Book Series Bibliologia, vol. 60

La Bibbia a Montecassino / The Bible at Montecassino

Giulia Orofino, Marilena Maniaci, Roberta Casavecchia

  • Pages: 483 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:121 b/w, 140 col.
  • Language(s):Italian, English
  • Publication Year:2021

  • € 90,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-59309-8
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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-59556-6
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The first publication offering a scientific description of the Cassinese biblical collection, which holds Bibles of all typologies. Given the large number of witnesses still held in loco and their high variety, Montecassino represents a particularly advantageous, if not unique, situation for the analysis of the material and the study of textual changes undergone by the Bible as a book during the Middle Ages.

Review(s)

“Il volume rappresenta certamente un convincente punto di approdo di una ricerca, portata avanti in primis dalle sue tre autrici, ma anche l’inevitabile punto di partenza per tante altre possibili (e talora già avviate) ricerche future.(…) Quello che insomma esce dalle pagine di questo poderoso volume, esito di un lavoro collettivo e puntuale di molti specialisti, è un panorama ricco di dettagli, che aggiunge certo ulteriori fonti e soprattutto elementi di novità a un ambito di studi da sempre assai frequentato e che saranno fruttuosamente usati da una platea ampia, considerando che il volume presenta una parte significativa delle sue sezioni (non però le schede catalografiche) anche nella traduzione in inglese.” (Nicoletta Giovè Marchioli, in Studi Medievali, LXIII/II, 2022, p. 889-891)

“The merits of this volume are numerous. All of the manuscript Bibles preserved at Montecassino are considered in their entirety for the first time, with an exhaustive cataloguing protocol for the bare Bibles, summary cataloguing for the glossed Bibles and photographic images for all of the Bibles. The cataloguers give careful attention to the units comprising each manuscript. An ample and informative introduction of eighty-one pages precedes the cataloguing, with a bird’s-eye view of the contents and structure of the Bibles laid out in tables given in both Italian and English. The editors have provided a thorough bibliography and an index of manuscripts cited within the work. In short, this is an important addition to the Brepols series, Bibliologia, which can stand as a valuable record of the Cassinese Bible collection and a most useful model for manuscript cataloguing.” (Charles Hilken, in The Medieval Review, 02/01/2023)

 

“Elemento da segnalare all’interno di un catalogo così complesso denso è l’agevolazione alla consultazione e al reperimento dei dati offerto da indici, tabelle e rigorosa organizzazione del materiale, ma anche, e non da ultimo, dal ricco apparato illustrativo.” (Giuseppa Z. Zanichelli, in Rivista di Storia della Miniatura, 26, 2022, p. 237)

BIO

Roberta Casavecchia is a Researcher of Latin Language and Literature at the University of Cassino.

Giulia Orofino is a Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. She is the general editor of the Corpus of the illuminated manuscripts of the Archive of the Montecassino Abbey.

Marilena Maniaci is a Professor of Greek and Latin Codicology at the University of Cassino

Summary

For manuscript historians, the Bible in the form of a codex represents a handcrafted object of the utmost importance: it was the sacred text par excellence and served as a vital reference point in the lives of medieval monks. In addition, it functioned as an indispensable tool for daily liturgical celebration, and as a study text and individual reading book for the purpose of moral edification. The manuscript collection of the Montecassino Abbey presents an exemplary case study, both for the total number of biblical manuscripts it preserves (just under a hundred, and for the diversity of types (complete ‘monolithic’ Bibles, Old and/or New Testament sequences of varying size and physiognomy, and individual glossed books with commentary beside the text), as well as for the presence of a significant group of codices in Beneventan minuscule produced for internal use within the same Abbey or in its dependencies in a period centered around the eleventh century (with sporadic extensions into the twelfth and thirteenth). The present catalogue aims to deepen our current knowledge of the presence, transmission and reception of the Bible in one of the most important and emblematic medieval Benedictine monasteries.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

La Bibbia a Montecassino

Preface

 

Montecassino e la Bibbia. Forme, contenuti, decorazione / Montecassino and the Bible. Forms, content and decoration

Le Bibbie di Montecassino. Protocollo catalografico / The Montecassino Bibles. Cataloguing protocol

Abbreviazioni dei libri biblici / Abbreviations of Bible books

 

Bibbie. Catalogo / Bibles. Catalogue

Bibbie glossate. Censimento / Glossed Bibles. Census

Compactiones

 

Bibliografia / Bibliography

 

Indices

Indice dei contenuti non biblici / Index of non Biblical contents

Indice dei manoscritti / Index of manuscripts

Indice delle Illustrazioni / Index of illustrations

 

Tavole / Plates