Language:
French
Year of publication:
2023
Titel der Quelle:
From the Thames to the Euphrates
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2023) 39-58
Keywords:
Bible Manuscripts, Latin
;
History
;
Bible Canon
;
History
;
Codicology
Abstract:
This contribution provides a succinct overview of the development of the production of complete Latin Bible throughout the Middle Ages, followed by a more in-depth investigation of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It is based on a census of 2,679 existing manuscripts (of which 554 were consulted). The expression “complete Bibles” refers to Bibles in one volume or in several volumes from the same editorial project; however, some biblical books - and especially the Psalter, the Gospels, Baruch and the 3rd Book of Ezra - are not always present. The article therefore focuses on the configuration in one or more volumes and the “completeness” of these Bibles over time, their correlation with the geographical origin and the first known owners, as well as their size. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the majority of Bibles are giant manuscripts, often in two or three volumes. It is only from the thirteenth century that one-volume Bibles became the norm, and they contain the entire biblical text with a fixed order of the books. Finally, the contribution highlights the process of compressing the biblical text that enabled the size of the manuscripts to be reduced until the appearance of portable Bibles during the first half of the thirteenth century. In this context, a little group of smaller and more handy manuscripts of the twelfth century (7 specimens) has been identified. It testifies the transformation of the uses of the Bible at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when complete Bibles moved from a mainly collective use to a mainly personal use.
DOI:
10.1515/9783111019963-004
URL:
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