Cahn, 1982,
pp. 290-292, no. 144).
ILLUSTRATION: On f. 5 there is a full-page decoration based on the word “Liber,” for the Gospel
reading for Christmas Day: “Liber generationis Ihesu Christi, filii David, filii Abraham …” (Matthew
1:1-16). The ‘L‘ fills much of the enclosed space, while the remaining letters were written in red in
smaller capitals on the rectangular green panel to the right. Animal-head terminals enliven the
interlace patterns of the ‘L‘, while the vines of the border have, in contrast, a more distinctly spiky
quality. These patterns are all characteristically Iberian, as are the colors, especially the deep purple
with red spots for the ground, the soft blue, and the dark green.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Almost certainly made in Catalonia, possibly at Ripoll or at an
affiliated house, c. 1040-60 (see above). 2. H. P. Kraus, Monumenta Codicum Manu Scriptorum,
1974, no. 9, part of what is probably the most prestigious catalogue of manuscripts ever issued by
a bookseller. 3. Bruce Ferrini and Les Enluminures, ltd., Important Illuminated Manuscripts, 2000,
no. 9. 4. Richard Adams, Private Collection, Washington D.C., his ex libris inside front cover. 5. Idda
Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: H. P. KRAUS, Monumenta Codicum Manu Scriptorum, New York, 1974,
no. 9, pp. 24-25. MARGOT MCILWAIN NISHIMURA, Important Illuminated Manuscripts, Bruce Ferrini
and Les Enluminures, Akron, Ohio, and Paris, 2000, no. 9.
LITERATURE
Manuscrits
enluminés de la péninsule ibérique, Bibliothèque nationale, Département des manuscrits, Centre
de recherches sur les manuscrits enluminés, Paris, 1982.
AVRIL, FRANÇOIS, JEAN-PIERRE ANIEL, MIREILLE MENTRÉ, ALIX SAULNIER AND YOLANTA ZAŁUSKA.
CAHN, WALTER.
Romanesque Bible Illumination, Ithaca, New York, 1982.
“Las Biblias de Rodes y Ripoll: una encrucijada del
arte románico en Catalunya,” in Les fonts de la pintura románica, ed. C. Mancho and M. Guardia,
Barcelona, 2008, pp. 219-260.
CASTIÑEIRAS, MANUEL, AND IMMACULADA LORÉS.
“Between Art, Faith and Science. The Concept of Creation in the Ripoll and
Roda Romanesque Bibles,” Iconographica 6 (2007), pp. 19-43.
CONTESSA, ANDREINA.
DODWELL, CHARLES.
60
The Pictorial Arts of the West, 800-1200, New Haven, 1993.
61
DOMÍNGUEZ BORDONA, JESÚS.
Spanish Illumination, Florence and New York, 1930.
IBARBURU ASURMENDI, MARÍA EUGENIA.
JUNYENT, EDUARDO, ed.
JANINI, JOSÉ.
De capitibus litterarum et aliis figuris, Barcelona, 1999.
Diplomatari i escrits literaris de l‘abat i bisbe Oliba, Barcelona, 1992.
Manuscritos litúrgicos de las bibliotecas de España, Burgos, 1977-1980.
“Importación, exportación, y expoliaciones de códices en Cataluña (siglos VIII al
XIII),” in Coloquio sobre circulacion de codices y escritos entre Europa y la peninsula en los siglos VIIIXIII, 16-19 septiembre 1982, Santiago de Compostela, 1988, pp. 87-134.
MUNDÓ, ANSCARI.
“A Tenth-Century Gospel Book in the Walters Gallery,” in Studies in the History
of Book Illumination, London, 1992, pp. 193-198.
NORDENFALK, CARL.
“A Travelling Milanese Artist in France at the Beginning of the Eleventh Century,”
in Arte del primo millennio: atti del 2. Convegno per lo studio dell‘arte dell‘alto medio evo tenuto
presso l‘Università di Pavia nel settembre 1950, ed. Edoardo Arslan, Turin, 1953, pp. 374-380.
NORDENFALK, CARL.
“El manuscrito Vat. Reg. Lat. 123 y su posible adscripción al Scriptorium de Santa
Maria de Ripoll,” in Roma, magistra mundi. Itineraria culturae medievalis. Parvi flores. Mélanges
offerts au Père L.E. Boyle à l‘occasion de son 75e anniversaire, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1998, pp. 285-316.
PUIGVERT, GEMMA.
Das Sakramentar Von Beauvais: MS. Ludwig V 1, J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles, Codices selecti 127, Graz, 2011.
TEVIOTDALE, ELIZABETH C.
WILLIAMS, JOHN.
Fig. 2.1
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
MS Reg. lat. 123, Aratus, Phaenomena, f. 17v
Early Spanish Manuscript Illumination, London, 1977.
Hispania Vetus: Musical-liturgical Manuscripts from Visigothic Origins to the
Franco-Roman Transition (9th-12th centuries), Bilbao, 2007.
ZAPKE, SUSANA ed.
Fig. 2.2
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1954, Sermons, f. 20v
ONLINE RESOURCES
Jean-Baptiste Lebique, “Les livres de la messe Les livres des lectures de la messe,”
in Initiation aux manuscrits liturgiques, Ædilis, Publications pédagogiques, 6, Paris-Orléans, 2007
http://aedilis.irht.cnrs.fr/initiation-liturgie/lectures-messe.htm
62
63
Fig. 2.3
Lleida, Arxiu Capitular de Lleida,
RC 36, Roda Pontifical, f. 38
Fig. 2.4
Vic, Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal,
MS 44, Isidore, De summo bono, f. 87v
64
Fig. 2.5
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1126,
Evangeliarium, f. 2v
Fig. 2.6
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum,
MS W.3, Gospel Book, f. 20
65
|3|
Gospel Lectionary
Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Lorvâo?, or Northern Spain), c. 1140-60
Southern European, touching the Atlantic coast, from a world of restful
dark churches in an Iberian landscape of almost unbearable heat and
brightness of sun; red and brown swirling ornament; primitive, from the
edge, Christianity between Judaism and Islam; little, easy to hold, easy to
read; corrected, recited, chanted, the Passion marked up for public
performance, at the pre-dawn of theater ; extraordinarily rare; mysterious,
strange, full of secrets, somehow reached South America, possibly very
early; red edges, royal seals.
This manuscript is a twelfth-century Gospel Lectionary that includes the
readings for the Mass from the Gospels, arranged according to the order of the
liturgical year. Excerpts from the Gospels were not read in order during the year
(a liturgical practice known as lectura continua, which may in fact have been the
case in the very early Church – it is a debated point), but instead, passages
appropriate to the liturgical occasion were chosen for reading. It was therefore
convenient to use a book such as this one that included just the passages read in
church, arranged in the order they were read, instead of using a Gospel Book like
the Liesborn Gospels (no. 1). The twelfth century was the century of the Gospel
Lectionary. Earlier in the Middle Ages, Gospel Books were more common, and
later in the Middle Ages, the Missal, which included all the texts for the Mass
including the readings in one volume, to some extent replaced the Lectionary.
This twelfth-century Lectionary can be compared with the earlier Catalonian
Lectionary also described here (no. 2). The most immediate difference is how its
contents are organized, with the feasts of the Temporale and Sanctorale clearly
separated into two different sections. The order of this volume is, however, a
f. 54v, (detail), Gospel Lectionary
67
68
ff. 17v-18, display script, Gospel Lectionary
69
little curious. It now begins in the middle of the Sanctorale, followed by the
Common of Saints, and then by the Temporale. A more usual arrangement
would be to begin with the feasts for the Temporale, followed by the Sanctorale
and the Common of Saints. Whether this idiosyncratic order has any meaning is
difficult to say; it is not the result of the texts being bound out of order, since the
Temporale begins in the middle of a quire immediately following the Common
of Saints, and there are no other signs of disarrangement. Like the Catalonian
Lectionary, this manuscript includes prayers for various feasts, but here they are
gathered together in a separate section at the end of the book, rather than being
copied following the Gospel texts. Also included are a series of readings for
Votive Masses – that is, Masses for special occasions, always an interesting
section: here we have Masses for the Trinity, the Holy Cross, Mary, Michael, for
rain, for a priest (ad missam sacerdotis), to request the grace of the Holy Spirit, for
a friend (pro amico), for charity, for a journey, and for the sick.
The Gospels were chanted by the deacon during Mass according to simple tones
that were memorized. The accounts of Christ‘s Passion read on Palm Sunday
and during Holy Week, however, were special, and different tones were used for
each of the important speakers (or groups of speakers) within the narrative. Here
there are small letters added above the line of text in red or brown ink to indicate
the pitch, tempo and volume for Christ, the narrator, and the crowds and
disciples (a cross for Christ, ‘c‘ and ‘s‘). Similar letters were added later in the
Middle Ages between the lines in the Passion narratives in the Liesborn Gospels
(no. 1); they are not found in the Catalonian Lectionary (no. 2). By the thirteenth
century there is evidence that these different parts of the Passion lessons were
divided among different people, and historians have linked this liturgical practice
to the development of liturgical drama – in particular the Passion play – in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The manuscript was copied in an upright twelfth-century minuscule; evidence
of the script, use of hard point ruling, and the style of the decoration all support
an origin around the middle of the century in the Iberian Peninsula. The script
includes a number of Iberian features, including a distinctive ‘z‘, long, flat-topped
tironian-7, and characteristic abbreviations (including “dms” for “dominus”) and
spellings, including “epiphania.” Establishing exactly where this little Lectionary
was copied, however, remains a matter for further research. Since it includes
the translation of St. Benedict in the Sanctorale, and prayers for St. Benedict and
his sister, St. Scholastica, it seems likely that it was copied at a Benedictine
monastery. Given that fact, the format of this Lectionary is rather interesting.
It was originally somewhat larger (evidence of trimming by a later binder, a
70
f. 1, penwork initial, Gospel Lectionary
71
72
ff. 18v-19, display script, blank space for an initial, Gospel Lectionary
73
ff. 31v-32, initials, Gospel Lectionary
74
75
common occurrence, is especially evident here in the upper margin, which is
trimmed very closely along the top of the text), but even so, this was always
quite a small volume. Perhaps it was copied for use while travelling (maybe by
the Abbot, since Benedictine monks were discouraged form travelling) or for use
at a side altar? It includes few particularly Spanish or Portuguese saints, apart
from St. Eulaia of Mérida, who was popular throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
Since there are only two large initials in the volume, the inclusion of an initial
for the readings for the feast of St. John the Baptist may be significant (the other
initial is at Palm Sunday, and there is a blank space for an initial on f. 22 at
Septuagesima Sunday).
The display script used before three important feasts is one of this manuscript‘s
most striking features. The forms of the capitals are wildly imaginative (certainly
not reproducing ancient scripts), and are intertwined to produce highly
decorative patterns. On f. 18, the Temporale begins with two lines of display
script (two lines high) copied on six ruled lines in red and black letters, Item ordo
de evangeliorum. Dominica primo in aduentus domini secundum marcum; on f. 19,
two lines of display script in red and black letters, copied between three ruled
lines, are used for the opening words of the text of Matthew 21:1 (with a space
left blank for an eleven-line initial), and on f. 53, there are two lines of display
script in red followed by the initial for Palm Sunday. Decorative display scripts
are a common feature in twelfth-century Iberian manuscripts. Numerous
examples could be cited including the Missal, Salamanca, Universidad, Archivo
y Biblioteca, MS 2673 (discussed below), a copy of Gilbert de la Porré‘s
Commentary on the Psalms, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 17210 (fig. 3.1), and the Lives of the
Saints, London, British Library, Egerton MS 2656, all Iberian from the second half
of the twelfth century, as well as the decorative majuscules added as a heading
on f. 4v of the Catalonian Lectionary described here (no. 2).
The decoration in this Lectionary is otherwise restrained; in addition to numerous
red initials, some with simple pen decoration (found at the beginning of each
Gospel reading), it includes only two larger initials with braided interlace and
foliage, both outlined in pen, without coloring. These initials may be compared
with the initial on f. 1 of Paris, BnF, MS lat. 4713 (Julianus Antecessor, Epitome), a
manuscript that has not been securely localized, although Catalonia in the first
half of the twelfth century has been suggested (Avril, et al., 1982, p. 54, no. 54,
plate XXVII) (fig. 3.2). A Plenary Missal, now Salamanca, Universidad, Archivo y
Biblioteca, MS 2673, was copied in a similar script, with similar minor decoration
and interlace initials, in this case painted (cf. in particular the initial in the Missal
on f. 14v, and the initial on f. 54v of our manuscript). Where this Missal was
76
f. 69, interlinear red letters for dramatic reading of the Passion, Gospel Lectionary
77
copied is not known, although Salamanca has been suggested as a possibility
(we thank Professor Manuel Pedro Ferreira for his help with this matter), but it
includes Aquitanian neumes of the Portuguese type.
The later history of our Lectionary suggests that it may in fact have been copied
in Portugal, or at least that it was in Portugal at some point in its history. It
includes two red wax seals from the Crown Prince of Portugal added on the spine
and inside the front cover, probably in the eighteenth century. Although hardly
evidence of royal ownership, they suggest that the manuscript was in Portugal
at that time. Later it was owned by Professor José Anthero Pereira, Jr. (d. 1970)
of São Paulo, Brazil (Pereira, 1941). The general appearance of the script,
especially the rectangular shape of most letters, noticeable in particular in the
oval-shaped ‘o‘, the smooth tops to letters such as ‘m‘ and ‘n‘, and the angular
finishing strokes found on the top of the ascenders, are found in other
manuscripts from Portugal from this period, including, for example, Lisbon,
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais [formerly Arquivo da Torre de Tombe], Lorvâo
16, a Martyrology from Lorvâo, dating c. 1170 (Burnam, 1913-25, no. xlviii) (fig.
3.3). The complex interlace found in the initials of this manuscript is also similar
to the interlace used in the initials in our Lectionary.
The monastery of Lorvâo, found about twenty kilometres west of Coimbra, was
an ancient foundation, possibly even dating before the ninth-century Christian
re-conquest of Coimbra in 878. In the eleventh century, the monastery adopted
the Benedictine Rule, and later in 1206 it became a Cistercian convent for nuns.
It prospered in the twelfth century, rebuilding its church and cloister, and its
scriptorium was one of the most the most important in Portugal. The Apocalypse
of Lorvâo (Lisbon, Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais [formerly Arquivo da Torre do
Tombo], MS 160) copied in 1189 by the scribe Egeas (or Egas), can be claimed as
the most important illuminated twelfth-century Portuguese manuscript
(Duggan, 1990). Further research is needed, however, to establish with certainty
whether this Lectionary was in fact copied at Lorvâo, or elsewhere in Portugal
or even in a neighboring area of Northern Spain.
78
Spine and inside front cover, wax seals, Gospel Lectionary
79
In primus de sancta trinitate. Que ęcclesia suffragia dicuntur; Votive masses for the Trinity, Holy
Cross, Mary, Michael, for rain, ad postulandum serenitatem, for a priest (ad missam sacerdotis), to
request the grace of the Holy Spirit, for a friend (pro amico), for charity, for a journey, and for the
sick; – ff. 118v-122, Alternate Gospel lections for feria iv and vi; f. 120v, Gospel lections for a Mass
for the dead (pro defunctis); – ff. 122-127v, Prayers for the Temporale and Sanctorale, concluding
imperfectly with the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost; among the relatively few saints included
note Benedict and Scholastica [Includes prayers for the four Sundays in Advent, Nicholas, Lucy,
Thomas, Stephen, John, Holy Innocents, Silvester, Epiphany, the Sundays after Epiphany, Marcellus,
Sebastian, Agnes, Vincent, Conversion of Paul, Purification, Agatha, Scholastica, Valentine, St. Peter‘s
Chair, Peter, Matthew, Processus and Felicity, George, Benedict, Lent, Easter, Sundays following Easter,
Ascension, “In die sancto spiritus,” Pentecost and the following Sundays, ending imperfectly with the
seventeeth Sunday].
Lorvâo, Monastery
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ii (paper) + 127 + i (modern paper) folios on parchment (numerous
original holes and other defects, many repaired with contemporary sewing, e.g. ff. 68, 69, 72),
modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, leaves are lacking at the beginning and end and
two folios are lacking after f. 3 (collation i8 [-4 and 5, with loss of text] ii-xvi8 xvii8 [probably originally
a quire of eight, now with only one leaf, so -2 through 8]), horizontal catchwords center lower
margin (some trimmed), no leaf or quire signatures, ruled in hard point with the top, third,
penultimate and bottom horizontal rules usually full across, single vertical bounding lines sometimes
full length (justification 173-168 x 98 mm.), written on the top ruled line in an elegant twelfthcentury minuscule in twenty-three long lines, brief phrases of musical notation (neumes) on f. 15v
(in red above the line of text) and in the margin of f. 86v (in brown ink, staffless, clearly added but
early), red rubrics, the Passion Sequences include indications of the readers in red (c, s, and a cross),
some capitals are touched in red, over three hundred seven- to three-line red initials, mostly the
initial ‘I‘ (“In illo tempore”) in decorative designs often with flourishes, f. 18v, six-line red initial with
penwork decoration, SIX LINES OF HEADINGS IN ELABORATE ORNAMENTAL CAPITALS (ff. 18, 19 and
53) in red and black, or red, TWO LARGE PENWORK INITIALS, eleven- and thirteen-line, ff. 1 and 54,
outlined in black ink with interlacing and foliage, signs of much use, damp-stained in outer margins,
trimmed, quite close in the upper margin, and with partial loss of a few marginal notes, repairs to
the lower margins throughout (especially quire one and the outer bifolia of other quires), other
minor tears and defects. Bound in eighteenth-century brown mottled leather, spine with six raised
bands, simple gilt decoration and title tooled in blind: “MISCEL./ No. <?> .XIV,” edges dyed red,
rebacked with the spine laid down, boards bowed, edges and top and bottom of spine with some
wear, but in good condition, remains of wax seal on spine (Crown Prince of Portugal?, see below).
Dimensions 210-203 x 134 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-6, Sanctorale, now beginning imperfectly, “// autem non poterat loqui ad illos …” [Luke
1:22], in the feast John the Baptist (24 June), then continuing with John and Paul (26 June) to
Andrew (30 November) [Among the feasts included note, Iraenus (28vi, Bishop of Lyons?), translation
of Martin (4vii), Benedict (translation 11vii), Praxedis (21vii), Gorgonius (9ix), Maurice (22ix),
Andochius and Thyrsus, here “et Canelici” (24ix), Victor (of Marseille, 29ix), Dionysius (9x), Gerald
(presumably Gerald, count of Aurillac,13x), followed by Junianus (hermit, duplex at Limoges, 16x),
Luke (18x) and Aquilinus of Evreux (19x), “Teudericus” (Theudericus, monk at Lérins and founded
monasteries near Vienne, 29x), followed by All Saints (1xi), Lauterius abbot and Benignus et alii (of
Dijon?, 1xi), Eucherius (of Lyon, 16xi), Nicholas (6xii), Syrus, bishop (of Pavia, 9xii), Eulalia (of Mérida,
10xii), Lucy (13xii), and Thomas (presumably the Apostle, 21xii)]; ff. 6-18, Common of Saints; ff. 18117, Temporale from the first Sunday in Advent to the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost,
concluding with the Sunday before Advent (Dominica ante adventum) [The fourth Sunday in Advent
is listed as a Dominica vacat; Lent begins with Dominica in Quadragesima, followed by another
Dominica vacat; the first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday (mandated as a feast for the general
church very late in 1334, but observed earlier in many dioceses)]; – ff. 117-118v, Ordo euangeliorum.
80
SCRIPT: The script is a twelfth-century minuscule datable to the middle of the twelfth century, c.
1140-60; the scribe uses both the ampersand and the tironian-7 to abbreviate “et,” e-cedilla is found
occasionally, round letters are written separately with the exception of ‘pp‘, ascenders are slightly
forked, and minims are finished with an upward stroke; the decoration and the use of hard point
ruling suggest a date more towards the middle of the century. The script includes numerous Iberian
features, including a distinctive ‘z‘, long, flat-topped tironian-7, and characteristic abbreviations and
spellings. The script is similar to that of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Wilson Special Collections Library, MS 98, Isidore, Quaestiones in vetus testamentum
written in Castille in 1173 (Thomson, 1969, no. 112) (fig. 3.4).
ILLUSTRATION: Two initials drawn in ink, and left uncolored: f. 1, for the Feast of St. John the
Baptist, eleven-line initial, decorated with shading and acanthus in black ink; f. 54v, for Palm Sunday,
thirteen-line initial, infilled with a large acanthus leaf at the top of the initial, and elaborate interlace
below; and one large six-line red initial with pen decoration on f. 18v. Decorative display script: f.
18, the Temporale begins with two lines of display script (two lines high) copied on six ruled lines in
red and black letters, Item Ordo de Evangeliorum. Dominico primo in aduentus domini secundum
marcum; f. 19, two lines of display script in red and black letters copied between three ruled lines
used for the opening words of the text of Matthew 21:1 (with a space left blank for an eleven-line
initial); f. 53, two lines of display script in red (followed by the initial for Palm Sunday); on f. 22, the
rubric of Septuagesima Sunday is copied in a slightly larger than usual script, followed by a blank
for twelve-line initial.
OWNERSHIP AND ORIGIN: 1. The evidence of the script supports an origin around the middle
of the twelfth century; includes the translation of St. Benedict in the Sanctorale, and Benedict and
Scholastica in the final prayers, suggesting it was copied in a Benedictine monastery. Eulaia of
Mérida, also included, was popular throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The script and the style of the
initials suggest that it may have been copied in Northern Spain or Portugal (discussed above). 2. Two
later notes, see ff. 44 and 116. 3. Two red wax seals, on spine (partially overlaid), and inside front
cover with the arms of the crown prince of Portugal. 4. Belonged to Professor José Anthero Pereira,
Jr. (d. 1970), of São Paulo, Brazil, whose estate sold it at Sotheby‘s, December 6, 1983, lot 47. 5.
London, Sam Fogg, Cat. 16, 1995, no. 29. 6. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: JOSÉ A. PEREIRA, JR. , “Estudo de manuscrito,” Revista do arquivo
municipal São Paulo 76 (May, 1941), pp. 135-40. SAM FOGG RARE BOOKS, Text Manuscripts and
Documents, Catalogue 16, pp. 38-41, no. 29.
LITERATURE
Manuscrits
enluminés de la péninsule ibérique, Bibliothèque nationale, Département des manuscrits, Centre
de recherches sur les manuscrits enluminés, Paris, 1982.
AVRIL, FRANÇOIS, JEAN-PIERRE ANIEL, MIREILLE MENTRÉ, ALIX SAULNIER AND YOLANTA ZAŁUSKA.
81
Palæographia iberica; fac-similés de manuscrits espagnols et portugais (IXe-XVe
siècles), Paris, 1912-25.
BURNAM, JOHN M.
“A New Becket Letter,” Historical Research. The Bulletin of the Institute of
Historical Research 63 (1990), pp. 86-99.
DUGGAN, ANNE J.
PEREIRA, JR., JOSÉ. A.
“Estudo de manuscrito,” Revista do arquivo municipal São Paulo 76 (May, 1941),
pp. 135-40.
Da visigótica à carolina, a escrita em Portugal de 882 a 1172: aspectos
técnicos e culturais, Lisbon, 1994.
SANTOS, MARIA JOSÉ AZEVEDO.
THOMSON, S. H.
Latin Bookhands of the Later Middle Ages 1100-1500, New York, 1969.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Portuguese Early Manuscript Database
Salamanca, Universidad, Archivo y Biblioteca MS 2637
http://pemdatabase.eu/image/4201
Jean-Baptiste Lebique, “Les livres de la messe Les livres des lectures de la messe,” in Initiation aux
manuscrits liturgiques, Ædilis, Publications pédagogiques, 6, Paris-Orléans, 2007
http://aedilis.irht.cnrs.fr/initiation-liturgie/lectures-messe.htm
Fig. 3.1
Gilbert de la Porrée,
Commentary on the Psalms, f. 2
Fig. 3.2
Julianus Antecessor,
Epitome, f. 1
82
83
Fig. 3.3
Lisbon, Instituto dos Arquivos nacionais
[formerly Arquivo da Torre de Tombe],
Lorvâo MS 16, Martyrology, f. 202
84
Fig. 3.4
Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Wilson Special Collections Library,
MS 98, Isidore, Quaestiones in vetus
testamentum, f. 195
85
|4|
The Rebdorf Psalter: Psalms, Biblical Canticles and
Creed with Gloss
Southern Germany, c. 1130-60
A monastic book, with all the quirks and oddities of a book that fits no
formula and meets no demands beyond the needs of its first owner; heavy,
massive, uncompromising, unselfconscious, as rounded and as weighty
as Romanesque churches; strangely glossed, one quire left entirely
unglossed, the biblical text in various sizes; beautiful, wonderfully
decorated, to the highest quality of line drawing, infilled with color, the
sources for its designs still to be pursued through pattern sheets and
legend; solemn dancing figures captured in a moment in time 850 years
ago; in astoundingly fresh condition, medieval monastic binding, as
rounded as a cushion, with the name of Rebdorf on the upper edge and the
outer edges studded with medieval knotted page-markers; from a monk‘s
cell, hardly a library text at all, a talisman for a whole life of spirituality.
This beautiful manuscript is a Psalter, with the complete text of the one
hundred and fifty Psalms, accompanied by a commentary related to the Glossa
Ordinaria (the Ordinary Gloss). Each page includes not only the biblical Psalm
text written in a larger script in the center of each page, but also commentary
copied in the margins and between the lines. People in the Middle Ages
interacted with the biblical text in many ways. A book such as this one reminds
us that at least for the people who knew the Bible best – monks and nuns,
canons, friars and theologians – this interaction took place within the context of
their deep knowledge of how the text was interpreted and explained by earlier
commentators.
We usually think of the Glossa Ordinaria as a text for students. As we shall discuss
later (nos. 13-16), it originated with the teaching of professors in the cathedral
87
schools of Northern France at the end of the eleventh century. The Psalms,
however, were special, since they were the central texts for the public prayer of
the church in the Divine Office, chanted daily by clerics and members of religious
orders, and the mainstay of private devotion (no. 5). Glossed Psalters were not
always books for the classroom; some were prayer books, providing a tapestry of
commentaries on the Psalms to nourish the devotional life of their readers.
Rebdorf was a house for Augustinian Canons in Eichstätt in Bavaria, founded in
1156, at the initiative of (or through the help of) the Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa (d. 1190). It joined the Windesheim Congregation in 1458, and became
a center of the Devotio Moderna over the course of the sixteenth century. This
Psalter was in the library at Rebdorf by the fifteenth century. It is bound in a
fifteenth-century Rebdorf binding, with the shelfmark “E.1” and includes two ex
libris notes from the Abbey, dating from the fifteenth century, although it was
apparently not included in the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Rebdorf library
catalogue (there are several glossed Psalters but none with the pressmark “E.1”;
Ruf, 1933, vol. 3, p. 309). Numerous manuscripts survive from their important
library, the vast majority dating after 1458 (Krämer, 1989-1990, pp. 668-673, not
including this manuscript). This Psalter and a handful of other manuscripts now
mostly in institutional collections in Germany and France are witnesses to the
intellectual interests and devotional life at Rebdorf in its early years – in this
case, probably very soon after its foundation. This is certainly not an ordinary
manuscript, and it would have been an appropriate and important foundation
gift for the monastery (and although there is no evidence to support this, perhaps
even a gift from the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa himself; it is not impossible).
In layout and script, it is very similar to other glossed books of the Bible from
Rebdorf, now in the Vatican Library in Rome, Vatican Library, MSS Pal. Lat. 51, 91,
98 and 121 (fig. 4.1). The script is particularly close to Pal. Lat. 91, on the Pauline
Epistles, often a pair with a glossed Psalter.
On f. 1 there are a series of introductory glosses to the first Psalm. At the bottom
of this page is an intriguing note, “Otto cum socio. iiii solidi” (Otto and friend,
four shillings), in a hand that is contemporary with the manuscript. We do not
know for sure who Otto was, but it is very possible that this is a record of the
payment of either the scribe or, more likely, the artist. As such, it would be
evidence that this manuscript was copied or decorated by professionals. There
is evidence of professional artists working in monasteries in England and France
in the twelfth century, and this may be evidence of the practice in Germany early
in the century. There were at least two artists who made the beautiful initials
found in this book. Perhaps the better artist, hitherto called “the Rebdorf
Master” for the want of any better name, can now be known as Otto.
88
Binding, The Rebdorf Psalter
89
The quality of the decorated initials at the beginning of forty Psalms in this
manuscript sets it apart from most glossed biblical manuscripts from this period.
The initials are the work of at least two artists. The skill of the main artist, who
has been called the Rebdorf Master, is displayed to great effect in the opening
initial on f. 1v that includes, entwined within the beautifully shaded, intricate
scrolls of white vines, a man mounted astride the initial at the top, and another
man at the bottom of the initial, being chased by a long-eared rabbit. This playful
quality is found in some of the smaller initials, many of which are constructed
from intertwined dragons, birds or other animals (for example, Psalms 18-25, 42,
52, 57-59, and 68). Many of the larger initials are more formal and are beautifullyexecuted examples of shaded foliate initials, partially filled with red, blue and
ochre (see especially Psalms 51, 52, and 101, which includes a standing figure of
man). The initials for Psalms 19 and 24 on ff. 19v and 23v, are very similar to initials
done by one of the artists found in the Legendarium Windbergense, produced at
Windberg during the abbacy of Gebhard, between 1141-1191 (Munich, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Clm 22245, f. 35r) (fig. 4.2). Windberg, also in Bavaria, was a
Praemonstratensian foundation about 130 kilometers east of Rebdorf.
The textual history of the Gloss on the Psalms is particularly complicated, since
it was revised twice in the course of the twelfth century. The text in this
manuscript is generally similar to the first version of the text, dating back to the
teachings of Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) in the late eleventh or early twelfth century,
but in a version that may have been influenced by commentaries on the Psalms
circulating in Southern Germany where it was copied. The opening gloss is
actually a partial quotation from the Expositio psalmorum of Bruno of Würzburg
(d. 1045). Martin Morard of the Institut de recherche et d‘histoire des textes in
Paris has studied the text of this manuscript, and compared it with a small group
of other Psalters with the Ordinary Gloss copied around the middle of the twelfth
century. This study underlines its importance, since it includes glosses not found
in the other manuscripts he studied. His study is a preliminary one, but clearly
delineates what will be a fruitful path for future research.
Following the text of the Psalms are the Ferial Canticles and the Athanasian
Creed, all with marginal and interlinear commentary. The Canticles are songs
or hymns of praise from the Old and New Testament recited daily at the Office
of Lauds: Confitebor tibi on Monday, Ego dixi on Tuesday, Exultavit cor on
Wednesday, Cantemus Domino on Thursday, Domine audivi on Friday and Audite
celi que loquor on Saturday; the Athanasian Creed was chanted daily at Prime.
The use of this Psalter as a book for liturgical prayer and private devotion might
also explain the curious fact that the ninth quire (ff. 65-71) lacks glosses. The
manuscript overall is in excellent condition, but there are stains in the bottom
f. 1v, opening initial, The Rebdorf Psalter
91
outer corners of ff. 60-64, and the original ninth quire may have been damaged,
perhaps even in the scriptorium while it was being copied. A new quire was
copied to replace it, laid out to accommodate the gloss, but the glosses were
never added either in the twelfth century, or at any later point in this book‘s
history.
Rebdorf, cloister
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 168 folios on parchment (good quality with some original holes and
sewing in red on f. 12), modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, two bifolia following f.
42 bound out of order, correct order, ff. 44, 43, 46, 45, complete (collation i-v8 vi8 [3/6 and 4/5 were
bound incorrectly, correct order 1, 2, 4 (f. 44), 3 (f. 43), 6 (f. 46), 5 (f. 45), 7-8] vii-viii8 ix6 [ff. 65-70]
x-xiii8 xiv10 xv-xxi8), ruled usually very lightly in lead (often indiscernible), column of biblical text with
double vertical bounding lines, single vertical bounding lines in far outer and inner margins flanking
the gloss, some folios with the top and bottom horizontal rule full across, glosses appear to be
copied in unruled space, prickings for the biblical text in three outer margins (justification biblical
text 210 x 70 mm.; text and gloss 210-240 x 160 mm.), written above the top ruled line in black ink
in a twelfth-century minuscule of very good quality, with the biblical text copied in a central column
of eighteen widely spaced long lines, and marginal and interlinear gloss added in a smaller more
rounded book script of up to sixty-five lines, quire nine (ff. 65-70) is written in a different, perhaps
slightly later, hand, and does not include the gloss, each Psalm verse copied on a new line beginning
with a one line red initial, eleven opening lines on f. 1v in alternating red and black capitals, FORTY
DECORATED INITIALS, finely drawn and shaded in pen with entwined foliage, SIXTEEN of these
include animals, dragons, etc. in colors, TWO large initials with human figures, f. 1v, the 1/3-page
“Beatus” initial with two men and a hare, and the initial on f. 113, all with finely drawn foliage
shaded in pen and colors, numerous smaller red initials and rubrics, in excellent condition, negligible
staining at edges of some leaves, and larger stains in the lower outer corner, ff. 60-64. Bound in the
fifteenth century in blind-tooled pigskin over heavy bevelled wooden boards (described in detail
below), housed in a fitted blue cloth case, title on a leather label “Glossed Psalter/ MS. On vellum/
From Rebdorf, s. xii“ (with a small round label, “712”). Dimensions 280 x 185 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-160v, [Psalms 1-150, with glosses]; – f. 1, [first marginal glosses, added on a folio originally
left blank], incipit, “Prophetia est divina aspiracio que rerum eventus … ; Idithun asaph filii … ; Rex
david cum prospere … ; Propheta considerans ... que per mortuos a Christo suscitatos significatur”;
ff. 1v-56, Psalms 1-50; Psalm 50 ends mid f. 56; f. 56v was left blank, so Psalm 51 begins on the recto
in a new quire; ff. 57-112, Psalms 51-100; Psalm 100 ends top f. 112, remainder and f. 112v blank,
92
f. 18, initial, knotwork tabs marking liturgical divisions, The Rebdorf Psalter (reduced)
so Psalm 101 begins on the recto in a new quire; ff. 113-161, Psalms 101-150; – ff. 161-167,
Ferial Canticles, with marginal and interlineral glosses; ff. 167v-168v, [Athanasian Creed], incipit,
“Quicumque vult,” with marginal and interlinear glosses.
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: Biblical text and gloss both written above the top ruled line in black ink
by more than one scribe in a twelfth-century minuscule of very good quality, with the biblical text
copied in a central column of eighteen widely spaced long lines, and marginal and interlinear gloss
added in a smaller more rounded bookhand in up to sixty-five lines; the script is upright, with straight
‘d‘, ‘s‘ and ‘r‘ predominating, e-cedilla, tironian-7 and ampersand for “et”; the first scribe writes in
a hand that suggests he could be French, but scribes later in the volume are more likely German
(note especially the characteristic tironian-7 with wavy tops). Quire nine (ff. 65-70) is written in a
different, perhaps slightly later, hand and does not include the gloss.
ILLUSTRATION: Forty Psalms begin with decorated initials, finely drawn and shaded in pen with
entwined foliage, some infilled with blue, green, red and ochre, a few with lime green; sixteen
include figures of animals, dragons or other creatures, including the very fine initials at Psalms 1
and 101 (discussed above), and Psalms 18 (f. 18), 19 (f. 19v), 20 (f. 19v), 21 (f. 20v), 22 (f. 22v), 23
(f. 23), 24 (f. 23v), 25 (f. 24v), 42 (f. 45v), 52 (f. 58), 57 (f. 62), 58 (f. 63), 59 (f. 64v) and 68 (f. 75v).
Large, very attractive white vine or other foliate initials are found before Psalms 38, 39, 40, 41, 43,
44, 45, 51, 80 and 97. Interestingly, the traditional hierarchy of initials in a Psalter, with major
divisions at Psalms 1, 51 and 101, and at the Ferial divisions, is somewhat inconsistently observed
here, with quite prominent initials found at Psalms that are liturgically unimportant.
BINDING: The binding is a very handsome example of a Rebdorf binding from the fifteenth century
(probably after the reform of the Abbey in 1458). The seven large knotwork leather tabs that mark
the liturgical divisions of the Psalter are a noteworthy feature. Bound in pigskin over heavy bevelled
wooden boards, tooled in blind with simple intersecting triple fillets forming a rectangular center
panel decorated with intersecting diagonal lines, a few round rosette stamps with six petals, sewn
on three cords, seven contemporary knotted leather tabs marking the liturgical divisions, upper
cover lettered “Psalterium” with pressmark “E.1.” in two places, top edges lettered “Rebdorf,” spine
with three raised bands (plus raised bands at the head and tail) forming four compartments with two
later brown leather labels added in the first labelled in gilt: “LIBER/ PSALMORUM/ CUM GLOSSA/
INTERLINEARI/” and “CODEX/ MEMBRANACEUS/ PER VETUSTUS”; two later brass clasps and catches,
once with five bosses on front and back covers (holes and circular impressions remain).
Front pastedown, fragment of a fifteenth-century Missal from Germany, in a large formal Gothic
script; incipit, “//to aque et torrentes in solitudine et que arida erat in stagnum et siciens in fontes
aquarum. Dicit Dominus omnipotens. In sole posuit tabernaculum suum … Oremus. Flectamus genua.
Levate. Indignos nos quesumus Domine famulos tuos ... eo ianuam et non //”; Back pastedown,
Noted fragment from a twelfth-century Germany Antiphonary with staffless neumes; incipit,“ …
Quia ecce veniet et non tardabit. … Consolamini, consolamini popule meus dicit Deus vester.
Antiphona. Letamini in Iherusalem et exsultate omnes … Antiphona. Dabit illi Dominus sedem David
patris suit et regnabit in eternum. In quacumque die huius … cum antiphona exspectetur differuntur//”.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written in Germany, likely in Southern Germany, in the second
third of the twelfth century, c. 1130-1160, based on the evidence of the script, decoration and later
provenance. 2. The manuscript belonged to the Augustinian house of St. John the Baptist at
Rebdorf, near Eichstätt, in Bavaria, founded in 1156 (see below), and it is quite possible that it was
copied there (or brought there very early in its history); with fifteenth-century inscriptions at the foot
of the inner front cover “Iste liber est beatissimi Johannis [crossed out: beate] baptiste in Rebdorff
Eystensis dyocesis,” and at the top of the pastedown of the lower cover “Liber beati Johannis
baptiste in Rebdorff prope Eystet.” The top edges lettered “Rebdorf,” and the upper cover lettered
“Psalterium” with a pressmark “E.1” in two places. The index to the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century
Rebdorf library catalogue includes several glossed Psalters (Ruf, vol. 3, 1933, p. 309). 3. A small
f. 23v, initial, The Rebdorf Psalter
95
ff. 100v-101, page layout, The Rebdorf Psalter
clutch of glossed books from Rebdorf belonged to the great library of the Electors Palatine at
Heidelberg. The collection was sacked in 1622 during the Thirty Years‘ War; some books were lost
and the residue was sent to the Vatican, where it remains as the Biblioteca Palatina (the glossed
books listed above). Since the manuscript clearly did not follow the route of the dispersal of the
library of Rebdorf after the abbey‘s suppression in 1806, it may well also have been part of the
Palatine library in Heidelberg. 4. Belonged to Edmund Hunt Dring (1863-1928) and to his son
Edmund Maxwell Dring (1906-1990), successively directors of Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London
booksellers. 5. Belonged to Martin Schøyen (b. 1940), Oslo and London, who acquired it through
Quaritch in 1990; his MS 712; bookplate inside front cover; deaccessioned to Sam Fogg in 2008.
6. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: Listed in the online catalogue of the Martin Schøyen Collection (Online
Resources).
EXHIBITED: Oslo Katedralskole 850 år, Jubileumsutstilling 10. - 14. Mars 2003; Verbum Domini I,
an exhibition of Bibles and interfaith religion at the Vatican that debuted on 1 March 2012.
LITERATURE
Die Chorherrenorden und ihre Stifte in Bayern. Augustinerchorherren,
Prämonstratenser, Chorherren vom Hl. Geist, Antoniter, Passau, 1966, pp. 119–123.
BACKMUND, NORBERT.
“Die Zerstörung der Rebdorfer Bibliothek,” Historische Blätter für Stadt und Landkreis
Eichstätt 17 (1968), pp. 15-20.
BAIER, HANS.
“Rebdorfs Kanoniker der Windesheimer Zeit, 1458–1853,” Historischer Verein
Eichstätt, Sammelblatt 85 (1992), pp. 7-206.
HÖCHERL, JOSEF.
Biblia Latina cum Glossa Ordinaria : Facsimile
Reprint of the Editio Princeps Adolph Rusch of Strassburg 1480/81, Turnhout, 1992.
FROEHLICH, KARLFRIED AND MARGARET T. GIBSON, eds.
Die romanischen Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, part one, Die
Bistümer Regensburg, Passau und Salzburg, Wiesbaden, 1980.
KLEMM, ELISABETH.
Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters. Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge,
Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Ergänzungsband 1, Munich, 1989-1990, pp. 668-673 (not listing this
manuscript).
KRÄMER, SIGRID.
“Domus sancti Johannis Baptistae in Rebdorp (Rebdorf),” Monasticon Windeshemense,
vol. 2, Deutsches Sprachgebiet, ed. Wilhelm Kohl, Brussels, 1977, pp. 340-362.
REITER, ERNST.
RUF, P.
Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, III, Munich, 1933, p. 309.
SMITH, LESLEY.
The Glossa Ordinaria: The Making of a Medieval Bible, Leiden and Boston, 2009.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Martin Schøyen Collection
http://www.schoyencollection.com/bible-collection-foreword/latin-bible-translation/rebdorf-psalter-ms-712
98
f. 57, inhabited initial, The Rebdorf Psalter
Fig. 4.1
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
MS Pal. Lat. 51, Bible, f. 2v
100
Fig. 4.2
Clm 22245, Legendarium Windbergense, f. 35
101
|5|
The Buxheim Psalter: Psalter with Calendar,
Canticles and Litany
Southern Germany (Augsburg?), c. 1220-40 (before 1235?)
Jaunty, colorful, set with three-dimensional gold and silver, resembling
enamels or the earliest stained-glass, every page with ornament,
imagination, endless variety; Romanesque from the gothic era, in its
ancient binding; light, portable, tactile, personal, private; one of the oldest
medieval books ever made for secular use, at the dawn of lay literacy, with
farming scenes in its calendar, ploughing, harvesting, sowing and cooking;
probably aristocratic, knightly, chivalric, court culture, music, prayer,
doubtless from a castle chapel or chantry; later gathered in by Buxheim
Abbey, Carthusian, where every monk lived as a hermit with his own cell
and garden, perhaps an ancestral treasure of a novice; shared a library
with a Gutenberg Bible; then with a more-or-less unbroken provenance
ever since; chosen by H. P. Kraus as one of the hundred finest illuminated
manuscripts he ever handled.
The books discussed to this point all are associated with the public, liturgical
use of the Bible in the Eucharistic service of the Mass, and the daily public prayer
of the church said by clerics, monks and nuns, the Divine Office. The central text
of the Mass was the Gospels, preserved in Gospel Books such as the Liesborn
Gospels and in Gospel Lectionaries (nos. 1-3). The core text of the Divine Office
was the Psalms; the Rebdorf Psalter (no. 4) was a book used by canons to enrich
their liturgical life.
The importance of the Psalms to medieval Christians, however, extended beyond
their public liturgical use in the Divine Office. Psalters were copied throughout
the Middle Ages for private devotional use, and from early in the Middle Ages
through the thirteenth century, they were the primary prayer books used by the
f. 45, (detail), St. Michael and the dragon, The Buxheim Psalter
103
laity. Some of the most famous books from Carolingian times were illuminated
Psalters commissioned by the emperors themselves. The Dagulf Psalter, Vienna,
ÖNB, Cod. 1861, was made for Charlemagne (d. 814); his grandson, Charles the
Bald (d. 877), also owned a beautifully illuminated Psalter (Paris, BnF, MS lat.
1152). By the second half of the twelfth century, especially in Germany, the
illuminated Psalter for private devotional use for lay people was a popular and
established genre — the first devotional books made in any quantity for secular
owners. A very early example is the Psalter made for Henry the Lion (d. 1195) and
his wife, Matilda (d. 1189) in Lower Saxony after 1167 (London, British Library,
Lansdowne MS 381).
The Buxheim Psalter is later, but it is an important and relatively early example
of this type of Psalter. This is a luxurious manuscript doubtless made for a
wealthy owner. It includes the one hundred and fifty Psalms, accompanied by a
calendar of the saints, the Gallican canticles (biblical passages said daily during
the Office), a Litany and prayers. The manuscript begins with calendar pages
that list the feasts of saints celebrated each month, tailored to the saints that
were important in the locality where the Psalter was made (or where it was
intended to be used). The artist used the calendar pages for charming and less
formal illuminations from day-to-day life, decorating each page with four arches
along the top, and then adding five little buildings in the hollows between the
arches and at the ends. In the middle of the page in a large roundel, the artist
drew one of the traditional labors of the month: May, for example, is illustrated
by a girl seated among green foliage with leaves in her hair, holding a red fleurde-lis in each hand; September shows the grape harvest, one man cutting grapes
with a sickle and another trampling them in a cask and beating them down with
a paddle; and November, a man threshing bundles of corn, with a pitchfork
behind him.
The initials within the Psalter itself in contrast are quite solemn and dramatic.
Psalms 1, 51, and 101 (the traditional tripartite division of the Psalter), begin with
full-page historiated initials that celebrate the religious meanings of the Psalms.
They are very high quality, and notable for the colorful rich linen-fold drapery. H.
P. Kraus considered this Psalter one of the hundred greatest manuscripts he had
owned, and was unstinting in his love of these illuminated pages: “The present
manuscript must be considered as one of the finest surviving examples of
Franconian art of the early years of the thirteenth century (or perhaps the closing
years of the twelfth century). None of the manuscripts from this area which we
have seen can be said to surpass the present one in the artistic merits of its large
miniatures.”
104
f. 1, calendar page (May), The Buxheim Psalter
105
106
ff. 2v-3, calendar pages (August, September), The Buxheim Psalter
107
Psalm 1 begins with a two-compartment initial depicting two seated figures. The
top figure has traditionally been identified as David, the author of the Psalms,
here depicted as a young king, without a beard, seated on a throne. The lower
figure is clearly a bishop since he is holding a crozier, and it has been suggested
that he may be the high priest Melchizedek. Psalm 51 begins with a splendid
image of St. Michael, depicted as a standing figure dressed in swirling colored
robes holding a lance which he thrusts into the mouth of the dragon. Psalm 101
is introduced with the standing figure of Christ, with his right hand raised in
blessing and his left hand holding a book in the fold of his robe. Images of saints
were an important element in the iconography of Psalters copied for lay use
(Klemm, 2004). The image of St. Michael before Psalm 51 is a good example of
this, and there is an established iconographic tradition in German Psalters to
depict him before this Psalm (fig. 5.1 and 5.2). It is even possible that the figure
below David before the first Psalm is not Melchizedek, but rather a locally
venerated saint.
The evidence of the script and the style of the
illumination suggest that it was certainly made in
Southern German in the early decades of the
thirteenth century, c. 1220-1240. The calendar
and the litany include numerous saints popular
in Augsburg and in the diocese of Constance
(modern-day Switzerland around Constance and
St. Gall, and neighboring Southwestern Germany).
The calendar includes St. Ulrich on July 4 (venerated
especially in Augsburg), later underlined in red. The
feast of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia (also known as Elizabeth of Hungary) was
added to the calendar on November 17. Elizabeth, a Hungarian Princess who
married Louis IV of Thuringia, was canonized in 1235, only four years after her
death. The fact that her feast was added suggests that the manuscript may date
before 1235 (St. Dominic, canonized in 1234, was also added). Other saints in the
calendar and litany include Gallus, principal patron St. Gall, on October 16,
celebrated in Switzerland, Freiburg, Munich, and Rottenburg; Othmarus, first
Abbot of St. Gall on November 16; and Bishop Conrad on November 26. Conrad
was bishop of Constance, and his relics are preserved in the cathedral. Both
Saints Ulrich and Afra (also venerated at Augsburg) are included in the litany.
Certainly, the iconography of this Psalter, and in particular, the St. Michael initial
compares closely with a number of later Psalters localized to Augsburg. For
example, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 16137, f. 49, dated around
1270-5 (Klemm, 1998, cat. 120) (fig. 5.1), has a very similar initial, down to the
108
f. 4v, (detail), calendar page (December), The Buxheim Psalter
f.5, a King and a Bishop, The Buxheim Psalter
109
neck of the dragon intertwined within the bottom of the initial (one could believe
this artist used the Buxheim Psalter as a model). The St. Michael initial on f. 54
in Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, MS 78, probably copied at Augsburg around
the middle of the thirteenth century, is another example (fig. 5.2). The Walters
Psalter has been linked with two other Psalters from Augsburg, New York Public
Library, MS Spencer 11 (also later owned by Buxheim) and Augsburg, University
Library, MS 1.2.qu.19. None of these are close to the Buxheim Psalter in style, and
they are all later in date.
Closer in style to the Buxheim Psalter are the series of single leaves dispersed in
Munich by at least 1874 (Swarzenski, 1936, p. 137, no. 58, and figs. 710, 713, 731736), including Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Kupferstichkabinett
Mm. 26-27 (fig. 5.3) and Nuremberg, Landesgewerbemuseum INV. V. 24 NR.
1925/6,traditionally, but not certainly, attributed to Augsburg in the first half of
the thirteenth century. An earlier description suggested that some of these
leaves may even have once been included within the Buxheim Psalter as full-page
miniatures before the first Psalm. The initials in a Psalter, Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek,
Msc. Bibl. 48 (A II 47) from Bamberg, especially the drapery in the Annunciation,
are also similar enough in style that some connection may be possible, a matter
that is worth further consideration (Swarzenski, 1936, figs. 791-812) (fig. 5.4).
In addition to these grand illuminations before Psalms 1, 51, and 101, there are
fourteen large historiated initials marking liturgical divisions within the Psalter.
A technical feature of interest in these initials is the use of panels of gold or silver
covered with red tracery, apparently achieved by drawing the red first and then
washing over in metallic paint: the initial on f. 82v is unfinished and shows only
about half the gold applied. Sewing holes remaining above the illuminated initials
show that they were once covered with little silk or textile curtains. The initial
on f. 89v for Psalm 105 (“Confitemini domino”) shows a kneeling figure holding
a scroll, partially erased, but apparently inscribed “pirao[…]” (or possibly
“pimo[…]”), which could be a name. Is this a self-portrait of the artist (Piron?),
shown in an act of humble confession?
The organization of the Divine Office, and in particular, the way the Psalms were
distributed over the course of each day and through the week, differed slightly
depending on where the Office was being said. The liturgical use in monasteries
differed from that followed by secular clerics such as priests and bishops who
did not belong to a monastic order (or other clerics such as those associated with
Cathedral churches). There are historiated initials in this Psalter at the beginning
of Psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109. Together with the illuminated initials
at Psalms 1 and 101, these divisions correspond to the groupings of Psalms in the
112
f. 84, Christ Blessing, The Buxheim Psalter
113
114
ff. 34v-35, The Buxheim Psalter
115
Divine Office on successive days of the week in non-monastic churches: Psalm 1
was the first Psalm of Matins on Sunday, Psalm 26 on Monday, and Psalm 38 on
Tuesday, and so on through Saturday (see Hughes, 1982, p. 52, figure 4.2). Psalm
109 was the first Psalm sung at Sunday Vespers. Initials at Psalms 114, 121, 126, 131,
137, and 143 mark the readings at Vespers, Monday-Saturday, and there is an initial
before the first Canticle. Although liturgical in origin, initials at these points in
the Psalter were traditional, and are often found in Psalters such as this one
intended for devotional use.
At some time in the fifteenth century, this manuscript was acquired by the
famous Carthusian monastery at Buxheim, certainly by 1446 when the inscription
was added on f. 1v stating that it was allocated for the use of Conrad Rietesel, a
monk of Buxheim. Buxheim was founded in 1402 just east of Memmingen in the
diocese of Augsburg in upper Swabia (now on the border between the modern
states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria). In the fifteenth century it was one
of the largest and wealthiest Carthusian houses in Germany, with a substantial
library of manuscripts and printed books.
When the manuscript passed into use at Buxheim, the monks vigorously altered
it to suit its new use as a Choir book. The Psalms sung at the long night office of
Matins were numbered 1-12, and headings were added to identify the day of the
week; in many cases, the monks even rubbed away small squares of pigment
within the initials so they could write the numbers inside the initials.
Corresponding to these numbers and headings, are leather tabs marking the
beginning of Psalms 20, 32, 45, 59, 73, 85, and 101 that mark the Psalms sung at
Matins according to monastic use on each day of the week beginning with
Sunday; there are also tabs at Psalms 109, marking the Psalm sung on Sunday at
Vespers, and Psalm 148, sung at Lauds. The manuscript was foliated, the Psalms
were numbered consecutively, and the prayers and other texts that were needed
for the Divine Office, some with musical notation, were added in the margins
and on half sheets inserted into the volume. This transformation of a devotional
Psalter into a book to be used for the Divine Office was very carefully organized;
many of the additions on the half sheets include references to other places within
this book using folio numbers.
This is a very attractive volume physically; sturdy, easily read, and quite moderate
in size and weight even in its fifteenth-century binding (wooden boards often
add substantially to the weight of a book). The fact that the transformation of
this Psalter from a volume for private devotion to a Psalter for use during the
Divine Office can be so readily traced within its pages makes it a particularly
compelling artifact.
116
f. 3v, calendar page (October), The Buxheim Psalter
117
Transfiguration of St. Bruno above Buxheim, by Caspar Sichelbein, Buxheim, 1603
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 136 folios plus five partial leaves and one complete leaf, now f. 137,
added in the fifteenth century, on parchment (good quality, some original holes formerly sewn, e.g.
f. 89, circled in red), foliated in pencil top outer corner recto with added partial leaves following ff.
27, 39, 50, 61, and 95 foliated as ff. 28a, 40a, 51a, 62a, and 96a, lacking two leaves at the beginning
and one at the end after f. 136, else complete (collation, i2 [-1 and 2, entirely lacking, with loss of
text] ii-iii2 iv-v8 vi8[+halfsheet tipped in after 7, following f. 27] vii8 viii8 [+halfsheet tipped in after 3,
following f. 39] ix8 [+halfsheet tipped in after 6, following f. 50] x8 xi8 [+halfsheet tipped in after 1,
following f. 61] xii8 xiii6+1 [f. 81, singleton, added after 4] xiv8 xv8 [+halfsheet tipped in after 4,
following f. 95] xvi-xix8 xx6 [-6, following f. 136, with loss of text] xxi1 [fifteenth-century addition,
likely once preceded by another leaf, possibly cancelled]), quires numbered by a modern hand in
pencil on the first leaf, no original catchwords or signatures, ruling extremely faint but it seems to
have been ruled with a very hard lead that usually left no color, prickings occasionally remain top
margin (justification 160 x 110-108 mm.), written in dark brown ink, probably above the top ruled
line in a broad early gothic bookhand in twenty long lines, the first word of each Psalm in capitals
touched in red, first words of main divisions of the text in alternately red and blue letters, versal
initials throughout in red and, on a few pages (and apparently without significance), also touched
in blue, LARGE FOUR LINE INITIALS THROUGHOUT at the start of each Psalm vigorously drawn in
parted red and blue with penwork infilling and surround in both colors, sometimes extending into
margins, and sometimes forming simple pictures (e.g., a king in a crown, perhaps God, for Psalm 49,
“Deus deorum” on f. 42v; a house for Psalm 90,“Qui habitat” on f. 78v; the face of Christ for Psalm
98, “Dominus regnavit” on f. 83r; a kneeling figure holding a scroll, possibly the artist himself for
Psalm 105, “Confitemini domino” on f. 89v; a face of a happy man and a gothic gateway for Psalm
118, “Beati illuminati in via” on f. 100; and a face for the Athanasian Creed, “Quicumque vult” on
f. 132v), FOURTEEN LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS, two of them with a dragon, mostly six lines high,
EIGHT CIRCULAR CALENDAR MINIATURES of the occupations of the months, and THREE FULL-PAGE
HISTORIATED INITIALS; LATE MEDIEVAL BUXHEIM BINDING of wooden boards very slightly bevelled
on their inner edges extending slightly beyond the bookblock, sewn on three double twisted thongs
pegged into the boards, green and white head and tail bands, covered with white leather,
impressions of two small tools stamped on spine (only), one arabesque in a cusped lozenge, the
other floral in a lozenge, the main divisions of the text marked by tabs on the edges of the pages
mostly in tanned leather roughly sandwiched around the edges of the pages, metal clasps on straps
from lower cover held by rectangular strips of brass stamped with a floral design (only upper one
remains; lower one a modern replacement) fitting onto metal catches on edge of upper cover, later
paper labels on spine with title “Psalte/rium” and a rosette stamped or stencilled in dark red,
pastedowns from a German twelfth-century manuscript (described below), housed in red cloth and
leather slip case, lettered on spine, “The Buxheim Psalter/ XIII Cent.,” and with Helmut Beck‘s
embossed white book label. Dimensions 211 x 151 mm.
118
Binding, The Buxheim Psalter
119
TEXT: ff. 1-4v, Calendar, May to December only, one month per page; text in red and black, not
graded, but with occasional names underlined later in red, including Uldaricus (or Ulrich, 4 July,
underlined in red), Willibald (7 July), Verena (1 September), Magnus (6 September), Regula (12
September), Leodegar (2 October), Gallus (16 October), with octave, Othmar (16 November), Conrad
(26 November); Dominic (5 August), canonized in 1234 and Elizabeth of Thuringia (19 November),
canonized in 1235, are both added; St. Francis, canonized in 1228 is lacking; – ff. 5-122v, Psalter, with
Psalms 148, 149, 150 copied as one; – ff. 122v-134, [Gallican canticles], f. 122v, “Confitebor tibi
domine” [Isaiah 12]; f. 123, “Ego dixi” [Isaiah 38:10]; f. 123v, “Exultavit cor meum” [1 Kings 2:1]; f.
124v, “Cantemus domino gloriose” [Exodus 15:1]; f. 125v, “Domine audiui” [Habakkuk 3]; 126v,
“Audite celi” [Deut. 32:1]; f. 129v, “Benedicte omnia” [Daniel 3:57]; f. 130, “Benedictus dominus
deus” [Luke 1:68]; f. 130v, “Pater noster”; f. 131, “Credo in deum”; f. 131, “Magnificat” [Luke 1:46];
f. 131v, “Nunc dimittis” [Luke 2:29]; f. 131v, “Te deum laudamus”; f. 132v, “Quicumque vult”
(Mearns, 1914, pp. 80-81); – ff. 134v-136v, Litany with martyrs Stephen, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius,
Cyprian, Blasius [erased, relic at St. Blaise], Emmeram [Regensburg, erased], Lambert [Liège, erased],
Laurence, Vincent, Denis [erased], Boniface [Rhineland, all south Germany, erased], Januarius
[erased], Kylian [Franconia, erased], Cyriacus [apparently, thoroughly erased], Maurice, Gereon and
his companions [Cologne, erased], George [erased], Vitus, Sebastian, Oswald [relics at Weingarten],
Pelagius [lived in Constance], Pantaleon, Christopher, Chrysogonus, and Thomas [Becket]; and with
confessors including Remigius, Maximinus [Trier], Willibald [Eichstätt], Ulrich [Augsburg], Conrad
[bishop of Constance, canonized in 1123], Benedict, Anthony, Jerome, Maurus, Columbanus [Bobbio],
Gallus [area of Lake Constance], Magnus [area of Lake Constance, Bavaria], Othmar [area of Lake
Constance], Maiolus [eastern France], Udilus [Odilo?], Leonard, Giles, and Alexius; and with virgins
and widows including Afra [Augsburg], Verena [Zurzach, Switzerland], Margaret, Scholastica,
Walpurga [Eichstätt], Katherine, Crescentia, Elizabeth [possibly Elizabeth of Schönau, d. 1164?], and
Ursula [Cologne], ending imperfectly in the invocations which follow the Litany, “… Ut obsequium
servitutis//”; – f. 137rv, [Hymns, not noted, added in the fifteenth century], Ymnus ferialis ad
nocturnum, incipit, “Eterne rerum conditor …”; Ymnus ad laudem ferialis diebus, incipit, “Splendor
paterne glorie …”; [ending mid. f. 137v, remainder blank].
ILLUSTRATION: ff. 1-4v, Eight calendar pages, with each page framed in bars of silver and gold
with four arches along the top with five little buildings in the hollows between the arches and at
the ends, with a large letter ‘K‘ in gold or silver in the top left hand corner of each page, illustrated
with a miniature in a roundel painted in strong dark colours heavily outlined and without gold,
inscribed with titles in white capitals: f. 1, [May], a girl seated among green foliage with leaves in
her hair, holding a red fleur-de-lis in each hand; f. 1v, [June], a man ploughing, steering a twowheeled plough drawn by two horses whose rumps are just visible past a tree; f. 2, [July], a man
sharpening a scythe with a green stone; f. 2v, [August], a man cutting corn with a sickle; f. 3,
[September], the grape harvest, one man cutting grapes with a sickle and another trampling them
in a cask and beating them down with a paddle; f. 3v, [October], a man sowing seed with a sack
beside him; f. 4, [November], a man threshing bundles of corn, with a pitchfork behind him; f. 4v,
[December], a man stunning a pig with the back of an axe, with a cooking pot hanging over a fire
on the right. Three full-page historiated initials: f. 5, Psalm 1, a King and a Bishop, 172 x 122 mm.,
with the letters “EATUS VIR” in red capitals vertically down the right-hand edge of the page, the
initial in split and interlaced design in grey-green with a crowned figure seated on a throne between
two addorsed dragons in the upper compartment, and in the lower compartment a bishop holding
a crozier and seated on a chair with lion‘s head arm finials, all on grounds of raised burnished silver
and gold, within panels of blue, red and green; f. 45, Psalm 51, St. Michael and the dragon, 162 x
118 mm. with extension increasing height to 187 mm., with the letters “UID GLORIARIS” in red
capitals horizontally across the bottom of the page, the oval initial itself in pink split open with the
descender formed of a dragon (with a second face on its chest) twining its long neck through the
bow of the initial, the initial enclosing a standing figure of St. Michael thrusting a lance into the
dragon‘s mouth on a silver ground, framed surround in blue, red and green; f. 84, Psalm 101, Christ
Blessing, 165 x 114 mm., with the letters “OMINE” in red capitals vertically down the right-hand
edge of the page, the initial itself in green split open with the left-hand finials each terminating in
120
a bearded human head, all enclosing a standing figure of Christ; fourteen illuminated initials, sixto four-line, in pink, blue or silver on gold, silver, pink or yellow panels with red tracery: ff. 23, 34v,
46, 56v (formed from a blue dragon), 70v, 82v, 95v, 98 (in leafy design in blue terminating in a
trumpet), 108, 110 (in leafy design in blue), 111v, 114v, 118v, and 122v (formed of a blue dragon).
BINDING: Bound in a handsome example of a late medieval binding from Buxheim, with
substantial wooden boards covered with white leather, and decorated on the spine with the
impressions from two different small lozenge-shaped stamps; the main divisions of the text marked
by tabs on the edges of the pages.
Pastedowns: two adjacent leaves from a manuscript of Peter Lombard‘s Sentences, Germany,
c. 1175-1200(?), front pastedown, incipit, “[in]uitans nos ad manducandum … Et semel Christus
mortuus in cruce est ibique//” [Migne, Patrologia latina, vol. 192, Paris, 1855 [online edition], col. 865,
section 5, line 5-866, section 7, line 3]; text continues on the back pastedown, incipit, “[imm]olatus
est in semetipso … lacrimis et orationibus accedat securus//“ [col. 866, section 7, line 3-867, section
8, line 9]; front pastedown is the lower outer portion of the leaf (trimmed top and outer margin);
back pastedown is the top outer portion of a leaf (trimmed in the inner and bottom margins, with
loss of marginal notes on the outside), ruled in lead, copied in an upright late caroline minuscule in
two columns of at least thirty-three lines, red initials and headings.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Made for secular use in Southern Germany, possibly in Augsburg,
c. 1220-1240. 2. Acquired by 1446 by the famous library of the Carthusian house at Buxheim, where
it was extensively adapted for use as a ferial Psalter. At the top of f. 1v there is a Buxheim ownership
inscription recording that the book is assigned to the use of Conrad Rietesel, monk of the house, in
1446: “Pertinet libellus iste ad buchshaim usui fratris Conradi rietesel de nyffen professi eius domus
deputatus sub anno domini 1446°.” Later ownership marks from Buxheim are found on f. 1,
seventeenth- or eighteenth-century, “P.P. Cartusianorum in Buxheim”; and a printed label “3”
towards the top of the spine; the manuscript once included additional evidence from Buxheim, now
no longer extant (recorded in previous descriptions): inside front cover, a shelfmark “N.144” ; upper
cover, a number “69”(for the Buxheim library, see Honemann, 1995, especially pp. 167-76; Ruf, 1932;
Krämer, 1989-1990; see also Online Resources; for the Buxheim shelfmarks, see Sexauer, 1978, pp. 8485). 3. Buxheim was suppressed in 1803. The library became the property of Graf von Ostein, and
then in 1809 passed to his sister Gräfin von Hatzfeld, and the following year to their cousin Graf
Friedrich Karl Waldbott von Bassenheim; the library was sold by his son, Munich, Carl Föster,
September, 20, 1883, probably lot 2681. 4. Quaritch, catalogue 261 (1908), no. 454, and catalogue
290 (1910), no. 214; and Sotheby‘s, November, 20, 1912, lot 187, to Cotton. 5. John Meade Falkner
(1858-1932), liturgical historian; his sale at Sotheby‘s, December 12, 1932, lot 412, to Quaritch (their
cat. 474, no. 179). 6. Edward J. Bullrich, (formerly with part of his book label), bought from Quaritch,
September, 25 1933; by descent to D. L. Alvear, who sold it at Sotheby‘s, March 17, 1952, lot 313, to
Edward Bullrich, Jr. (presumably bought back by the first collector‘s son). 7. Edward Bullrich, Jr. sale,
Sotheby‘s, July 5, 1965, lot 227, to H. P. Kraus. 8. Kraus Catalogues (1967), no. 2; (1970), p. 2, no. 9,
and (1978), no. 21. 9. Helmut Beck (1919-2001) of Stuttgart (his round white embossed bookplate
inside front cover); his sale, Sotheby‘s, June 16, 1997, lot 8. 10. London, Sam Fogg; Cat. 20 (1998),
no. 2; and Art of the Middle Ages, 2007, p. 42. 11. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: H. P. KRAUS, Mediaeval and renaissance manuscripts selected for the
beauty of their illumination and the significance of their texts …, New York, 1967, cat. 117, no. 2. H.
P. KRAUS, Manuscript Treasures, Masterworks of Mediaeval and Renaissance Painting and Illumination,
New York, 1970, p. 2, no. 9. H. P. KRAUS, In Retrospect: A Catalogue of 100 Outstanding Manuscripts
Sold in the Last Four Decades, New York, 1978, no. 21. HELMUT ENGELHAT, Die Würzburger
Buchmalerei im Hohen Mittelalter: Untersuchungen zu einer Gruppe illuminierter Handschriften
aus der Werkstatt der Würzburger Dominikanerbibel von 1246, Würzburg, 1987, pp. 80 and 181.
SIGRID KRÄMER, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittlelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge,
Ergänzungsband 1, Munich, 1989-1990, listing this manuscript on p. 137 (as formerly H. P. Kraus).
121
Cat. 20, London, 1998, no. 2. SAM FOGG, Art of the Middle Ages, London, 2007. A. S. G.
“Medieval Manuscripts Owned by J. Meade Falkner,” in The Medieval Book, Glosses from
Friends and Colleagues of Christopher de Hamel, ‘t Goy-Houten, 2010.
SAM FOGG,
EDWARDS,
LITERATURE
Carl Förster‘sche Kunstauction. Abtheilung II. Bibliotheca Buxiana. Catalog der Bibliothek des ehem.
Carthäuserklosters Buxheim aus dem Besitze seiner Erlaucht des Herrn Hugo Grafen von WaldbottBassenheim […], Munich, n. d. [1883].
HONEMANN, VOLKER.
“The Buxheim Collection and its Dispersal,” Renaissance Studies 9 (1995), pp.
166-88.
Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office: A Guide to Their Organization and
Terminology, Toronto, Buffalo, and London, 1982.
HUGHES, ANDREW.
“Die Darstellung von Heiligen als Thema der Psalterillustration,” in The
Illuminated Psalter: Studies in the Content, Purpose and Placement of its Images, ed. F. O. Büttner.
Turnhout, 2004, pp. 362-376.
KLEMM, ELISABETH.
Die Illuminierten Handschriften des 13. Jahrhunderts Deutscher Herkunft in der
Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, Wiesbaden, 1998.
KLEMM, ELISABETH.
The Canticles of the Christian Church, Eastern and Western, in Early and Medieval
Times, Cambridge, 1914.
MEARNS, JAMES.
Fig. 5.1
Clm 16137, Augsburg Psalter, f. 49
Mittlelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands under der Schweiz, 3. Bd. 1. Teil:
Bistum Augsburg, Munich, 1932, pp. 81-101.
RUF, PAUL, ed.
Frühneuhochdeutsche Schriften in Kartäuserbibliotheken. Untersuchungen
zur Pflege der volkssprachlichen Literatur in Kartäuserklöstern des oberdeutschen Raums bis zum
SEXAUER, WOLFRAM D.
Einsetzen der Reformation, Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 1, Deutsche Literatur und
Germanistik 247, Frankfurt am Main, 1978.
Fig. 5.2
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum,
MS 78, Psalter, f. 54
Die Lateinischen Illuminierten Handschriften des XIII. Jahrhunderts in den Ländern
an Rhein, Main und Donau, Berlin, 1936.
SWARZENSKI, H.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Buxheim and its Library
http://archive.cls.yale.edu/buxheim/
122
123
Fig. 5.3
Nuremberg, Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Kupferstichkabinett,
Mm 26 (Bredt 19), Annunciation
124
Fig. 5.4
Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek,
MS Msc. Bibl. 48, Psalter, f. 7v
125
|6|
BRUNO [PS. PATERIUS B], Correction and Completion
of PATERIUS, Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti
[Liber testimoniorum]; Sequences and Hymns; Two
Sermons by an Unidentified Author
Germany, Swabia (St. Blaise Abbey?), c. 1090-1100
Big, monumental, from the depths of the Black Forest, with initials
reminiscent of entangled woods, lions, birds and creatures of the dark;
monastic, austere, ancient, heavy, almost flawless condition, clean pages,
huge margins probably untrimmed since it left the scriptorium, deep red
initials, floppy pages crackling as they turn; a monastic text, usable,
readable, publishable, encompassing in one huge volume all the works of
Gregory the Great, his homilies, the Pastoral Care, and above all the
Moralia on the book of Job, with citations of absolute precision, drawn
from manuscripts in Gregory‘s own household; a manuscript with an
unbroken line of provenance for 900 years, including two Ottonian
monasteries, a prince‘s castle in Bohemia, a papal countess of California,
and a Scandinavian shipping magnate.
To understand how the Bible was experienced during the Middle Ages it is
important to remember that it was read and studied in the context of the
commentaries written by the revered Church Fathers. Gregory the Great was
often depicted during the Middle Ages with a dove – symbolizing the Holy Spirit
– perched on his shoulder. The Bible encompassed not only the words we think
of as “the Bible,” but also the divinely inspired interpretation and understanding
of these words in the writings of the teachers of the church. As Christopher de
Hamel has observed, an eleventh- or twelfth-century monastery might have
owned two or three manuscripts of the Bible (or manuscripts containing parts of
the Bible), but they would have owned dozens of biblical commentaries (de
127
Hamel, 2001, pp. 94-95). Monks heard the words of the Bible during the liturgy;
they then meditated and studied these words in commentaries (nos. 6-12).
This is a classic monastic book copied at the very end of the eleventh century or
the beginning of the twelfth century. It is an impressive volume in its size. Its text
was formally copied by well-trained scribes, and it is very easy to read with
relatively few abbreviations. There is little evidence that these scribes were under
pressure to work quickly. In contrast with the books copied in the later Middle
Ages, this book was copied by monks who worked hard, but at a meditative pace;
their hours in the scriptorium were part of their devotional life. The careful red
and yellow initials and other decoration certainly enliven the volume, but they
are also functional, and served to make the different sections of the text easy to
find. It survives to this day in remarkably fine condition and it still a wonderful
volume to read and to admire.
Its history is linked to two of the great Benedictine monasteries of Southern
Germany. We know it was in the library of the monastery of St. George at
Ochsenhausen by the fourteenth century when notes added were stating that
although it was then being used by a certain John, a rector at “Lopham” (almost
certainly Laupheim, south of Ulm, and about thirty kilometres from
Ochsenhausen), it was to be returned to Ochsenhausen after his death (“In
Ochsenhusen perthinet liber iste post mortem Johannis rectoris in lopham
amen”), but it is likely that it was part of their library much earlier. Ochsenhausen
was founded in 1093 as a priory of the monastery of St. Blaise in the Black Forest.
The early history of St. Blaise dates back to the ninth century, when it may have
been a cell of Rheinau Abbey, but its foundation is usually associated with
Reginbert of Seldenbüren (d. c. 962). In the eleventh century it was an important
center of Swabian monastic reform according to the constitutions of the
Northern Italian Cluniac Abbey of Fruttuaria. Numerous houses, including,
among others, Muri, Gottwieg, Wiblingen and Ochsenhausen, were reformed or
founded under its supervision. It was a wealthy house, with an important
scriptorium. Scholars are generally in agreement that in the late eleventh and
twelfth centuries, and in particular, in the early decades after its foundation,
manuscripts for the library at Ochsenhausen were copied at its mother house of
St. Blaise (Houben, 1979; cf. Stamm in Das tausendjährige St. Blasien, 1983, pp. 1734). Certainly the style of the initials in this manuscript is similar to that of initials
found in other St. Blaise manuscripts. This lovely and impressive manuscript of
an important contemporary text would have been an appropriate foundation
gift to the new Abbey.
128
f. 2v, initial, Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti (reduced)
129
130
ff. 50v-51, Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti (reduced)
131
The Liber testimoniorum (Book of Testimonies) is a work by St. Paterius, who was
a church notary and close associate of Pope Gregory the Great (Pope from 590604), and who died as Bishop of Brescia in 606. Paterius searched through
Gregory‘s works, especially the Moralia on Job (no. 8), extracting comments on
various biblical passages, and rearranging them in the order of the Bible. His
work was not completed, and only the commentaries on Genesis through the
Song of Songs survive. A number of twelfth-century authors imitated and
completed Paterius‘s text (Étaix, 1958; Wasselynck, 1962; Wilmart, 1972; Martello,
2012a, and 2012b).
The text in our manuscript is the version of Paterius‘s text by an otherwise
unknown author, the monk, Bruno. Bruno‘s commentary was not common; it is
now known only in about fifteen manuscripts, or a few more (eleven listed in
Stegmüller, 1950-1980, nos. 6317-6319; a partial copy at Harvard Houghton
Library, MS Typ 205, see Light, 1988, cat. 21, pp. 56-58; Darmstadt, Hessische
Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, MS 892, and Munich, BSB, Clm 14406;
Martello, 2012a, p. 157 says it exists in more than twenty copies, but does not list
them). Apart from its prologue, it has never been printed, and it is awaiting a full
scholarly study (prologue, Patrologia latina, vol. 79, cols. 681-684).
Bruno‘s project to correct and complete Paterius‘s text is an interesting witness
to the continued importance and adaptation of Gregory‘s thought in the early
twelfth century, and also of considerable interest because of his desire to produce
a commentary on the complete Bible. He may have been a contemporary of
Anselm of Laon (d. 1117), who later witnesses said wanted to gloss the whole
Bible but was prevented from doing so by his many duties (nos. 13-16). We know
his name only from the prologue that is found in some copies of the text (it is
lacking in our manuscript). Bruno mentions that he wrote at the urging of
Bernard. Bernard has been identified as Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), and
some scholars have concluded that Bruno himself was a Cistercian monk, but
the evidence of this manuscript suggests a full study based on all the manuscripts
is called for. Although this suggestion is admittedly speculative, it seems possible
that that there were two versions of the text, one circulating by the end of the
eleventh century in Benedictine monasteries in Southern Germany, and a second
(with the prologue?) circulating in Cistercian houses (Wilmart, 1972; Falmagne,
1997; Martello, 2012a, pp. 157-162).
There are twenty-one large, very attractive, and finely-executed late-Ottonian
white vine initials, some in red alone, and others in red and yellow, before major
sections of the text; three of these initials have dragon-like beasts extending
from the initials (ff. 50v, 63v, and 43v). The style of the initials is very close to that
132
f. 43v, initial, Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti (reduced)
133
of initials found in other manuscripts from St. Blaise at the end of the eleventh
century or early twelfth century; see for example, Commentaries by Jerome and
others, Lavantaal, Austria, Stift. St. Paul, MS 18/1 (Houben, 1979, pp. 24-31;
Das tausendjährige St. Blasien, 1983, cat. 126) (fig. 6.1), and MS 60/1 (Houben, 1979,
pp. 39-43; Das tausendjährige St. Blasien, cat. 128) (fig. 6.2), known as the
“Bernauer Missal” (mistakenly) from the early twelfth century, and Vienna,
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 9, f. 94v, a copy of Pliny (Hermann, 1926,
pp. 47-50, figure 24) (fig. 6.3). The initials in another manuscript from this region,
Berlin, MS lat. Fol. 197, probably copied in Southwestern Germany, c. 1130, later
at Maria Laach, are also similar (Fingernagel, 1991, cat. 66, plates 186-9).
This formal decoration is supplemented by fourteen exceptionally charming
drawings of animals and birds used as brackets around text that overruns the
column ruling. The lions found on ff. 112, 186v, and 265v, must be copies of
aquamanile (vessels in the shape of an animal used for washing hands both
during Mass, and during meals) (fig. 6.4). Three marginal sketches in plummet
(the medieval predecessor to the pencil) are also of special interest, and are
certainly very uncommon, including an animated pointing figure on the verso of
first parchment flyleaf, a man‘s face (f. 21v), and an animal (a lion‘s head and
torso?) on f. 160v.
The manuscript also presents interesting, although puzzling, evidence of the
workshop practices of a monastic scriptorium (probably, as we have seen, at
St. Blaise). It was common for scribes to number their quires as they copied
them, so the manuscript could be assembled in the correct order when it was
bound. Here, however, there are three series of quire signatures: quires 1-10
(ending f. 76v; note quire 10 has four leaves); quires 11-18 (ending f. 138v, note
quire 18 has six leaves), and quires 19-35. Quires one, eleven, and nineteen were
all counted as quire one. It does not seem likely that these three sets of quire
signatures represent the work of three successive scribes, since the second scribe
finished quire ten, and then copied quire eleven, numbering it as quire one, and
it is difficult to imagine exactly what these three series of signatures mean. The
number of hands in the volume does suggest that it was the product of a busy
scriptorium. The opening folios were clearly copied by two scribes, who traded
off frequently: scribe one copied ff. 1-52v, line 19, ff. 55v, line 5-65v, line 17, and
ff. 67v-75, line 8; with the second scribe copying ff. 52v, line 20-55v, line 4, ff. 65v,
line 18-f. 67, bottom line, and then beginning again at f. 75, line 9. The second
scribe copied large portions of the remainder of the volume with the help of
several other scribes.
f. 21v, (detail of a man‘s face), Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti
135
136
ff. 139v-140, initial, Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti (reduced)
137
St. Blaise Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: v (paper) + ii (parchment leaves from a twelfth-century manuscript) +
271 folios + v (paper) on parchment (very good quality, although with occasional uneven edges and
original holes, e.g. ff. 213, 215, some formerly sewn, e.g., ff. 222, 238, some still sewn, ff. 110 and
167), modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, complete (collation i-ix8 x4 [through f. 76v]
xi-xvii8 xviii6 [through f. 138v] xix-xxxiv8 xxxv6 [-6, probably cancelled blank]), signed on the last leaf
of each quire center lower margin with a Roman numeral in three series, quires 1-10, quires 11-18,
and quires 19-35, so that quires 1, 11, and 19 were all counted as quire one (many signatures
trimmed), ruled in hard point with the top two or three and the bottom two or three horizontal rules
full across, double full-length vertical bounding lines, prickings in three outer margins (justification
235 x 150-142 mm.), written in brown ink in a neat caroline minuscule in thirty-eight to forty-one
long lines by several scribes (discussed above), red rubrics, numerous large red initials, TWENTY-ONE
LARGE INITIALS in red and yellow or red alone in interlace foliate scroll design, some with added bird
or dragon decoration, FOURTEEN ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF BIRDS AND ANIMALS, THREE PLUMMET
DRAWINGS of a man, a man‘s face, and an animal (a lion?) in the margins, marginal annotations in
contemporary and later minuscule, two additional smaller leaves, measuring 275 x 195 mm., bound
before the main text, ruled very lightly in lead (justification 215 x 150 mm.), copied in an upright
twelfth-century minuscule, using e-cedilla, straight ‘d‘ and ‘r‘, straight ‘s‘ internally (round ‘s‘ finally)
in two columns of forty lines, two- to one-line red initials, a sermon added at the end in
contemporary hand, in good condition, lower blank margin of four leaves excised or repaired.
Bound in modern brown morocco, re-sewn, spine lettered in gold, “Saint Paterius Liber
Testimoniorum/ MS 12th Cent,” housed in modern red cloth and leather slip case, lettered “Saint
Paterius, Liber Testimonirum, Manuscript on Vellum, circa 1125.” Dimensions 320 x 215 mm.
TEXT: ff. i-ii, [A bifolium from a smaller-format twelfth-century manuscript, begins imperfectly],
incipit, “Fugiunt uniuersa corporis nocua …“ [five lines of the Sequence for the Dedication of a
Church from MS 121 of Notker‘s Liber hymnorum; Wagner, 1901]; De S. Maria Magdalena, incipit,
“Laus tibi Christe qui es creator…” [Sequence for St. Mary Magdalene by Gottschalk of Limburg (d.
1098)]; In Septuagesima, incipit, “Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc …” [Schaller und Könsgen, 1977,
no. 1894; Cantus Database id. 830058, from Southern Germany or Austria]; incipit, De sancto
vincencio, incipit, “Precelsa sedis colitur …” [Sequence for St. Vincent; Fassler, 1993, pp. 355, 370];
De sancto Nicolao, incipit, “Laude christe debita …”; Item alia, incipit, “Con gaudentes exultemus
…” [Schaller and Könsgen, 1977, nos. 8712 and 2597]; De sancto Thomas, incipit, “Mundi pompam
uicit almus Christi …” [Sequence for Thomas Becket; Werner, 1891, p. 510, publishing the text from
a manuscript from Zurich]; “Alleluia. Vir iste curauit gentem suam et liberauit illam a pernicie“
[unidentified], “Sanctus. Creator rerum pater ingenite … Tibi presens concio dulci laudum cantico
hoc decantat iubilo. Osana in excelsis“ [unidentified]; ff. 1-269, [Bruno (Ps. Paterius B)], Expositio
veteris ac novi testamenti], ff. 1-2, [Prologue, dedicated to Pope Gregory], Incipit prologvs paterii,
incipit, “Cum beatissimi atque apostolici gregorii pontificis nostri … inueniri merear uinculis
peccatorum,” Explicit prologus; f. 2rv, [Table of chapters, Book one, Genesis], incipit, “De creato cęlo
quod postmodum uocauit firmamentum … lxxvi. Beniamin lupus rapax,” Expliciunt capitula; ff. 2v269, Incipiunt liber de creato cęlo quod postmodum uocauit firmamentum. Iob liber xxvii. Capitulo
xli., incipit, “Uirtutes angelice que in divino amore fixe perstiterunt lapsis superbientibus angelis …
138
f. 265v, lion, Bruno [Ps. Paterius B], Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti (reduced)
139
[f. 263, John] In sacro eloquio sicut et quasi aliqando … conspicit merore turbatus hiraescit”; ends
mid f. 269, remainder blank [Stegmüller, 1950-1980, 6317-6319; this manuscript with Genesis (f. 2v);
Exodus (f. 21v); Leviticus (f. 38); Numbers (f. 43v); Deuteronomy (f. 50); Judges (f. 56v); Kings (f. 59);
Psalms (f. 77); Ecclesiastes (f. 119); Song of Songs (f. 122v); Wisdom (f. 131); Ecclesiasticus (f. 132v);
Isaiah (f. 139); Jeremiah (f. 155v); Ezekiel (f. 166v); Daniel (f. 176v); Hosea (f. 179v); Amos (f. 182v);
Micah (f. 183v); Habakkuk (f. 184); Zephaniah (f. 185); Haggai (f. 185v); Zechariah (f. 185v); Malachi
(f. 188v); Apocalypse (f. 188v); Acts (f. 194v); Romans (f. 200v); Corinthians (f. 205v); Galatians (f.
219v); Ephesians (f. 220v); Philippians (f. 221v); Thessalonians (f. 223); Colossians (f. 224v); Timothy
(f. 225v); Hebrews (f. 228); Matthew (f. 230); Mark (f. 248v); Luke (f. 251v); John (f. 263), with each
section of the commentary beginning with a table of chapters]; –ff. 269v-271v, [Sermon added in a
contemporary hand] Sermo fidelis sit Michahelis laus peto cęlis, incipit, “Circa simpliciores fratres
mei simpliora. Gracia utilitatis conformare uerba conamur pierumque enim contigit …”; f. 271, Item
alius unde supra, incipit, “Primo omnium die scriptura diuina est sapientia. Istorum verborum tenor
fratres mei magnam habet in se intelligentie … regens in deffectiua secula seculorum Amen”
[Apparently directed to a monastic audience, the substantial passages written over erasure, and the
additions in margins, suggest that this may be some sort of draft or author‘s copy].
SCRIPT: Copied by several scribes in upright, well-spaced caroline minuscule with no signs of
horizontal compression; scribes usually use straight ‘s‘, although round ‘s‘ is found occasionally,
straight ‘d‘ and ‘r‘, and e-cedilla, “et” is abbreviated with an ampersand; ‘pp‘ written separately; the
script of the first scribe is distinctive, with a discernible slant, and finishing strokes on the descenders;
this scribe uses a ‘vs‘ ligature at the ends of words.
ILLUSTRATION: The major decoration consists of a series of large, very attractive and finelyexecuted late-Ottonian white vine initials, some drawn in red alone and others in red and yellow.
Initials in red are found on ff. 50v, 56v, 59, 63v, 69, and 73; those on ff. 50v and 63v having a dragonlike beast extending from the initial into the margin. Initials in yellow and red are found on ff. 1,
2v, 22v, 39, 43v (with a dragon-like beast), 78, 106, 119v, 122v, 132v, 140, 189, 194v, 201, and 206. This
formal decoration is supplemented by exceptionally charming drawings of animals and birds used
as brackets around text that overruns the column ruling. One of these is in text ink (f. 230), and the
others are in color (ff. 96v, 103v, 112, 136, 160, 186v, 199v, 223, 228, 230, 237, 240, 265v). The lions
are very similar to contemporary aquamanile (fig. 6.4).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written at the end of the eleventh or early in the twelfth century,
c. 1090-1110 in Southern Germany, most likely at the monastery of St. Blaise in the Black Forest,
given the evidence of the script, decoration, and later provenance. 2. Belonged to the Benedictine
monastery of Ochsenhausen, certainly by the late fourteenth century, but very likely early in its
history; ex libris on f. 1 (repeated on f. i and f. 271v): “In Ochsenhusen perthinet liber iste post
mortem Johannis rectoris in lopham amen”; there are also two different library stamps on f. 1, both
from Ochsenhausen, and a smaller unlabelled stamp on f. i, also from Ochsenhausen (Mück, 1993,
p. 96). “Lopham” is, presumably, Laupheim, south of Ulm, about 30 kilometres from Ochsenhausen.
The manuscript was seen and described at Ochsenhausen by Martin Gerbert in 1765
(Iter Alemmanicum, accedit Italicum et Gallicum, 1765, p. 215; see also Houben, 1979, p. 153).
3. Ochsenhausen was suppressed in 1803 and the abbey and its library were given to Prince Franz
Georg Karl, Graf von Metternich (1746-1818), father of Chancellor Metternich, in lieu of lands
occupied in the Napoleonic invasion. In 1825 the Metternich family sold the abbey but retained the
library. This manuscript was 20.C.4 in their family castle library at Königswart (Kynžvart, in the Czech
Republic), now a national museum, the Zámecka knihovna (castle library), but was no longer there
in 1965 when the collection was catalogued and it was reported as lost (Čáda, 1965, p. 15 and p. 56,
no. 34 “desiderata”). 4. Belonged to Dr. Edward Henry Bell of Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania
(modern note in pencil on front paper flyleaf, f. iv). 5. Belonged to the Countess Estelle Doheny
(1875-1958); purchased from Rosenbach in 1946, and described in Bond and Faye, 1962, p. 12, no.
40, as Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John‘s Seminary, Camarillo, California, MS
5603; ex libris inside front cover; Doheny sale, Christie‘s, Estelle Doheny Collection: part II, Medieval
and Renaissance Manuscripts, 12/02/1987, lot 140. 6. Belonged to Martin Schøyen (b. 1940), Oslo and
London, his MS 41 (ex libris inside front cover). 7. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
140
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: Seen and described at Ochsenhausen by MARTIN GERBERT, Iter
Alemannicum, accedit Italicum et Gallicum …, St. Blasien, 1765, p. 215. FRANTIŠEK C̆ÁDA ,
Czechoslovak Republik. Zámek. Knihovna. Rukopisy Knihovny Státního zámku v Kynžvartě. Prague,
1965, p. 15 and p. 56, no. 34 “desiderata.” HUBERT HOUBEN , St. Blasianer Handschriften des 11. und
12. Jahrhunderts: Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ochsenhauser Klosterbibliothek, Munich,
1979, listing this manuscript as “verloren,” pp. 149, 150, and 153, and note 318, stating that it was
still at Kynžvart in the middle of the nineteenth century when it was catalogued by H. Schiel.
W. H. BOND AND C. U. FAYE, Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in
the United States and Canada, New York, 1962, p. 12, no. 40 (Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial
Library, St. John‘s Seminary, Camarillo California, MS 5603). K. DIEMER, ed. , Laupheim: Rückschau auf
1200 Jahre Laupheimer Geschichte, Weissenhorn, 1979, p. 92. RICHARD ROUSE, “Medieval
Manuscripts and Early Printed Books,” in A Bibliophile‘s Los Angeles. Essays for the International
Association of Bibliophiles on the Occasion of its XIVth Congress, ed. John Bidwell, Los Angeles,
1985, pp. 43-80 at p. 49. SIGRID KRÄMER, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters,
Mittlelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Ergänzungsband 1, Munich,
1989-1990, p. 635, as Camarillo, St. John‘s Seminary, Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library 5603.
FABRIZIO MARTELLO, “Paterius,” in P. Chiesa and L. Castaldi, eds. La trasmissione dei testi latini del
medioevo. Mediaeval Latin Texts and their Transmission, Florence, 2012, p. 438 (as Kynžvart, Zámeck
Knihovna 20. C.4).
LITERATURE
Das tausendjährige St. Blasien. 200 jähriges Domjubiläum, vol. 1, Katalog zur Ausstellung im Kolleg
St. Blasien vom 2. Juli bis 2. Oktober 1983; vol. 2, Aufsätze, Karlsruhe, 1983.
DELCOGLIANO, M., ed.
ÉTAIX, R.
Gregory the Great on the Song of Songs, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2012.
“Le Liber testimoniorum de Paterius,” Revue des sciences religieuses 32 (1958), pp. 66-78.
“Les cisterciens et les nouvelles forms d‘organisation des florilèges aux 12e et 13e
siècles,” Archivum latinitatis medii aevi 55 (1997), pp. 77-176.
FALMAGNE, TH.
Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in TwelfthCentury Paris, Cambridge and New York, 1993.
FASSLER, MARGOT ELSBETH.
Die illuminierten lateinischen Handschriften deutscher Provenienz der
Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, 8.-12. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden, 1991.
FINGERNAGEL, ANDREAS.
Ochsenhausen. Von der Benediktinerabtei zur oberschwäbischen Landstadt,
Weißenhorn 1994.
HEROLD, M., ed.
Die deutschen romanischen Handschriften, Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der
illuminierten Handschriften in Österreich. II. Band: Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln
der Nationalbibliothek in Wien, II. Teil: Die deutschen romanischen Handschriften, Leipzig, 1926.
HERMANN, JULIUS.
“Die Bibliothek. Handschriften und Inkunabeln,” in Die Kunstdenkmäler des
Benediktinerstiftes St. Paul im Lavanttal, Österreichische Kunsttopographie 37, Wien 1969, pp. 340-441.
HOLTER, KURT.
St. Blasianer Handschriften des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts: Unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung der Ochsenhauser Klosterbibliothek, Munich, 1979.
HOUBEN, HUBERT.
“Handschriften der ehemaligen Bibliothek der Benedictiner-Reichsabtei
Ochsenhausen vom 9. Bis 14. Jahrhundert,” in Libri sapientiae, libri vitae : von nützlichen und
erbaulichen Schriften : Schätze der ehemaligen Bibliothek der Benediktiner-Reichsabtei
Ochsenhausen : Handschriften, Inkunabeln, Frühdrucke, Bücher vom 9 bis 18. Jahrhundert : eine
Ausstellung der Stadt Ochsenhausen in Verbindung mit dem Nationalmuseum in Prag, Abteilung für
Schlossbibliotheken und dem Denkmalamt für Westböhmen in Pilsen, Ochsenhausen. 1993, pp. 82-105.
MÜCK, HANS-DIETER.
141
The Bible in the Twelfth Century: An Exhibition of Manuscripts at the Houghton
Library, Cambridge, Mass., 1988.
LIGHT, LAURA.
MARTELLO, FABRIZIO.
All‘ombra di Gregorio Magno: il notaio Paterio e il Liber testimoniorum, Rome,
2012.
“Paterius,” in P. Chiesa and L. Castaldi, eds. La trasmissione dei testi latini del
medioevo. Mediaeval Latin Texts and their Transmission, Florence, 2012, pp. 431–446.
MARTELLO, FABRIZIO.
Die Klostergrundherrschaft St. Blasien im Mittelalter. Beiträge zur Besitzgeschichte, Arbeiten
zum Historischen Atlas von Südwestdeutschland 4, Stuttgart, 1969.
OTT, H.
“Ochsenhausen,” Die Benediktinerklöster in Baden-Württemberg, ed. Franz Quarthal,
Germania Benedictina 5, Augsburg, 1975, pp. 454-64.
OTT, H.
SCHALLER, DIETER UND EDWALD KÖNSGEN.
Initia carminum latinorum saeculo undecimo antiquiorum,
Göttingen 1977.
Introduction to the Gregorian Melodies: A Handbook of Plainsong. Origin and
Development of the Forms of the Liturgical Chant up to the End of the Middle Ages, 2nd ed., trans.
by Agnes Orme and E. G. P. Wyatt, London, 1901.
WAGNER, PETER.
“Les compilations des Moralia in Job du VIIe au XIIe siècle,” Recherches de théologie
ancienne et médiévale 29 (1962), pp. 5-32.
WASSELYNCK, R.
“Hymnologische Beiträge,” Romanische Forschungen: Organ für romanische Sprachen,
Volks-und Literaturen 4 (1891), p. 510.
WERNER, J.
“Le Recueil grégorien de Paterius et les fragments Wisigothiques de Paris,” Revue
bénédictine 39 (1972), pp. 81-104.
WILMART, ANDRÉ.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Klöster im Baden-Württemberg: Georg Pfeiffer and Karl-Heinz Braun, “Saint Blasien”; Konstantin
Maier, “Saint George Ochsenhausen”
http://www.kloester-bw.de/kloster1.php?nr=512
http://www.kloester-bw.de/klostertexte.php
Christine Glaßner, “Inventar der Handschriften des Benediktinerstiftes St. Paul im Lavanttal bis ca.
1600,” Vienna, 2002
http://www.ksbm.oeaw.ac.at/stpaul/inv/
Cantus Database
http://cantusdatabase.org/
Fig. 6.1
Sankt Paul im Lavanttal, MS 18/1, Jerome,
Commentary on Matthew, f. 114
142
f. 112, (detail), Bruno [Ps. Paterius B] Expositio veteris ac novi testamenti
143
Fig. 6.3
Vienna, Österreichische
Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 9,
Pliny, f. 94v
Fig. 6.4
New York, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Cloisters Collection,
1994 (1994.244), Aquamanile
in the Form of a Lion
Fig. 6.2
Sankt Paul im Lavanttal,
Missal, MS 60/1, ff. 56v-57
144
145
|7|
JEROME, Expositio super Psalmos triginta from his
Tractatus lix in psalmos; Carmen in laudem Hieronymi,
attributed to PETRARCH
Italy (Northern?), c. 1125-50
Romanesque, heavy, grainy parchment (which was so much admired by
William Morris), superb script, scarcely any word division, headings in
uncials from the previous millennium, some words in Greek, perhaps
copied from an early Christian exemplar; graceful, large, clean, sound,
handsome, noble, opens well, marvellous painted initial; intellectual,
thoughtful, Jerome writing on the Psalms, the text which obsessed him
more than any other, used by monks who knew the Psalms by heart; a
core text of medieval civilization; probably eventually localizable in
Romanesque Italy; passed through a world which knew Petrarch,
disgorged under Napoleon, sold in England; the quintessential manuscript
of Quaker taste, owned by Lord Peckover, the least appreciated and
probably greatest Quaker connoisseur.
There is no Church Father with a more direct and pervasive influence on the
medieval Bible than Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus (c. 342-420). He was the
author of an enormous body of work, including numerous letters, historical and
hagiographical works, and biblical commentaries. His skill as a linguist earned
him the title, “vir trilinguis,” since he knew Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. In 382 Pope
Damasus I (c. 305-384) commissioned him to write a new translation of the
Gospels from the Greek. This translation, together with his subsequent translation
of most of the Old Testament books from Hebrew, ultimately completed decades
later in 405/406, was his greatest achievement, and forms the core of the biblical
translation, now known as the Vulgate, read throughout the Middle Ages and
into modern times.
Jerome translated the Psalms three times – an indication of the special
importance of this biblical book. His first two translations were from the Greek;
f. 1, initial, Jerome, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
147
the second, known as the Gallican Psalter, was widely disseminated and became
the standard text during the Middle Ages, used in the liturgy, for study, and in the
schools. In contrast with his translations of the other Old Testament Books, his
final translation of the Psalms from the Hebrew, the Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos,
never circulated widely during the Middle Ages.
Jerome was revered as the author of the Vulgate, and his biblical commentaries
were also widely read. He was the author of two commentaries on the Psalms.
The first, known as his Commentarioli, or “Little Commentary,” probably written
c. 389/391 (Dekkers, 1961, no. 582; Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no. 3326; Morin, ed.,
1959), offers only very brief comments on the Psalms. His second commentary,
the Tractatus lix in psalmos, is included in the manuscript described here. It
consists of a series of much longer homilies on the text of fifty-nine Psalms
(Dekkers, 1961, no. 592; Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no. 3325; Morin, ed., 1958, pp. 3352). Most modern scholars agree that Jerome based this work on the homilies
on the Psalms by the great Greek biblical scholar, Origen (c. 185- c. 254) (no. 10),
although his work was more than a simple translation, since he introduced
comments of his own (Peri, 1980; Rondeau, 1982). A third commentary, the
Breviarium in psalmos, circulated as Jerome‘s in the Middle Ages, but it is not an
authentic work, but rather a later compilation including text from the
Commentarioli and the Tractatus, with additions by other authors (Dekkers, 1961,
no. 629; Stegmuller, 1950-1980, no. 3333).
Jerome‘s commentary discusses fifty-nine of the 150 Psalms. Our manuscript
includes commentaries on thirty of the Psalms from the complete commentary
(Psalms 1, 5, 7, 14, 66, 67, 75-7, 81-2, 84, 89, 93, 103, 107, 109, 119, 127-8, 131, 133, 135,
137, 139, 140-2, 148-9; omitting 9, 74, 78, 80, 83, 86, 90, 91, 95-98, 100-102, 104106, 108, 110, 111, 114, 115, 132, 136, 143, 145-147). To the best of our knowledge, it
is the only version of this commentary that includes these particular Psalms. At
the very least, we can see that it was the result of an active process of selection.
Someone had to decide which Psalms to include, and which to omit. Why this
compiler may have chosen these particular Psalms and whether he introduced
other changes, or shortened the individual commentaries, is a question that
remains for further research to address. But we can say confidently that the text
in this manuscript was the result of an active interaction with Jerome‘s
commentary that adapted it to the needs and interests of a twelfth-century
audience. Its unknown author or compiler was producing a “new” text, in a
process that parallels the much more ambitious project by the monk Bruno when
he corrected and completed Paterius‘s Liber testimoniorum (no. 6).
This is a harmonious manuscript of gravity and elegance, copied in a beautiful,
formal bookhand, with very round-shaped letters, and with each section of the
148
f. 6, Jerome, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
149
text introduced by rubrics in excellent uncial script (an ancient script used to
copy books as early as the fourth century). In many respects, this twelfth-century
manuscript harkens back to manuscripts from earlier centuries; there are even
passages where the scribe runs the words together. Ancient manuscripts were
copied with no word division at all, but in most twelfth-century century
manuscripts scribes carefully separated each word as we do today (Saenger,
1997). It begins with a suitably handsome and very large red and black initial,
presenting an interesting variation on the geometric-style initials that often
accompanied this type of script in twelfth-century Italian manuscripts.
This is a very clean copy, with almost no notes added by later readers. It has few
aids for the reader beyond rubrics and red initials at the beginning of each new
Psalm commentary, but this manuscript would have been well-suited for public
reading or for private study in a monastic context. It was still in use in the
fourteenth century when two short texts were added at the end. The first is a
poem in praise of Saint Jerome, attributed here to the Italian poet and scholar,
Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374). Another reader used the final flyleaf to copy a
hymn in honor of Saint Helen (at this time unidentified in other sources).
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: i (modern parchment) + 108 + i (modern parchment) folios on
parchment (prepared in the manner of southern Europe, good quality, evenly prepared, but rather
thick, with the hairsides of some leaves heavily speckled and quite dark), modern foliation in pencil
top outer corner recto, complete (collation i-xiii8 xiv4), horizontal catchwords lower margin (some
trimmed), no leaf or quire signatures, ruled in hard point with single or double vertical bounding
lines and sometimes with the top two and bottom two horizontal lines full across, prickings outer
margins (justification 192 x 115-112 mm.), copied by several scribes on the top ruled line in a very
round twelfth-century minuscule on ff. 1-96 with twenty-nine long lines, and on ff. 97-108 with
twenty-five long lines, instructions to the rubricator at the very bottom of several folios (e.g. ff. 21v
and 105), red rubrics in a careful uncial display script, numerous two- to six-line red initials, some with
decorative void spaces within the initial or with arabesque decoration, ONE VERY LARGE INITIAL, f.
1, twenty-nine lines, in variegated red with red and black geometric panels within the body of the
initial, infilled with foliate spirals ending in black ink flowers, followed by four lines of ornamental
capitals, the top margin may have been slightly trimmed, minor stains, but in excellent condition with
wide and clean margins. Bound in modern brown morocco over bevelled wooden boards with gilt
turn-ins, rounded spine with five raised bands, title in gilt “S. JERONYMI/ EXPOSITIO/ SUPER/
PSALMOS XXX.,” gilt edges, boards slightly bowed, some wear to the edges of the spine, but in
excellent condition, modern cardboard partial slip case. Dimensions 261 x 170 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-107v, [Jerome, Tractatus LIX in Psalmos] ff. 1-6, In dei nomine incipit expositio sancti
ieronimi presbiteri super psalmos XXX. In primis de psalmo primo, incipit, “Psalterivm ita est quasi
magna domus quę vnam quidem habit … vt uia mala pereat et benedicamus dominum. Cui est
Gloria,” Explicit de psalmo I; ff. 6-11, Incipit de Psalmo V, incipit, “Quintus psalmus hoc titulo
prenotatur … non laboraui. Cui sit Gloria in secula seculorum, Amen,” Explicit de psalmo V; ff. 1116, Incipit de Psalmo VII, incipit, “Singulis rebus inponuntur … enim dominus exaltatus est,” Explicit
de psalmo VII; ff. 16-18v, Incipit de psalmo XIIII, incipit, “Oportune quartus decimus lectus … Illi
repromisit nobis redditur uerem, Amen,” Explicit de psalmo XIIII; ff. 18v-21v, Incipit de Psalmo LXVI,
incipit, “Deus miseratur nobis et benedicat … suum super nos et miseratur nostri,” Explicit de psalmo
LXVI; ff. 21v-26, Incipit de psalmo LXVII, incipit, “Exurgat deus … quam in ceteris[?] creaturis, Amen,”
f. 18v, Jerome, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
151
Explicit de psalmo LXVII; ff. 26-29, Incipit de psalmo LXXV, incipit, “Ante quam inluminaret crux
mundum … habitat et nobis cum commedete. Cui est honor,” Explicit de psalmo LXXV; ff. 29-34,
Incipit de psalmo LXXVI, incipit, “Uoce mea ad dominum clamaui … in terram repromissionis cui sit
Gloria in secula seculorum. amen,” Explicit de psalmo LXXVI; ff. 34-39v, Incipit de psalmo LXXVII,
incipit, “Precepit scripta divina quando …”; ff. 39v-44v, Incipit octuagesima I, incipit, “Deus stetit in
sinagoga …”; ff. 44v-47v, Incipit de psalmo LXXXII, incipit, “Deus qui similis tibi …”; ff. 47v-53, Incipit
octuagesima IIII, incipit, “In finem filiorum chorem …”; ff. 52-57, Incipit octuagesima nono, incipit,
“Oratio moysi hominis dei …”; ff. 57-61, Incipit nonagesima III, incipit, “Semper de titulo disputamus
…”; ff. 61-64v, Incipit de psalmo CIII, incipit, “Iste psalmus continent ipsam creaturam … ; ff. 64v-69,
Incipit de psalmo CVII, incipit, “Canticum psalmi dauid. Canticum semper refertur …. Paratum
cor meum …”; ff. 69-73v, Incipit de psalmo CVIIII, incipit, “Dixit domino meo sedea dextris meis …”;
ff. 73v-81, Incipit de psalmo CXVIIII, incipit, “Veniamus ad psalmum …”; ff. 81-85, Incipit de psalmo
CXXVII, incipit, “Beati omnes qui timent dominum. Qui timent dominum …”; ff. 85-87v, Incipit
CXXVIII, incipit, “Sepe expugnauerunt me …. Sepe expugnaverunt me iuuenute mea …”; ff. 87-88,
Incipit de psalmo CXXXI, incipit, “Memento domine …. Multi putant ex eo …”; ff. 88-93, Incipit de
psalmo CXXXIII, incipit, “Ecce nunc benedicte domino …. Extremus psalmus …”; ff. 93-94, Incipit
de psalmo CXXXV, incipit, “Confitemini domino quoniam bonus …. Tam se heretici dicunt …”;
ff. 94-95, Incipit de psalmo CXXXVII, incipit, “Confitebor tibi domini in toto corde meo … Quali sunt
uulnera …”; f. 95rv, Incipit CXXXVIIII, incipit, “Eripe me domine …. Non tantum potest …”; ff. 95v-99,
Incipit de psalmo CXL, incipit, “Domine clamavi ad te …. Moyses stabat cum populo …”; ff. 99-100,
Incipit de psalmo CXLI, incipit, “Intellectus david cum esse in spelunca oratio. Proscribitur …”;
ff. 100-101v, Incipit de psalmo CXLII, incipit, “Domine exaudi orationem meam. Humiliam uerba …”;
ff. 105-107v, Incipit de psalmo CXLVIIII, incipit, “Centesimo quadragesimus nonus psalmos lectus est
… qui habet istum gladium. Et benedicamus eum in secula seculorum, Amen.” Explicit Expositio
Sancti Hieromimi Patri De Psalmos Triginta Deo Gratias Amen [Stegmüller, 1950-1989, no. 3325;
Dekkers, 1961, no. 592; ed. Morin, 1958, pp. 3-352, here with thirty of the fifty-nine Psalms]; – f.
107v, [fourteenth-century addition] Incipiunt versus de sancto Jeronimo editi per dominum
Franciscum P. archidiaconum parmensem laureatum poetam eximium, incipit, “Rore parens perfuse
sacro cęlestibus auris ... Spiritui trinusque poli regnator et unus“ [Carmen in laudem Hieronymi,
attributed to Petrarch; Walther, 1959, no. 16903; Bertalot, 1985-2004, no. 5836; listed as Ps. Petrarch
in Dutschke,1986; published in Valentinelli, 1874; see also Vattaso, 1908, pp. 33-34]; – f. 108 [added
hymn], Ymnus in sancta Helena, incipit, “Helena benignissima extit beatissima imperatoris genitrix
constantini mistici … et per Helene merita pergamus ad caelestia, amen” [unidentified]; f. 108v,
blank.
SCRIPT: Copied in a very round version of caroline minuscule with wedge-shaped ascenders; the
careful uncials used as a display script are a notable feature. Manuscripts copied in this distinctive
script are found from the late eleventh through the twelfth century in Northern and Central Italy;
an early example is Paris, BnF, MS lat. 2151, late eleventh/early twelfth century, from Northern Italy.
The uncial display script and the very rounded minuscule used for the main text in Paris, BnF, MS lat.
1845, Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, copied in Pistoia in the second half of the twelfth century
are similar to the scripts used in the manuscript described here (fig. 7.1). This manuscript is ruled in
hard point; there is occasional use of e-cedilla; scribes often use ampersand, but tironian-7 also
appears and both round and straight ‘d‘, and round and straight ‘s‘ are found; round letters are
copied separately and do not touch with the exception of ‘pp‘.
ILLUSTRATION: The manuscript begins with a very large and elegant red and black initial on f. 1.
The general construction of this initial with heavy fillets forming a frame for geometric infilling, is
not dissimilar to the geometric-style initials so popular in Central and Northern Italy in the twelfth
century and is often paired with the rounded script found in this manuscript (see nos. 14 and 16).
However, the red and black palette and the foliate spirals ending in little black flowers set this initial
apart. The form of the smaller red initials within the text is found in other Italian manuscripts of the
same general time period (for example, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 794, Pistoia, third quarter of the twelfth
century (fig. 7.2).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written in Northern Italy c. 1125-50 as suggested by the evidence
of the script, decoration, and codicological features. 2. Baron Alexander Peckover of Wisbech (18301919), his amorial bookplate, inside front cover with “LC 3/1,” and by descent to his daughter,
Elisabeth Peckover Penrose, and to her son, Professor Lionel Penrose (his small bookplate, front
flyleaf, f. i); his sale, Sotheby‘s, December 10, 1962, lot 157, to Dawson‘s of Pall Mall. 3. Apparently
Thomas E. Marston (1904-84); recorded in the Bergendal Catalogue as part of Marston‘s deposit at
the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale; their sale, Sotheby‘s, July 8, 1970, lot 110; later
sold to Lawrence Witten. 4. Belonged to Joseph Pope of Toronto (1921-2010), investor, banker and
152
f. 26, Jerome, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
153
prominent collector of medieval manuscripts; bought from Witten in June 1981; Bergendal MS 11
(on this collection, see Pope, 1997 and 1999, and Stoneman, 1997). 5. Pope sale, London, Sotheby‘s,
July 5, 2011, lot 38. 6. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: JOSEPH POPE, One Hundred and Twenty-Five Manuscripts. Bergendal
Collection Catalogue, Toronto,1999, no. 11. WILLIAM P. STONEMAN, “A Summary Guide to Medieval
and Later Manuscripts in the Bergendal Collection, Toronto” in A Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies
in Honor of Leonard Boyle, O.P., ed. Jacqueline Brown and William P. Stoneman, Notre Dame, 1997,
pp. 169-170.
LITERATURE
Initia humanistica latina: Initienverzeichnis lateinischer Prosa und Poesie aus
der Zeit des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts, Tübingen, 1985-2004.
BERTALOT, LUDWIG.
Psalms 1-50, Ancient Christian Commentary on
Scripture. Old Testament 7, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2008.
BLAISING, CRAIG A. AND CARMEN S. HARDIN, eds.
Repertorium hymnologicum. Catalogue de chants, hymnes, proses, séquences,
tropes en usage dans l‘église latine depuis les origines jusqu‘à nos jours, Louvain, 1892-1912, Brussels,
1920-1921.
CHEVALIER, ULYSSE.
Clavis patrum latinorum: qua in novum Corpus christianorum edendum optimas
quasque scriptorum recensiones a Tertulliano ad Bedam, Steenbrugge, 1961.
DEKKERS, ELIGIUS.
DUTSCHKE, DENNIS.
Census of Petrarch Manuscripts in the United States, Padua, 1986.
The Homilies of Saint Jerome: 1-59, Homilies on the Psalms, Fathers of the Church 48,
Washington, 1964.
EWALD, M. L.
MORIN, G., ed.
Hieronymus. Commentarioli in psalmos, Corpus christianorum, series latina 72,
Turnhout, 1959.
Hieronymus. Tractatus sive homiliae in Psalmos, Corpus Christianorum, series latina
78, Turnhout, 1958.
MORIN, G., ed.
PERI, VITTORIO.
Omelie origeniane sui Salmi: contributo all‘identificazione del testo latino, Vatican
City, 1980.
“The Library that Father Boyle Built,” in A Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies in Honor
of Leonard Boyle, O.P., ed. Jacqueline Brown and William P. Stoneman, Notre Dame, 1997, pp. 157162.
POPE, JOSEPH.
RONDEAU, MARIE-JOSÈPHE.
Les commentaires patristiques du Psautier (IIIe-Ve siècles), Rome,1982-
1985.
SAENGER, PAUL HENRY.
Space between Words: the Origins of Silent Reading, Stanford, California, 1997.
VALENTINELLI, GIUSEPPE.
VATTASSO, MARCO.
WALTHER, H.
Petrarca e Venezia, Venice, 1874.
I codici petrarcheschi dela Biblioteca Vaticana, Studi e Testi 20, Rome, 1908.
Initia carminum ac versuum Medii Aevi posterioris Latinorum, Göttingen, 1959.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Cantus Database
http://cantusdatabase.org/
f. 107v, added poem in praise of Jerome, Jerome, Expositio super Psalmos triginta
155
Fig. 7.1
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 1845, Jerome,
Commentary on Matthew, f. 3
156
Fig. 7.2
Office Lectionary, f. 217
157
|8|
GREGORY THE GREAT, Moralia in Job (books 1-18)
Northern Italy (Morimondo Abbey), c. 1150-75
Huge, the biggest in the collection, too big to hold, a lectern book, a public
text, a monumental book, for reading aloud at meals or in the church;
vast parchment pages, original condition, wide margins preserving the
prickings, utterly monastic, Cistercian, punctus flexus punctuation, big and
lovely initials in their characteristic single colors from Cîteaux, red or blue,
never both; the most famous and most influential text on the moral layer
of Scriptural meaning, relating the patience of Job to medieval monastic
life; this copy extensively read and studied by the Cistercian monks (a
whole thesis could be written – and one day will be – on the contemporary
nota marks in this copy and where they occur); a known and important
monastic provenance, a signed and dated medieval binding; a survival
through the Giovio family into public sale in 1977, when most were bought
by the Bodleian, except where outbid by Kraus.
Gregory the Great served as Pope from 590-604. He was the author of
numerous works that reflect the range of his interests and duties and his special
gift for tailoring his message to make it suitable for different audiences, ranging
from the Regula pastoralis, on the duties of prelates, to the Dialogues, a collection
of the lives and miracles of holy figures including St. Benedict. He also wrote a
vast body of letters and important exegetical works; his biblical commentaries,
many in the form of homilies, include works on Ezekiel, the Gospels, and the
Songs of Songs. His most important work, however, was without a doubt the
text included in this manuscript, his great commentary on the book of Job, the
Moralia in Job. It is a very long work, divided into thirty-five books and including
over half a million words (according to Professor James O‘Donnell).
f. 1, (detail), initial, Gregory, Moralia in Job
159
It would be hard to exaggerate the influence of Gregory‘s exegetical writings,
and in particular, the Moralia, on the thought of the Middle Ages. Gregory‘s
ambitious work includes comments on many passages from other books of the
Bible in addition to Job, and the Moralia was the source for most of the excerpts
included in the Liber testimonium by Gregory‘s close associate and notary,
Paterius. Works such as Bruno‘s continuation and correction of Paterius
demonstrate the continued interest in Gregory‘s exegetical writings in the late
eleventh and twelfth centuries (no. 6). The Moralia itself was a text found in
almost every monastic library.
Gregory the Great was born in Rome to a wealthy family. In 574 he turned aside
from his wealth and success, and retired to the monastery he founded in Rome.
In 579 he was forced from his monastic retirement, and sent to Constantinople
as the pope‘s ambassador to the Byzantine court. The Moralia originated as a
series of talks given at the request of the monks who accompanied him to
Constantinople during the years 579-586. Gregory himself was appointed pope
in 590, and he continued working on the Moralia, which he completed in 595.
The tension in Gregory‘s own life between his spiritual calling and his temporal
responsibilities resonates powerfully within this work. Through careful literal,
allegorical and moral readings of the Book of Job, Gregory constructs a
philosophically and biblically grounded commentary that uncovers the text‘s
inner meanings, and at the same time serves as a guide both to living a good life
as a Christian in this world, and to cultivating an inner life that will lead to the
next world. One of his gifts was his capacity to draw on his personal experiences
in ways that enriched his interpretation of the Bible; plagued by ill-health, in his
preface to the Moralia he says that his own sufferings helped him to understand
the sufferings of Job.
The Cistercian abbey of Saint Mary of Morimondo, in Lombardy, near Milan, was
founded in 1134, a daughter of the French Cistercian monastery of Morimond.
The foundation was a success, and was prosperous enough to begin building a
new church in 1182, and to support an active scriptorium. Evidence of their
growing library is found in the book list copied on the verso of the last leaf of an
Office Lectionary, now Harvard University, Houghton Library, fMS Typ 223, datable
by liturgical evidence before 1174/5 (fig. 8.1). The list was copied in stages, with
the first writer noting down the titles of about forty volumes; two subsequent
writers completed the list that includes a total of sixty titles (edited by Jean
Leclercq in 1961; re-published by Mirella Ferrari in 1999, pp. 43-46, with indications
of the present locations of the manuscripts). The second text on the list,
following a Bible in four volumes is “Moralia iob in duobus voluminibus” (Moralia
on Job in two volumes). In the present manuscript on f. 242 at the bottom of the
160
f. 7, Gregory, Moralia in Job (reduced)
161
page, there is a twelfth-century ownership note from Morimondo, certainly
contemporary with the volume: “Liber sancte marie de Morimondo” (The book
of Saint Mary of Morimondo). There is no doubt that this manuscript, which
includes books one to eighteen of Gregory the Great‘s commentary on the book
of Job, is the first volume of this two-volume copy of the Moralia (ed. Leclercq,
1961; discussed in Light, 1988, pp. 10-13, with plate; Ferrari, 1999, p. 44, no. 6).
Interestingly enough, there is another twelfth-century manuscript of the Moralia
almost certainly from Morimondo, also at Harvard, in the Houghton Library, fMS
Typ 702 (fig. 8.2). Although the Houghton volume has traditionally been
identified as the second volume of the Moralia in Morimondo‘s book list, there
were difficulties with this theory even before the evidence of the present
manuscript was considered, and we can now be sure that it is incorrect (Light,
1988, pp. 53-54; Ferrari, 1999, p. 44, no. 6). The Moralia was a very long work, and
therefore usually copied in many volumes. Gregory‘s prefaces indicate that he
intended it to be copied in six volumes, with divisions at books 6, 11, 17, 23 and 28,
but medieval scribes often copied it in two, three or four volumes (and in the
thirteenth century, even in a single volume; Ker, 1972). fMS Typ 702 includes books
26-35. If it was the second volume of a two-volume copy, this would have been
a very odd and unequal division of the text, and indeed we can assume that it
was probably the third volume of a three-volume set. Scribes copying the text
in two volumes generally began the second volume with book 17, 18, or 19, as was
the case in our manuscript.
Two quite different styles of script can be seen in manuscripts copied at
Morimondo in the twelfth century. Some are copied in rounded twelfth-century
hands that are very Italian in their overall appearance (as for example, Houghton
Library, fMS Typ 702) (fig. 8.2). The manuscript described here is copied in the
rather spiky script that Mirella Ferrari has called a “French-influenced Northern
Italian script”; the script of the Lectionary at Harvard, fMS Typ 223, is another
example of Morimondo‘s French-influenced script (fig. 8.3). Each book of our
Moralia begins with a large monochrome initial. Their simplicity is in keeping
with Cistercian austerity, but they are so large that the overall impact is quite
grand. Initials identical in style are found in the copy of Gilbert de la Porrée‘s
Commentary on the Psalms, also at Harvard, fMS Typ 29 (fig. 8.4).
This is a very large impressive copy of Gregory‘s text, and one that survives in
almost pristine condition apart from some wear to the opening and closing
folios. There is a contemporary correction copied in a box in the margin on f. 58
(similar boxed corrections are found in other Morimondo manuscripts),
occasional nota marks, and a few later notes on the flyleaves (detailed below),
162
f. 225, folio number in red, bottom of page, Gregory, Moralia in Job (reduced)
163
164
ff. 241v-242, Morimondo ex libris, Gregory, Moralia in Job (reduced)
165
but very few signs that it was used for study. One of its most interesting features
is that it includes folio numbers, written in small red Roman numerals at the
bottom of the page; they are clearly early, and if they were not included while the
book was being copied, they were added not long after. This is very unusual. As
a general rule, the pages or folios (that is one physical leaf, or two pages) in
medieval manuscripts were not numbered, and folio numbers in a manuscript as
early as this one are especially rare. So it is important to ask, why were all the
leaves in this manuscript carefully numbered? We do not know the answer, but
we would suggest that it may be an indication that this large-format copy was
used for public reading, possibly in the refectory during meals, or during the
Divine Office at Matins. Most known examples of twelfth- and thirteenthcentury manuscripts with folio numbers are liturgical books where the folio
numbers were used for cross references within the manuscript. Although there
was no need for cross references in a biblical commentary like the Moralia, it
seems possible that a liturgical context may explain why this book was foliated
so early.
in red, but also in blue and green, slightly cockled, first sixteen leaves with scattered wormholes, a
few lines of text rubbed on ff. 1 and 3, flyleaves damaged and darkened, else in excellent condition.
Bound in early, probably thirteenth-century, very heavy, thick wooden boards cut flush with the
book-block, boards are now uncovered, sewn on six bands that enter the thickness of the boards,
restored leather spine with six raised bands, housed in a green cloth and leather fitted box, lettered
on the spine in gilt: “Gregorius Magnus/ Moralia in Job/ Books I-XVIII/ Italy, Morimondo, c. 1150.”
Dimensions 430 x 280 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-242, [Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, books 1-18], Incipit prologus sancti gregorii pape
ad leandrum episcoporum in moralibus, incipit, “Reuerentissimo et sanctissimo fratris leandro …“;
f. 3, Incipit prefatio, incipit, “Inter mvltes sepe queritur …”; f. 7, Incipit liber primus incipit, incipit
“Uir erat in terra hus nomine iob … quasi per decurrentia flumina sumimus in ipso suo fonte
biberimus,” Explicit liber octauus decimus [Dekkers, 1961, no. 1708; Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no. 2634;
Adriaen, ed., 1979-1985, books one-eighteen in vol. 143 and 143A].
SCRIPT: The script is a good example of the distinctive, decorative and rather spikey proto-gothic
bookhand found in other Morimondo books c. 1150-1175; Mirella Ferrari has called this style of
script “nord-italiana francesizzante” (French-influenced Northern Italian), and it is certainly distinct
from typically rounded Italian scripts also found in manuscripts copied at Morimondo in the twelfth
century (Ferrari, 1993, pp. 256-257). The punctuation is Cistercian, and includes the punctus flexus.
Similar scripts are found in Harvard, Houghton Library, fMS Typ 223, the Office Lectionary with the
book list (fig. 8.1), in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 113, Jerome, Commentary on Matthew,
and in Milan, Bibl. Braidense, Gerli MS 12 (Ferrari, 1999, pl. 15).
ILLUSTRATION: The opening prologue and preface and each book of the Moralia begin with
large, six- to twenty-one-line initials (ff. 1, 3, 7, 15, 30, 41, 61v, 73v, 85v, 96, 114v, 135, 147, 159, 168v,
177, 190, 203, 215v and 225). The initials are all in one color; most are red, but blue and green are
also used. Very similar initials are found in Houghton Library, fMS Typ 29, Gilbert de la Porrée,
Commentary on the Psalms, third quarter of the twelfth century (Light, 1988, no. 35, with plate).
Morimondo, Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ii (parchment leaves from another manuscript) + 242 + ii (parchment
leaves) folios on parchment (good quality, even and quite thin, occasional original holes), medieval
foliation bottom lower margin in red Roman numerals placed either on the verso or recto of the
numbered opening, 1 (on the recto), 2-20 (on the verso), 21-241 (on the recto), 242 (on the verso),
incorrect later foliation in ink on the first 30 leaves, complete (collation i8 [-1, apparently cancelled]
ii8 iii8 [3 and 6, single] iv-xxvii8 xxviii8+1 [structure uncertain] xxix8 xxx10), signed in the middle lower
margin in Roman numerals at the end of each quire (first nine signatures are flourished with ivy
leaves), catchwords, bottom inside margin, in quires nine and twelve, ruled in lead with the top
three and bottom three horizontal rules usually full across and with single full-length vertical
bounding lines on both sides of each column, and on some leaves with three vertical rules between
the columns, prickings three outer margins (justification 320-312 x 198-195 mm.), written on the
top ruled line in a fine proto-gothic bookhand by several scribes in two columns of forty-one lines
(change of hand at f. 72), medieval foliation and running titles in red (added early), majuscules
within text touched with pale yellow, TWENTY VERY LARGE INITIALS in the Cistercian style, mostly
166
BINDING: Bound in early, probably thirteenth-century, very heavy, thick wooden boards cut flush
with the book-block; the boards are now bare with marks visible from central bosses and ornaments
on the three outer edges, and from catches and clasps, all now missing apart from the partial remains
of leather straps on the lower board. A note added to the front flyleaf dated 1252 records the
redemption of a pledge by brother James of Lomacio and brother James of Benixio to the prior of
Morimondo: “M CC Lii die veneris iii ante kalendas Julii fratres Jacobus de benixio et Jacobus de
Lomacio dederunt mutuo superhono libras v sol[idas] vi <turonenses?> domino collumbo priori de
morimondo causa exigendi quoddam librum quod dicitur expositio <iohannis? possibly meant to
be expunged> augustini super iohannem quod erat in pignore.” Copied alongside this note,
probably in a different but contemporary hand, is a note recording payment of thirty shillings for
the binding of this book (in Latin, “istius”), presumably this very copy of Gregory, suggesting that
it was rebound in 1252 or shortly after, “Item pro liguras et aptamine[?] istius libri sol. xxx <?>.”
Serving as flyleaves in this volume are four leaves from a contemporary and very similar manuscript,
two in the front, and two at the end, agreeing with our manuscript in the dimensions of the written
space and the number of lines: (justification 322 x 190 mm.), two columns, forty-one lines, ruled in
lead with triple rules between the columns. The text of these leaves is from the Moralia. Folio ii
verso of the bifolium at the front, with the signature III, has text from Gregory‘s commentary on Job
29:6, “Lavabam pedes meas butyro," discussed in Book XIX. It has been suggested that these leaves
are in fact from the second volume of this copy of the Moralia, perhaps so damaged that it was
broken up in 1252 when our volume was rebound, and used as binding material.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written in Northern Italy in the third quarter of the twelfth
century as suggested by the evidence of the script and decoration, and confirmed by the
contemporary ex libris on f. 242: “Liber sancte marie de Morimondo” (contemporary hand), with
167
the later addition “In inventario XI” the latter numeral being written over as “i5xii”(?). Morimondo
was founded in 1134, a daughter of the French Cistercian monastery of Morimond, and was
suppressed in 1799 and associated with the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan. This manuscript is recorded
in the twelfth-century library catalogue from Morimondo, fMS Typ 223, f. 227v, line 8.
2. Additions are evidence of its use through the seventeenth century; a note on f. 242 states that
Brother Cirillus Selvaggioni (or Savalggiani) finished reading it on December 2, 1656. Two other
manuscripts from Morimondo include similar inscriptions by this monk, Milan, Biblioteca Braidense,
Gerli Ms 12 (Jerome, Commentary on the Minor Prophets; precise date illegible), and the
Commentary on the Apocalypse by Haimo of Auxerre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University,
Houghton Library, fMS Typ 1178, which includes a note dated 1665 (Ferrari, 1999, p. 41 and note 32;
Ferrari, 1993, p. 259 and note 31). The flyleaves in the Braidense manuscript may be from the same
manuscript that supplied the flyleaves in our volume (Ferrari, 1999, p.42). 3. Belonged to Francesco
Giovio (1796-1873) of Como (Ferrari, 1993, pp. 288 and 303), and therefore it was likely among the
manuscripts donated by Carlo Revelli (bishop of Como from 1793-1819) to the seminary library of
Como before 1819. Part of this donation was almost immediately given to Francesco Giovio in return
for some printed books. Giulio Porro recorded that he saw 250 manuscripts in Giovio‘s library in
Milan in 1880. 4. Sold by Francesco Giovio‘s descendants, Christie‘s, June 1, 1977, lot 160, to Kraus.
5. H. P. Kraus, New York; his handwritten pencil collation on back pastedown, dated March 1978. 6.
Belonged to Martin Schøyen; his MS 31. 7. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Houghton Library, fMS Typ 223,
f. 227v, line 8 [ed. in J. Martini, Catalogue 22, A Catalogue of Manuscripts, Early Printed and Other
Rare Books, Lugano, 1931, no. 12, pp. 12-13 and in Jean Leclercq, “Textes manuscrits cisterciens des
bibliothèques des États-Unis,” Traditio 17 (1961), pp.163-183, p. 177]. MIRELLA FERRARI , “Dopo
Bernardo: biblioteche e ‘scriptoria‘ cisterciensi dell‘Italia settentrionale nel XII secolo,” in Pietro Zerbi,
ed., San Bernardo e l‘Italia, Milan, 1993, pp. 269 and 303 as Christie‘s, June 1, 1977, lot. 160. MIRELLA
FERRARI, “Sui ‘Salmi‘ e sui ‘Profeti‘: dal primo catalogo di Morimondo alla Biblioteca Braidense,” in
Studi di Storia dell‘arte in onore di Maria Luisa Gatti Perer, ed. Marco Rossi and Alessandro Rovetta,
Milan, 1999, p. 44, no. 6, as Christie‘s, June 1, 1977, lot. 160. Martin Schøyen collection, Online
Catalogue (Online Resources).
EXHIBITED: Oslo, Katedralskole 850 âr. 10-14 March 2003.
LITERATURE
ADRIAEN, MARCUS, ed.
Morali in Job, Corpus christianorum, series latina 143, 143A, 143B, Turnhout,
1979-1985.
“Gli inizi dello scriptorium di Morimondo,” in Un‘Abbazia Lombarda: Morimondo la
sua storia e il suo messagio; convegno celebrativo nel VII centenario del termine dei lavori della
chiesa abbaziale, 1296-1996, Morimondo, 1998, pp. 103-111.
BANDERA, S.
BRONWEN, NEIL AND MATTHEW DAL SANTO, eds.
A Companion to Gregory the Great, Leiden and
Boston, 2013.
“Biblioteche e scrittori Benedettini nella storia culturale della diocesi Ambrosiana:
Appunti ed episodi,” Ricerche storiche sulla chiesa Ambrosiana 9, [=Archivio Ambrosiano 40] (1980),
pp. 230–90.
FERRARI, MIRELLA.
“Dopo Bernardo: biblioteche e ‘scriptoria‘ cisterciensi dell‘Italia settentrionale
nel XII secolo,” in Pietro Zerbi, ed., San Bernardo e l‘Italia, Milan, 1993, pp. 253-306.
FERRARI, MIRELLA.
FERRARI, MIRELLA. “Lo scriptorium di Morimondo,” in Un‘Abbazia Lombarda: Morimondo la sua
storia e il suo messagio; convegno celebrativo nel VII centenario del termine dei lavori della chiesa
abbaziale, 1296-1996, Morimondo, 1998, pp. 103-111.
168
Binding, Gregory, Moralia in Job (reduced)
169
“Sui ‘Salmi‘ e sui ‘Profeti‘: dal primo catalogo di Morimondo alla Biblioteca
Braidense,” in Studi di Storia dell‘arte in onore di Maria Luisa Gatti Perer, ed. Marco Rossi and
Alessandro Rovetta, Milan, 1999, pp. 33-46.
FERRARI, MIRELLA.
“Le texte biblique de Grégoire,” in Grégoire le Grand, Colloque de Chantilly, 1982,
Paris, 1986, pp. 467–75.
GRIBOMONT, J.
“The English Manuscripts of the Moralia of Gregory the Great,” in Kunsthistorische Forschungen.
Otto Pächt zu seinem 70. Geburtstag, ed. Artur Rosenauer and Gerold Weber, Salzburg, 1972, pp. 77-89.
KER, NEIL.
“Textes et manuscrits cisterciens des bibliothèques des Etats-Unis,” Traditio 17
(1961), pp. 163-183.
LECLERCQ, JEAN.
“Manuscrits cisterciens dans les biblothèques d‘Italie,” Analecta sacri ordinis
cisterciens 7 (1951), pp. 71-75.
LECLERCQ, JEAN.
The Bible in the Twelfth Century: An Exhibition of Manuscripts at the Houghton
Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988.
LIGHT, LAURA.
“Le texte de Job utilisé par Saint Grégoire dans les Moralia,” Miscellanea Biblica et
orientalia R. P. Athanasio Miller O.S.B. oblate, Studia Anselmiana 27-28, Rome, 1951, pp. 187-194.
SALMON, P.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Fondazione Abbatia Sancte Marie de Morimundo, “Scriptorium,” (with a list of seventy-five
manuscripts once belonging to the Abbey, now in public collections in Italy, France, England and
the United States, not including this manuscript)
http://www.abbaziamorimondo.it/old/biblioteca/scriptorium.htm
Martin Schøyen Collection
www.schoyencollection.com/patristic.html#031
English translation of the Moralia
http://www.lectionarycentral.com/GregoryMoraliaIndex.html
170
Fig. 8.1
Cambridge, Harvard University,
Houghton Library, fMS Typ 223,
Office Lectionary, f. 227v
Fig. 8.2
Cambridge, Harvard University,
Houghton Library, fMS Typ 702,
Gregory, Moralia, f. 1
171
Fig. 8.3
Cambridge, Harvard University, Houghton
Library, fMS Typ 223, Office Lectionary, f. 7v
172
Fig. 8.4
Cambridge, Harvard University, Houghton
Library, fMS Typ 29, Gilbert de la Porrée,
Commentary on the Psalms, f. 52
173
|9|
AUGUSTINE, Enarrationes in Psalmos (Psalms 51-100)
Austria (Lambach Abbey), c. 1150-1175
Enormous, big pages, big script, heavy, weighty monastic manuscript of a
major patristic text, well over 500 pages; a book from a scriptorium, an
enterprise of astonishing human effort and learning, care, determination,
focus and spiritual grace; part of a famous set of manuscripts from
Lambach Abbey, made and decorated there by one of the few outstanding
Romanesque artists known by name and with an attributable œuvre,
delicate drawing style, colored inks like Anglo-Saxon drawing,
monumental on a tiny scale, graphic, delicate, luminous, deeply human;
massive binding of thick wood, fundamentally contemporary, including
characteristic twelfth-century tabs at the top and bottom of the spine, late
medieval pastedowns, holes from a medieval chain hasp; superb condition,
edges uncut, multiple layers of contemporary corrections.
The commentary on the Psalms by St. Augustine (354-430), stands alongside
Gregory the Great‘s Moralia in Job (no. 8), as one of the most widely copied and
influential patristic commentaries. Hundreds of manuscripts of this work survive,
the earliest from the sixth century (Paris, BnF, MS lat. 9533). The first volume of
the modern critical edition was based on forty manuscripts dating before 1100
(Weidmann, 2011). A more general survey in an earlier edition listed 370
manuscripts, but even that was a partial list, and more have been identified in the
census of surviving Augustine manuscripts by the Ősterreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften. All this attests to the popularity of this commentary during the
Middle Ages, when it must have been found in almost every monastic library, and
it has remained an influential text to the present day. It is said that Martin Luther
was reading Augustine‘s commentaries on Psalms 31 and 32 when he came to
understand justification by faith (Blaising and Hardin, 2008, p. xxv).
175
This commentary, Augustine‘s longest work, originated as sermons on the Psalms
preached over the course of decades, probably between 389 and 422. As is the
case for many of his writings, much of its contents reflect his actual oral
discourse as it was recorded by his secretaries. Because of this, Augustine‘s
sermons, including some of the sermons in the Enarrationes in Psalmos, preserve
readings from the Bible as it was read liturgically in the late fourth and early fifth
centuries (Margoni-Kögler, 2010). The title now used, the Enarrationes in Psalmos
(Explanations or Wanderings on the Psalms), does not date back to the author,
or even to the medieval tradition, but rather to the edition of the text published
in 1526 by Erasmus. It is not difficult to understand why this text, which
comments line by line on all of the Psalms, was read so widely during the Middle
Ages. Augustine was not concerned with discussing difficult passages or textual
problems, or even the literal sense of the Psalms, but instead explores their
spiritual meaning. As he expressed it, he was “removing the roof” of the outer
meaning of the Psalm to reveal Christ hidden within (Commentary on Psalm 37).
Augustine was born in 354 in Thagaste in North Africa; his mother, Monica was
a Christian; his father, Patricius, converted only on his deathbed. Of modest
means, Augustine nonetheless was well-educated and studied at Carthage. After
various spiritual and moral struggles, known to us because of his Confessions,
Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose in Milan in 387; he became Bishop of
Hippo in 395, a position he held until his death in 430. His importance in the
history of Western thought can hardly be exaggerated. In the words of a recent
scholar, Augustine from the Middle Ages to the present “has remained the most
prominent and most widely studied author in Western Christianity,” second only
to biblical writers such as Paul (Drobner, 2000).
This manuscript of Augustine‘s commentary on the Psalms was copied at the
Benedictine abbey of Saints Mary and Kilian at Lambach. Lambach was founded
in 1056 by Bishop Adalbero of Würzburg (d. 1090) in Upper Austria on the
northern bank of the Traun river, to the northeast of Salzburg. Like St. Blaise and
Ochsenhausen (no. 6), Lambach was linked to the movement for monastic
reform. Its first Abbot, Eckbert, was from Gorze, and the Benedictine foundation
at Lambach – independent of lay control – replaced the earlier community of
secular clerics founded by Adalbero‘s father. The Church was dedicated in 1089
to the Assumption of Mary and to St. Kilian, patron of Würzburg. Lambach‘s
scriptorium was an important one, especially in the twelfth century under
Abbots Bernhard (c. 1148-1167) and Pabo (1167-1194).
176
f. 2v, initial, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos (reduced)
177
This manuscript was the second volume of a multi-volume copy of Augustine‘s
text, described as the greatest achievement of the Lambach scriptorium (Holter,
1989, p. 205). In the early thirteenth-century list of liturgical, theological, and
patristic texts at Lambach (Lambach, Stiftsbibliothek, Cml XIX; printed in Holter,
1956, p. 273), it was described as a six-volume copy: “Augustini … super
psalterium in VI voluminibus.” When the set was rebound in the fifteenth century
it was reorganized as a five-volume work, and the later Lambach catalogue
describes it as complete in five volumes. The other known volumes are Leutkirch,
Fürstlich Waldburgsches Gesamtarchiv, MS 5 (volume one, Psalms 1-50, formerly
Lambach, Cml XVII), Frankfurt am Main, Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, MS
Lat qu. 64 (volume four, originally volumes four and five?, Psalms 118-133), and
New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library MS 699 (final volume, Psalms
134-150; Holter, 1989, pp. 56-57 and pp. 205-208a, and Babcock and Davis, 1990)
(fig. 9.1). Interestingly, these volumes do not form a uniform set. The first
volume, and the manuscript described here, are similar, as are volumes four and
the final volume, now in Frankfurt and at the Beinecke (these two are notably
smaller in overall dimensions than the first two volumes). Further study of these
manuscripts as a group, together with another copy of this text made at
Lambach for the neighboring monastery at Kremsmünster would be of great
interest (Babcock and Davis, 1990).
The beautiful initials in this manuscript can be ascribed to the most famous artist
from twelfth-century Lambach, Gottschalk; his name is known from the
inscription in the “Williram Codex” (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek., MS Theol.lat.qu.
140, Commentary on the Song of Songs by Williram of Ebersberg and Hugh of
Saint Victor, Vitae partum; see Fingernagel, 1991, pp. 28-31, no. 26). Gottschalk
was multi-talented, and seems to have performed many roles at Lambach
including librarian, cantor, schoolmaster, scribe and artist, as well as writing
poetry and music (Davis, 2000). The delightful orange and purple penwork
initials in this manuscript are very fine examples of his work, with his
characteristic stem bands with rows of circles ring-like buds or berries, halos
outlined with circles, and red dots on cheeks (Babcock and Davis, 1990, p.138;
Davis, 2000, p. 25). The figures of Solomon on f. 124v, and Ecclesia on f. 57, each
serving as a letter ‘I‘, are exceptionally fine. Details of the initial showing
Charlemagne and Alcuin on f. 61 of another manuscript with initials by
Gottschalk, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Library, MS 51, Protho of
Prüfening, Liber de miraculis beatae virginis Maria (Skemer, 2013, pp. 240-242, with
plate), are quite similar to the figure of Solomon in our manuscript (fig. 9.2). The
figure of Ecclesia can be compared with the daughter of Babylon in another of his
works (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, MS W.27, Honorius Augustodiensis,
Commentary on Song of Songs, f. 43v) (fig. 9.3). His work is known in twenty-five
178
f. 57, standing figure of Ecclesia, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos (reduced)
179
other manuscripts, including some produced for other monasteries. He was also
a scribe, and his hand has been identified in seven manuscript and two fragments;
the first hand in this manuscript seems quite similar to Gottschalk‘s, and may be
the scribe known as “A3” (Davis, 2000, pp. 28-30).
Lambach, Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 279 folios on parchment (good quality, but with a few original holes,
many of which were once carefully repaired as indicated by the tiny sewing holes that remain, e.g.
f. 22), modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, lacking two leaves at the beginning
(collation i8 [-1 and 2] ii-xix8 xx4 [-4, cancelled] xxi-xxv8 xxvi6), quires are signed in Roman numerals
on the last leaf of the quire, many are trimmed, but there are two series: current quires 1-20, must
have been quires 2-21: quire five is signed “vi” on f. 38v; quire six signed “vii” on f. 46v, quire ten
signed “xi” on f. 48v; the second series begins with quire 21, so quires 21-36, would have been quires
1-16, although the second quire, now quire 22, was signed “iii” (apparently in error, since there is
no break in the text), quire 25, f. 193v, signed “vi”, quire 31, f. 241v, signed “xii”, no catchwords,
ruled in hard point with the top two and bottom two horizontal rules full across, double full-length
vertical bounding lines, prickings three outer margins, (justification 250-249 x 160-148 mm.), copied
above the top line in thirty-five long lines in an upright twelfth-century minuscule by two scribes,
orange-red rubrics, large initials from f. 162 of orange-red, FORTY-SIX LARGE FOLIATE INITIALS
(eighteen inhabited with animals, three with figures) in orange-red and purple penwork, including
TWO STANDING FIGURES in the same technique, plummet preparatory drawing sometimes visible,
strip cut from outer margin of final folio, opening folio darkened with spotting to outer margin,
overall in excellent condition. Bound in contemporary TAWED SKIN OVER THICK BEECH BOARDS,
sewn on three double thongs, with perimeter-sewn tabs at head and foot of spine, remains of two
pins in edge of lower cover and grooves from clasp straps at edge of upper cover, two brass catches
at edge of upper cover and clasp straps on lower, medieval vellum title and shelfmark labels on
upper cover, with the shelfmark “B.41” in red ink, a paper label at top of spine, later paper
pastedowns from two bifolia from a fifteenth-century Austrian manuscript giving abbreviated
incipits for Masses in the Sanctorale, one clasp replaced, upper board wormed and weak, lower
board slightly wormed and with mark from chain hasp, corners rubbed, upper joint split at foot
with fifteenth-century repair of inserted vellum, housed in a brown cloth and leather fitted case,
labelled “Augustine (St.)/ Expositio/ Super Psalmos/ Vellum Manuscript.” Dimensions 337 x 226 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-279v, [Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 51-100], incipit, “// Misit continuo saul
exhiberit sacerdotem et omnes eius …. ; [Psalm 100, beginning f. 275] … Sed cauete quia uenturum
est iudicium” [now begins imperfectly in the commentary on Psalm 51, and continuing through the
commentary on Psalm 100; Dekkers, 1961, 283; Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no. 1463; ed. E. Dekkers and
180
f. 124v, standing figure of Solomon, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos (reduced)
181
J. Fraipont, Corpus christianorum, series latina 38, 39, 40, 1956 and 1990 (revised edition); modern
critical edition, CSEL 93.1, 93.1B, 94.1, 95.1, 95.5, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2011, many editors (listed below)].
SCRIPT: Copied in a conservative twelfth-century minuscule; the letters are rather tall and
rectangular, with ‘d‘, ‘r‘ and ‘s‘, both tironian-7 and ampersand for “et”, ‘pp‘ written separately,
and with some distinctive ligatures and abbreviations including ‘nt‘ written with a majuscule ‘N‘, and
“orum” abbreviated with a majuscule “OR.” The script in this manuscript is very similar to that of
Gottschalk himself, but can probably be ascribed to a different hand (discussed above).
ILLUSTRATION: The manuscript is illustrated by forty-six large foliate initials by the most famous
artist from twelfth-century Lambach, Gottschalk. The delightful orange and purple penwork initials
in this manuscript are very fine examples of his work (Babcock and Davis, 1990, p.138; Davis, 2000,
p. 25, attributing this manuscript as Cml XVIII to Gottschalk).
The initials are drawn in orange and purple pen, infilled with scrolling vines, four- to seventeenlines, some with the addition of human figures or animals, most often birds, as noted: ff. 1v, 2v
(bird or beast), 7v, 10, 11v, 14 (bird or beast), 15 (a kneeling figure), 22, 23v, 28v (a bird), 30 (Christ
seated), 33v (a bird and olive branch), 34v, 39v, 42v (two birds), 44, 47 (Bishop with staff), 47v (two
birds), 49v (two initials), 57 (standing figure of Ecclesia), 57v (dragon and bird), 58v, 63v (two initials,
one with dog or fox and a bird), 68v (creature), 74v, 75, 81v, 86v (bird and dragon), 87 (small bird),
98v, 99, 99v (creature), 104v, 109v, 113, 120, 124v (standing figure of Solomon), 130, 136v, 137v (bird),
143, 143v straight (bird or beast), 147v (bird), 154 (bird).
BINDING: Bound in an early binding, probably contemporary with the manuscript, of heavy
wooden boards covered with tawed skin; the boards are cut flush with the book block, the spine is
smooth, and the binding still includes semi-circular tabs at the top and bottom of the spine, used to
lift the manuscript from a chest, all characteristics of twelfth-century bindings. The upper cover
includes a paper label with the title: “Expositio beati Augustini super secunda quinquagesima
psalmis,” in a fifteenth-century hand, and a smaller label below it with the shelfmark, “B 41” in red;
both characteristic of Lambach books (for example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 55; de la Mare,
1971, pl. XXXa, and New Haven, Yale University , Beinecke Library, MS 669, now lacking the smaller
label with the red shelfmark).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Written at the Benedictine abbey of Saints Mary and Kilian at
Lambach c. 1150-1175 as indicated by the evidence of the script, decoration and binding. This is the
second volume of the six-volume set of Augustine‘s commentary on the Psalms, rebound in five
volumes in the fifteenth century, and listed in the early thirteenth-century inventory of Lambach‘s
books, “Opera Augustini … super psalterium in VI voluminibus” (Holter, 1956, p. 273). It was
included in the handwritten catalogue by Felix Resch in the second half of the eighteenth century,
and was still at Lambach in 1924 when it was seen by Hans Gerstinger who described it in his
unpublished notes now in the ÖNB in Vienna (MS ser.n.9713), where it was Cml XVIII (Davis, 2000,
p. 138). 2. Sotheby‘s, November 11, 1929, lot 389: although Lambach is still a functioning
Benedictine abbey, manuscripts from its library have been sold on various occasions from the 1920s,
and the present manuscript, with three other volumes from Lambach, was sold in 1929. It was not
identified as from Lambach. 3. Katalog von Graupe, Berlin 1935, no 144. 4. W. H. Schab, Rare Books
and Illuminated Manuscripts recently brought over from Europe, 1940, no. 56 (as reported in the
Schoenberg Database). 5. Sotheby‘s, June 3, 1946, lot 188. 6. Belonged to William Foyle (18851963); his sale, London, Christie‘s, July 11, 2000, lot. 3. 7. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: [FELIX RESCH, d. 1789], “Handschriften-Katalog des Stiftes Lambach,”
unpublished manuscript, Lambach, Stiftsbibliothek, p. 13. KURT HOLTER, “Zwei Lambacher
Bibliotheksverzeichnisse des 13. Jahrhunderts,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische
Geschichtsforschung, LXIV (1956), p. 273. KURT HOLTER, “Die Handschriften und Inkunabeln,” in Die
Kunstdenkmäler des Gerichtsbezirkes Lambach. Mit Beiträgen von Kurt Holter und Walter Luger,
f. 154, (detail), initial, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos
183
Erwin Hainisch, ed., Österreichische Kunsttopographie 34, Vienna, 1959, pp. 213-270, at pp. 216,
218, 235 and 236. KURT HOLTER, “Das mittelalterliche Buchwesen des Benediktinerstiftes Lambach,”
in 900 Jahre Klosterkirche Lambach: Oberösterreichische Landesausstellung 1989, ed. Helga Litschel,
Linz, 1989, pp. 56-57, 205-208. ALOIS HAIDINGER, “Beobachtungen zum Festkalender des Stiftes
Kremsmünster,” in Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktiner-Ordens und seiner
Zweige 109, 1998, pp. 27-67, at p. 38. LISA FAGIN DAVIS, The Gottschalk Antiphonary: Music and
Liturgy in Twelfth-Century Lambach, Cambridge Studies in Palaeography and Codicology 8,
Cambridge, 2000, pp. 25, 32, and 138 (as Lambach, Cml XVIII).
LITERATURE
“Bibliotheksgeschichte Lambach,” in Germania Benedictina 3,2: Die
benediktinischen Mönchs- und Nonnenklöster in Österreich und Südtirol, ed. Ulrich Faust, St. Ottilien,
2001, pp. 291-294.
ANZENGRUBER, ROLAND.
Enarrationes in Psalmos, ed. G. Folliet, F. Gori, H. Müller, and C. Weidmann, Corpus
scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 92, 93/1A and 1B , 94/1, 95/1-5, Vienna, 2000-2005, 2011, 2015.
AUGUSTINE.
BABCOCK, ROBERT GARY.
Reconstructing a Medieval Library: Fragments from Lambach, New Haven,
1993.
BABCOCK, ROBERT G. AND LISA FAGIN DAVIS.
“Two Romanesque Manuscripts from Lambach,” Codices
Manuscripti 15 (1990), pp. 137-147.
Psalms 1-50, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture,
Old Testament 7, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2008.
BLAISING, CRAIG A. AND CARMEN HARDIN.
The Gottschalk Antiphonary: Music and Liturgy in Twelfth-Century Lambach,
Cambridge studies in Palaeography and Codicology 8, Cambridge, 2000.
DAVIS, LISA FAGIN.
DAVIS, LISA FAGIN.
“Two Leaves of the Gottschalk Antiphonary,” Harvard Library Bulletin 5.3 (1994),
pp. 38-44.
Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian
Library, Oxford by James P. R. Lyell, Oxford, 1971.
DE LA MARE, A. C.
Die Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des heiligen Augustinus, Ősterreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, band 263, 267, 276, 281, 289, 292,
350, 601, 645, 685, 688, 791, 809, Vienna, 1969-2010.
“Studying Augustine: an Overview of Recent Work,” in Augustine and his
Critics; Essays in Honor of Gerald Bonner, eds. Robert Dodaro and George Lawless, London and New
York, 2000, pp. 18-34.
DROBNER, HUBERTUS R.
Die Illuminierten Lateinischen Handschriften Deutscher Provenienz Der
Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, 8.-12. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden, 1991.
FINGERNAGEL, ANDREAS.
HOLCOMB, M. AND L. BESSETTE.
Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages, New York, 2009.
“Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stiftsbibliothek Lambach,” Jahrbuch des Musealvereines
Wels 15, (1969), pp. 96-123.
HOLTER, KURT.
Buchkunst, Handschriften, Bibliotheken: Beiträge zur mitteleuropäischen Buchkultur
vom Frühmittelalter bis zur Renaissance, ed. Georg Heilingsetzer und Winfried Stelzer, Linz, 1996.
HOLTER, KURT.
184
Binding, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos (reduced)
185
Die Perikopen im Gottesdienst bei Augustinus. Ein Beitrag zur
Erforschung der liturgischen Schriftlesung in der frühen Kirche, Vienna, 2010.
MARGONI-KÖGLER, MICHAEL.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, incorporating
contributions by Adelaide Bennett, Jean F. Preston, William P. Stoneman, and the Index of Christian
Art, Princeton, New Jersey, 2013.
SKEMER, DON C.
“Two Romanesque Illuminated Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library,”
Princeton University Library Chronicle IX (1948), pp. 66-67.
SWARZENSKI, H.
“La tradition des grands ouvrages de S. Augustin. IV. – Les Enarrations,” Miscellanea
Agostiniana II, Rome, 1931, pp. 295-315.
WILMART, A.
ONLINE RESOURCES
manuscripta.at: Mittelalterliche Handschriften in Österreich (bibliography for this manuscript)
http://manuscripta.at/m1/hs_detail.php?ID=25067
Latin text of Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos
http://www.augustinus.it/latino/esposizioni_salmi/index2.htm
English translation, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801.htm
Fig. 9.1
New Haven, Yale University,
Beinecke Library MS 699, Augustine,
Enarrationes in psalmos, f. 1
Life and Works of Saint Augustine
http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=1343
Fig. 9.2
Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton
University Library, MS 51,
Protho of Prüfening,
Liber de miraculis beatae virginis
Mariae, f. 61
Fig. 9.3
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery,
MS W.27, Honorius Augustodiensis,
Commentary on Song of Songs,
f. 43v, detail, the daughter of Babylon
186
187
| 10 |
ORIGEN, Homiliae in Genesim; Homiliae in Exodum,
Latin translation by RUFINUS
Austria (Lambach Abbey?), c. 1150-1175
Dark ink, dense writing, deep red ornament, brooding, heavy, opening with
the Creation of the world, in the void; one of the earliest known Christian
texts; thick home-made monastic parchment, as filled with original holes
as bubbling lava; old, primitive, ancient, pre-literate organic initials, plant
stems and faces, a book from the forests, a mysterious full-page drawing
with animal heads and interlace, like the tribal metalwork of the Avars;
from Lambach Abbey, one of the few medieval monasteries of Europe
which still preserves manuscripts, still able to be studied there in the
cloisters, where this volume doubtless remained for 750 years; signs of
use, tumbling columns of the diple, marking quotations (a Greek device,
probably inherited through Origen), many corrections and nota marks; in
its medieval binding, with ancient title and red shelfmark.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-c. 254) takes us back to the very early days of the
Church. He was the son of a martyr, Leonides, and he himself was imprisoned
and tortured during the Decian persecution near the end of his life. During his
lifetime he was renowned as a teacher, both in his native Alexandria and in
Caesarea in Palestine. Although the exact extent of his writings is no longer
known, sources suggest that he was the author of an enormous body of work
(various authors credit him with anywhere between 2,000 to 6,000 titles). In his
letter to Paula, St. Jerome marveled at his productivity: “Who could ever read all
he wrote?” Relatively little of this vast output survives, especially in the original
Greek, in part because some of the ideas found in his writings were controversial,
and were condemned as heretical in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and
again in the sixth century at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553. More survives
in Latin translations by Jerome (no. 7) and Rufinus of Aquileia, the translator of
f. 126v, (detail), Origen, Homiliae in Exodum
189
190
ff. 1v-2, Origen, Homiliae in Genesim
191
the texts in this manuscript. Origen‘s concern for the text of the Bible is
demonstrated by the Hexapla, his edition of the Old Testament that compared
seven different versions of the Hebrew and Greek texts circulating in his day, and
he was the author of numerous exegetical works, including commentaries,
homilies, and short notes. He is known as the first Christian theologian, and also
as the first Christian thinker to develop a systematic approach to the study of the
Bible. His influence on Christian thought in general was enormous, and his place
in the history of biblical studies without parallel. Although aware that some of
his ideas were unorthodox, medieval thinkers embraced his work as a whole and
in particular his writings on the Bible. Beryl Smalley summarized his importance
by declaring, “To write a history of Origenist influence on the West, would be
tantamount to writing a history of Western exegesis” (Smalley, 1978, p. 14).
Origen‘s Homilies on the Old Testament are a direct window into the daily life of
the church at Caesarea in the first half of the third century. The church met every
morning except Sunday for non-Eucharistic services, which included lengthy
readings from the Old Testament followed by a homily; these services were
attended by catechumens and full members of the Church. Origen‘s homilies
were probably delivered at these morning services over the course of three years,
the period specified at that time for catechetical instruction.
This is a classic monastic copy of his Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, in the Latin
translation by Rufinus (c. 345-410) probably dating to 403-405. Rufinus of
Aquileia (or Tyrannius Rufinus), although perhaps overshadowed in the modern
world by his contemporary, St. Jerome, was an important figure in the fourthcentury church. Born in Italy, he became a monk in Aquileia (where he first met
Jerome). He later studied in Alexandria, and eventually founded a monastery in
Bethlehem and devoted himself to translating the works of the Greek Fathers.
His numerous translations were his most important legacy, and included
Eusebius‘ Church History, and many works by Origen including his Commentary
on Romans, numerous homilies, and the Periarchon.
The number of surviving manuscripts testifies to the popularity of the two texts
found in this manuscript. The modern critical edition of Origen‘s Homilies on
Genesis lists seventy-four manuscripts, including two dating from the sixth or
seventh century, five from the ninth, two from the tenth, eight from the
eleventh, and fifty-seven from the twelfth century (Habermehl, 2012). The
numerous manuscripts from the twelfth century reflect the resurgence of
interest in Origen‘s works, and in particular, his writings on the Bible, at that
time. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), the great Cistercian author, drew on
Origen‘s works frequently, and by the twelfth century most monastic libraries
192
Binding, Origen, Homiliae in Genesim; Homiliae in Exodum
ff. 35v-36, initial and diple, Origen, Homiliae in Genesim
seem to have owned at least one work by Origen. Many houses doubtless owned
multiple works by him, as did the Cistercian abbeys of Cîteaux, Pontigny, and
Signy, and the great center of Benedictine reform at Cluny (Leclercq, 1961, pp.
94-97).
Like the manuscript of Augustine‘s Enarrationes in Psalmos, decorated by
Gottshalk (no. 9), this manuscript was owned by the celebrated Benedictine
abbey of Saints Mary and Kilian at Lambach, founded in the eleventh century in
Upper Austria, about forty miles north-east of Salzburg. Its presence there is
certain by the fifteenth century, the date of the present binding, that includes the
characteristic late medieval pressmark from Lambach, here “B.29.” in red on a
label on the front cover, and marks on the spine that correspond with spine labels
found in this position in other books from the Lambach library, including the
Lambach Augustine just discussed (no. 9; see also de la Mare, 1971, pl. XXXa and
pl. XXXVIII). It was among the books in the Lambach library described by Felix
Resch in the eighteenth century when it was assigned the shelfmark, Cml LX (see
also Holter, 1959, p. 241). Given this history, it seems almost certain that it was
copied at Lambach. The only reason to question this is the fact that the scribes
of our manuscript use flexus-punctuation (also known as the punctus
circumflexus). In the twelfth-century in particular, this special mark used to
indicate a middle, or weak pause, was widely – but probably not exclusively –
used in Cistercian manuscripts. Its presence here is, therefore, unusual; perhaps
it indicates that this manuscript was copied from a Cistercian exemplar. The
Abbey of Wilhering, near Linz, Austria, founded around 1146, was close to
Lambach, and could have been a possible source. The suggestion that our
manuscript was copied at Wilhering, however, does not seem convincing at this
time (for example, a comparison between the initials in one manuscript from
Wilhering, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS 863, and the initials
in this copy of Origen is not compelling) (fig. 10.1).
The full-page drawing on f. 126v of this manuscript is one of its most intriguing
f. 87v, two initials, Origen, Homiliae in Exodum
197
features. Stylistic details, in particular the rounded ends of the foliage and the
stem bands, are similar to those found in Gottschalk‘s initials (no. 8). It is quite
lovely, but its purpose in this manuscript is mysterious. One possibility is that it
was meant to be used as a model for other manuscripts; the marginal ornament
on ff. 86v and 120v, that may be trial sketches, or copies of other decoration,
might support this theory. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, MS 83-1972, a model
book of initials from Tuscany, Italy, c. 1175, has been called the earliest known
medieval model book (fig. 10.2). This drawing is certainly earlier. At the top, in
a twelfth-century hand is a verse from the Eclogue by Theodulus: “Virgo decora
nimis David de semine regis” (A lovely girl descended from King David‘s line).
The poem, a debate between pagan classical myth and Christian biblical truth,
was very popular as a school text during the Middle Ages; nothing is known of the
author, but it probably dates from the ninth or early tenth century. The verse
copied here is a description of Truth (Riggs, Online Resources).
Lambach, Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 126 folios on parchment (good quality, evenly finished, but rather
thick and slightly velvety, occasional use of cut-offs indicated by irregularities in the bottom corners
and edges, e.g. ff. 55, 57, 58, some original holes, ff. 70, 106 and sewing, f. 102), modern foliation
in ink top outer corner recto, last blank cancelled, first blank is now the pastedown, complete
(collation i8 [1, pastedown, 3 and 6, ff. 2 and 5, are single] ii8 [3 and 6, ff. 10 and 13, are single] iii8
iv8 [3 and 6, ff. 26 and 29 are single] v-xv8 xvi8 [-8 cancelled blank]), signatures in Roman numerals
in lower center of last pages (now mostly erased but still visible), ruled very lightly in lead or brown
crayon, single full-length vertical bounding lines, some prickings remain upper and outer margins
(justification 192-190 x 116-112 mm.), written by two scribes in dark brown ink in a bold square
twelfth-century minuscule using the punctus flexus in twenty-eight long lines, some flourished
descenders in lower margins, headings in red, sometimes in capital letters, diple in outer margins,
capitals touched in red, many explicits and incipits touched in yellow, a few capitals touched in
yellow or decorated with fringes of red dots, some nota marks in red, nine three- to two-line red
initials, two including whimsical faces (ff. 31 and 110v) and some heightened in yellow, FIFTEEN
LARGE DECORATED INITIALS, eight- to two-line, drawn in black outline and infilled with vines on
yellow and red grounds, one including a dragon (f. 80v), marginal ornament, perhaps trial sketches,
198
f. 110v, Origen, Homiliae in Exodum
199
added in the lower margins of f. 86v, in pen, and f. 120v, painted in red and yellow, FULL-PAGE
DRAWING on the last page (described below), some stains and signs of use, lower margin of f. 99
cut away, a few early marginal notes slightly cropped, generally in remarkably sound condition.
Bound in a FIFTEENTH-CENTURY BINDING of substantial wooden boards extending slightly beyond
the bookblock, sewn on three thongs pegged into the boards, covered with white tawed leather
with original sewn joints, original tab of the type also found on earlier bindings at the top of the
spine, tab cut away from the bottom, old (restored) clasps and catches, fastening back to front,
medieval title-label and shelfmark on upper cover, the title in two lines on paper 35 x 91 mm., now
very rubbed, the shelfmark “B.29.” in red on a vellum label 21 x 51 mm., paper title label (possibly
sixteenth-century) at top of spine, traces of another label having been removed nearer bottom of
spine, binding slightly rubbed and wormed but sound, substantial modern black cloth and red
leather protective box labelled, “Origen: Homilies on Genesis and Exodus. Upper Austria, Wilhering
Abbey? c. 1160-75.” Dimensions 260 x 165 mm.
TEXT: Inside front cover and f. 1, notes on biblical topics added in the thirteenth-century; – ff. 187 [Origen, Homilia in Genesim, chapter list], incipit, “De initio creaturarum dei, De archa noe, …,
De benedictionibus patriarchum”; [text], f. 1v, Incipit liber omeliarum origenis ad amanti in Genesim,
incipit, “In principio fecit deus cȩlum et terram. Quid est ominum principium … Filios patris sui quasi
in morali loco posuimus,” Explicit liber omeliarum origenis ad amanti in genesim [Stegmüller, 19501989, no. 6170]; – ff. 87-126, [Origen, Homilia in exodum, chapter list], Incipiunt Capitula libri exodi,
incipit, “Nomina filiorum Israelis qui ingress sunt in egiptum, …, De his qui offeruntur ad
tabernaculum,” Expliciunt Capitvla; f. 87v, [text], Incipit liber exodi, incipit, “Videtur mihi unus
quisque sermo … ipse nobis reuelare dignetur per dominum nostrum iesum christum cui est honor
et Gloria in sęcula seculorum, Amen” [Stegmüller, no. 6174]; – ff. 125v-126, notes on biblical topics
added in the thirteenth century; f. 126v, full page drawing, with a quotation from Theodolus,
Eclogue.
SCRIPT: The script and codicological features are evidence of a date in third quarter of the twelfth
century; the scribes use both round and straight ‘d‘ and ‘s‘, ampersand (even internally), and tironian7, e-cedilla used often, round letters do not touch (even ‘pp‘ written separately); the pages are ruled
in lead. Its Austrian origin is attested by the form of the tironian-7 with the wavy top stroke, the
rectangular shape of the letter forms, the use of red dots to highlight majuscule letters, and the
style of the decoration. Red dots used in this way are found in other manuscripts from Lambach (for
example, Davis, 2000, p. 279, of Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS 481:51.10r). Although the
manuscript was clearly at Lambach in the later Middle Ages, and is bound in a characteristic binding
from that Benedictine Abbey, the use of the flexus-punctuation is unusual (discussed above).
ILLUSTRATION: The fifteen large eight- to two-line decorated white vine initials infilled in bright
yellow and red are notably lively (ff. 1v, 21, 27, 35v, 38, 42, 47v, 52, 59, 67v, 70v, 75v, 80v, 88 [two
initials]). The sense of humor of the artist is also revealed in the small faces added to the red initials
on ff. 31 and 111. The marginal ornaments on ff. 86v, in pen, and 120v, painted in red and yellow,
seem to be trial sketches by the artist. The full-page drawing on the last page is an elaborate design
of a double-headed dragon with a body of interlaced vinestems winding around and through a
rectangle and with a sketch of a further dragon in the left-hand margin. A full-page twelfth-century
drawing is rare; the function of it here is mysterious, but perhaps it was meant to serve as a model.
The curling foliage and the style of the stem bands are similar to those found in the Psalm
commentary by Augustine described here, also from Lambach, decorated by Gottschalk (no. 9).
MEDIEVAL BINDING: Evidence of the binding confirms that this manuscript belonged to the
Benedictine Abbey of Lambach by the fifteenth century, since it includes a Lambach pressmark in red
on a label on the front cover, “B.29.” The binding is a handsome example of a monastic binding from
this house (see Holter, 1959, p. 283, note 7), and is constructed from substantial wooden boards
extending only slightly beyond the bookblock covered with white tawed leather with the original
semi-circular tab at the top of the spine (the tab at the bottom of the volume has been cut away).
200
f. 120, binding fragment from an earlier manuscript, Origen, Homiliae in Exodum
201
Tabs were used to remove books stored in a book chest.
to the Bodleian Library, Oxford by James P. R. Lyell, Oxford 1971.
The first and last quires of the manuscript were reinforced with parchment from a much earlier
manuscript, possibly ninth-century; see for example, f. 120 (narrow strip with two lines of text).
DESSL, REINHOLD.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Evidence of the script and decorations suggests a date in the third
quarter of the twelfth century, c. 1150-1175. We know that it was at Lambach Abbey in the fifteenth
century, based on the evidence of the binding (discussed above). It was included in Felix Resch‘s
unpublished catalogue of the library in the second half of the eighteenth century, and assigned the
shelfmark ‘LX‘. It does not appear to have been listed in the early thirteenth-century catalogue
from Lambach. Holter, in his edition of the catalogue, lists this book twice; on p. 274, he suggest
that this might be identifiable as no. 115, “Remigius super Genesim,” an identification that seems
unlikely, since Origen is clearly noted as the author in the rubric on f. 1v, and on p. 275, as no. 144,
among thirty-six early manuscript from Lambach not listed in one of the two early thirteenth-century
book lists from the abbey (Holter, 1954). Lambach Abbey still exists as a monastery, and many of the
Lambach manuscripts are still in their library, but others were sold in the 1920s and 1930s. 2. Sold
at Sotheby‘s, December 19, 1932, lot 73; and March 23, 1936, lot 109, with other manuscripts from
Lambach (as reported from Schoenberg Database). 3. Sold at Sotheby‘s, June 23, 1987, lot 75, from
a private collection in Zurich. 4. Belonged to Martin Schøyen (b. 1940), Oslo and London, whose
collection is described as the largest private manuscript collection formed in the twentieth century;
purchased from Sotheby‘s in 1987; Schøyen Collection, MS 21, his small bookplate, inside back cover;
deaccessioned May 2010. 5. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
HABERMEHL, PETER, ed.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: [FELIX RESCH, d. 1789], “Handschriften-Katalog des Stiftes Lambach,”
unpublished manuscript, Lambach, Stiftsbibliothek, p. 35. KURT HOLTER, “Zum gotischen
Bucheinband in Österreich. Die Buchbinderwerkstatt des Stiftes Lambach/OÖ,” Gutenberg-Jahrbuch
(1954), pp. 280-289, this manuscript, p. 283, note 7, Cml LX [reprinted in: Holter, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 324333]. KURT HOLTER, “Zwei Lambacher Bibliotheksverzeichnisse des 13. Jahrhunderts,” Mitteilungen
des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, LXIV (1956), pp. 274 and 275. KURT HOLTER,
“Die Handschriften und Inkunabeln,” in Die Kunstdenkmäler des Gerichtsbezirkes Lambach. Mit
Beiträgen von Kurt Holter und Walter Luger, ed. Erwin Hainisch, Österreichische Kunsttopographie
34, Vienna, 1959, pp. 213-270, at p. 241. Online catalogue of Martin Schøyen collection (Online
Resources). Listed in the Databank of Illuminated Austrian Manuscripts, as Schøyen MS 21 (Online
Resources). L. F. DAVIS, The Gottschalk Antiphonary, 2000, p.138, recording MS LX as no longer at
Lambach but untraced by her. ORIGEN. Origenes Werke, Sechster Band– Homilien zum Hexateuch
in Rufins Übersetzung, teil 1. Die Homilien zu Genesis (Homiliae in Genesin), ed. Peter Habermehl,
second edition, Berlin, and Boston, 2012, listing this manuscript p. xxvi.
“Zisterzienserstift Wilhering,” Zisterzienser in Österreich, Salzburg, 2004, pp. 87-
93.
Origenes Werke, Sechster Band – Homilien zum Hexateuch in Rufins
Übersetzung, teil 1. Die Homilien zu Genesis (Homiliae in Genesin), second edition, Berlin, and
Boston, 2012.
Origen. Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, The Fathers of the Church: A New
Translation, Patristic Series 71, Washington, D. C., 1982.
HEINE, RONALD E., tr.
Die deutschen romanischen Handschriften, Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der
illuminierten Handschriften in Österreich VIII/2, Leipzig, 1926, p. 375.
HERMANN, H. J.
“Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stiftsbibliothek Lambach,” Jahrbuch des Musealvereines
Wels 15 (1969), pp. 96-123.
HOLTER, KURT.
Buchkunst, Handschriften, Bibliotheken : Beiträge zur mitteleuropäischen Buchkultur
vom Frühmittelalter bis zur Renaissance, ed. Georg Heilingsetzer and Winfried Stelzer, Linz, 1996.
HOLTER, KURT.
The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. A Study of Monastic Culture, tr.
Catharine Misrahi, New York, 1961.
LECLERCQ, JEAN.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Martin Schøyen collection
http://www.schoyencollection.com/patristic-literature-collection/ms-021
Illuminated Austrian Manuscripts, this manuscript listed as Schoyen MS 21 (formerly Lambach, Cml LX)
http://homepage.univie.ac.at/martina.pippal/Oslo.htm#Ms. 21
manuscripta.at: Mittelalterliche Handschriften in Österreich, Lambach, Cml LX
http://manuscripta.at/m1/hs_detail.php?ID=25108
George Rigg, The Eclogue of Theodolus, a translation
http://medieval.utoronto.ca/ylias/web-content/theoduli.html
EXHIBITED: Oslo Katedralskole 850 år, Jubileumsutstilling 10. - 14. March
LITERATURE
“Bibliotheksgeschichte Lambach,” in Germania Benedictina 3,2: Die benediktinischen
Mönchs- und Nonnenklöster in Österreich und Südtirol, ed. Ulrich Faust, St. Ottilien, 2001, pp. 291-294.
ANZENGRUBER, ROLAND.
BABCOCK, ROBERT GARY.
Reconstructing a Medieval Library: Fragments from Lambach, New Haven, 1993.
BABCOCK, ROBERT G. AND LISA FAGIN DAVIS.
“Two Romanesque Manuscripts from Lambach,” Codices
Manuscripti 15 (1990), pp. 137-147.
DAVIS, LISA FAGIN.
The Gottschalk Antiphonary: Music and Liturgy in Twelfth-Century Lambach,
Cambridge, 1998.
DAVIS, LISA FAGIN.
“Two Leaves of the Gottschalk Antiphonary,” Harvard Library Bulletin 5.3 (1994),
pp. 38-44.
DE LA MARE, ALBINIA CATHERINE.
202
Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed
203
Fig. 10.1
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
MS 863, Honorius Augustodiensis, f. 133v
204
Fig. 10.2
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
MS 83-1972, Model Book of Initials, f. 1
205
| 11 |
HAIMO OF AUXERRE, Commentarium in Cantica
canticorum
Northern Germany, Thuringia (Erfurt), c. 1175-1200
A little book, the smallest here, medieval binding, like a portable casket,
metal bosses, clear mark of a chain hasp, chunky, solid, weighty,
unrestored, original condition; Romanesque gold initials, pale Baltic blue,
red headings, colourful script; watch the Carolingians struggling with the
Song of Songs, bending an ancient love song into a paradigm of Christ and
the western Church; rare endleaves, leading to the Carthusians of Erfurt;
cast up by the Napoleonic wars, in North America by the late nineteenth
century, perforated by a public library in Massachusetts, in vain, as
transitory as its chain hasp.
The lovely, secular, and frankly erotic poem, the Song of Songs, or Cantica
canticorum, presented special challenges to medieval commentators. As a
modern historian, E. Ann Matter, has noted, “… on the surface, it tells no sacred
history, makes no theological or moral points, and does not mention God”
(Matter, 1990, p. 49). Nonetheless its popularity during the Middle Ages is
undeniable, and nearly one hundred different commentaries on this book of the
Bible were written between the sixth and the fifteenth centuries; it has been
called the most frequently interpreted book of medieval Christianity (Matter,
1990). Medieval commentaries interpreted the book allegorically in a number
of different ways; for example, the poem was seen as an exploration of the
heavenly marriage between Christ and the Church, or between Christ and the
human soul, or as an exploration of the nature of Divine love between Christ and
the Virgin Mary.
This is a very small copy of the commentary on the Song of Songs by the ninthcentury author, Haimo of Auxerre (d. c. 865-6), copied in a careful script, and
f. 1v, (detail with illuminated initial), Haimo of Auxerre, Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
207
decorated with three illuminated foliate initials. It was not uncommon during
the Middle Ages for works to circulate anonymously, or with pseudonymous
attributions to different authors. This was certainly the case for this
commentary, which circulated under a long and varied list of names in addition
to Haimo, including Cassiodorus (d. c. 585), Remigius of Auxerre (d. 908), and
Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274). The attribution to Haimo of Halberstadt is more
recent, and probably dates to the Johannes Trithemius (1462-1561), who conflated
Haimo of Auxerre with his contemporary, Haimo of Halberstadt (for a review of
the various attributions, and the current attribution to Haimo of Auxerre, see
Matter, 1999, and Guglielmetti, 2006). It was printed twice in Migne‘s Patrologia
Latina: in volume 117 where it is attributed to Haimo of Halberstadt; and in
volume 70, attributed to Cassiodorus (see also Stegmüller, 1950-1980, nos. 3079,
1895, 1922, 3065 and 7218; Dekkers, 1961, no. 910).
Haimo of Auxerre was a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Saint Germain of
Auxerre, an important center of learning, and especially of biblical exegesis. He
was also the author of commentaries on the Apocalypse, the Minor Prophets,
and possibly the Pauline Epistles, and numerous sermons. Of the many medieval
commentaries on the Song of Songs, his commentary was the most popular and
widely disseminated. A recent survey identified 130 extant manuscripts
(Guglielmetti, 2006, lists only two copies in the United States including this one).
It was ideally suited to the classroom, and its popularity can be explained by its
straightforward and didactic approach, which presents the text as an allegory
of Christ and the Church. It was simple enough to appeal to the monastic world
of the ninth century, and to both monastic and secular audiences later in the
Middle Ages. His skillful use of many earlier authors doubtless added to its
appeal. Later medieval commentaries on the Song of Songs in contrast stressed
a more complex, spiritual interpretation of the biblical text, focusing on the love
of Christ and the human soul.
All biblical commentaries include citations from the Bible, often quite long,
intermixed with passages that explain their meaning. Most medieval
manuscripts of patristic and medieval commentaries are copied as one
continuous text, with the texts of the Bible and the commentary copied in the
same script and color, perhaps with the use of diple in the margins to indicate
the presence of quotations (diple, the ancestor of the modern quotations marks,
usually resemble inverted commas in medieval manuscripts; they were used
extensively by the scribes of the Homilies by Origen discussed here; no. 10).
Scribes copying Haimo‘s Commentary on the Song of Songs, however, often took
special care to distinguish between the biblical text and the commentary. In
this manuscript the biblical text is copied in red (and in one passage in blue). This
208
f. 6, Haimo of Auxerre,Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
209
210
ff. 9v-10, Haimo of Auxerre,Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
211
212
ff. 20v-21, biblical lemmata in red and blue, Haimo of Auxerre,Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
213
is true in another, contemporary copy, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 2176, f. 93v (fig. 11.1),
and even in the eleventh-century copy from Cluny, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 17275, f. 1
(fig. 11.2). The thirteenth-century copy of this text, formerly Les Enluminures,
TM 344, adopted the innovative approach of copying the biblical text in the
margins inscribed within circles (fig. 11.3). Scholars have discussed the layout of
the manuscripts of the Glossa Ordinaria in detail (nos. 13-16). Examining the
layout of biblical commentaries such as this one by Haimo, would be an
interesting topic for further research.
The size of this copy is notable – it is a very small volume, copied in long lines,
suggesting that it was originally designed for personal study and devotion.
However, there is the mark of a chain hasp at the top of the back cover indicating
it was in a chained reference library in the later Middle Ages, despite its very small
size. It includes almost no notes from readers, although a later medieval hand
has written the number of the “modern” biblical chapters discussed in the text
in lead point in the upper margins as running titles. The first page of the
manuscript, left blank by the original scribe, was used at an early point, still in the
twelfth century, to copy a text that describes a series of charitable acts, including
donating candles and money to the church, and food to the poor, on a series of
feast days to ensure God‘s help, and allay anxiety.
It survives in a medieval binding that includes flyleaves made from a thirteenthcentury manuscript of a chronicle specific to Saint Peter‘s in Erfurt. It therefore
seems almost certain that it was copied there. The Abbey of Saints Peter and
Paul in Erfurt, often called Petersberg, was an ancient abbey, perhaps founded in
the eighth century, and suppressed in 1803. It was established as a Benedictine
monastery in 1060 and subsequently accepted the Hirsau Reforms, widely
influential in German Benedictine houses in the late eleventh century. Saint
Peter‘s was home to one of the great medieval libraries. Its 1783 catalogue lists
“Haymonis: Tractatus super Cantica canticorum” as item three under the
manuscripts in octavo (Theele, 1920, p. 72, marked as untraced); the size,
unusually small for a Romanesque theological text, makes it very probable indeed
that this is our manuscript.
Erfurt, Abbey of Saints Peter and Paul
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: i (paper flyleaf from a fifteenth-century manuscript) + 76 folios on
parchment (good quality, slightly velvety), partial early modern foliation in ink, top outer corner
recto, completed in modern pencil, complete (collation i-ix8 x4), no catchwords or signatures, ruled
lightly in lead, full-length vertical bounding lines, prickings three outer margins (justification 120 x
80-75 mm.), written on the top line in a proto-gothic bookhand in black ink in twenty long lines,
rubrics in powder blue, biblical lemmata in red, one three-line blue initial on f. 6, three four- to
seven-line gold initials on ff. 1v and 9v, outlined in red and with red highlights, first leaf lacking
outer corners, modern repairs, ff. 2 and 34 with punched ownership inscription in upper margin, final
leaf with a few wormholes and paste around edges, slight discoloration and spotting to some leaves,
but overall in wonderful condition. Bound in a MEDIEVAL BINDING of white leather over wooden
boards, blind-tooled with double-fillet borders and diagonals, bosses at corners and center of both
boards (lacking one boss on the upper cover), lower cover with holes and rust marks from a chain
hasp, pastedowns and flyleaves from other manuscripts (described below), lacking clasps and catches,
spine repaired, restored in 2008, housed in a modern cloth and leather fitted box, labelled “Haymo
of Auxerre/ Germany c. 1180” in gilt. Dimensions 175 x 125 mm.
TEXT: f. 1, [upper margin, in red added in a thirteenth-century hand], Haymo super cantica
canticorum; f. 1, [added texts], incipit, “Longitudo sancti Nicolai quando natus fuit …; Si ueneris in
anxietatem quam dei adiutorio superare velis. In dominica die fac [trin.?] cantare de sancta trinitate
cum tribus candelis … tribulationem uideris adiurio ex ea liberis [corrected to: liberaberis]” [list of
candles and other charitable offerings to ensure God‘s help and overcome anxiety]; – ff. 1v-76
[Haimo of Auxerre, Commentarium in Cantica canticorum; prologues], f. 1v, incipit, “Salemon [sic]
filius david regis israel iuxa [sic] numerum vocabulorum suorum tria volumina edidet … Quia meliora
sunt ubera tua uino”; f. 6, incipit, “Sicut inceteris libris gramatice artis tria. In hoc libro requiruntur
… et hausteritas legis significatur”; f. 9v, [text], Incipit Tractatus Haimonis svper cantica canticorum,
incipit, “Osculetur me osculo oris sui [Cant. 1:1], Salomon inspiratus diuino spiritu composuit hunc
libellum de nupciis christi … Hinc apostolus de se suisque similibus dicit, Nostra conuersacio in celis
est [Philippians 3:20], et alibi, Christi bonus odor sumus deo in omni loco [II Corinthians 2:15],” Explicit
tractatus heimonis [sic] super cantica canticorum [Stegmüller, 1950-1980, nos. 3079, 1895, 1922, 3065,
7218; Dekkers, 1961, no. 910].
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: Written in an upright proto-gothic bookhand from the end of the twelfth
century, holds the line poorly, minims are all finished, round ‘d‘ predominates, both round ‘r‘ and
round ‘s‘ are used, considerable horizontal compression, although adjacent round letters except for
‘pp‘ are still written separately.
Passages from the Song of Songs alternate with Haimo‘s commentary; the scribe chose to clearly
distinguish between the two of them by copying the biblical text in red or blue. The changing layout
seen in manuscripts of this commentary copied at different times would be an interesting topic to
explore (discussed briefly above).
214
215
216
Front pastedown and flyleaf, Haimo of Auxerre, Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
217
ILLUSTRATION: All three gold initials are executed in an interesting technique, since the gold
seems to have been outlined in red, and then decorated with red details on top of the gold: f. 1v,
seven-line gold initial, outlined in red, infilled with two gold disks with red details, on a rectangular
blue ground; f. 9v, seven-line gold initial with infilled spirals of vines in gold and silver, outlined in
red, and all on a square blue ground; with another three-line gold initial on this folio, outlined in
red, with red highlights, and with blue infilling. The blue used is a distinctive shade of powder blue.
MATTER, E. ANN.
The Voice of My Beloved. The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1990.
BINDING: Bound in a medieval binding, probably late thirteenth- or early-fourteenth century, of
white leather over wooden boards, blind-tooled with double-fillet borders and diagonals, and with
bosses at corners and centre of both boards, and with the mark from a chain hasp on the lower
board. The pastedowns from a thirteenth-century manuscript of a chronicle specific to the Abbey
of Saints Peter and Paul of Erfurt are strong evidence that this binding was made there. An early
study of their books suggested that few pre-1400 bindings survive from this house, and that those
WIRTGEN, BERNHARD.
Die Makellosigkeit der Kirche in den Lateinischen Hoheliedkommentaren des
Mittelalters. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosopie und Theologie des Mittelalters. Texte und
Untersuchungen 38, 3, Münster, West., 1958.
RIEDLINGER, HELMUT.
Die Handschriften des Klosters St. Peter und Paul zu Erfurt bis zum Ende des
13.Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1936.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Works by Haimo of Auxerre
http://www.mirabileweb.it/author/haimo-autissiodorensis-monachus-m-865-866-author/19392.
produced in-house were not chained (Theele, 1920, p. 40), a conclusion that the evidence of this
manuscript brings into question.
Pastedowns: two leaves from a thirteenth-century manuscript of about the size of this manuscript,
both include margins on all sides, and are not cropped; the text is copied in long lines: front, incipit,
“//et barbaras naciones. Quoddam mirabile et in solitum a seculis non auditum in mense iulio circa
festum sancte margarete … que in sole in mo[dum]”; back: “//[re]gem licet absentem … Anno
domini m cc lxxiiii imperator constantinopolitanus nomine Balwinus … in ipso eodem prandio
[pre]fato reueren[do]//” [Chronica S. Petri Erfordensis moderna, eMGH, SS rer. Germ. 42, Monumenta
Erphesfurtensia, a. 1270, p. 261; and a. 1274, p. 263].
Single flyleaves in the front and back are from a larger format paper manuscript, copied in two
columns, bound so the text is now perpendicular in orientation, and has been cropped at the top
(back flyleaf was once glued down as a pastedown over the thirteenth-century leaf, and has been
lifted). Copied in a cursive gothic bookhand from the fifteenth century; the text is the Psalms, and
these leaves may have been from a Breviary or Psalter.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Very likely written at the Abbey of Saints Peter and Paul in Erfurt
near the end of the twelfth century, c. 1175-1200, as indicated by the evidence of the script,
decoration, and binding; and almost certainly listed in the 1783 catalogue of Erfurt (Theele, 1920,
p. 72). 2. Belonged to Geheimrat Friedrich Gottlob Julius von Bülow (d. 1836), from the noble family
who lived in and around Mecklenburg: “fol. 76 d. 11 April 1835. Bibl. Bülow, Beyernaumberg, G. H.
Sch[f?]” written on the pastedown inside front cover. This manuscript was no. 275 on p. 26 in the
third volume of the three-volume catalogue of the library compiled by Georg Heinrich Schäffer,
Sangerhausen 1834-36. The library was auctioned after von Bülow‘s death, Eisleben, 1836.
3. Belonged to Mrs. William Rice: her gift to the City Library of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1900
is recorded on a pasted-in label and is stamped on the lower margin of the first leaf. The Library
marked its ownership with perforations in the upper margin of the second and the 34th leaf (De
Ricci, 1935-40, vol. I, p. 1066). 4. Christie‘s, June 7, 2006, lot 39. 5. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: JOSEPH THEELE, Die Handschriften des Benediktinerklosters S. Petri zu
Erfurt. Ein bibliotheksgeschichtlicher rekonstruktionsversuch, Leipzig, 1920, p. 72. SEYMOUR DE
RICCI, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, with the
assistance of W. J. Wilson, New York, 1935-40, vol. I, p. 1066. ROSSANA E. GUGLIELMETTI, La tradizione
manoscritta dei commenti latini al cantico dei cantici (Origini-XII secolo). Repertorio dei codici
contenenti testi inediti o editi solo nell ‘Patrologia latina‘, Florence, 2006, p. 314 (as Springfield,
Massachusetts, City Library Association, MS 1).
LITERATURE
Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge,
Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Ergänzungsband 1, Munich, 1989-1990.
KRÄMER, SIGRID.
218
219
Fig. 11.1
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 2176, Haimo of Auxerre,
Commentarium in Cantica canticorum, f. 93v
220
Binding, Haimo of Auxerre, Commentarium in Cantica canticorum
221
Fig. 11.3
Formerly Les Enluminures, TM 344, Haimo of Auxerre,
Commentarium in Cantica canticorum, ff. 8v-9
Fig. 11.2
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 17275, Haimo of Auxerre,
Commentarium in Cantica canticorum, f. 1
222
223
| 12 |
HUGH OF SAINT VICTOR, Dialogus de creatione
mundi (Dialogus super Genesim); and Homiliae in
Ecclesiasten
In Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum
Eastern France (Lorraine?), c. 1150-75
Little and rectangular; an early manuscript of a new text, important
author, urban, dialogues, a conversation in the earliest classrooms of Paris,
on sin and the creation, perennial topics of student debate; bright initials,
dragons; from the shelves of one of the great princely libraries of central
Europe, scattered in 1933.
Monastic learning was centered on the interpretation of the Bible, read
together with the commentaries by the Church Fathers and the authors from
the early Middle Ages that followed in their footsteps. Learning was not
undertaken for its own sake, or for the sake of a future career, but was rather
one step along the path to personal salvation. Reading monastic commentaries,
there is no sense of urgency, but rather a feeling of calm and measured study;
lectio divina (divine reading) was a form of prayer (Leclercq, 1961). With only one
exception, the manuscripts we have discussed so far were likely copied by monks,
for use within a monastery (nos. 1-4, 6-11), and even the Buxheim Psalter, which
was originally copied for a lay person, was owned by the great Carthusian
monastery of Buxheim in the fifteenth century (no. 5). With this small, yet very
attractive manuscript, we leave the monastery, and enter into the world of the
twelfth-century schools.
The author of the two texts in this manuscript, Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 10961142) was a canon regular at the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris. Regular canons
were not monks, but were cloistered religious who lived together under a rule and
took solemn vows. Their vision of the religious life was an active one, including
pastoral care, preaching and teaching. In the twelfth century this way of life was
especially attractive to learned clerics. The Abbey of Saint Victor was founded
by William of Champeaux c. 1108. William was archdeacon of Notre Dame, and
f. 14v, (detail with initial), Hugh of Saint Victor, Homiliae in Ecclesiasten
225
a famous teacher. The Abbey he founded became one of the most important
centers of learning in twelfth-century Paris, home to a succession of brilliant
theologians, the most important for biblical studies being Hugh, Richard (d. 1173),
and Andrew (d. 1175). Little is known about Hugh‘s life apart from his works that
touched on an incredibly wide range of subjects: geometry, grammar, geography,
history and, theology, including his great summa, De Sacramentis Christianae fidei
(On the Sacraments of Christian Faith), in addition to works on the Bible.
Hugh‘s influence reached far beyond the walls of Saint Victor; it is estimated that
his writings survive in around 3,000 manuscripts. During his lifetime, the abbey’s
school attracted students from across Europe. The biblical commentaries of the
great triumvirate of teachers from the University of Paris later in the twelfth
century (known as the “biblical moral school”), Peter Comestor (d. c. 1169), Hugh
the Chanter (d. 1197), and Stephen Langton (d. 1228), were rooted in Hugh‘s
exegetical approach. In the Didascalicon, he laid out a careful plan of studies for
students embarking on the study of the Scriptures. Beginning with the study of
the liberal arts and sciences, including history and geography, students were to
first master the literal sense of the text, and then proceed to study the allegorical
meaning, drawing on their knowledge of doctrine, and culminating with the
tropological, or moral sense, which led them to transcend human learning and
to contemplate the true meaning of the text. Hugh‘s approach to learning and
scriptural study can be summarized in his famous words, “Learn everything;
you will see afterwards that nothing is superfluous” (Hugh of Saint Victor,
Didascalicon, vi.iii).
Throughout his writings on the Bible, Hugh stressed the importance of first
mastering the literal sense of the text, and his own biblical commentaries aimed
to help students achieve this. In addition to the two works in this manuscript,
his exegetical writings include works on the Pentateuch (the first five books of
the Bibles, Genesis through Deuteronomy), Lamentations, Joel, Abdias, possibly
Nahum, and some of the Psalms. This manuscript includes one of his earliest
writings, the Dialogus de creatione mundi, and his last work, a commentary on
Ecclesiastes, the Homiliae in Ecclesiasten.
The Dialogus de creatione mundi (Dialogue on the Creation of the World), is also
known by other titles, including the Dialogus super Genesim (Dialogue on Genesis),
as in this manuscript, and the Dialogus de sacramentis legis naturalis et scriptae
(Dialogue on the Sacraments of Natural and Written Law) (Poirel, 1998, p. 41). It
likely dates early in Hugh‘s career before 1125, and survives in around fifty
manuscripts (Van den Eynde, 1960; Goy, 1976; Giraud, ed., 2015). As the title
indicates, the work is in dialogue form and opposes the questions and answers
226
f. 1, opening initial, Hugh of Saint Victor, Dialogus de creatione mundi
227
of the student (discipulus) and the master (magister), structured to provide an
elementary introduction to Christian doctrine. It begins by addressing issues
pertaining to creation, original sin, the fall of man and redemption through the
Incarnation. Redemption is described using the metaphor of a trial and a battle,
in which God provides the chance for man to save himself. The work then goes
on to discuss the sacraments (for an overview of the work, see Poirel, 1998, pp.
85-87).
This text is not a biblical commentary in the usual sense, but instead is more
closely related to collections of theological sententiae, a new genre created by
the masters of the twelfth-century cathedral schools. The Dialogus de creatione
mundi was written to introduce students to the study of Sacred Scripture, and
both Hugh‘s choice to present the text as dialogues, and his presentation of his
ideas without references to earlier authorities (auctoritates), are departures from
tradition and mark it as new. As C. Giraud has observed, it is a highly original
work, midway between the cloister and the urban school (Giraud, 2010, pp. 112116). The version of the text in this manuscript is found in at least two other
codices, Charleville-Mézières, BM, MS 222 and Luxembourg, BN, MS 143 (Giraud,
ed., forthcoming 2015; this manuscript listed as Amsterdam, BPH, MS 19).
Hugh‘s Homilies on the Book of Ecclesiastes was likely composed c. 1137-1140, and
survives in approximately sixty manuscripts (Van den Eynde, 1960; Goy, 1976, pp.
329-340; discussed in Poirel, 1998, and Sicard, 1991); it is one of his last works,
and was unfinished. It originated, as the title suggests, in oral conferences for the
canons at Saint Victor. The preface includes a very clear explanation of Hugh‘s
views on the interpretation of the Bible, and the importance of the literal sense
of the text: “All Scripture, if expounded according to its own proper meaning
[the literal], will gain in clarity and present itself to the reader‘s intelligence more
easily. Many exegetes, who do not understand this virtue of Scripture, cloud over
its seemly beauty by irrelevant comments …” (quoted in translation, Smalley,
1978, p. 100). Hugh goes on to explain that particularly in the case of Ecclesiastes,
there is little need to search for tropological and allegorical meanings in the text,
since the author aimed at “moving the human heart to scorn worldly things by
obvious true reasons and plain persuasion.” Hugh‘s approach to this text is one
that modern readers find easy to understand. In the sixteenth century, Gerson
said of the work : “Il m‘est tombé sous la main il y a peu, le travail de Hugues sur
l‘Ecclesiaste, laissé inachevé. Mon Dieu ! Comme il a su, en peu de mots, exposer
toute la matière de la contemplation !” (I recently came upon Hugh‘s work on
Ecclesisates, left unfinished. Dear Lord! How well he managed, in so few words,
to deliver all matter of contemplation!) (quoted by Sicard, 1991, p. 214).
228
f. 7, Hugh of Saint Victor, Dialogus de creatione mundi
229
The two texts in this manuscript each begin with a large initial with scrolling
white-vines and leaves, ending in a dragon, infilled and on brightly colored
grounds of red, blue and ochre. These colors are repeated in the opening words
of the text on f. 15, and in the smaller initials sprinkled throughout the volume.
Exactly where it was copied is still an open questions, but certain stylistic
comparisons suggest Eastern France is likely, although elsewhere in France,
perhaps Normandy, or even further east in the Rhineland, have also been
suggested. Some similarity in the style of the initials and in the color palette can
be found in manuscripts from Eastern France, including the twelfth-century Life
of Saint Martin, Epinal, Bibliothèque Multimédia Intercommunale , MS 145, f. 30
([Exhibition]. Ecriture et Enluminures, 1984, colored plate pl. IV, and cat. 120)
(fig. 12.1), a Breviary for the use of the Abbey of Saint Vanne from the second
quarter of the twelfth century, Verdun, Bibliothèque-Discothèque de la Codecom,
MS. 108, f. 9v (fig. 12.2), and a Homiliary, also related to Lorraine (Epinal, BMI,
MS 20) (fig. 12.3). The smaller penwork initials are quite similar to initials in Paris,
BnF, MS fr. 24768, Saint Bernard, Sermons, probably later in date, but thought to
be from the region of Metz (fig. 12.4).
This is a very early copy of the Homilies on Ecclesiastes, perhaps dating only ten or
twenty years after it was written. There is not yet a modern critical edition of this
important text, but the evidence of this manuscript will be important to any
future study of its transmission. It would be of interest to know how this fits
with other copies of Hugh‘s texts made during his lifetime and soon after his
death. This is a usable book, but not yet a book designed for easy searching; it is
a book to be read. There are no numbered chapters, no rubrics, and no running
titles. In the first text, the scribe took care to distinguish the speech of the
student and master, and each begins with one-line colored initials, alternately
red and green. The commentary on Ecclesiastes is divided into sections, each
beginning with a colored initial. Was this made for a canon, a master at a
cathedral school, or perhaps for an established cleric who wanted a very nice
copy of texts from his student days? It looks like a personal book, but also an
expensive one. An alphabet was added by a later user in the lower margin of f. 24.
230
f. 9v, Hugh of Saint Victor, Dialogus de creatione mundi
231
Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, engraving by Matthäus Merian (1593-1650), seventeenth century
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: i (paper flyleaf, marbled on the recto) + i (parchment) + 87 + i
(parchment) + i (paper, marbled) folios on parchment (stiff, but well-prepared and good quality),
foliated in pencil top outer corner recto, last two leaves of text cut down almost to stubs, else
complete (collation i8 [-1, probably cancelled with no loss of text, perhaps a flyleaf] ii-x8 xi8 [missing
most of 7 and 8]), contemporary quire signatures in Roman numerals center lower margin, no
catchwords, ruled in brown crayon with the top two and bottom two horizontal rules full across,
single full-length vertical bounding lines, prickings three outer margins on some folios, but a few
marginal notes trimmed (justification 173 x 110-108 mm.), written on the top ruled line in a protogothic bookhand in light brown ink in thirty-three long lines, red rubrics, 1-line alternately green and
red initials, four- to two-line (on f. 9v, with extensions up to eight-lines) variegated initials in blue,
red, green or ochre with penwork and infill of ornate scrolling sprays, two large eleven- to thirteenline initials on ff. 1 and 15 (see below), blank top and bottom of f. 1 trimmed away, most of ff. 84-85
missing, some stains, else good condition. Bound in eighteenth-century brown calf over pasteboards,
back sewn on five thongs, edges in red, “HUGO DE S. VICTO” gold-tooled on spine, marbled
endleaves, spine restored, binding a bit scuffed but overall in sound condition, red morocco covered
case labelled “Hugo von St. Victor/ Exegetische HS./ 12 Jahr.” Dimensions 220 x 148 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-14v, [Hugh of Saint Victor, Dialogus de creatione mundi], Incipit dialogus magistri
hugonis de sancto victore super Genesim, incipit, “Quid factum est prius quam mundus fieret.
Mag[ister] Solus deus … M[agister] hoc dei iudicio michi relinquendum videtur,” Explicit dialogus
magistri hugonis. [printed in Migne, Patrologia latina, vol. 176, col. 17-42; Stegmüller, 1950-1980, no.
3790; Giraud, ed., 2015]; – ff. 14v-87, [Hugh of Saint Victor, Homeliae in Ecclesiasten], Incipit eiusdem
expositio super ecclesiastem, incipit, “QUE DE LIBRO / SALOMONIS / QUI ECCLE/SIASTES / DICITUR
NU/PER CORAM / VOBIS / DISSERVI / BREVITER / NUNC perstringens quia quedam ibi digna memoria
iudebantur stilo signavi … hec ipsa aliis post se pro futura sint ignorant,” Explicit expositio magistri
hugonis super ecclesiastem [most of f. 86 missing, leaving only a tab, “[...] inveniat /// cens melior est
/// afflictione animi [...] tum caro eius quantum in utili vacatione ....”; printed in Migne, Patrologia
latina, vol. 175, col. 113-256; Stegmüller, no. 3812].
SCRIPT: A date c. 1150-1175, likely in the early part of this period, is suggested by the script, which
is a very neat, upright proto-gothic bookhand: “et” is abbreviated with an ampersand, there is
frequent use of e-cedilla, round letters except for ‘pp‘ are written separately, and straight ‘s‘ and ‘d‘
predominate.
ILLUSTRATION: The two texts in this manuscript each begin with a large eleven- to thirteen-line
white-vine rinceaux initial (f. 1, 40 mm. high; f. 15, 60 mm.) with floral blocks at their midpoints, their
descenders terminating in winged dragons with foliate tongues, all on yellow, green and red
grounds, the second with ten lines of ornate display colored capitals. Other divisions within the
text being with four- to two-line (on f. 9v, with extensions up to eight-lines) variegated initials in
blue, red, green or ochre with penwork and infill of ornate scrolling sprays.
232
f. 24v, Hugh of Saint Victor, Homiliae in Ecclesiasten
233
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Evidence of script and the style of the initials suggests this was
copied in France, possibly Eastern France (Lorraine?), c. 1150-75, likely early in this period.
2. Belonged to Princes Dietrichstein at Schloss Nikolsberg, Moravia, formed principally from the
acquisition in 1669 of the library of Ferdinand Hoffman von Grünpühel und Strechau (1540-1607),
marshal of Austria, by descent to Alexander, Prince Dietrichstein; his sale at Lucerne, Gilhofer and
Ranschsburg, November 21-22, 1933, lot 284 (Bibliothek Furst Dietrichstein Schloss Nikolsburg,
Wertwolle Manuskripte mit Miniaturen des 9-15 Jhdts, Lucerne, H. Gilhofer & H. Ranschbur,
November 21, 1933). Not listed in the Dietrichstein catalogue of 1868 (Archiv für osterreichische
Geschichte, XXXIX), which did not list the theological texts. 3. Belonged to Walther Adam (18811964) of Goslar (the typescript catalogue of the collection, Kulturhistorische Sammlung der Familie
Adam, Bücher, Handschriften, Urkunden, 5-20 Jh., not available for consultation). 4. Dr. Helmut
Tenner, Heidelberg, 6 May 1980, lot 1 (Sammlung Adam Teil I. Handschriften, Auktion 126).
5. Belonged to Joost Ritman (b. 1941), Dutch businessman and book collector, founder of The Ritman
Library, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam; their shelfmark BPH, MS 19, bought from
Laurence Witten in 1986, deaccessioned in 2011. 6. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED DESCRIPTIONS: J. GUMBERT, ed. , Illustrated Inventory of Medieval Manuscripts in the
Netherlands 3, Leiden, 1987, no. 122. E. VAN DER VLIST, ed. , Illuminated Manuscripts in Dutch
collections: Preliminary Precursor 1, The Hague, 1991, p. 12. Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch
Collections (Online Resources), as Amsterdam, BPH, MS 19.
EXHIBITED: Association Internationale de Bibliophilie, Congress 1997, the Netherlands; this
exhibition and the manuscripts exhibited are discussed in Scriptorium 52 (1998), p. 151.
LITERATURE
Hugonis de Sancto Victore Didascalicon de studio legendi, Studies
in Medieval and Renaissance Latin 10, Washington D. C., 1939.
BUTTIMER, CHARLES HENRY, ed.
[Exhibition Catalogue]. Ecriture et Enluminures en Lorraine au Moyen Âge. La plume et le parchemin,
organisée par la Société Thierry Alix du 29 mai au 29 juillet 1984 en la chapelle des Cordeliers Musée
historique lorrain, Nancy, Nancy, 1984.
“Time, History, and Mutability in Hugh of St. Victor‘s Homilies on Ecclesiastes and
De vanitate mundi,” Viator 43 (2012), pp. 215-240.
FITZGERALD, BRIAN.
Hugo de Sancto Victore. De vanitate rerum mundanarum; Dialogus de creatione
mundi, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio mediaevalis 269, forthcoming, 2015.
GIRAUD, C., ed.
“L‘école de Saint-Victor dans la première moitié du XIIe siècle, entre école
monastique et école cathédrale,” in L‘école de Saint-Victor de Paris: influence et rayonnement du
Moyen Âge à l‘époque moderne: colloque international du C.N.R.S. pour le neuvième centenaire de
la fondation (1108-2008) tenu au Collège des Bernardins à Paris les 24-27 septembre 2008 et organisé
par Patrick Gautier Dalché ... [et al.], ed. Dominique Poirel, Turnhout, 2019, pp. 101-119.
GIRAUD, CÉDRIC.
Die Überlieferung der Werke Hugos von St. Viktor: Ein Beitrag zur Kommunikationsgeschichte
des Mittelalters, Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 14, Stuttgart, 1976.
GOY, RUDOLF.
LECLERCQ, JEAN. The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, tr.
Catharine Misrahi, New York, 1961.
TAYLOR, JEROME, tr. The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor. A Medieval Guide to the Arts, Records
of civilisation. Sources and Studies 64, New York, 1961.
POIREL, D.
234
Hugues de Saint-Victor, Initiations au Moyen Âge, Paris, 1998.
f. 43, Hugh of Saint Victor, Homiliae in Ecclesiasten
235
236
ff. 63v-64, Hugh of Saint Victor, Homiliae in Ecclesiasten
237
SICARD, P.
Hugues de Saint-Victor et son école, Turnhout, 1991.
SMALLEY, BERYL.
The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1978.
Essai sur la sucession et la date des écrits de Hugues de Saint-Victor, Spicilegium
Pontificii Athenaei Antoniani, 13, Rome, 1960.
VAN DEN EYNDE, D.
“Hugos von St-Viktor Dialogus de sacramentis legis naturalis et scriptae als
Fruhscholastischens Quellenwerk,” in Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati, II, Vatican, 1946, pp. 179-219.
WEISWEILER, H.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections
http://www.mmdc.nl/static/site/index.html
Hugo von Sankt Viktor – Institut für Quellenkunde des Mittelalters
http://www.sankt-georgen.de/hugo/index.php
Fig. 12.1
Epinal, Bibliothèque Multimédia
Intercommunale, MS 145,
Life of Saint Martin, f. 30
Fig. 12.2
Verdun, Bibliothèque-Discothèque
de la Codecom de Verdun,
MS 108, Breviary, f. 9v
238
239
Fig. 12.4
Paris, BnF, MS fr. 24768, Saint Bernard,
Sermons, f. 1
Fig. 12.3
Epinal, Bibliothèque Multimédia Intercommunale,
MS 20, Homiliary, f. 1
240
241
| 13 |
Vulgate Bible, Job with the Glossa Ordinaria
Northern Italy, c. 1125-40
Light, tall, thin, narrow, with a trickle of Scriptural text down the centre
of the page; an escape from the cathedral schools of France, brought
rapidly into Italy; early, half-formed, a light manuscript, which would have
fitted into the sleeve of a monastic habit or a scholar‘s leather bag, for
private reading, in the cloister, at the roadside; the great biblical text of
comfort and constancy in time of trouble; the first page crowded with
ornament, ill-fitting its allotted space; good script, microscopically minute
in the margins with no loss of legibility; some headings (“DE HERETICIS”
on folio 8v, a new and alarming subject in the twelfth century), red initials,
corrections, additions, perhaps finally prepared for use as an exemplar,
distinctive nota marks in a hand certainly findable in other manuscripts;
a good monastic Cistercian provenance.
The text known as the Ordinary Gloss on the Bible (or the Glossa Ordinaria),
was one of the twelfth century‘s greatest intellectual achievements, and one
that had a lasting influence on the history of biblical exegesis, creating a text that
was used as the standard school text to the end of the Middle Ages and even
later. It consists of the biblical text, copied in a distinctive, larger script,
accompanied by selected quotations from patristic and medieval commentaries,
copied in a smaller script on the same page. Texts by numerous authors are
reflected in the commentary, including patristic authors such as Jerome,
Augustine, Gregory the Great, Isidore, and Bede, and, less commonly, Origen,
John Chrysostom, and Ambrose, as well as later authors including Rabanus
Maurus (d. 856), John Scotus Eriugena (d. 877), Berengar of Tours (d. 1088), and
Lanfranc of Bec (d. 1089). The Bible and its Gloss gave readers – often teachers
and students of the Bible – access to the complete biblical text and commentaries
243
in one convenient location. It marks the end of monastic learning and the dawn
of information retrieval. The Ordinary Gloss was not a text compiled, or even
thought of, by a single author, but was rather the result of a long process over the
course of the twelfth century that gradually grew to include the complete Bible.
Its origins can be traced to the Cathedral School of Laon c. 1100 with the teaching
of the master Anselm of Laon (d. 1117), and his pupils and successors, in particular
his brother Ralph (d. 1134), Gilbert of Auxerre, nicknamed "the Universal," who
left Laon in 1128 when he became Bishop of London, and Gilbert of Porrée, active
until 1154.
This is a copy of the Book of Job with the Glossa Ordinaria. The textual history of
the Gloss on Job seems to begin at Laon; five manuscripts almost certainly copied
at Laon before 1140 have been identified: Avranches, BM, MS 16; Laon, BM, MS 5;
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson G 17 (fig. 13.1); Oxford, Trinity College,
MS 20; and Paris, BnF, MS lat. 14781 (Stirnemann, 1994; Smith, 2009). Attributing
the Gloss on Job to one particular master is impossible, but certainly it was one
of the early books glossed, and mostly likely was the work of either Anselm
himself, or one of his close collaborators. Its main source is Gregory the Great‘s
Moralia on Job (no. 8), the most widely read commentary on Job during the Middle
Ages (Smith, 2009, p. 47, describing it as an example of a biblical book with
glosses from a single source). Preliminary study of the glosses in this manuscript,
however, discovered some glosses from a second source, the commentary on Job
once attributed to Jerome, printed in the Patrologia latina vol. 23 (Stegmüller,
1950-1980, no. 3421; see for example col. 1471D, for the opening interlinear gloss,
and col. 1478A-C, for the final gloss).
There is still no critical edition of the entire Gloss, although steps in that direction
are being made. It would be an extremely useful undertaking. The relative
simplicity of tracing its sources by using online word searches now makes one
aspect of this research easier than ever before, but it remains a formidable task
owing to the number of surviving manuscripts and the fluidity of the text. In the
meantime, the first printed edition of the Glossa Ordinaria edited by Adolf Rusch,
Strasbourg, 1480-81, is the principal published text. The present manuscript has
notable differences. The lack of any opening prologues may be an early sign.
Overall there are fewer glosses here than in the 1480-81 edition (especially at the
beginning of the Job), and many are arranged differently. For example, the
lengthy first interlinear gloss in this manuscript is found as a marginal gloss in the
incunable edition. Glossed biblical books dating as early as this manuscript are
of considerable potential textual interest since their text may in fact vary
significantly from the text we call the Ordinary Gloss (Beryl Smalley in 1961
dubbed some of these variant manuscripts “les gloses périmées”).
244
f. 1, added initials, Glossed Job
245
ff. 6v-7, fully glossed opening, Glossed Job
ff. 24v-25, layout, Glossed Job
Script, layout and ruling point to an early date for this manuscript, c. 1125-40,
making it as early as the group identified from Laon. The biblical text was copied
in a rather narrow central column on broadly spaced lines ruled in hard point
with double vertical bounding lines on each side. The glosses were added in a
second step between the lines and in columns on either side of the text; although
on many folios the ruling is very difficult to see, they appear to have been copied
on closely spaced lines also ruled in hard point (with about three lines of gloss to
each line of biblical text). Significantly, the ruling for the glosses was added as
needed, although occasionally on folios where there are extensive glosses, the
scribe appears to have ruled an entire column for the gloss. This type of simple
layout, where the biblical text and the glosses were copied independently, is
found in early glossed Bibles. It may be compared with the more sophisticated
layout seen in the thirteenth-century copy of the Apocalypse and Catholic
Epistles with the Gloss, formerly Les Enluminures, TM 141 (fig. 13.2). The complex
alternate-line format where text and gloss were copied together in one step on
one set of ruled lines was used in most glossed Bibles copied in Northern France,
and in particular in Paris, after c. 1160 (de Hamel, 1984).
This is a harmonious manuscript, with both the biblical text and the
accompanying glosses probably copied by a single scribe. The script of the biblical
text is an upright caroline minuscule; a date early in the twelfth century is
suggested by the lack of compression, both vertically and horizontally (even ‘pp‘
is written separately), the predominate use of straight ‘s‘, ‘d‘ and ‘r‘, and e-cedilla;
the biblical text has very few abbreviations, although both the ampersand and
the tironian-7 are used for “et” (and), and the Italian abbreviation for “qui” (‘q‘
with a horizontal stroke through the descender) is found (e.g. f. 11, line 4). The
glosses are written in a very small precise script that is slightly more angular,
with more frequent abbreviations, but is still upright and uncompressed. Word
separation is good but not absolute. Other early features to note are the lack of
running titles and chapter divisions in the original hand (although each sentence
begins with a red initial in the biblical text, which is unusual). Each gloss begins
with an angular paraph, and includes the biblical lemmata.
The manuscript includes evidence that it was used. Particularly interesting are
the long lines that restructure the gloss. For example, on f. 13, the gloss ends in
the outer column followed by a long blank space; a line was added to connect it
to the next gloss, lower on the page. Modern chapters were added in a later
hand (the chapters we use today came into widespread use c. 1230). There are
also numerous nota marks in a neat, calligraphically pleasing form, and lines
alongside glosses that probably were added for the same purpose.
250
The manuscript belonged to the abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba, the
celebrated Cistercian monastery in Alseno (Piacenza), Emilia Romagna, founded
in 1136 by Bishop Arduino of Piacenza, who appealed to St. Bernard himself, then
at the Council of Pisa (1135), to send a colony of monks to found a new monastery.
The abbey‘s name is said to originate from the dove (“colomba” in Latin) that
showed the monks where to build their church. Mirella Ferrari in her study of the
surviving twelfth-century manuscripts from Cistercian monasteries in Northern
Italy lists sixteen manuscripts from Chiaravalle della Columba, but she did not
know of this manuscript (Ferrari, 1993, pp. 273-276 and 297-8; Ferrari, 1980, pp.
281-3, listed twelve). This manuscript may be compared with the commentary on
Isaiah by Hervaeus de Bourgdieu, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lat. th.b.9, also
from Chiaravalle (figs. 13.3, 13.4), but imported from France.
Chiaravalle della Colomba Abbey
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: i (paper) + 90 + i (paper) folios on parchment, modern foliation in
pencil top outer corner recto, complete (collation i-x8 xi12 [-11 and 12, cancelled with no loss of text]),
quires signed center lower margin with small capital letters on the verso of the last leaf of each
quire A-K (last quire unsigned), and numbered with red Roman numerals beginning with “ii” at the
end of the first quire and concluding with “xii” for the last quire, no leaf signatures or catchwords,
ruled in hard point for a central column of biblical text (quite narrow) with double full-length vertical
bounding lines, and columns for the gloss on either side, apparently ruled as needed, prickings for
the biblical text in the outer margin (justification biblical text 179 x 42-37 mm.; text and gloss 205183 x 137-132 mm.), biblical text written in a caroline minuscule in a narrow central column of
twenty-one lines, with interlinear and marginal glosses copied in a smaller but precise script on up
to sixty-seven lines, when necessary extending across the upper and lower margins, sentences within
the biblical text begin with one-line red initials, gloss capitals touched in red on f. 1 only, incipit,
explicit and titles in rustic display capitals, f. 1, seventeen-line blank space, now with the opening
words of the biblical text (“Uir erat in terra hus nomini Iob”) supplied in large display capitals,
alternately red and black, with black and red contrasting pen decoration, added probably in the
last decades of the twelfth century, staining and rodent damage to the edges of ff. 87-90, occasional
spotting and cockling but generally in very good condition. Bound in old brown sheepskin over
pasteboard, spine with four raised bands, rebacked with parts of the spine laid down, corners
repaired, previous description notes the remains of label (now missing) applied with sealing wax to
upper cover, a few letters in ink visible on the spine, red cloth and leather fitted box labelled “Book
of Job/ Glossed/ Manuscript/ France 12th century.” Dimensions 260 x 150 mm.
251
TEXT: ff. 1-90v, [Biblical text], incipit, “Vir erat in terra hus nomine Iob. Et erat vir ille simplex …
et mortuus est senex et plus dierum,” Explicit Liber Iob; ff. 1-90v, [first gloss, inner margin], incipit,
“Prius persona apta describitur …”; [second gloss, inner margin], incipit, “Allegorice. Iob dolens id
est christus qui dolores …”; [top margin], incipit, “Timens deum. Salomon qui timet deum …”; [top
margin, second gloss], incipit, “Hus. Quae est terra gentilium ad laudem …”; [outer margin], incipit,
“Per iob christi, id est caput et corpus designator …”; [first interlinear gloss], incipit, “Necesse est ut
et simplicitatem columbę astucia serpentis instruat et astuciam simplicitas temperet unde spiritus in
columba et igne apparuit quia pleni illo sic mansuetudini simplicitatis servient ut contra mala zelo
rectitudinis accendantur“; ... [f. 90v, final interlinear gloss], incipit, “Sed quia inter perfectos sunt …
cum fratribus”; [f. 90rv, final marginal gloss], incipit, “Et uocauit nomen unius diem [Job 42:14].
Omnis qui misericordia redemptoris eligitur… Ipse ergo ex perfectorum numero speciose
memorantur. Ipse etiam ex imperfectorum numero …. Sorores ergo cum fratribus ad hereditatem
veniunt quia infirmi ad cęlestia …. Plena dierum moritur quia per hęc transeuntia tempora id quid
non transit operator,” E[X]P[L]I[C]T L[I]B[E]R [B]E[A]T[I]S[S]I[M]I [I]O[B] [Explicit liber beatissimi Job,
with every second letter omitted, perhaps with the intention of writing them in red].
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: The biblical text is copied in an upright caroline minuscule, with features
suggesting a date in the second quarter of the twelfth century; the gloss is written in a very small
precise script, slightly more angular, with more frequent abbreviations, but it is also upright and
uncompressed (discussed in detail above).
An early date is also suggested by the layout and ruling of the manuscript. The biblical text was
copied in a rather narrow central column on broadly spaced lines ruled in hard point with double
vertical bounding lines on each side. The glosses were added between the lines and in columns on
either side of the text, copied on closely spaced lines also ruled in hard point (with about three lines
of gloss to each line of biblical text). The ruling for the glosses appears to have been as needed in
a second step after the biblical text was copied. This simple format can be compared with the much
more complex layout found in later examples, including Les Enluminures, TM 141, a thirteenthcentury copy of the Apocalypse and the Catholic Epistles (fig. 13.2).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Copied in Italy in the second quarter of the twelfth century, c.
1125-40. 2. An ownership note on the final verso written in an early hand, possibly contemporary,
reads “Liber sancte Marie de Columba”; the Abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba, the Cistercian
abbey in Alseno (Piacenza), Emilia Romagna was founded from Burgundy in 1136. This manuscript
dates from the period of its foundation. It has signs of conscientious use in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, including the addition of modern chapter divisions in the margins. Chiaravalle
was suppressed in the Napoleonic era: in 1805 its assets were nationalized and its library was
dispersed; in 1810, the monks were forced to leave. Many of its manuscripts passed to Francesco
Giovio (1796-1878), like the books from Morimondo (no. 8) and were at least partly dispersed
through Hoepli in Milan in 1883. 3. An earlier description mentioned a stamped armorial ex libris
on the front flyleaf (arms gules, two bars argent, charged with three chalices or 1 & 2, with
inscriptions “Moderata Durant,” and Ex libris de Mojolis”); this is no longer present in the volume.
4. Christie‘s, June 25, 1997, lot 21. 5. Richard Adams, Private Collection, Washington D.C. (who also
owned no. 2): his small oval blue and gold paper ex libris, “RLA” on the front flyleaf. 6. Idda
Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES AND EXHIBITIONS: unpublished.
LITERATURE
“S. Maria di Chiaravalle della Colomba,” in Monasteri Benedettini in Emilia
Romagna, Milan, 1980, pp. 83-95.
CORVI P. AND SPINELLI G.
DE HAMEL, CHRISTOPHER. Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade,
Woodbridge, Suffolk and Dover, New Hampshire, 1984.
252
f. 27, Glossed Job
“Biblioteche e scrittoi Benedettini nella storia culturale della diocesi Ambrosiana:
Appunti ed episodi,” Ricerche storiche sulla chiesa Ambrosiana 9 [=Archivio Ambrosiano 40] (1980),
pp. 230–90.
FERRARI, MIRELLA.
“Dopo Bernardo: biblioteche e ‘scriptoria‘ cisterciensi dell‘Italia settentrionale
nel XII secolo,” in San Bernardo e l‘Italia, ed. Pietro Zerbi, Milan, 1993, pp. 253-306.
FERRARI, MIRELLA.
“Les Commentaires Bibliques de l‘Epoque Romane: Glose Ordinaire et Gloses
Périmées,” in Studies in Medieval Thought and Learning from Abelard to Wyclif, London, 1981,
pp.17-25 [reprinted from Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, IVe Année (1961), pp. 15-22].
SMALLEY, BERYL.
SMITH, LESLEY.
“Gilbert de la Porrée et les livres glosés à Laon, à Chartres et à Paris,” in
Monde médiéval et société chartraine : actes du colloque international organisé par la ville et le
diocèse de Chartres à l‘occasion du 8e centenaire de la Cathédrale de Chartres, ed. Jean-Robert
Armogathe, Paris, 1997, pp. 83-95.
STIRNEMANN, PATRICIA.
“Où ont été fabriqués les livres de la glose ordinaire dans la première moitié
du XIIe siècle?,” in Le XIIe siècle: mutations et renouveau en France dans la première moitié du XIIe
siècle, ed. Françoise Gasparri, Paris, 1994, pp. 257-279.
STIRNEMANN, PATIRCIA.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Official website of Chiaravalle della Colomba
http://www.cistercensi.info/abbazie/abbazie.php?ab=98
254
f. 90v, Abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba ex libris, Glossed Job
255
Fig. 13.1
Oxford, Bodleian Library,
MS Rawlinson G 17, Glossed f.2
Fig. 13.2
Formerly Les Enluminures TM 141,
Glossed Apocalypse, ff. 133-134
256
Fig. 13.3
MS Lat. th.b.9, Hervaeus de Bourgdieu,
Commentary on Isaiah, f. 1
Fig. 13.4
MS Lat. th.b.9, Hervaeus de Bourgdieu,
Commentary on Isaiah, f. 20
257
| 14 |
Vulgate Bible, Epistles of St. Paul with the Glossa
Ordinaria
In Latin, Illuminated manuscript on parchment
Northern Italy (Milan?), c. 1140-60
A glossed text glossed; a relatively rare text from the set of the Glossa
Ordinaria, because this particular component was superseded in the series
by the Magna Glossatura of Peter Lombard; here in the original, sometimes
still citing the names of the authors from which it was quarried in the
cathedral school of Laon; letters from the early Roman empire, earlier
than the Gospels, the foundation text of Christian theology; itself
massively used, corrected, changed, marked up for liturgical use, and
crammed at the ends with the outpourings of the monastery which used
it, probably in Milan, all a springboard for further work; unusual,
handsome, ultimately identifiable polychrome initials, birds as strange as
enamelled metalwork, floral ornament, tumbling swags of white vines;
red morocco binding, a manuscript which passed through the early
twentieth-century rediscovery of Italy, a note by Sydney Cockerell.
The textual history of the Glossa Ordinaria on the Pauline Epistles is complex.
The earliest version dates back to the teaching of Anselm of Laon, a master at the
cathedral school, later chancellor, dean, and finally archdeacon of the cathedral,
who died in 1117. The school at Laon in the late eleventh and early twelfth
centuries was famous throughout Europe as a center for theology, and Anselm‘s
reputation was particularly stellar. Guibert of Nogent (d. 1124), in the dedication
to his commentary on Genesis compares Anselm and his brother Ralph to “two
bright eyes brighter than the stars,” and praises Anselm as “the master of the
entire Latin world.” The Gloss on the Pauline Epistles probably reflects his oral
teaching, written down by his students in the decades after his death (for a
contrary view, see Andrée, 2011, pp. 227-228). Like the Psalms, there were two
other versions of the Gloss on the Pauline Epistles composed in the twelfth
f. 114, (detail with initial), Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
259
century (no. 4). Gilbert de la Porrée, who studied at Laon with Anselm and Ralph,
produced his commentary on the Pauline Epistles by c. 1130 (his Psalter
commentary has been studied by Gross-Diaz, 1996). Peter Lombard‘s commentary
was begun c. 1135, but was not completed until 1155 or even 1158-89, when he
became bishop of Paris.
This textual history is directly reflected in the numbers of surviving manuscripts,
since the two later commentaries were much more widely read and copied than
the original version dating back to Anselm‘s teachings. If we consider all the
books of the Bible, the Glossa Ordinaria was enormously popular, and may survive
in more than 2,000 manuscripts; there are 400 manuscripts of the Gloss on
various biblical books in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and
perhaps another 600 in the French municipal libraries (Zier, 2004). Manuscripts
of the Pauline Epistles with the Ordinary Gloss (that is the text dating back to
Anselm of Laon), however, were not among the most commonly copied glossed
books. There are only fifteen to twenty copies in the BnF (compared, for
example, with forty-nine copies of the Gloss on John and forty-seven of the Gloss
on Luke). Thirteen copies of glossed Pauline Epistles survive from the Sorbonne,
but none include the Ordinary Gloss (Zier, 2004, p. 163, and note 165). These
numbers are evidence of the popularity of the revisions of this text by Gilbert de
la Porrée and Peter Lombard which eclipsed the earlier version found in this
manuscript. Glossed manuscripts of the Pauline Epistles dating from the middle
of the twelfth century, including the manuscript described here, are important
witnesses to this text.
This manuscript was copied by two scribes. The first organized his text in a very
conservative fashion. The biblical text was copied first in a large script in one
central column, leaving room between the lines and in all four margins for
glosses; the glosses were added as necessary, in a smaller script, and ruled
separately. Both the biblical text and the glosses were ruled in hard point (see
de Hamel, 1984, for the history of the format of glossed Bibles). This same
general layout is used by the second scribe on many pages, but, significantly,
there are pages where he varies the size of the biblical text depending on the
amount of gloss he had to copy – the text and gloss are no longer copied
independently of one another, but are being treated as one text, a significant
change in attitude. He has also used lead point to rule the space for the glosses,
a codicological feature found first in manuscripts dating around the middle of the
twelfth century. Some marginal glosses begin with lemmata (the opening words
of the biblical passage being commented on), but many do not.
Although the editio princeps, which was printed in Strasbourg in 1480-81 by Rusch
(facsimile edition, Froehlich and Gibson, 1992; and online) is useful as a working
260
f. 102, glosses in many hands, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
261
edition of the Ordinary Gloss for many of the books of the Bible, it is less useful
for the Pauline Epistles, since the printed text includes numerous interpolations
from the later versions of the Gloss on these books by Gilbert de la Porée and
Peter Lombard. Generally, manuscripts of the Pauline Epistles with the Ordinary
Gloss have many fewer prologues and other texts before Romans and include
fewer marginal and interlinear glosses than Rusch‘s edition (Zier, 2004, p. 169).
Characterizing the glossed text in this manuscript is especially difficult because
it includes numerous layers; the glosses were added by many people, over an
extended period of time. At some point, long passages in the gloss were erased,
and updated glosses were added (e.g. ff. 12v, 43v-44, 74v, to name just a few;
there are many, many erasures). On f. 67v, five lines of the biblical text were
erased and re-written. Although originally designed with a central column of
biblical text and two marginal columns, the very far outside margins were used
by later readers to add another layer of notes, usually brief, for example, f. 18,
Romans 8:9, an early hand notes “spiritus dei spiritus christi. Idem est” (The spirit
of God and the Spirit of Christ are the same), and the hand in the far outer margin
notes, “Nota spiritum christi quid est contra grecos” (Note, the spirit of Christ,
which is against the [opinion of the] Greeks). Most of the glosses were copied
with no identification of their authors, but on f. 152 there is a gloss ascribed to
Lanfranc (d. 1089). Manuscripts of glossed Bibles often include no identifications
of the source of the glosses, and it is particularly unusual to find attributions to
recent authors. Perhaps for this reason, this attribution to Lanfranc seems to
have been carefully copied by scribes, and is found in other manuscripts of the
commentary (Smith, 2009, p. 59; cf. p. 53; Gibson, 1977).
The text corresponds in a general way with the text known as the Ordinary Gloss.
Compared with the electronic edition of Rusch‘s 1480-81 edition of Galatians,
there is a basic similarity; this manuscripts lacks both the arguments (as text
and gloss) found in the Rusch edition, but many of the glosses found here can be
identified in the printed edition. The beginning of the commentary on Romans,
in contrast, lacks most of the numerous prefatory texts found in the Rusch
edition. Comparisons with contemporary manuscripts are probably more
pertinent. 2 Corinthians here begins with the same first two glosses found in
another copy of the Pauline Epistle with the Ordinary Gloss, San Marino,
California, Huntington Library, HM 56 (fig. 14.3). Identifying which glosses were
altered in this manuscript (either changed and copied over erasures, or simply
added) and their sources would be an ideal case study of the evolution of the
Gloss and its use in Italy.
The question of the biblical text that circulated with the Glossa Ordinaria is an
important topic that has attracted little scholarly attention. From some point
f. 119v, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
263
ff.129v-130, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
early in the second half of the twelfth century, Paris masters began to use the
glossed text as the basis of their lectures; we can say they were glossing the
Gloss. It is therefore not surprising that the text of the Paris Bible, a biblical
recension without glosses found in hundreds of Bibles copied in Paris (and
sometimes elsewhere in Europe) in the thirteenth century, especially after c.
1230, can be shown to be related to the text circulating in twelfth-century glossed
Bibles (Haastrup, 1963, 1965; Light, 1984, pp. 81-82). But we still know almost
nothing about the topic. In particular, we do not know to what extent the biblical
text in glossed Bibles varied from copy to copy, both over time, and in copies
made in different parts of Europe. The very quickest look at the text in this Bible
demonstrates how interesting this research could be. There are two textual
variants here characteristic of the group Samuel Berger and Henri Quentin called
the Italian group (Berger, 1893, p. 143, found in Paris, BnF, MS lat. 104; see also
Quentin, 1922, 361-384); on f. 30v, Romans 13:9, reads “non concupisces rem
proximi tui”; and on f. 92, lines 6-7, Galatians 5:7, we find the reading “Nemini
consenseritis,” although in this case the original text lacked this interpolation,
and it was added by a contemporary hand. Even this very small sampling raises
the possibility that the biblical text in this manuscript is not the text that
circulated in Northern France, where the Gloss on the Pauline epistles was
created, but is rather the biblical text common in Northern Italy where this
manuscript was copied. This is not a unique example, since these readings are
found in another glossed copy of the Pauline Epistles from Northern Italy, San
Marino, Huntington Library, HM 56 (Dutschke, 1989, p. 118).
The most remarkable addition to this copy of the Pauline Epistles are the
indications of liturgical readings that were added in the margins early in the
thirteenth century. Carefully noted in red, these notes identify the liturgical
occasion when a particular passage from the Epistle was read. On f. 3, for
example, Romans 1:1 is marked “Epistola in sabbato sancto,” indicating that this
passage was read on Holy Saturday. These notes continue right through the
volume, with indications of feasts from the Temporale and Sanctorale. Although
further research is needed, the presence of several Milanese feasts suggests a
link with Milan: the feasts of Sisinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander, martyrs whose
relics are in Milan are listed twice, on f. 13v, and f. 75, the translation of St. Victor
Maurus is noted on f. 61v, and the Deposition of St. Ambrose is included on f. 123.
Note that in many cases not only the beginning of the liturgical lection is marked,
but also the end of the reading (e.g. ff. 100, 116 and others), arguing for actual
liturgical use. This is not to say that this book was necessarily used during Mass
as a Lectionary, although it might have been. Perhaps the early users of this
book used it to read the pericope for a given feast, together with the commentary
on the passage, thus enriching their devotional life (see also no. 4). The book was
also well-adapted for study, and includes running titles in red through f. 104v,
f. 144v, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
267
and older chapter divisions marked in Roman numerals in Romans and 1 Corinthians;
later hands added indications of the modern chapters in some of the books.
In the thirteenth century this manuscript was evidently owned by Franciscan
friars, who left several ownership inscriptions on the opening and closing leaves.
As is the case with many Franciscan manuscripts, one has the feeling that the
manuscript was passed from hand to hand, studied intensely, and annotated.
The preliminary leaves and the two final leaves were originally left blank, and
are now filled with notes in many different hands, and even drawings: a drawing
of a wild-looking man with a beard on f. 164v, and sketches of elaborately
decorated initials ‘A‘ on f. 164. On f. 163 one reader added the courteous note,
“Pax vobis a deo patre qui legeris in isto libro” (Peace from God the Father to you
who reads this book). Some of the extensive additions and changes to the glosses
may also be the work of these Franciscans.
This was a book owned and vigorously used, first in the twelfth century, perhaps
within a community context at a cathedral school or monastery, and then in the
thirteenth century by a Franciscan community. It will repay study as an artifact
that reveals active study of the Bible by these two different communities. The
marginal indications of liturgical readings are an extremely unusual feature.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 164 folios on parchment (prepared in the manner of southern Europe,
generally good quality, but with occasional original holes and sewing, for example, ff. 70 and 101),
first two leaves originally blank and last two were once flyleaves, complete (collation i8 [1, 2 and 7,
8, singletons] ii-xix8 xx10 xi2), quires signed in Roman numerals on the last leaf in the lower margin,
a few trimmed, no leaf signatures or catch words, narrow central column for the biblical text ruled
in blind bounded on both sides by double full-length vertical bounding lines, with columns for the
gloss in the inner and outer margins bounded by single full-length vertical bounding lines, marginal
glosses often appear to be copied without rulings from ff. 1-104v, from f. 105 to the end ruling for
the glosses in lead, prickings on some folios in the outer margin for the biblical text (justification
biblical text 202-182 x 70-63 mm; text and gloss 208-155 x 160-155 mm.), written in dark brown ink
in a regular rounded twelfth-century bookhand in a central column with twenty to twenty-two lines
by two scribes, with the second scribe beginning on f. 105, marginal glosses on either side and
between the lines of the biblical text in a smaller script in numerous hands, many added later, some
headings in red, a few prologues entirely in red, first words of books usually stroked in red, one-line
red initials at the beginning of sentences in some books or stroked in red, red running titles through
f. 104v, older chapters numbered in small red Roman numerals in Romans and 1 Corinthians, some
books with added numbers of modern chapters in the upper margin, liturgical readings noted in red
in margins (added early), many signs of careful and scholarly use, several layers and early campaigns
of added glosses and corrections (including erasures and glosses to the gloss), many additions to
endleaves, FOURTEEN LARGE PAINTED INITIALS including, birds and dragons in colors on colored
grounds (described in detail below), lower half of initials, ff. 38 and 137v rubbed, some wear, minor
stains, top outer corner f. 51 cut (no loss of text), stitched repairs to ff. 70-71 and 101, slight marginal
worming first eight folios, opening and closing leaves darkened, somewhat cockled, but sound and
f. 57v, gloss in two columns, added, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
269
with wide margins. Bound in late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century dark red morocco, simple
gold fillet borders, spine with five raised bands lettered “Divi Pavli/ Epistole/ Manus./Memb.,” red,
white and green head and tail bands, in good condition apart from slight worming along the spine,
and some wear to spine and outer edges, red leather and cloth slip case, labelled “St. Paul/ Epistles/
Milan. XIIIth Cent.” Dimensions 275 x 180 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1rv, blank with added notes, including on f. 1v a number of brief notes on theological
topics in several hands (including justice, faith, the Eucharist, and excommunication); [f. 2, blank
(erased inscription); f. 2v, blank]; – ff. 3-162, Pauline Epistle with the Ordinary Gloss [cf. Stegmüller,
1950-1980, nos. 11832-11845]: f. 3, [prologue to Romans], incipit, “Romani sunt partes italiae. Hii
preuenti sunt …“[Stegmüller 676]; ff. 3-38, Romans; [first marginal gloss, added], incipit, “Dicens.
Non est bonum id est sumere …”; [second marginal gloss], incipit, “Pro altercatione scribit apostolus
…”; [third marginal gloss], incipit, “Paulus hebraice. Quietus grece. Modicus latine. Prius saulus a
saule …”; [first interlinear gloss], incipit, “Comendat personam suam a nomine conditus Paulus”;
Romans, incipit, “Paulus seruus ihesu christi uocatus apostolus. Segregatus in euangelium dei …”;
f. 38, [prologue to 1 Corinthians], incipit, “Corinthii sunt achaici et hii similiter … “[Stegmüller 685],
with Stegmüller 686 in the margin, incipit, “Corinthii sunt acahici. Hii ab ipso apostolo conuersi
sunt …”; f. 38-71v, 1 Corinthians; f. 71v, [prologue to 2 Corinthians], incipit, “Post acceptam
paenientiam … “[Stegmüller 699, usually begins “Post actam”]; f. 72-93v, 2 Corinthians; first marginal
gloss, incipit, “Quibusdam corinthiorum per prima epistola correctis causa reliquorum scribit
secundam repellens pseudo apostolos. Ostendendo deception predicationis eorum …”; [second
marginal gloss], incipit, “Benedictus. Primum perfectis loquitur …”; ff. 93v-104v, [no prologue],
Galatians; ff. 104v-114, [no prologue], Ephesians; f. 114, [prologue to Philippians in red], incipit,
“Philippenses sunt macedones. Hii accepto uerbo … “[Stegmüller 728], with Stegmüller 729 in the
margin, incipit, “Philippenses sunt macedones hii Paulo per epaphroditum …”; ff. 114-119v,
Philippians; f. 119v, [prologue to Colossians in red], incipit, “Colosenses et hii sunt laudicenses …“
[Stegmüller 736], with Stegmüller 740 in the margin, incipit, “Colosenses sunt asiani quod non est
ipse apostolus predicauit …”; ff. 119v-125, Colossians; f. 125, [prologue to 1 Thessalonians copied
in the margin], incipit, “Thessalonicenses sunt macedones qui facile ab apostolo conuersi …“
[Stegmüller 747]; ff. 125-129v, 1 Thessalonians; ff. 129v-132, [no prologue], 2 Thessalonians; f. 132,
[prologue to 1 Timothy in the margin], incipit, “Timotheo relicto in asia epistolo. Scribit Paulus …“
[Stegmüller 763]; ff. 132-137v, 1 Timothy; f. 137v, [prologue to 2 Timothy in the margin], incipit,
“Paulus iam a mundo transiturus item scribit a roma … “[Stegmüller 773]; ff. 137v-141, 2 Timothy;
f. 141, [prologue to Titus in the margin], incipit,“Titum commonefacit … “[Stegmüller 780]; ff. 141143v, Titus; f. 143v [prologue to Philemon in margin], incipit, “Phylemoni familiars … “[Stegmüller
783]; ff. 143v-144v, Philemon; ff. 144v-162, [no prologue], Hebrews, explicit, “… Salutant uos omnes
de italia fratres. Gratia cum omnibus uobis, Amen”; – ff. 162v-164v, blank with added texts: f. 162v
(later owners‘s notes, see provenance below); f. 163, mostly blank, but with notes on the genealogy
of Christ, incipit, “Anna nupsit ioachim …”; and other brief notes including, “Nota. Qui Laudat
beneficium medicine dicit morbos prodesse et ultima …”; ff. 163v-164v, densely covered with notes
in many hands, including on f. 164 three sketches of the initial ‘A‘ with pen decoration, and on f.
164v, two figures, including a wild-looking man, and numerous brief excerpts, many labelled as from
Augustine, and one from Ambrose.
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: The script of the first scribe is a very rounded script (note the round ‘o‘ and
the wedge-shaped ascenders) with a number of early features suggesting a date around the middle
of the twelfth century; the script is fairly broadly spaced horizontally so that round letters do not
touch, and even ‘pp‘ was written separately, both ‘ae‘ and e-cedilla are used, two forms of ‘d‘ are
used, but upright ‘d‘ is common, round ‘s‘ appears occasionally but only finally; this scribe avoids
abbreviating “et.” The second scribe, beginning on f. 105, uses a similar, but much less formal script;
“et” is abbreviated with a tironian-7, there is considerable compression horizontally, but again,
round letters, including ‘pp‘ are written separately, e-cedilla is used.
The ruling patterns in this manuscript and the layout of the text and gloss vary; throughout, the
biblical text was copied in a narrow central column on widely spaced lines, and the glosses were
added columns on either side of the biblical text and between the lines. The ruling for the biblical
270
text was done in hard point throughout, and was done as a first step (the prickings in the outer
margins when they remain align only with the biblical text). Many of the columns of the marginal
glosses through f. 104v appear to be unruled, but occasionally, as on ff. 77v-78, a second set of rules
were added for the glosses, also in hard point, extending across the column of biblical text (so the
biblical text was copied on every other line) – but this still appears to have been done in two stages.
From f. 105 on a new scribe copied the biblical text, and rulings for the marginal glosses are often
added in lead point. The second scribe varied the width of the column of biblical text depending
on the amount of glosses (e.g. f. 134 with a narrow column of biblical text and a very long gloss; and
f. 137, with several brief glosses, and the biblical text in a broader column), and on two folios let the
glosses interrupt the biblical text (ff. 150v and 152, copying the glosses within the column for the
Bible), signs that he was copying from an exemplar with text and gloss. There are a few examples
of L-shaped glosses (e.g. ff. 147, 153v).
ILLUSTRATION: Each letter of St. Paul begins with a large painted initial, equivalent to six- to
twelve-lines of the biblical text; the body of the initials are formed from narrow yellow fillets infilled
with interlace patterns in orange, green, pink, or pale yellow, at times ending in animal heads, on
colored grounds that follow the shape of the initials; many initials are infilled with white vines: f.
3; f. 38; f. 72, ending in animal heads; f. 93v, a green dragon-head at the top; f. 104v; f. 114; f. 119v,
green interlace edged in yellow and a dragon, infilled with a floral motif; f. 125; f. 129v, a snake (or
fish) forming part of the initial; f. 132, distinctive initial constructed from a pair of long-legged pink
and green birds, infilled and on a pale yellow ground, f. 137v; f. 141; f. 143v, and f. 144v.
These interlace initials, infilled with white vines, are a variation of the geometric initials characteristic
of many manuscripts copied in Central and Northern Italy from the second quarter through the third
quarter of the twelfth century (Garrison, 1953-1962; Berg, 1968); similar initials are found, for
example, in the glossed Pauline Epistle, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 312 (Tuscany, second quarter to middle of
the twelfth century; Avril and Załuska, 1980, no. 84 and pl. xxxv) (fig. 14.1), and in BnF, MS lat. 654,
another glossed Pauline (probably Northern Italy, mid-twelfth century; Avril and Załuska, 1980, no.
120, plates xlvii and xlviii) (fig. 14.2). The initials on f. 110 of Paris BnF, MS lat. 14786, from Central
Italy, middle to third quarter of the twelfth century (Avril and Załuska, 1980, no. 120, and plate G),
and on f. 1 of San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 56, copied in Northern Italy in the middle of the
twelfth century, both copies of the Pauline Epistles with the Gloss, are very similar to the initial
constructed from a snake/or dragon on f. 119v of our manuscript (fig. 14.3).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Copied in Northern Italy, likely in Milan, c. 1140-60. 2. Owned by
a Franciscan convent in the thirteenth century; there are three partially erased thirteenth-century
ownership inscriptions. The first, found on f. 1, is still partially legible, “Iste liber est fratrum
minorum de <?>”. The two other entries are now thoroughly erased, and possibly treated by a
reagent, but were read by Sydney Cockerell (see his pencil note on final flyleaf, "Scribbles examined,
June 3 1912, SCC"); his tentative transcriptions were, f. 2, “Iste liber est fr[atrum] ... empsi ego math.
de ?campo,” [written in his hand in pencil below an erased inscription] and on f. 162v, “Iste liber est
fratrum minorum [? Pataviae] commorantium”; whether Cockerell was correct about Padua is now
impossible to judge, but the convent at Padua in 1449 owned nine copies of the Pauline Epistles
with a gloss, none obviously identifiable as this manuscript (Humphreys, 1966, nos. 395-403). The
preliminary leaves and the two final leaves were originally left blank, and are now filled with notes
in many different hands, probably by brothers at this Franciscan convent. 3. Two later notes on f.
162v may indicate that the book was back in private hands by the late Middle Ages: the first dated
1427, “Mccccxxvii. Epistolle sancti pauli con dcc<erasure> Ex d. A. computatis omnibus,” and below
this, in a different hand, a monogram (?) and possibly a notary‘s mark. 4. Two Hebrew notes on f.
2; the first is evidence that this book was used as a pledge in the fifteenth century; a Jewish
moneylender wrote the name of the lender, Yoani Horizon Prikula, and the date, December 2, 1456
(we thank Dr. Eyal Poleg and Dr. Malachi Beit-Arie for their assistance); a second note, probably
later, may include a place name. 5. Sir Joseph Radcliffe (1799-1872), second baronet, of Rudding
Park, Yorkshire (formerly with his bookplate; present in 1966), and by descent; Rudding Park was sold
in 1962 and its library was dispersed. 6. Bought by Sir John Galvin of Vancouver and Dublin from
H. P. Kraus, Manuscripts and Books, cat. 115 (1966), no. 14; his sale, Sotheby‘s, 7 July 2009, lot 36. 7.
Idda Collection, Switzerland.
271
ff.162v-163, added notes, Pauline Epistles with the Gloss
PUBLISHED REFERENCE: H. P. KRAUS, Manuscripts and Books, cat. 115 (1966), no. 14.
LITERATURE
“Anselm of Laon Unveiled: The Glosae super Iohannem and the Origins of
the Glossa ordinaria on the Bible,” Mediaeval Studies 73 (2011), pp. 217-260.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER.
Manuscrits enluminés d‘origine italienne, Bibliothèque
Nationale. Département des manuscrits, Centre de recherché sur les manuscrits enluminés, Paris,
1980.
AVRIL, FRANÇOIS AND YOLANTA ZAŁUSKA.
BERGER, SAMUEL.
BERG, KNUT.
Histoire de la Vulgate pendant les premiers siècles du moyen âge, Paris, 1893.
Studies in Tuscan Twelfth Century Illumination, Oslo, Bergen and Tromsö, 1968.
Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade,
DE HAMEL, CHRISTOPHER.
Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, San
Marino, California, 1989.
DUTSCHKE, C. W.
Biblia Latina cum Glossa Ordinaria: Facsimile
GARRISON, E. B.
Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Painting, vols. I-IV, Florence, 1953-1962.
“Lanfranc‘s Commentary on the Pauline Epistles,” Journal of Theological Studies, n.s.
22 (1971), pp. 86-122.
GIBSON, M. T.
The Psalms Commentary of Gilbert of Poitiers: From lectio divina to the
Lecture Room, New York, 1996.
GROSS-DIAZ, THERESA.
“Zur frühen Pariser Bibel–auf Grund Skandinavischer Handschriften,” Classica et
mediaevalia. Revue danoise de philologie et d‘histoire 24 (1963), pp. 242–69.
HAASTRUP, NIELS.
“Zur frühen Pariser Bibel–auf Grund Skandinavischer Handschriften,” Classica et
mediaevalia. Revue danoise de philologie et d‘histoire 26 (1965), pp. 394–401.
HAASTRUP, NIEL.
The Library of the Franciscans of the Convent of St Antony, Padua, at the
beginning of the Fifteenth Century, Amsterdam, 1966.
HUMPHREYS, K. W.
“Versions et révisions du texte biblique” in Le Moyen Âge et la Bible, eds. Pierre Riché
and Guy Lobrichon, Bible de tous les temps 4, Paris, 1984, pp. 55-93.
LIGHT, LAURA.
QUENTIN, HENRI.
Mémoire sur l‘établissement du texte de la Vulgate, Rome, 1922.
“The Development of the Glossa Ordinaria to the Bible in the 13th Century: The
Evidence of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,” in La Bibbia del XIII secolo: storia del testo, storia dell
esegesi, ed. G. Cremascoli and F. Santi, Florence, 2004, pp. 155-184.
ZIER, DANIEL.
274
Fig. 14.1 Paris, BnF, MS lat. 312,
Glossed Pauline Epistles, f. 41v
275
Fig. 14.2
Glossed Pauline Epistles, f. 45v
276
Fig. 14.3
San Marino, Huntington Library,
HM 56, Glossed Pauline Epistles, f. 1
277
| 15 |
Vulgate Bible, Gospel of Mark with the Glossa
Ordinaria; [Anonymous], Notes on Confession
Northern Italy (Tuscany?), c. 1150-1175
Personal, private, portable, like a Tuscan Giant Bible on a miniature scale,
with a great full-length ‘I‘ resembling an In principio opening; one of the
last texts of the Glossa Ordinaria canon, drawing extensively from Bede in
Anglo-Saxon Northumbria; small, a single Gospel text for individual use,
quite possibly made for a person, not a community; perhaps for a priest,
or a canon, or a secular cleric, when literacy first stepped beyond the walls
of a monastery; Italian, Romanesque, as old as the great cathedrals; crisp
initial resembling mosaic pavements, yellow as bright as gold, deep blue,
ceramic red; owned by the abate Luigi Celotti, a Venetian (for whom Saint
Mark has special significance), in Britain by 1825, to Phillipps, Rosenbach,
Doheny, Ritman, great names in the pantheon of bibliophily.
This is a beautiful example of an illuminated glossed Mark from Italy. The
opening prologue begins with a charming initial ‘M‘ constructed from two
intertwined birds, but our attention is immediately drawn to the initial found at
the beginning of the Gospel that begins with an ‘I‘ (“Initium Evangelii Jesu Christi
Filii Dei” [The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God]). This fullpage initial is a vivid yellow, outlined in bright red, inset with panel of red and blue
strapwork designs, with a round medallion in the center of the initial; at the top
it is finished with interlace, and at the bottom with a graceful swirl of vines in
more delicate shades or red, blue and green. This style was popular through
much of the twelfth century in Tuscany and farther north in Italy; for example,
a Homiliary probably copied in Florence, now London, British Library, Harley MS
7183, has a similar ‘I‘-initial on f. 1 (Berg, 1968, no. 106) (fig. 15.1); the second
volume of this manuscript on f. 224v, has an initial constructed from a bird,
similar in idea, although not in style, to the initial in our manuscript on f. 1 (fig. 15.2).
f. 1, (detail of initial with birds),Gospel of Mark with the Gloss
279
It is especially appropriate in this context, since it is a direct descendant of the
geometric-style initials found in Italian Giant Bibles of the eleventh century
(Garrison, 1953-1962; Berg, 1968; Yawn, 2011).
This manuscript has been a treasured object in the libraries of the most
important manuscript collectors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We
know it belonged to the abbate Luigi Celotti (c. 1768-c. 1846), a Venetian cleric
turned art-dealer, who purchased illuminated Choir books and liturgical
manuscripts from the Napoleonic troops after their looting of the Sistine Chapel
in 1798, and then began a career acquiring medieval manuscripts and Old Master
drawings in Italy for the London auction rooms. Later it was acquired by Sir
Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), a self-described “vello-maniac,” who assembled
what may have been the largest private library of all times with over 50,000
books and 100,000 manuscripts (Munby, 1951-60; Basbanes, 1995). It then
travelled to California, where it was part of the collection of the Countess Estelle
Doheny (1875-1958), one of the earliest women book collectors in the United
States, and then back to Europe, where it became part of the Bibliotheca
Philosophica Hermetica of J. R. Ritman (b. 1941), the Dutch businessman and
distinguished collector of art and books.
The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, and stands slightly apart
from the Gospels in the early commentary tradition. Saint Augustine, although
carefully affirming Mark‘s place in the Canon, in his work on the harmony of the
Gospels says that this Gospel includes little that is not found in the other three,
concluding that Mark was the “attendant and epitomizer” of Matthew (“Mark
follows him closely, and looks like his attendant and epitomizer. For in his
narrative he gives nothing in concert with John apart from the others: by himself
separately, he has little to record; in conjunction with Luke, as distinguished from
the rest, he has still less; but in concord with Matthew, he has a very large number
of passages. Much, too, he narrates in words almost numerically and identically
the same as those used by Matthew, where the agreement is either with that
evangelist alone, or with him in connection with the rest”; Augustine, Harmony
of the Gospels, book one, chapter two). Rabanus Maurus (d. 856), the great
Carolingian author whose commentaries were mined extensively by compilers of
the Gloss on many books of the bible, commented on almost the entire Bible, but
did not comment on Mark (or Luke for that matter).
According to Peter Comestor (d. c. 1178), who did comment on Mark neither
Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) nor his brother Ralph (d. 1133) lectured on Mark, although
he states that they did lecture on Matthew and John. Since he does not mention
Luke by name, scholars assume that Anselm and Ralph probably also glossed
280
Luke. Although there has been no scholarly study of the text of the Gloss on
Mark, the early manuscript circulation suggests that Peter Comestor was
probably correct. Patricia Stirnemann identified only one manuscript of the text
that may date before c. 1140 – and it is probably not from Laon (Rouen, BM, MS
A 327) – but numerous copies from Paris dating c. 1140-50. This evidence
suggests that Mark with the Glossa Ordinaria was newly available c. 1140, and
filled a real need for a commentary on a Gospel that had been traditionally
somewhat neglected (Smith, 2009, pp. 146-7). Its text draws on commentaries
by Bede and Ps. Jerome (the references to Gregory, Augustine, Origen, and Hilary
it contains are most likely cited from Bede and not directly from these authors).
Compared with the 1480-81 Strasbourg edition by Rusch, we note that some of
the glosses found at the beginning of Mark‘s Gospel are here instead copied as
marginal glosses to the prologue to Mark; this prologue lacks all interlinear
glosses. Overall, however, the content here seems to correspond with what we
call the Ordinary Gloss (allowing for the usual variations in the text, and the fact
that our analysis is based only on selected readings, and is far from complete).
In this manuscript, the biblical text is copied in a narrow center column on widely
spaced ruled lines; the glosses were added between the lines, or in the inner or
outer margins. Usually there are about three lines of gloss per line of biblical
text. The width of the central column of biblical text varies a little, but in an
arbitrary fashion and not to make room for lengthier glosses. There are pages
where the margins are largely blank because there is very little gloss to be copied,
and others which are crowded. The ruling for the biblical text and the ruling for
the glosses were done independently, and indeed on many folios the horizontal
lines needed for the glosses were added only as needed and the entire column
was not ruled. As we have discussed (nos. 13 and 14), this simple type of layout
is most often found in glossed manuscripts dating before c. 1160, at least in
northern France (de Hamel, 1984). No one as yet has studied the format of Italian
glossed Bibles (it would be a rewarding topic for research), and it is possible that
the conservative “simple format” was used longer there than in France (Smith,
2009, p. 154; Harvard, Houghton Library, MS Typ 260, is an example of an Italian
glossed Psalter from the second half of the twelfth century copied using a similar
layout; Light, 1988, cat. 31).
Two features of this manuscript are worth noting. Some of the glosses here
begin with initials or abbreviations indicating their source (e.g., “B” for Bede, and
“Jer.” for Jerome). This is in general not common in manuscripts of the Gloss for
most of the books of the Bible, but it is a characteristic found in copies of Mark
with the Gloss (Smith, 2009, p. 58). Occasional glosses here begin on one page
281
f. 4, (detail with initial), Gospel of Mark with the Gloss
and are continued on the next, with tie marks at the end of the first page and the
beginning of the second page to indicate the continuation. Tie marks are not
used to link glosses to the biblical text, and glosses do not begin with lemmata.
The manuscript contains interesting signs of its use. The chapter numbers were
added in the top outer corner of the recto of each opening as running titles. An
early thirteenth-century hand corrected the text throughout and added signesde-renvoi, chapter numbering and marginal titles, showing a particular
fascination with the miracles of healing illness and disabilities, with titles such
as “De leproso“ (f. 10), “De paralitico“ (f. 11) and “Surdo et muto“ (f. 43v). The
biblical text was copied without chapter divisions, but the chapters commonly
used after c. 1230 (and still used today) were added in the outer margins in black
or red and blue roman numerals (with the beginning of the chapter marked
within the text with a red paraph). Like the glossed Pauline Epistles just discussed
(no. 14), this might have been owned by mendicant friars, presumably
Dominicans or Franciscans (erased inscription, f. 1). The text on confession added
at the end points to this context. The offset of the chain visible on f. 1 tells us that
in the later Middle Ages this was used for reference in a chained library.
TEXT: ff. 1-3v, incipit, “Marcus dei evangelista ...” [prologue to Mark, Stegmüller 607]; f. 1 [first
marginal gloss], incipit, “Jer. Quatuor evangelia unum sunt. Et unum quattuor. Itaque et marci liber
dicitur ... “[in Rusch, 1480-1481 found at Mark 1.1];” [f. 1; second marginal gloss], incipit, “Jer.
Euangelium bona enuntiatio …” [in Rusch found at Mark 1.1 and attributed to Isidore] ; ff. 4-100v,
[Mark], incipit, “Initium euangelii iesu Christi … confirmante sequentibus signis”; [first gloss], incipit,
“Matheus dicitur filii david ... et sermonem confirmante sequentibus signis” …. [last gloss], incipit,
“Nota quod marcus euangelium suum … per totum orbem seminauerunt”; –f. 100v, [two columns
added below the end of the Gospel; text on confession], incipit, “Fili non desperare quia dominus
dicit conuertimini ad me et ego conuertam ad vos. Et alibi quecumque … Noli etiam desperare
propter multitudinem peccatorum propter novitiatem peccatorum propter frequentiam … Hoc
omnia pertinent ad officium sacerdotis ubi fiat et querat diligenter; Incipiat itaque peccator confiteri
… Quia sic non pundit[?] facere itaque non” [possibly ending imperfectly, although the final quire
does not appear to be missing leaves, and the final leaf is darkened, suggesting it has served as the
last leaf for a long time; not identified in the In principio Database or in Migne, Patrologia latina].
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: The script is an extremely rounded calligraphic twelfth-century minuscule
(note the wedge-shaped ascenders), uncial ‘d‘ is used extensively, but round ‘s‘ seems to be used
only at the end of words, and straight ‘r‘ is used (even after ‘o‘); there is considerable horizontal
compression, so numerous letters are copied so close together that they touch, but no real letter
unions (even ‘pp‘ was copied separately, f. 15, line 7 in the biblical text). “Et” is abbreviated with
the tironian-7 and not an ampersand, and there appears to be no use of e-cedilla. Both the biblical
text and the glosses are copied above the top ruled line.
The biblical text is copied in a narrow center column on widely spaced ruled lines; the glosses were
added between the lines, or in the inner or outer margins. The ruling for the biblical text and the
ruling for the glosses was done independently.
ILLUSTRATION: Two illuminated initials: f. 1, four-line initial, with the initial body made out of
a pair of gracefully curving birds in shades of green with touches of blue, orange and yellow, infilled
with deep red with white highlights, on a deep blue ground bordered in dark green and edged in
parchment (prepared in the manner of Southern Europe, some original imperfections including cutoffs, e.g., ff. 2, 54, but thin and white), modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto, complete
(collation i-xii8 xiii4), no catchwords or signatures, ruled in hard point with a central column for the
biblical text flanked by double full-length vertical bounding lines with additional single vertical
bounding lines in the inner and outer margins for the gloss, marginal gloss ruled independently of
the biblical text with about three lines of gloss per line of biblical text (columns for the gloss often
incompletely ruled with horizontal rules added as needed), prickings for the biblical text in the outer
margins and in the upper and lower margins (justification biblical text 134 x 50-40 mm.; text and
gloss 142-135 x 118-116 mm.), written in brown ink in a twelfth-century minuscule with the biblical
text copied on thirteen broadly spaced lines beginning on the top ruled line, with the interlinear and
marginal glosses in a similar but smaller script, paraphs and capitals touched with red, modern
chapter numbers in red and black and the number of the modern chapter added in the upper outer
margin in brown numerals, both added later, one red arabesque penwork initial on f. 6, equivalent
to slightly more than two lines of the biblical text, f. 1, five-line initial depicting two stylized birds
with a line of red display script, f. 4, eleven-line bright yellow, red and blue geometric interlace
initial, some darkening and rust staining from a chain on f. 1 (slightly visible on ff. 1v-2), occasional
medieval holes and outer edges rounded, else in excellent condition with wide clean margins. Bound
in seventeenth-century dark brown leather over wooden boards, spine with four raised bands, two
clasp and catch fasteners, fastening back to front, rebacked and repaired at the corners and edges,
brown cloth and leather fitted box labelled “Evangelium / STI Marci/ Saec. XII.” Dimensions 220 x
150 mm.
284
red; f. 4, eleven-line bright yellow initial ending in interlace and infilled with a geometric pattern
in blue and red, edged in red, with foliate extension at the bottom in red, blue and green.
The interlace initial on f. 4 is typical of Tuscan and northern Italian illumination of the second half
of the twelfth century; similar initials can be found in Paris, BnF, MS lat. 654, Glossed Pauline Epistles,
Northern Italy, mid-twelfth century, with a very similar double-bird initial on f. 173v (Avril and
Załuska, 1980, no.120, pl. xlvii) (fig. 15.3); Paris, BnF, MS lat. 14786, f. 3, glossed Pauline Epistles,
Tuscany, mid-to third quarter twelfth century (Avril and Załuska, 1980, no. 76, pl. xxxii) (fig. 15.4);
Paris, BnF, MS lat. 9378, f. 8, Homiliarium, Tuscany?, second half twelfth century (Avril and Załuska,
1980, no. 82, pl. xxxiv), and London, BL, Harley MS 7183, f. 140 and f. 224v, Homiliary, Central Italy
(Florence?), second or third quarter, twelfth century (Berg, no 106) (figs. 15.1, 15.2); Florence,
Laurentiana, S. Croce, Plut. 16.d.5, Florence, third quarter twelfth century (Berg, no. 95 and plate
214); and in Certosa di Calci, cod. 2, Pisa, third quarter twelfth century (Berg, no. 5, pl. 243).
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Evidence of the script and illumination suggests this was copied
and illuminated in Tuscany, c. 1150-1175. 2. Erased note in the lower margin of f. 1 is largely
indecipherable, but may be from a mendicant convent; the second or third word appears to be
“fratrum.” 3. Early (thirteenth- or fourteenth-century) ownership note, f. 100v, upper margin,
“Maestro[?] Souavia,” (followed by “Euuangelium Marcus,” in another hand). 4. Belonged to the
abbate Luigi Celotti (c. 1768- c. 1846). 5. Sold at Sotheby‘s, London, March 14, 1825, lot 122 to
Harding, as part of a group of manuscripts consigned by Celotti, including books from the monastic
libraries of Santa Giustina in Padua and San Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, as well as purchases from
private collections such as those of Giocomo Nani, Giovanni Salviati and Scipione Maffei (Munby,
1954, pp. 50-1). 6. Belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) who purchased it in the 1825 Celotti
285
286
ff. 9v-10, Gospel of Mark with the Gloss
287
288
ff. 17v-18, Gospel of Mark with the Gloss
289
sale; his manuscript 926. 7. Phillipps Sale, London, Sotheby‘s, June 16, 1908, lot 279, to Nutt, for 10
guineas. 8. J. Rosenthal, cat. 83 (1926), no. 29 (reported in Schoenberg Database). 9. Belonged to
the Countess Estelle Doheny (1875-1958), one of the earliest women book collectors in the United
States, who purchased it from Rosenbach in 1950; her MS 6810 (described in Bond and Faye, 1962,
p. 14, no. 64, Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John‘s Seminary, Camarillo, California,
MS X). 10. Christie‘s, Estelle Doheny Collection: part II, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts,
December 2, 1987, lot 145. 11. Tenschert catalogue XXI, no. 4; sold to Ritman. 12. Belonged to
Joost R. Ritman (b. 1941), the Dutch businessman and distinguished collector of art and books;
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 25 (inscription, inside back cover). 13. Ritman Sale,
Sotheby‘s, June 17, 2003, lot 3. 14. Idda Collection, Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: THOMAS PHILLIPPS, The Phillipps manuscripts: Catalogus librorum
manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomae Phillipps, Bt., impressum typis Medio-Montanis, 18371871, reprint with an introduction by A. N. L. Munby, London, 1968, MS 926. Catalogue of Books
and Manuscripts in the Estelle Doheny Collection, vol. III, Los Angeles, 1955, p. 5, with plate. A. N.
L. MUNBY, The Formation of the Phillipps Library up to the Year 1840, Phillipps Studies III, Cambridge,
1954, pp. 50-1. W. H. BOND AND C. U. FAYE, Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance
Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, New York, 1962, p. 14, no. 64. EBEHHARD KÖNIG AND
HERIBERT TENSCHERT, Leuchtendes mittelalter. 89 libri manu scripti illuminati vom 10. Bis zum 16.
Jahrhundert darunter: das Stundenbuch Albrechts von Brandenburg …, Katalog XXI, Antiquariat
Heribert Tenschert, 1989, pp. 26-7, no. 4, plate of f. 4.
LITERATURE
AUGUSTINE. Harmony of the Gospels, tr. S. D. F. Salmond, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series,
6, Buffalo, New York, 1888.
AVRIL, F. AND Y. ZAŁUSKA.
Manuscrits enluminés d‘origine italienne, 1, VIe-XIIe, Paris, 1980.
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for
Books, New York, 1995, chapter six, “To Have and to Have No More.”
BASBANES, NICHOLAS.
BERG, KNUT.
Studies in Tuscan Twelfth Century Illumination, Oslo, Bergen and Tromsö, 1968.
GARRISON, E. B.
Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Painting, vols. I-IV, Florence, 1953-1962.
The Bible in the Twelfth Century: an Exhibition of Manuscripts at the Houghton
Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988.
LIGHT, LAURA.
SMITH, LESLEY.
“Italian Giant Bibles,” in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages, ed. Susan Boynton
and Diane Reilly, New York, 2011, pp. 126-156.
YAWN, LILA.
290
f. 100v, Gospel of Mark with the Gloss
291
ONLINE RESOURCES
The Ritman Library (Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica)
http://www.ritmanlibrary.com/collection/collection-profile/
Online hypertext edition of gloss from first printed edition
http://glossae.net/sites/default/files/Glossa%20ordinaria_super_marcum.pdf].
Fig. 15.1
London, British Library,
Harley MS 7183, Homiliary, f. 140
Fig. 15.2
London, British Library,
Harley MS 7183, Homiliary, f. 224v
292
293
Fig. 15.3
Glossed Pauline Epistles, on f. 173v
294
Fig. 15.4
Paris, BnF MS lat. 14786,
Glossed Pauline Epistles, f. 3
295
| 16 |
Vulgate Bible, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles
with the Glossa Ordinaria
Southern Europe (Spain?), c. 1175-1200
The last books of the Bible, glossed, small, light, hand-held, portable, a
scholastic text from France travelling south; from that moment in the
later twelfth century when the page layout of the gloss begins to interlock
with the Bible text; if Spanish, then carrying a resonance in a country
where texts of Beatus on the Apocalypse were still current; red and blue
initials; sides from a late medieval blind-stamped binding, probably
ultimately localisable; additions at end worth studying, including notes
on the Stella Maris as a navigational sign, and other notes on astronomy;
interesting, serious, usable and much used when new.
As is the case for all the books of the Bible, or groups of books, the textual
history of the two texts in this manuscript, the Apocalypse and the Catholic
Epistles, need to be addressed separately. We do not know the name of the
author of the Gloss on the Apocalypse, but, like the Gloss on Job (no. 13), it was
one of the earliest books glossed, and if not by Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) himself,
or his brother Ralph (d. 1134), it was by someone in their close circle. At least
three copies dating before 1140 and possibly from Laon itself are known (Oxford,
Trinity College, MS 20; Reims, BM, MS 135; and Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica
vaticana, MS Reg. lat. 21).
The studies of the Gloss on the Apocalypse by Guy Lobrichon have revealed that
its textual history is particularly interesting. At least two versions existed during
the twelfth century. The glosses are based primarily on the commentaries by
Bede and Haimo of Auxerre (no. 11), but the personal viewpoints of its compiler
are nonetheless evident, in particular his concern for clerical reform. The author
denounces economic vices such as simony, and promotes the independence of
the clergy from secular control. This early form of the gloss was substantially
f. 1, (detail), Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
297
reworked around the middle of the twelfth century; many of the reformedminded texts were omitted in this version. Both versions continued to be copied,
however, and it is only very late in the twelfth century, and perhaps even later,
that we can identify the text that will be called the Ordinary Gloss (Lobrichon,
1984, pp. 106 and 109; and Lobrichon, 1986).
It is, however, very difficult to determine which version of the text is present in
this manuscript, based on the available published resources. The text in the 148081 Strasbourg edition begins with numerous prologues, omitted here, but the
opening gloss on the text is identical in this edition and in our manuscript. The
opening glosses, both interlinear and marginal, in Paris, BnF, MS lat. 588, a
twelfth-century Italian manuscript, are also found in our manuscript. The
beginning of the text in Valenciennes, BM, MS 75, an early copy from SaintAmand, c. 1140-50, however, presents numerous differences. As we have had
occasion to stress already, the texts – both biblical and of the glosses – in twelfthcentury glossed biblical books are always of potential interest.
The gloss on the Catholic Epistles also almost certainly dates back to Anselm or
his early followers. The manuscript evidence linking this with Laon is particularly
strong, and there are four manuscripts dating before 1140 probably copied at
Laon (Stirnemann, 1994). The main source for the glosses was Bede‘s
commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Augustine and Jerome are often quoted,
but through the intermediary of Bede‘s commentary rather than from these
commentaries themselves. A florilegium from Cassiodorus was also used as a
source; since this florilegium survives in a single copy in Laon, this is a strong
argument in support of a Laon origin of this text (Merlette, 1974-75, p. 47n; Smith,
2009, p. 53). A comparison with the online edition of the 1480-81 Strasbourg
edition (available only for Jude so far), suggests the content of this book can be
called the Glossa Ordinaria, but again with many differences.
Evidence of the script and orthography, discussed in detail below, suggests that
this manuscript may well have been copied in Spain at the end of the twelfth
century. The study of the transmission of the Gloss from Laon and other
Northern French Cathedral schools and then Paris to other parts of Europe is
still in its infancy, and no one to our knowledge has begun to examine its
circulation in Spain. The last book to enter the Canon, and traditionally, the final
book of the New Testament, the Apocalypse (or Revelation), was an important
and often controversial presence in medieval thought, as it is today. The special
place of this biblical book in Spain is exemplified in the many beautiful
illuminated manuscripts of Beatus of Liébana‘s commentary on the Apocalypse
copied there in the tenth through the twelfth centuries.
298
f. 3, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
299
300
ff. 7v-8, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
301
302
ff. 79v-80, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
303
The layout used to copy the Apocalypse in this manuscript is an example of what
is known as the alternate-line format, where the scribe ruled the entire page
(here in brown crayon or lead), and then copied the biblical text on every other
line and the gloss on every line; the proportion of text to gloss influenced the
layout, so although many pages have a traditional narrow center column of
biblical text (e.g. f. 3), other pages are almost entirely occupied by the Bible text,
with small pockets of gloss (e.g. f. 4). The result is a more efficient use of the
page. The use of this layout means the scribe was thinking of the biblical text and
the accompanying glosses as a single text; he was almost certainly faithfully
copying both the text and gloss from his exemplar, which enabled him plan his
layout accordingly. The adoption of this layout therefore signals a point in the
history of the Gloss when the text was at least relatively stable (de Hamel, 1984).
The Catholic Epistles in contrast are much more conservative in their layout, and
in consequence there are vast amounts of blank space on most pages; they were
ruled in blind for the biblical text, flanked by double vertical full-length bounding
lines, with rules for the gloss added as needed in lead or brown crayon (often
very faint or indiscernible).
Glosses in this manuscript begin with paraphs, and usually do not include
lemmata (the opening word of the biblical text being commented on), or
identifications of the source of the gloss. Glosses sometimes are continued on
the next page, with tie marks indicating the continuation; for example, the long
gloss in the outer column of f. 31 begins at the top of the page, and then
concludes on f. 31v at the top of the outer margin (signaled by a tie mark); the
gloss in the inner margin of f. 31 concludes in the inner margin of f. 31v.
Following the Apocalypse, the scribe copied a capitula list, and two prologues
with glosses. Summaries of biblical books known as capitula lists (also
sometimes, brevis, breviarium, or tituli), accompanied the Bible since the early
days of the Latin Scriptures (for example, no. 1); they provided a summary of the
contents of the biblical book, and in origin may be related to the liturgical
readings of the book during the Mass. Glossed books of the Bible, however, do
not usually include capitula lists. Following this, the scribe copied two prologues
to the Apocalypse with glosses. It is odd that this section follows the Apocalypse,
since these are all texts that would normally be found at the beginning as
prefatory texts; perhaps they were lacking in the original exemplar, and scribe
consulted a second, more complete exemplar after he had copied the original text.
The first gloss on the Apocalypse, “Preparat auditores beniuolos et attentos sic
et ibi Johannes vii. e.” is a warning to scholars on the dangers of preconceptions.
The practice of citing biblical chapters by their chapter number, followed by a
304
letter of the alphabet (commonly ‘a‘-‘g‘) to give a rough idea of where in the
chapter the passage was located was a common one in the thirteenth century
from the 1230s on. This passage looks like an example of this practice, but when
one turns to John chapter 7, there is nothing relevant – and of course, upon
reflection (and reading the Apocalypse), it is easy to see that this is actually an
abbreviation of the biblical passage, “Johannes septem ecclesiis” (Apocalypse 1:4).
parchment (moderate quality, fairly frequent use of cut offs [e.g. ff. 3 and 4, 20, 28v-29], long narrow
hole f. 6, once sewn, some leaves quite dark, others very white), lacking one leaf (collation i-v8 vi4
[structure uncertain, but complete] vii8 [-1 before f. 45 with loss of text] viii-xvi8 xvii6), catchwords,
some trimmed, lower middle margin quires one to four, and in the lower inner margin in some later
quires (e.g., f. 52v), quire five signed with a Roman numeral center lower margin, layout varies with
ff. 1-44v (Apocalypse), with text and gloss ruled very lightly in brown crayon, and ff. 45-129 (Catholic
Epistles), with the biblical text ruled in hard point with full-length vertical bounding lines, and the
gloss ruled as needed in brown crayon (justification biblical text, ff. 1-44v, 132 x 47 mm.; text and
gloss 132 x 125-92 mm.; ff. 45-129, biblical text 122 x 36 mm; text and gloss 125-122 x c. 122 mm.),
copied by at least four scribes: ff. 1-44v; 45-99v; 100-123v; 124-129, in rounded proto-gothic scripts
with fourteen lines of biblical text on ff. 1-44v, and thereafter with ten lines of biblical text, one- to
two-line red or blue initials, larger red initials at the beginning of most of the Catholic Epistles with
simple blue decoration, THREE LARGE INITIALS in red with blue penwork (detailed below), five-line
space left for initial on f. 1 now completed with an added red initial with the opening words of the
text in elongated ornamental capitals in red and blue, original imperfections in the parchment, first
folios darkened with some spots, some stains including outer margin of ff. 76-86 (no impact on text),
outer margin of f. 124 cut away, else good condition. Bound in modern brown leather over early
wooden boards, spine with two raised bands lettered in gold, “Apocalypsis/ et/ Epistolae/ Catholicae:/
MS.,” preserving portions of the covers of an earlier binding, Italian or Spanish, fifteenth- or
sixteenth-century, laid down as the central panel on the front and back boards, blind-tooled with
concentric compartments with repeated impressions of small tools including rope-work, a quatrefoil
in a rectangle, a lamb and flag, and others, in excellent condition, slight damage to top of spine,
modern cardboard half-slipcase. Dimensions 205 x 145 mm.
TEXT: ff. 1-40v, [Apocalypse], incipit, “Apocalipsi ihesu christi quam dedit illi deus palam … gratia
domini nostri ihesu Christi scit [sic] cum omnibus, Amen,” Explicit liber apocalipsis Johannis
apostolice Amen; [Gloss], f. 1, [first marginal gloss, inner margin], incipit, “Preparat auditores
beniuolos et attentos sic et ibi Ihoannes septem ecclesii”; [first marginal gloss, outer margin], “Littera
sic. Aesuta consumeret atende [sic] hanc uisionem …”; [first interlinear gloss], incipit, “Ut nichil
debens”; …; – ff. 41-44v, [capitula list], incipit, “De ecclesiis vii et saluatoris. De aduentu. De terrore
quatinus [sic] pristina denuo ac[tinentur]. De destructione smirneorum ecclesie … “[De Bruyne,
1914, p. 392, series A; cf. the related series I in Wordsworth and White, 1889-1954]; – f. 44rv,
[prologue to the Apocalypse, text], incipit, “Apocalipsi iohannis tot habet sacramentum …“
[Stegmuller 829]; f. 44, [gloss, outer margin], incipit, “Et uidi alterum angelum ascendentem ab ortu
soli etc. Alius angelus ihesum domini significat …”; f. 44, [gloss, inner margin], incipit, “Et yris erat
etc. [Apoc. 4:3?]. Yris grece, latine arcus …” [both these glosses end mid f. 44v (two columns, gloss
only); remainder blank]; – ff. 45-65, [James, beginning imperfectly], incipit, “//indiget sapientia
postulet a deo … [James 1:5]”; [interlinear gloss], incipit, “quam utilis tribulatio est”; [first complete
marginal gloss], incipit, “Sic credat et sic uiuat ut dignus sit …”; f. 65, [last marginal gloss], incipit,
“Quidam codices habent saluabit animam suam a morte et uere qui errantem corrigit per hoc
305
ampliora gaudia uite celestis sibi conquirit” [Missing one leaf before f. 45, so the text begins
imperfectly at James 1:5]; ff. 65-85v, [1 Peter], incipit, “Petrus apostolus ihesu christi electis advenis
…”; [first gloss outer margin], “Aduene latine grece proseliti sic appellabant …”; ff. 85v-99v,
[2 Peter], incipit, “Simon petrus seruus et apostlus iheus christus …”; ff. 99v-120v, [1 John], incipit,
“Quod fuit ab initio …“; ff. 120v-122v, [2 John], incipit, “Senior electe domine et natus eius …”; ff.
122v-124v, [3 John], incipit, “Senior gaio karissimo quem ego diligo in ueritate …”; ff. 124v-128,
[Jude], incipit, “Iudas ihesu christi seruus frater autem iacobi … et nunc et in omnia secula seculorum
amen,” Expliciunt vii epistole canonice; – ff. 128v-129v, [early addition; two prologues often found
at the beginning of the Gloss], incipit, “Iacobus cognomento iustus filius marie sororis matris domini
…”; “Quia in circumcisione ordinatus erat iacobus apostolus curavit … uel etiam uisibiliter irruens
percellat [sic]“ [Stegmüller 810]; – margins of ff. 127-129, and f. 129v, used for theological and
pastoral notes in numerous hands in the thirteenth through the early fourteenth centuries.
SCRIPT AND LAYOUT: The script is a rounded proto-gothic bookhand, abbreviating ‘q‘ in the
southern fashion (with a horizontal line through the descender), ‘pp‘ written together, and other
round letters touching, considerable horizontal compression, both straight and round ‘d‘ and ‘s‘
used, straight ‘r‘ seems to be most common, tironian-7 used for “et,” some use of e-cedilla. The
evidence suggests this was copied in Spain; see the ‘z‘ in the first line of the gloss in the outer
margin of f. 2, and in the text, f. 3, line 2; some of the abbreviations are characteristically Spanish,
including “hnt” for “habent,” ‘n‘ with a superscript line for “non,” “oms” for “omnes,” the second
scribe abbreviates “qui” with a ‘q‘ with a line through the descender and a hook (e.g., f. 49), and
spellings, such as “hostendit” on f. 49v. The later gothic cursive hand found on ff. 127-129v also uses
the Spanish abbreviation, “os” for “omnes”.
The Apocalypse is an example of the alternate-line format for the text and gloss, where the scribe
ruled the entire page (here in brown crayon or lead), and then copied the biblical text on every
other line, and the gloss on every line; the proportion of text to gloss influenced the layout, so
although many pages have a traditional narrow center column of biblical text (e.g. f. 3), flanked by
two columns of gloss, other pages are almost entirely occupied by the Bible text, with only small
pockets of gloss (e.g. f. 4). The Catholic Epistles are more conservative in their layout, and most
pages are copied with a central column for the biblical text with columns for glosses in the inner and
outer margins, with rules for the gloss added as needed in lead or brown crayon (often very faint
or indiscernible); exceptions to this layout on ff. 118-119, where the scribe changed the size of the
column allotted to the biblical text.
ILLUSTRATION: Three large red and blue, or red and black, initials: f. 8, six-line red initial, with
decorative open work within the initial, and simple blue infilling and decorative extensions in red
and blue at Apocalypse 4:1; f. 44 [prologue to Apocalypse], four-line red initial with blue filigree
infilling; f. 46, [James 1:12] three-line red initial infilled with red and black and followed by the
opening words of the text in elongated capitals alternately red and blue. f. 1, blank for five-line
initial at the beginning of the biblical text (now with a red initial supplied later), and with the
opening words of the text copied in decoratively arranged elongated capitals in alternately red and
blue.
BINDING: The fifteenth-century blind-stamped binding on this volume was preserved when the
book was rebound in modern times, and laid down on the front and back covers. It is blind-tooled
in the humanist style common in fifteenth-century Italy, with concentric compartments stamped
with repeated impressions of tools of rope-work design, a quatrefoil in a rectangle, a lamb and flag,
and other designs. The lamb and flag stamp is unusual in this type of binding. A binding with a
similar set of stamps, including the lamb and flag, although arranged in a slightly different pattern,
is found on British Library, Burney MS 27, a twelfth-century glossed Mark (figs. 16.1, 16.2, 16.3). The
binding (and the manuscript) have been assigned to Italy or Spain.
ORIGIN AND OWNERSHIP: 1. Evidence of script, decoration, and binding suggest this was likely
copied in Spain in the latter part of the twelfth century, c. 1175-1200. London, British Library, Burney
MS 27, presents similarities in script, size and binding (see above, and figs. 16.2, 16.3). 2. Additions
306
f. 80v, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
307
at the end (and a few stray indications of modern chapters) demonstrate use at least well into the
thirteenth century. 3. Belonged to Lionel Robinson (1897-1983), private collection; his sale,
Sotheby‘s, June 24, 1986, lot 66. 4. Belonged to Joseph Pope of Toronto (1921-2010), investor, banker
and prominent collector of medieval manuscripts, who acquired it at Sotheby‘s in 1986; Bergendal
MS 80 (on this collection see Pope, 1997 and 1999, and Stoneman, 1997). 5. Idda Collection,
Switzerland.
PUBLISHED REFERENCES: JOSEPH POPE, One Hundred and Twenty-Five Manuscripts. Bergendal
Collection Catalogue, Toronto 1999, MS 80. JOSEPH POPE, “The Library that Father Boyle Built,” in
A Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies in Honor of Leonard Boyle, O.P., ed. Jacqueline Brown and William
P. Stoneman, Notre Dame, 1997, pp. 159. WILLIAM P. STONEMAN, “A Summary Guide to Medieval
and Later Manuscripts in the Bergendal Collection, Toronto,” in A Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies
in Honor of Leonard Boyle, O.P., ed. Jacqueline Brown and William P. Stoneman, Notre Dame, 1997,
pp. 197.
LITERATURE
Sommaires, Divisions et Rubriques de la Bible latine, Namur, 1914.
EMMERSON, R. K. AND MCGINN, B.
The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, Ithaca, New York, 1992.
“Conserver, réformer, transformer le monde? Les manipulations de l‘Apocalypse au
Moyen Âge central,” in The Role of the Book in Medieval Culture, ed. Peter Ganz, Bibliologia 3-4,
Turnhout, 1986, vol. 2, pp. 75-94.
LOBRICHON, GUY.
“Une nouveauté: les gloses de la Bible,” in Le Moyen Âge et la Bible, Bible de
Tous les Temps 4, ed. Pierre Riché and Guy Lobrichon, Paris, 1984, pp. 95-114.
LOBRICHON, GUY.
“L‘Ordre de ce temps et les désordres de la fin. Apocalypse et société, du IXe à la
fin du XIe siècle,”in The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages, ed. W. Verbeke, D. Verhelst
and A. Welkenhuyzen, Louvain, 1988, pp. 221-241.
LOBRICHON, GUY.
“Écoles et bibliothèques à Laon du déclin de l‘Antiquité au développement de
l‘Université,” in Actes du 95e congrès des sociétés savantes (Reims, 1970), Paris, 1974-1975, vol. 1, pp. 21-53.
MERLETTE, BERNARD.
SMITH, LESLEY.
WEALE, JAMES AND LAWRENCE TAYLOR.
Early Stamped Bookbindings in the British Museum, London,
1922, no. 38.
Novum Testamentum latine: secundum
editionem Sancti Hieronymi ad codicum manuscriptorum, Oxford, 1889-1954.
WORDSWORTH, IOHANNES AND HENRICUS WHITE, eds.
ONLINE RESOURCES
British Library: Database of Bookbindings
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings/
308
f. 70, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
309
Fig. 16.1
London, British Library, Burney MS 27,
Glossed Gospel of Mark, binding, front cover
310
Binding, Apocalypse and Catholic Epistles with the Gloss
311
Fig. 16.2
Glossed Gospel of Mark, f. 4
312
Fig. 16.3
Glossed Gospel of Mark, f. 73
313
| Bibliography |
GENERAL WORKS AND FREQUENTLY CITED SOURCES
Histoire de la Vulgate pendant les
premiers siècles du moyen âge, Paris, 1893.
BERGER, SAMUEL.
The Practice
of the Bible in the Middle Ages, New York, 2011.
BOYNTON, SUSAN, AND DIANE REILLY, eds.
Sommaires, divisions et
rubriques de la Bible latine, Namur, 1914.
“Zum Überlieferung des
lateinischen Textes der Evangelien,” in Recherches sur
l‘histoire de la Bible Latine, ed. Gryson Roger and P. –
M. Bogaert, Louvain and Paris, 1987, pp. 51-104.
FISCHER, BONIFATIUS.
Das Römische Capitulare
Evangeliorum: Texte und Untersuchungen zu seiner
Ältesten Geschichte, Münster in Westf, 1935.
THE COMMENTARY TRADITION
NAUTIN, PIERRE.
Bibel und Exegese in der Abtei
Sankt Viktor zu Paris, Corpus Victorinum 3, Münster,
2009.
BERNDT, RAINER, ed.
KLAUSER, THEODOR.
Augustine of Hippo: A
Biography, new edition with epilogue, Berkeley, 2000.
The Book: A History of the
Bible, London and New York, 2001.
Clavis patrum latinorum: qua in
novum Corpus christianorum edendum optimas quasque
scriptorum recensiones a Tertulliano ad Bedam, revised
edition, Steenbrugge, 1961.
DEKKERS, ELIGIUS.
The New
Cambridge History of the Bible. Volume 2, From 600 to
1450, Cambridge, 2012.
Les lectures liturgiques et leurs livres,
Typologie des sources du Moyen Âge Occidental 64,
Turnhout, 1992, pp. 28-32.
CHAZELLE, CELIA AND BURTON VAN NAME EDWARDS, eds.
MCGURK, PATRICK.
Latin Gospel Books from A. D. 400 to
A. D. 800, Paris and Amsterdam, 1961.
CROUZEL, HERNI.
Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and
Office: A Guide to Their Organization and Terminology,
Toronto, Buffalo, and London, 1982.
DAHAN, GILBERT.
The Study of the Bible in the Carolingian Era, Turnhout,
2003.
Origen, The Life and Thought of the
First Great Theologian, tr. A. S. Worrall, New York,
1989.
HUGHES, ANDREW.
Le Moyen Âge et
la Bible, Bible de tous les temps 4, Paris, 1984.
Repertorium biblicum medii
aevi, Madrid, 1950-61, and Supplement, with the
assistance of N. Reinhardt, Madrid, 1976-80.
STEGMÜLLER, FRIDERICUS.
“The Liturgical Psalter in
Medieval Europe,” in Jewish and Christian Approaches
to the Psalms: Conflict and Convergence, ed. Susan
Gillingham, Oxford, 2013, pp. 89-104.
SOLOPOVA, ELIZABETH.
Latin Liturgical Psalters in the
Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue, Oxford, 2013.
SOLOPOVA, ELIZABETH.
The Place of the Psalms in the
Intellectual Culture of the Middle Ages, Albany, 1999.
VAN DEUSEN, NANCY, ed.
An Introduction to the Medieval
Bible, New York, 2014.
VAN LIERE, FRANS.
“The Bible in
Liturgical Use,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible.
Volume 2, The West from the Fathers to the
Reformation, ed. G. W. H. Lampe, Cambridge, 1969,
pp. 220-52.
VAN DIJK, STEPHEN JOSEPH PETER.
THE BIBLE AND THE LITURGY
(Gospel Books, Lectionaries, Psalters)
The Illuminated Psalter: Studies in
the Content, Purpose and Placement of its Images,
Turnhout, 2004.
BÜTTNER, F. O, ed.
Les lectionnaires romains de la
messe au VIIe et au VIIIe siècle: sources et dérivés,
Fribourg, 1993.
CHAVASSE, ANTOINE.
A History of Illuminated
Manuscripts, Boston, 1986, especially chapter 2, Books
for Emperors,” pp. 39-75.
Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to
the Sources, tr. W. G. Storey and N. K. Rasmussen,
Washington, D.C., 1986.
VOGEL, CYRILLE.
DAHAN, GILBERT AND ANNIE NOBLESSE-ROCHER, eds.
L‘Exégèse monastique au Moyen Âge (XIe - XIVe siècle),
Paris, 2014.
314
Esquisse d‘une histoire de l‘exégèse
latine au moyen âge, Paris, 1944.
SPICQ, CESLAS.
Gregory the Great: Perfection in
Imperfection, Berkeley, 1988.
Die Bibel in Saint-Victor. Das Buch
der Bücher als Gradmesser für wissenschaftliche, soziale
und ordensgeschichtliche Umbrüche im europäischen
Hoch- und Spätmittelalter, Corpus Victorinum 6,
Münster, 2014.
The Love of Learning and the Desire
for God. A Study of Monastic Culture, tr. Catharine
Misrahi, New York, 1961.
LECLERCQ, JEAN.
Biblical Interpretation in the
Early Church. Philadelphia, 1984.
FROEHLICH, KARLFRIED.
HAMMOND BAMMEL, CAROLINE P.
Origeniana et
Rufiniana, Freiburg, 1996.
HARKINS, FRANKLIN T. AND FRANS VAN LIERE, eds.
Interpretation of Scripture: Theory. A Selection of
Works of Hugh, Andrew, Richard and Godfrey of St
Victor, and of Robert of Melun, Turnhout, 2012.
Jerome: His Life, Writings, and
Controversies, London, 1975.
KELLY, J. N. D.
Exégèse médiévale: les quatres sens
de l‘écriture, Paris, 1959-1964.
LUBAC, HENRI DE.
Gregory the Great and His World,
Cambridge and New York, 1997.
MARKUS, ROBERT A.
“Früh- und hochmittelalterliche
Evangelienbücher im Gebrauch,” in Der Codex im
Gebrauch, ed. Christel Meier, Dagmar Hüpper, and
Hagen Keller, Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 70,
Munich, 1996, pp. 21-30.
VON EUW, ANTON.
Eros and Allegory. Medieval Exegesis
of the Song of Songs, Cistercian Studies Series 156,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1995.
TURNER, DENYS.
VAN FLETEREN, FREDERICK, AND JOSEPH C. SCHNAUBELT, eds.
Augustine: Biblical Exegete, New York, 2004.
THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA
Anselmi Laudunensis Glosae
super Iohannem, Corpus christianorum. Continuatio
mediaeualis 267, Turnhout, 2014.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER, ed.
“Anselm of Laon Unveiled: The
Glosae super Iohannem and the Origins of the Glossa
ordinaria on the Bible,” Mediaeval Studies 73 (2011),
pp. 217-260.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER.
Gilbertus Universalis: Glossa
Ordinaria in Lamentationes Ieremie Prophete:
Prothemata et Liber I: A Critical Edition with an
Introduction and a Translation, Studia latina
stockholmia 11, Stockholm, 2005.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER.
All‘ombra di Gregorio Magno: il
notaio Paterio e il Liber testimoniorum, Rome, 2012.
MARTELLO, FABRIZIO.
“The Glossa ordinaria on the
Gospel of John. A Preliminary Survey of the
Manuscripts with a Presentation of the Text and its
Sources,” Revue Bénédictine 118 (2008), pp. 289-333.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER.
The Voice of My Beloved. The Song of
Songs in Western Medieval Christianity, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 1990.
MATTER, E. ANN.
Die lateinischen Evangelien bis
zum 10. Jahrhundert, Freiburg, 1988-1991.
FISCHER, BONIFATIUS.
The Study of the Bible in the Middle
Ages, third revised edition, Oxford, 1983.
SMALLEY, BERYL.
TISCHLER, MATTHIAS.
A History of Liturgical Books from the
Beginning to the Thirteenth Century, tr. Madeleine
Beaumont, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1998.
PALAZZO, ERIC.
QUENTIN, HENRI.
RICHÉ, PIERRE, AND GUY LOBRICHON.
Haymon d‘Auxerre, exégète
Carolingien, Turnhout, 2013.
SHIMAHARA, SUMI.
STRAW, CAROLE ELLEN.
L‘exégèse chrétienne de la Bible en
Occident médiéval, XIIe-XIVe siècle, Paris, 1999.
MARSDEN, RICHARD, AND E. ANN MATTER, eds.
Mémoire sur l‘établissement du texte
de la Vulgate, Rome, 1922.
Hohelied-Studien: Grundzüge einer
Geschichte der Hoheliedauslegung des Abendlandes bis
um 1200, Wiesbaden, 1958.
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BROWN, PETER ROBERT LAMONT.
MARTIMORT, A. G.
Origène : sa vie et son œuvre, Paris,
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“Laon Revisited: Master Anselm
and the Creation of a Theological School in the
Twelfth Century,” Journal of Medieval Latin 22 (2012),
pp. 257-281.
“Où ont été fabriqués les
livres de la glose ordinaire dans la première moitié
du XIIe siècle?,” in Le XIIe siècle: mutations et renouveau
en France dans la première moitié du XIIe siècle, ed.
Françoise Gasparri, Paris, 1994, pp. 257-279.
ANDRÉE, ALEXANDER.
Glossed Books of the Bible
and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade, Woodbridge,
Suffolk and Dover, New Hampshire, 1984.
ZIER, DANIEL.
Glossa ordinaria, pars 22, In Canticum
canticorum, Corpus christianorum, Continuatio
mediaevalis 170, Turnhout, 1997.
ZIER, DANIEL.
“The Manuscript Tradition of the Glossa
Ordinaria for Daniel and Hints at a Method for a
Critical Edition,” Scriptorium 47 (1993), pp. 3-25.
DOVE, MARY, ed.
Biblia Latina cum Glossa Ordinaria: Facsimile Reprint of
the Editio Princeps Adolph Rusch of Strassburg 1480/81,
Turnhout, 1992.
“The Development of the Glossa Ordinaria
to the Bible in the 13th Century: The Evidence of the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,” in La Bibbia del XIII
secolo: storia del testo, storia dell esegesi, ed. G. Cremascoli
and F. Santi, Florence, 2004, pp. 155-184.
ONLINE RESOURCES
The Psalms Commentary of
Gilbert of Poitiers: From lectio divina to the Lecture
Room, New York, 1996.
Stegmüller, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi (digital
edition)
http://repbib.uni-trier.de/cgi-bin/rebihome.tcl
“Conserver, réformer, transformer
le monde? Les manipulations de l‘Apocalypse au
Moyen Âge central,” in The Role of the Book in
Medieval Culture, ed. Peter Ganz, Bibliologia 3-4,
Turnhout, 1986, vol. 2, pp. 75-94.
Glossae.net: Glosses and Commentaries to the Bible
in the Middle Ages (including the online edition of
the Strasbourg 1480-81 edition of the Glossa Ordinaria)
http://glossae.free.fr/?q=en
GROSS-DIAZ, THERESA.
LOBRICHON, GUY.
“Une nouveaute, les gloses de
la Bible,” in Pierre Riché and Guy Lobrichon, ed.
Le Moyen Âge et la Bible, Bible de tous les temps 4,
Paris, 1984, pp. 95-114.
LOBRICHON, GUY.
MATTER, E. ANN .
“The Church Fathers and the ‘Glossa
ordinaria‘,” in The Reception of the Church Fathers in
the West. From the Carolingians to the Maurists, ed. I.
Backus, Leiden, New York, and Cologne, 1997, vol. 1,
pp. 83-111.
“Glossed Bibles,” in The New
Cambridge History of the Bible. Volume 2, From 6001450, ed. Richard Marsden and E. Ann Matter,
Cambridge, 2012, pp. 363-379.
SMITH, LESLEY.
The Glossa Ordinaria: The Making of
a Medieval Bible, Leiden and Boston, 2009.
SMITH, LESLEY.
“Gilbert de la Porrée et les
livres glosés à Laon, à Chartres et à Paris,” in Monde
médiéval et société chartraine: actes du colloque
international organisé par la ville et le diocèse de
Chartres à l‘occasion du 8e centenaire de la Cathédrale
de Chartres, ed. Jean-Robert Armogathe, Paris, 1997,
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STIRNEMANN, PATRICIA.
316
| Biographies |
LAURA LIGHT is Senior Cataloguer and researcher at Les Enluminures; previously she worked as a
cataloguer at the Houghton Library, Harvard University, and is the author of Medieval and
Renaissance Manuscripts in the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Volume 1, MSS Lat 3-179,
Binghamton, New York, 1995. She has published numerous books and articles on the medieval Bible,
in particular on the Bible in the thirteenth century, including The Bible in the Twelfth Century: An
Exhibition of Manuscripts at the Houghton Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988; “Versions et
révisions du texte biblique” in Le Moyen Age et la Bible, eds. Pierre Riché and Guy Lobrichon, Bible
de tous les temps 4, Paris, 1984, pp. 55-93; ”French Bibles c.1200-30: A New Look at the Origin of
the Paris Bible,“ in The Early Medieval Bible; Its Production, Decoration and Use, ed. Richard
Gameson, Cambridge, 1994, pp. 155-176 [reprinted in The History of the Book in the West: 400 AD–
1455, volume I, ed. Jane Roberts and Pamela Robinson, London, 2010]; “Roger Bacon and the Origin
of the Paris Bible,” Révue Bénédictine 111 (2001), pp. 483-507; and “The Thirteenth-Century Bible:
The Paris Bible and Beyond,” in The New Cambridge History of the Bible. Volume two, c. 600-1450,
eds. Richard Marsden and E. Ann Matter, Cambridge, 2012, pp. 380-391. Her most recent publication
is a volume edited with Eyal Poleg, Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible, Leiden, 2013.
| Acknowledgments |
We would like to acknowledge Ariane Bergeron-Foote, for her extensive research on no. 12, and to
thank the following scholars who generously offered their opinions on specific questions: Malachi
Beit-Arie (no. 14), Susan Boynton (no. 2), Dennis Dutschke (no. 7) Manuel Pedro Ferreira (no. 3), and
Eyal Poleg (no. 14).
We also thank the entire team at Les Enluminures, especially Gaia Grizzi, project manager, Matthew
Westerby for sharing his extensive research on no. 2, which will be the subject of a forthcoming
article, and Emily Runde, for her valuable assistance overall, as well as for her research on nos. 1,
10, and 11.
CHRISTOPHER DE HAMEL is Senior Vice-President of Les Enluminures. Since 2000 he has been a
Fellow and Librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he is responsible for the Parker
Library, one of the finest small collections of manuscripts in the world, including the sixth-century
Gospel Book of Saint Augustine and the twelfth-century Bury Bible. He has doctorates from Oxford
and Cambridge, and two honorary doctorates. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. For
twenty-five years he was in charge of all sales of medieval manuscripts at Sotheby‘s, including the
Gospel of Henry the Lion (1983). His numerous publications on medieval Bibles and biblical
manuscripts include Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Book Trade (Boydell &
Brewer, 1984); The Book, A History of the Bible (Phaidon, 2001, also in French, German, Japanese and
Korean); and Bibles, An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print (Bodleian Library, 2011); and he
gave the 2014 Panizzi Lectures at the British Library on Romanesque Bibles. He is currently writing
a new book for Allen Lane (Penguin).
SANDRA HINDMAN is Professor Emerita of Art History, Northwestern University, and Owner of Les
Enluminures. A specialist of vernacular biblical manuscripts, her publications include Text and Image
in Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Dutch Bibles (Corpus Sacrae Scripturae Medii Aevi, Series Miscellanea, I),
Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1977 and “Fifteenth-Century Dutch Bible Illustration and the ‘Historia Scholastica‘,“
The Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 36 (1974), pp. 131-44. She has also written
many books on medieval manuscripts and early printed books, including The Robert Lehman
Collection, IV. Illuminations, Princeton University Press, 1997; Manuscript Illumination in the Modern
Age: Recovery and Reconstruction, edited with Nina Rowe, Evanston, Mary and Leigh Block Museum
of Art, 2001; and Books of Hours Reconsidered, edited with James Marrow, Turnhout, Brepols, 2013.
318
PROJECT MANAGER:
DESIGN:
Gaia Grizzi
Virginie Enl‘art
PRODUCTION:
Guido Zanella
PRINTED IN ITALY:
Verona, Cierre Grafica ZGE
319
Including photography by: Richard Goodbody
Post production by: John Morgan
COPYRIGHTS:
Arxiu Capitular de Lleida: 2.3
Instituto dos Arquivos nacionais, Lisbon, [formerly Arquivo da Torre de Tombe] (ANTT): 3.3
Arxiu i Biblioteca Episcopal de Vic: 2.4
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München: 1.1, 1.5, 4.2, 5.1
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University: 9.1
© Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: 2.1, 4.1
Bibliothèque-Discothèque de la Codecom de Verdun: 12.2
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: 2.2, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1, 11.2, 12.4, 14.1, 14.2, 15.3, 15.4
Bodleian Library, Oxford: 13.1, 13.3, 13.4
The British Library, www.bl.uk: 15.1, 15.2, 16.1, 16.2, 16.3
Collection Bibliothèque Multimédia Intercommunale d‘Epinal/ Photo BMI: 12.1, 12.3
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: 10.2
Houghton Library, Harvard University: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens: 14.3
LWL Münster, Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Photo Rudolf Wakonigg: 1.2
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org: 6.4
Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum: 5.3
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: 6.3, 10.1
St. Paul/Lavanttal, Austria: 6.1, 6.2
Princeton University Library: 9.2
Staatsbibliothek Bamberg/ Photo Gerald Raab: 1.4, 5.4
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 3.4
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore: 1.3, 2.6, 5.2, 9.3
Les Enluminures Ltd. has endeavored to respect the copyright of any institution or private person who have
contributed to this book. If you feel any material has been included in this publication improperly, please
contact Les Enluminures.
320

The Idda Collection

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