Leaf from a 13th century Vulgate Bible

Notes:

Leaf was excised from a larger manuscript with cuts visible from previous binding. The leaf has suffered some water damage at the lower edge and is trimmed at the outer margin. Thin parchment likely prepared for a book that was meant to include all of the Bible in a single volume., Each new chapter is marked in the margin by a roman numeral in alternating red and blue letters (IX and X on the recto and XI on the verso). Each chapter begins on a new line, with a pen-flourished 4-line initial in the margin, alternating red with blue flourishing and blue with red flourishing. The text was systematically corrected by a scribe using an ink darker than that of the main text. There is a running head of "DA" on the verso and "NI" on the recto alternating red and blue. Text is written below the top line. The script displays many of the defining features of Northern Textualis, including fusion in the combinations be, de, do, ho, oc, og, oq, pe, and po, elision of cc and pp, use of round (2-shaped) r following o and p, use of the st ligature (and only the st ligature), and use of Tironian et (uncrossed, with the foot turning slightly to the right) indicating a library book script of moderately rapid execution. One feature--the tall, decorated ascenders on the top line of characters--is by Derolez's definition never found in a script of the highest, orformata, grade. Ink flaking from the fleshside with minimal loss of text., Leaf possibly from a Parisian Bible, from Daniel 8:9-10:3 (recto) and Daniel 10:3-11:31 (verso)., 2 columns of 63 lines written in Gothic Northern Textualis, similar to pearl script, ruled in lead with double bounding verticals (4 mm) and intercolumnation of 4 + 4 mm., and Evidence in the text, the manuscript, the quality of the parchment, the script, and the mise-en-page all point to the leaf’s origin as part of a complete Bible copied in Paris in the thirteenth century, the place and time of the golden age of manuscript Bible production. Accompanying documentation notes the leaf was exhibited at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in December 1965, at which time it was in the collection of the Lima (Ohio) Public Library. It had formerly been in the collection of the Cleveland manuscript collector and book seller Otto F. Ege (1888-1951).

Date Created:

[1200 TO 1299]

Data Provider:

Western Michigan University. Libraries

Subject Topic:

Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--France, Bible. Latin--Versions--Vulgate, Decorated initials, Textura (Gothic script), and detached leaves

Language:

lat

Rights:

Copyright 2019 Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, all rights reserved. The digital version is available for educational use under 'Fair Use' guidelines. For additional permission and further information contact the WMU Libraries.

URL:

https://luna.library.wmich.edu/luna/servlet/detail/WMUwmu~77~77~1222515~160223