Resume
En exploitant un corpus de 2 679 manuscrits recenses (dont 554 ont ete consultes), la contribution offre un panorama succinct de l’evolution de la production des bibles latines completes pendant tout le Moyen Age, suivi d’un approfondissement pour la periode la mieux fournie en donnees, a savoir les xie, xiie et xiiie siecles. L’expression ≪ bibles completes ≫ designe des bibles en un seul volume ou en plusieurs volumes issus d’un meme projet editorial, mais certains livres bibliques - le Psautier, les Evangiles, Baruch et le 3e livre d’Esdras - peuvent toutefois en etre absents. L’evaluation prend donc en compte la configuration en un ou plusieurs volumes et la ≪ completude ≫ de ces bibles a travers le temps, leur correlation avec l’origine geographique et les premiers possesseurs connus, ainsi que leurs dimensions. C’est seulement au xiiie siecle que les bibles en seul volume deviennent la norme ; elles sont dans la plupart des cas de petit format et contiennent la totalite du texte biblique avec un ordre fige des livres. Enfin, la contribution met en lumiere le processus de compression du texte biblique qui a permis une reduction des dimensions des manuscrits jusqu’a l’apparition de bibles portatives au xiiie siecle. Dans ce contexte a ete identifie un petit groupe de manuscrits de format reduit et plus maniables (7 specimens), qui temoigne de la transformation des usages de la Bible au tournant des xiie et xiiie siecles, lorsqu’on passe d’un usage principalement collectif des bibles completes a un usage majoritairement personnel.
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.
