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Details
BIBLE -- BOOK of AMOS, a part-leaf from a lectern Bible, in Latin, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Germany?, 11th century, middle or second half]
205 x 300mm. An imperfect leaf recovered from a binding, written in black ink in Caroline minuscule script in two columns, each with 19-20 lines and a wide outer margin preserving the prickings, with the text of Amos 5:6-12, 17-24, 6:3-10, and 7:1-8, with one enlarged initial in red (formerly a pastedown, with markings from the medieval binding lacings, the amount of text missing between the first and second columns suggests that 9 or 10 lines are missing from each, about 10mm of the inner column of text also cropped, typically containing about five letters of the text).
The Bible and the spread of Caroline minuscule are inextricably linked: it was Alcuin of York's emendation of the text in the early 9th century, and dissemination of multiple copies from the scriptorium at Tours, which ensured the success and longevity of the script and of his edition of the text across the Empire.
The chapter and verse divisions of the Bible in use today were an invention of c.1200, plausibly attributed to Stephen Langton; the only division on the present fragment is an enlarged red initial at what is now considered to be Amos 9:6, and there is no emphasis at the beginning of the modern chapter 7. The scribe mistakenly confused final 's' with final 'r', for example 'bibenter' (verso, column 1, line 7) and 'colubes' (recto, column 2, line 8), suggesting that he was unfamiliar with the long letter-forms of a significantly earlier exemplar.
A curious and unexplained feature of the present fragment is the presence of near-contemporary notes written vertically between the columns on the recto, apparently relating to feast days: the Octaves of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents, on January 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
[Germany?, 11th century, middle or second half]
205 x 300mm. An imperfect leaf recovered from a binding, written in black ink in Caroline minuscule script in two columns, each with 19-20 lines and a wide outer margin preserving the prickings, with the text of Amos 5:6-12, 17-24, 6:3-10, and 7:1-8, with one enlarged initial in red (formerly a pastedown, with markings from the medieval binding lacings, the amount of text missing between the first and second columns suggests that 9 or 10 lines are missing from each, about 10mm of the inner column of text also cropped, typically containing about five letters of the text).
The Bible and the spread of Caroline minuscule are inextricably linked: it was Alcuin of York's emendation of the text in the early 9th century, and dissemination of multiple copies from the scriptorium at Tours, which ensured the success and longevity of the script and of his edition of the text across the Empire.
The chapter and verse divisions of the Bible in use today were an invention of c.1200, plausibly attributed to Stephen Langton; the only division on the present fragment is an enlarged red initial at what is now considered to be Amos 9:6, and there is no emphasis at the beginning of the modern chapter 7. The scribe mistakenly confused final 's' with final 'r', for example 'bibenter' (verso, column 1, line 7) and 'colubes' (recto, column 2, line 8), suggesting that he was unfamiliar with the long letter-forms of a significantly earlier exemplar.
A curious and unexplained feature of the present fragment is the presence of near-contemporary notes written vertically between the columns on the recto, apparently relating to feast days: the Octaves of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents, on January 2, 3, and 4 respectively.