A historiated initial depicting the Old Testament prophet
Micah, cut probably in the nineteenth century from a
twelfth-century illuminated manuscript and acquired by the
J. Paul Getty Museum in 1989, is here placed in its
temporal, geographical, and religious contexts through an
examination of its decoration, script, and text, in
combination with the evidence provided by fifty further
cuttings from the same manuscript in Berlin—most of them
unpublished—and one in a private collection. From this
study it emerges that the cuttings come from a Bible
written in the third quarter of the twelfth century in
southeastern France for a Carthusian monastery in the
orbit of the Grande Chartreuse.
Keywords
medieval, illuminated, Romanesque, Kupferstichkabinett,
Carthusian, Grande Chartreuse
Copied page section link to clipboard
Cite
Chicago
Beatrice Alai and Peter Kidd, “Cuttings from an
Illustrated Twelfth-Century French Manuscript Bible in Los
Angeles and Berlin,” Getty Research Journal, no.
19 (2024),
https://doi.org/10.59491/DCXR1870.
MLA
Alai, Beatrice, and Peter Kidd. “Cuttings from an
Illustrated Twelfth-Century French Manuscript Bible in Los
Angeles and Berlin.” Getty Research Journal, no.
19, 2024,
https://doi.org/10.59491/DCXR1870.
About thirty-five years ago in 1989, the Department of
Manuscripts of the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired a cutting
with a historiated initial from a fine twelfth-century French
manuscript Bible (fig. 1).1
It had come onto the market from an anonymous seller to be
sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 2 December 1986.2
The description in the auction catalog noted that some other
cuttings from the same manuscript are in the
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, and that these had been
attributed to southeastern France in the first half of the
twelfth century. The Sotheby’s cataloger suggested that they
might instead have been made in northeastern France or
southern Flanders, however, and refined the date to the second
quarter of the twelfth century.3
Since the Getty acquisition, the museum’s attribution has
always been to northeastern France in the middle decades of
the twelfth century.4
This article revisits that date and place of production to
show that, through an examination of the sister cuttings, most
of which are entirely unpublished, the Getty cutting can be
situated in a specific religious context.
The Getty Initial
The Getty cutting embodies most of the kinds of evidence that
will be used in the ensuing discussion, so it is worth
directing the reader’s attention to its salient features. The
initial depicts a barefoot, bearded, and haloed male figure
holding a scroll—typical iconography for an Old Testament
prophet. The outlines are drawn in dark-brown ink, and the
figure’s draperies, neck, and feet are modeled in two tones of
blue and an orange-red, allowing the bare parchment to act as
highlights; the visible hand, face, and hair are modeled in
shades of brown, also with bare parchment for areas of
highlight. The prophet stands against a deep-red background
within a green initial U (the letter is
interchangeable with V in medieval Latin) with simple
foliate motifs, which opens the Old Testament book of Micah:
“Verbum domini quo factum est ad Micheam Morastiten” (The word
of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite). The lower-left
and right corners of the green letter and its red background
show that, as usual, the artist had to fit his design into
spaces left in the text by the scribe. Above the initial are
the closing words of the book of Jonah, “Explicit Ionas
propheta” ([Here] ends Jonah the prophet), and a line of
stylized majuscules against a green background, “Incipit
Mich[eas]. P[ro]pheta” ([Here] begins Micah the prophet),
above which the same words are written in more easily legible
twelfth-century script in red ink. The scribe who added this
line in red also altered the spelling of the word
Micheam a few lines down, because the original scribe
had omitted the e. The writing is guided by
horizontal rulings in gray plummet (often called lead point,
the medieval equivalent of pencil). The second-from-the-bottom
line of writing is placed between two such horizontal line
rules that extend all the way to the left edge of the cutting.
Where they meet the extreme left edge, a small oblique stroke
is visible, resembling the hyphens in the right-hand margin
that mark word breaks at the ends of some lines of script:
this suggests that the cutting was originally the right-hand
side of a two-column page. In the upper-left margin of the
cutting, in line with the prophet’s head, is a large red
S flanked by dots, while the lower-right corner has
an ink stamp in the form of a circle enclosing a letter
M, or an upside-down W; the significance of
these will be explained below. The cutting is stuck down onto
a piece of card, so the reverse is not clearly legible, but a
few lines of text are partially visible through the
translucent parchment.
The Corpus of Known Cuttings
In 1931 art historian Paul Wescher published the first catalog
of the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett collection of illuminated
manuscripts, which includes twelve cuttings from a Bible “from
the South East of France, dating to the first half of the
twelfth century.”5
It was more than half a century later that the cutting now
held by the Getty Museum appeared for sale in London, but only
three years after this sale another appeared at auction in
Cologne; the latter is now in a private collection.6
Thus, at the end of the twentieth century, the total number of
known cuttings stood at fourteen. Then, in June 2004, art
historian Robert Schindler, as part of a project to search the
storerooms of the Kupferstichkabinett for uncataloged
material, found thirty-eight more unlisted cuttings, more than
tripling the known corpus, but he did not have the opportunity
to analyze them further.7
Nearly twenty years later, these cuttings still remain
practically unknown and largely unpublished, except for four
that were reproduced in print in 2010 by art historian Beate
Braun-Niehr, who attributed them to the Meuse region and dated
them to the second quarter of the twelfth century.8
Since then, the Berlin and Getty cuttings have been discussed
briefly in our respective work elsewhere.9
The goal of the present article is to reconsider in much
greater detail the entire group—including the cutting in a
private collection—which we will refer to collectively as the
Getty-Berlin cuttings. Specifically, our aims include making
the unpublished cuttings better known; shedding light on their
date and origin through a stylistic analysis; examining their
modern provenance; and proposing a partial reconstruction of
both the original mise-en-page of individual full leaves and
of their original sequence in the multivolume Bible from which
they come. An appendix lays out this reconstruction, detailing
their textual contents, decorations, and more.
Reconstruction of the Original Layout and Dimensions
The original layout and page dimensions can be extrapolated
with some confidence. Many cuttings show that the text was
laid out in two columns (as was, and still is, conventional
for Bibles), while measurements from individual cuttings
reveal that the column width is about 10.5 centimeters, the
space between the columns about 0.28 centimeters, and the
space between each horizontal line about 0.9–1 centimeters.
A first clue to the overall layout comes from the horizontal
rulings on each cutting.10
Throughout the medieval period it was very common for the one
or two top and bottom horizontal lines to be ruled across the
full width of the page, while most of the remaining lines
extended to the width of the text column. In large twelfth-
and thirteenth-century manuscripts, the middle horizontals
were often ruled all the way across the page as well; or
instead, sometimes it was three or four ruled lines that were
so extended. Among the current group, the prologue cuttings of
Acts, 1 Chronicles, and the Minor Prophets show that the top
three horizontal lines were ruled across the page; the
prologue cuttings of Malachi, Zephaniah, and Chronicles show
that the bottom three lines were ruled across the page; and
the initials of Hosea, Obadiah, Malachi, Habakkuk, Ezekiel,
Esther, Zacharias, Isaiah, 2 Chronicles, Romans, Daniel, and
Micah all show that the middle three lines were ruled across
the page.11
The cutting with the prologue to the Pauline Epistles has
twenty-seven lines in total: sixteen are above the three at
the midpoint of the page (and eight are below them); so there
must be at least sixteen lines between the top and midpoint
rulings; and each column must have had at least thirty-five
(sixteen + three + sixteen) lines of text.
We can be more specific. The large Esther cutting preserves
the last four lines of the book of Tobit and the first
thirteen of the book of Esther itself, decorated with a fine
historiated initial I (fig. 2). Because the incipit to the prologue occurs at the bottom
of the left column, the prologue itself must have begun at the
top of the right column. Given that the incipit of the main
text begins fourteen lines from the bottom of the right
column, we can deduce that the missing prologue must have
occupied all but fifteen lines of a full column. The surviving
text of Esther (after the incipit in large red and blue
display majuscules, which occupy twice the height of a line of
regular script) fills thirteen lines and is seventy-two words
long—that is, between five and six words per line. The missing
prologue text (according to a printed version) is about 143
words long.12
Thus, the missing text would have occupied almost exactly
twice the space occupied by the surviving text: if seventy-two
words occupy thirteen lines, then 143 words should occupy
twenty-six lines. The prologue’s explicit may have occupied
one additional line, judging by some of the other cuttings.
These numbers suggest a column height of about forty lines
(prologue text [twenty-six lines] + Esther incipit [one line]
+ Esther text [thirteen lines]), or forty-one lines, if the
explicit was written on a separate line.
The Esther cutting is about 23 centimeters wide, but it has
been shorn of its side margins; we may therefore estimate that
the page, including the margins, would have originally been
approximately 30–35 centimeters wide. We have calculated that
there were probably about forty lines per column, and
measurement shows that ten lines occupy about 9.5 centimeters,
so forty lines would have been about 38 centimeters high.
Adding an estimate for the upper and lower margins to this
calculation, we may provisionally suggest an overall leaf
height between 45 and 60 centimeters.
These extrapolated dimensions, although imprecise, are
consistent with the grand scale of French Romanesque
illuminated Bibles. Often referred to as lectern Bibles, these
volumes would have been too heavy to move around with ease and
were therefore typically kept on a lectern in a monastery’s
choir for the prescribed biblical readings of the Divine
Office or in the refectory to be read aloud during meals.13
If we take as a sample the French Bibles cataloged by Walter
Cahn in 1982, we find that the leaves of most of them (with a
few outliers) range from 45.5 to 55.5 centimeters in height
and from 33 to 38 centimeters in width.14
We should not make too much of these broad comparisons of
dimensions, however, as most medieval manuscripts have been
trimmed at least once during rebinding. The main point is that
the dimensions proposed here for the Bible from which the
Getty-Berlin cuttings derive are consistent with what we would
expect.
Decoration
Looking at the whole group of initials, each from twelve to
twenty lines high, the most impressive are the eleven
depicting standing or seated figures. They can be identified,
thanks to their adjacent texts, as the Old Testament prophets
Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, and Zacharias;
the heroines Ruth and Esther; King Solomon enthroned; and—the
sole New Testament figure—Saint Paul writing.15
The protagonists are set against a red, blue, green, or yellow
background, occasionally ornamented by white dots in geometric
patterns. The same solid-color backgrounds are used for
nonfigurative initials, such as the initial O of
Onus, for Nahum (fig. 3). The
contrast between the colors of the frame, ground, and body of
the initials creates a vivid mosaic. In addition to the eleven
historiated initials, there are forty-one large decorated
letters with intricate spirals of heart-shaped acanthus
leaves, brightly colored with red, blue, green, and yellow
ink, the inner parts often filled by small dots and
striations. In one case, the initial I for
In principio at the beginning of Genesis contains
burnished gold (fig. 4).16
The bodies of the initials are sometimes divided into
geometric sections with a double contour line and decorated
with vegetal elements symmetrically arranged; in one case, one
side of the initial letter is formed of a dragon with long
neck and tail (Min. 4679). Six more other small cuttings have
portions of script, sometimes introduced by pen-flourished
initials drawn in red or blue ink.17
Basing his observations on the relatively meager body of
reproductions available at the time of his writing, Wescher
noted that the style of the Berlin cuttings can be compared
with the famous Legendary from the Cistercian abbey of
Cîteaux, south of Dijon in eastern France, and a Bible from
the Benedictine abbey of Talloires, on the banks of Lake
Annecy in southeastern France.18
Nearly a century later, now that innumerable possible
comparanda have been published, an analysis of the decoration
reveals even closer similarities to manuscripts produced for
Carthusian communities in this region. In 1084, Saint Bruno,
the founder of the order, established the Grande Chartreuse in
southeastern France between Grenoble and Chambéry, and the
life of the monks came to be regulated by the Consuetudines
(Customs) composed by the fifth prior, Guigo, between 1121 and
1128.19
As reported by Guibert, abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy, who
visited the Grande Chartreuse between 1115 and 1117, the
community lived in poverty, and the church had no
embellishment other than a silver goblet and the library. The
monks had already gathered a conspicuous number of decorated
manuscripts, and the library was continuously enriched thanks
to the activity of copyists, mainly the monks themselves.20
During the twelfth century, thirty-six Carthusian sister
houses were founded in Europe, among which was the Chartreuse
(charterhouse) of Liget, in the French diocese of Tours: it
was founded by King Henry II of England, perhaps in atonement
for the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in
1170.21
A first comparison with our fragments can be seen with the
so-called Liget Bible in five volumes, dating from the last
third of the twelfth century. Written by four scribes, it was
painted by two illuminators, one responsible for the first
three volumes and part of the fifth (extending to fol. 129v),
and the second for the rest.22
If we look at the pages completed by the first illuminator, we
can easily recognize how the decorative patterns of the
incipit letters, made of symmetrical, heart-shaped vegetal
spirals and colorful tendrils set on red, green, blue, or
yellow backgrounds, are the same as the Berlin cuttings—for
example, the initial O for Osculetur (fig. 5).23
Moreover, the initial L for Liber at the
beginning of the Gospel of Matthew,24
with a blue ground ornamented with white dots, is identical to
the I at the beginning of Genesis in Berlin (see
fig. 4). In addition, the figures that
inhabit the initials of the Liget Bible, especially in the
third volume (Ms. Latin 11508), show more than a passing
resemblance to those of the Getty-Berlin group: the robust,
cylindrical forms of the bodies, showing the limbs; the shapes
underlined by garments falling down in the so-called damp
fold;25
the mantles ending in a zigzag pattern; the essential facial
features; and the solemn gestures inherited from classical
antiquity through Byzantine art, typical of the Romanesque
products from the late eleventh century onward. Eloquent
comparisons can also be established between Isaiah in the
Kupferstichkabinett example (fig. 6)
and the V for Vir representing Job in the
Liget Bible (fig. 7); and between
Zacharias in the Kupferstichkabinett cutting (Min. 1905) and
the O for Omnis with Christ and a
personification of Wisdom from the Liget Bible (fig. 8). We recognize the same physiognomies, with curved eyebrows
and irregular profiles; Christ and Daniel have long
heart-shaped noses, and the men and Isaiah have large rounded
noses. As other scholars have pointed out, the Liget Bible is
very closely connected to manuscripts from the Grande
Chartreuse, especially the Bible of Notre-Dame de Casalibus,
which was made by 1132 and has almost the same textual
prologues.26
The Great Bible of the Grande Chartreuse has been dated circa
1170–74 by Dominique Mielle de Becdelièvre on the basis of it
being written partly by the same scribe as a homiliary of the
Grande Chartreuse, which itself can be dated on the basis of
whether saints are present (some of whom were added to the
Carthusian calendar circa 1170) or absent (notably Becket, who
was added to the Carthusian calendar circa 1174).27
It was written by two main scribes and illuminated by fine
artists led by the so-called Genesis Master, who is none other
than the artist responsible for the parts of the Liget Bible
written by its second scribe.28
These manuscripts demonstrate a close relationship between
different Carthusian monasteries in their book production, and
the same is true for a copy of Gratian’s Decretum of
the last third of the twelfth century, ornamented by
twenty-six initials and possibly from the Grande
Chartreuse:29
the initial Q of Quidam (fig. 9) shows exactly the same decorative patterns as the Genesis
initial in the Kupferstichkabinett cutting (see
fig. 4), and so do the other decorated
initials.
However, this style is not found in the majority of Carthusian
manuscripts; for example, if we look at the Great Bible of the
Grande Chartreuse, a difference can be seen in the design of
the vegetal tendrils—softer and less nervous—and in the way
the colors are applied on the letter bodies and ornaments:
while the illuminators of the Bible favored thick, uniform
layers of painted color, the artist of the Getty-Berlin
cuttings, with the exception of the Genesis initial, applied
colors in thin, close strokes with a pen. In fact, scholars
have long recognized that this way of drawing sprouts, with
the veins of the leaves clearly visible, derives from
Cistercian manuscripts made for Cîteaux and Clairvaux in the
first half of the twelfth century. If we look at the
De civitate dei (City of God) of the third quarter of
the twelfth century (figs. 10,
11),30
for example, the similarity of the scrolling vegetal tendrils
filled with pen striations symmetrically arranged in a
figure-eight shape, with most of the letters set on a
monochrome field, is quite evident. The same is true for the
Lectionarium officii Cisterciense (Lectionary of the
Cistercian office) and the
Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum (Incomplete work on
Matthew’s Gospel), both now in Troyes.31
Another comparison is possible with the famous Bible of
Stephen Harding, dated 1109 in the second of four volumes
(which was originally the end of the first of two volumes),
and perhaps finished a year or two later (fig. 12).32
Besides the use of pen drawing, the shape of the acanthus
leaves and the colors filling the interstices are also
basically the same as those seen in the Carthusian
manuscripts; when analyzing the books originally from Cîteaux
(such as Mss. 32, 131, 159, 180, and 641, now at the
Bibliothèque Municipale in Dijon33), it is immediately clear that their decorative patterns
heavily influenced the illuminators active for the Grande
Chartreuse.
ExpandFig. 10. —Decorated initial
G (Gloriosissimam), third quarter of
the twelfth century, gold, tempera colors, and inks on
parchment.
From De civitate dei, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 159, fol. 2v (detail). Image:
Bibliothèque Municipale de Dijon.ExpandFig. 11. —Decorated initial D (De civitate),
third quarter of the twelfth century, tempera colors
and inks on parchment.
From De civitate dei, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 159, fol. 24v (detail). Image:
Bibliothèque Municipale de Dijon.ExpandFig. 12. —Decorated initial P (Paulus), ca.
1109, gold, tempera colors, and inks on
parchment.
From the Bible of Stephen Harding, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 15, fol. 94r. Image: Bibliothèque
Municipale de Dijon.
The stylistic relationship between Cistercian and Carthusian
production can be easily explained in light of the devotion
that Saint Bruno showed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and his
motherhouse.34
Correspondence between Guigo and Peter the Venerable, abbot of
Cluny, records the request of the prior of the Grande
Chartreuse to borrow some volumes from the library of
Cluny.35
While the monks from the Grande Chartreuse visiting Cîteaux
and other Cistercian foundations were likely the
intermediaries for exchanges of books, the artists themselves
may have traveled on the route that connected the two
abbeys.36
A famous example from this melting pot is Ms. 616 at the
Bibliothèque Municipale in Dijon. Containing two Carthusian
texts (the Consuetudines Cartusiae and the first part
of the Supplementa ad Consuetudines Cartusiae), it
was produced at the Grande Chartreuse but was owned by the
abbey of Cîteaux during the twelfth century, perhaps as a gift
from Abbot Antelme to Abbot Goswin, who headed the Cistercian
abbey of Bonnevaux from 1141 to 1151 and then Cîteaux from
1151 to 1155.37
Even though we no longer have the whole Bible, it is clear
that the Getty-Berlin cuttings represent some of its most
important incipits. Despite the facts that there are no
full-page miniatures (as found in a few of the most lavishly
decorated Bibles), and that ocher and yellow usually have to
stand in for gold, the biblical books and their prologues are
introduced by elegant vegetal knots, and many have figures
magnificently staged within the initials, as in the Liget
Bible or Great Bible. These Bibles exceed the cuttings in
quality and complexity of representation: in the Great Bible,
the beginning of Genesis is ornamented by a full-page
historiated initial I (In principio) under
an arch, depicting the Creation, other Old Testament scenes,
and the Incarnation;38
and in the Liget Bible, the Creation story is depicted within
a giant historiated initial of five medallions.39
The cutting in Berlin, however, merely offers scrolling
acanthus leaves forming four circular loops, one above the
other, somewhat analogous to the round medallions in which
Creation scenes are often arranged in Genesis initials.40
In both the Liget and Great Bibles, there are many initials
depicting groups of figures or events—such as the
representations of Solomon enthroned41
and of Job suffering (see fig. 7)—while
in the cuttings we have only single figures.
Scholars have studied the evolution of book decoration within
the Grande Chartreuse library, recognizing a few exceptional
cases in which the texts are accompanied by a rich ornamental
program, including the Bible of Notre-Dame de Casalibus,
completed before 1132, and the Great Bible of circa 1170.
Especially in this latter case, copiously illustrated, the
function of the decoration could be either a tool for the
meditation of the reader or a literal representation of the
contents.42
As for the cuttings, the figured initials are portraits of
prophets, Saint Paul, Solomon, Ruth, and Esther, while the
decorated initials have a functional purpose—marking the
incipits—as well as an ornamental one. The Bible from which
the cuttings were taken can thus be put in a relative
chronological sequence between the Bible of Notre-Dame de
Casalibus and either the Great Bible or the Liget Bible,
offering a good mix of decorated and figured initials,
superseding the older pattern of the first Bible but not
reaching the pictorial complexity of the second.
However, only the style allows us to establish a link with the
Grande Chartreuse or, more precisely, with a Carthusian
monastery. There is neither an ownership inscription nor
documentary evidence connecting the cuttings with any of the
charterhouses; there are no inventories of the Liget monastery
library; and those of the Grande Chartreuse library are too
vague to allow us to positively identify our now-dismembered
Bible.43
Two historical facts may be relevant here. First, when the
monks of the Grande Chartreuse were expelled from the
monastery in 1792 in the wake of the French Revolution, the
manuscripts of its library were mainly transferred to the
municipal library in Grenoble. Second, the famous manuscript
thief Guglielmo Libri visited the library at Grenoble in
October 1842, where he was left unsupervised, and library
stamps cut from Grenoble volumes were discovered among his
papers when he was brought to trial in 1850 for his thefts
from many French libraries.44
It is also possible that our Bible came from one of the other
major Carthusian monasteries, such as the Chartreuse of
Portes, Écouges, Currière, Pierre-Châtel, or Liget.45
Moreover, the style itself is no guarantee that the original
manuscript belonged to the Grande Chartreuse; in fact, the
peculiar decoration of the Grande Chartreuse books became, by
the end of the twelfth century, typical of many other
workshops active for religious communities in the southeast of
France.46
Script
Analysis of the handwriting does not (in the current state of
our knowledge) connect the cuttings to a precise Carthusian
foundation; it simply confirms that the Bible was written
around the 1160s. The writing shows the typical
characteristics of late Caroline minuscule script, in the
transitional phase, sometimes called pre-Gothic or
proto-Gothic, before the emergence of the fully Gothic
littera textualis. Features of this period are the
use, in combination, of the following:
the round s at the end of words (see, for example,
fig. 1, last line, eius;
dominus abbreviated to dns; and
deus abbreviated to ds) and the tall
s used at the beginning of the words
samariam and super, three and four lines
from the bottom
both uncial d (with the ascender slanting to the
left) and d with an upright ascender (both forms
are found on the bottom two lines of
fig. 1: audite,
attendite, and plenitudo; cf.
dns and ds)
both et and the ampersand (&) (the
Genesis cutting, fig. 4, mostly uses
et, but the ampersand also occurs once; see also
the bottom two lines of the Getty cutting,
fig. 1)
a few ligatures persist, such as st (see, for
example, testem, the very last word of the Getty
cutting, fig. 1)
Some differences in the writing among the cuttings suggest the
participation of at least two scribes. If we compare, for
example, the Esther cutting (see
fig. 2) with the Getty cutting (see
fig. 1), several differences are
readily apparent. Overall, the former’s script is more
laterally compressed, with letters and their individual
strokes closer together; the common abbreviation mark to
indicate a missing m or n is a horizontal
stroke with serifs (very unlike the curved form found, for
example, twice on the last line of the Getty cutting); the
Tironian symbol for et (shaped somewhat like a
7) appears (for example, twice in the first line of
the left column) alongside the ampersand (for example in lines
4 and 9 of the right column); the ct ligature is
still joined, not broken as in the Getty cutting (line 2 of
the main text, factum); and other letterforms have
small differences. Punctuation also provides corroborating
evidence as to the date: we see an abundant use of the
punctus elevatus, punctus interrogativus, and
punctus versus,47
but the punctus flexus, introduced by “early
Cistercian scribes to assist readers in deciphering the sense
of unfamiliar texts”48
and later adopted by Carthusian scribes, is absent. As noticed
by Mielle de Becdelièvre, the punctus flexus features
in the Great Bible from the Grande Chartreuse but not in the
older Notre-Dame de Casalibus one,49
again suggesting that the Bible to which the cuttings belong
was a product of about the 1160s.
It is not possible to understand with certainty how the task
of writing the manuscript was divided, in part because of an
almost complete lack of evidence concerning the original quire
structure. In her magisterial study of French Romanesque
Carthusian manuscripts, Mielle de Becdelièvre notes that many
books from the Grande Chartreuse were written by more than one
scribe, and her comparative analysis of the texts demonstrates
that there was no systematic division of the work, not even
for the rubrics. She suggests that in some cases the differing
styles of script might be attributed to a master and a
student.50
Concerning the production of manuscripts within the Carthusian
Order, in general, we know that writing was recommended in the
Consuetudines by Guigo:51
the monks were supposed to copy books during the day in their
own cells, as attested also by Peter the Venerable.52
Given the strict rule of anonymity of the scribes, it is
almost impossible to find names of the copyists who spent
three or four daylight hours in winter and eight or nine hours
in summer doing the opus manum (manual work), using
the writing instruments listed by Guigo including quill pens
and a penknife for cutting, pumice stones and chalk for
preparing the surface of the parchment, and ink horns and a
sharp knife or razor for erasing mistakes.53
Text
Before analyzing the text of the cuttings, it is necessary to
know what to expect of a twelfth-century Bible in general
terms. The Bible in use today is based, in many important
ways, on an “edition” of the Bible commonly known as the Paris
Bible, which was formulated in the early thirteenth century
and disseminated across Europe from Paris by the middle of the
same century. The Paris Bible has a specific selection of
biblical books, in a fixed sequence, most of them preceded by
specific prologues, and each book is divided into chapters at
fixed points. The Paris Bible also set a new standard for the
authority of the words of the text itself, earlier copies
having become more and more corrupted by the compounding
effect of successive scribal errors from one copy to the next.
Important to our present purposes is that, prior to
establishment of the Paris Bible, Bibles varied considerably;
the selection of books, their prologues, their texts, their
sequences, and their divisions into chapters were not
standardized. In addition, earlier Bibles often included
features that are not found in the Paris Bible, notably
capitula lists—that is, brief summaries of the subject matter
of the chapters, placed before individual books, similar to
tables of contents. Modern Bibles often have a short summary
at the beginning of each chapter, such as “Christ’s sermon
upon the mount; the eight beatitudes,” but in capitula lists,
such summaries are grouped together at the beginning of each
biblical book.
It follows from this that in order to reconstruct and
understand the original form of the Bible from which the
Getty-Berlin cuttings come, we must use all available clues to
its textual contents, which may not follow a standard
sequence. The appendix to this article attempts to present
this reconstruction in detail, but it may be useful to provide
an example here. The recto of one cutting (Min. 159) has a
portion of text from near the end of the book of
Ecclesiasticus (alias Sirach) and, on its verso, a prologue to
the book of Job. Another cutting (Min. 138) has part of a
different prologue to Job on its recto, and part of Job
chapter 1 on its verso. The recto of a third cutting (Min.
140) has text from near the end of the book of Job, with a
prologue to Tobit on its verso. From these three cuttings we
can deduce that the parent volume had the following sequence
of six texts: Ecclesiasticus, followed by a prologue to Job;
another prologue to Job, followed by the book of Job itself;
and a prologue to Tobit, which was doubtless followed by the
book of Tobit itself. This is entirely unlike the order of
texts found in the Paris Bible and modern editions, in which
Job is adjacent neither to Ecclesiasticus nor Tobit but is
instead between Esther and the Psalms. As we will see in due
course, the sequence of these three biblical books as
represented by the cuttings is highly significant.
Some sequences of biblical books, as represented by the
Getty-Berlin cuttings, are typical. For example, the first
eight books of the Bible (known collectively as the Octateuch)
run in the standard sequence: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.54
Similarly, the Twelve Minor Prophets appear as a group in
their usual sequence. Some cuttings provide no clues as to
what preceded or followed them: examples are cuttings with
portions of the books of Wisdom (Min. 168) and Acts (Min.
132). Large parts of the Bible, including most of the Pauline
Epistles and all of the Gospels, are not represented at all in
the known cuttings, suggesting the possibility that they were
in one or more separate volumes that are entirely lost
(large-scale twelfth-century Bibles were typically bound in
two, three, or four volumes).
Lectern Bibles written for use in Carthusian houses have the
individual books arranged in an apparently eccentric sequence;
the reason for this is that they were intended to correspond
more closely to (but rarely the same as) the order of the
liturgical Matins and refectory readings of the year, as
stipulated in the Carthusian Statutes, as follows (here in
simplified summary form):55
Advent to Christmas Eve: Isaiah, Daniel (Statutes 2.2)
Epiphany to Septuagesima: Pauline Epistles (Statutes 4.1)
Septuagesima to Passion Sunday: Genesis to Judges (the
Heptateuch) (Statutes 4.4)
Passion Sunday to Maundy Thursday: Jeremiah (Statutes 4.13)
Triduum (Last Supper to Easter evening): Lamentations
Easter to Pentecost: Acts, Catholic Epistles, Revelation
(Statutes 4.32)
The biggest differences between this order of books and the
order in which we usually find them in Bibles from the
thirteenth century onward are that
Jeremiah and Lamentations follow the Heptateuch, rather than
following Isaiah;
Acts, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation, which usually
occur at the end of the New Testament, occur instead between
the Old Testament books of the prophet Jeremiah and the
historical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles;
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus precede,
rather than follow, Job, Tobit, Judith, and Esther;
1–2 Maccabees follow Job, Tobit, Judith, and Esther, rather
than occurring at the end of the Old Testament;
Isaiah follows the Twelve Minor Prophets, rather than
preceding the other Major and the Minor Prophets;
the Pauline Epistles follow Isaiah (and Daniel); and
the Gospels are absent.
In the Getty-Berlin cuttings we find that, as above,
Job follows Ecclesiasticus;
Job precedes, not follows, Tobit, Judith, and Esther;
Daniel follows the Twelve Minor Prophets; and
the Gospels are absent (or at least not represented by any
known cutting).
Carthusian Lection Markings
Beyond stylistic analyses of script and decoration and the
peculiar sequence of the biblical books, other features of the
Getty-Berlin cuttings demonstrate conclusively that the parent
Bible was used by Carthusians. In our description of the Getty
cutting at the beginning of this article, we noted the
presence of a red S in the left margin, next to the
start of the text (see fig. 1). Similar
marginal notations occur on other cuttings in Berlin,
including majuscule letters P (Proverbs 1:29,
Zechariah 1:1), S (Joel 2:18), and T (Haggai
1:1); roman numerals I (Daniel 1:1, Joel 1:1),
II (Isaiah 1:1, Nahum 1:1, Malachi 1:1), and
III (Habakkuk 1:1); and minuscule letters
a (2 Samuel 1:1, Proverbs 1:29, Ezekiel prologue),
b (2 Samuel 1:5, 2 Samuel 2:18, Tobit 1:1, Ezekiel
1:1, Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1), c (Judith 1:5, 2
Samuel 2:22), d (Ecclesiasticus 50:15),
e (Proverbs 30:15), f (Romans 16:17),
g (1 Samuel 1:28?), and h (Tobit 12:20). All
these forms of annotation are characteristic of Carthusian
Bibles. The letters P, S, and T stand for
primus, secundus, and tertius (or
prima lectio, secunda lectio, and
tertia lectio) and indicate the start of the three
biblical lections read on weekdays by Carthusians. Sometimes
I, II, and III are used in their place. Also
Carthusian is the presence in the margins of the first eight
letters of the alphabet, a to h, to indicate
the eight biblical lections to be read on Sundays and major
feast days.57
(This is not to be confused with the method, probably
developed by the Paris Dominicans in the thirteenth century,
of dividing parts of a work into subsections using the first
seven letters of the alphabet, a to g.)58
The three different types of markings in the Getty-Berlin
cuttings may represent successive stages of annotation: the
cutting with the decorated initial at the start of Proverbs,
for example, has on its verso a roman numeral I in
brown ink, overwritten with a P in red, next to which
is an a, also in red.
Modern Provenance
When or whence the Berlin cuttings entered the
Kupferstichkabinett is not certain. They are not recorded in
the collection’s accession inventories, and the only evidence
is an oval ink stamp on the reverse of each item, with an
imperial shield and crown in the center, surrounded by the
legend “kupferstich=sammlung der konigl: museen”; this corresponds to a stamp in Frits Lugt’s reference work
Marques de collections, no. 1606.59
The stamp is generally found on works acquired by the
Kupferstichkabinett, founded in 1831, as part of its
foundation collections and acquisitions of the first few
decades. Its successor, Lugt no. 1607, was certainly in use by
1881, but unfortunately this does not provide a terminus ante
quem for the use of Lugt no. 1606, which continued to be
applied at later dates to items that were believed by later
curators—rightly or wrongly—to have been early acquisitions;
Lugt no. 1606 often appears alongside stamps of private
collections that were demonstrably acquired later.60
If we tabulate the accession numbers of illuminated cuttings
with known dates of acquisition, we see how unreliable the
numbers are as a guide to the dates of acquisition of our
Bible cuttings. One group, for example, is numbered from Min.
1904 to Min. 1908: they thus fall between Min. 1902, which was
acquired in 1856, and Min. 1915, which was acquired in 1835,
while a much lower number, Min. 1250, was acquired forty years
later, in 1875.61
While we cannot say for certain, the likelihood is that the
Bible cuttings were acquired at an early date. It is probably
significant that Wescher, who was usually very careful to
record provenance in his 1931 catalog, does not suggest
anything for the present cuttings.
Neither the Getty cutting nor the one in a private collection
has a Kupferstichkabinett stamp, and there is no reason to
imagine that they ever formed part of the museum collection in
Berlin. Nothing is known of the pre-1989 provenance of the
cutting in a private collection, but the Getty one has a stamp
(Lugt no. 5551) showing that it was owned by Wescher, probably
before he moved from Berlin to the United States in 1948,
where he was employed by J. Paul Getty as the very first
curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum, which would eventually
become the permanent home of his cutting.62
Wescher perhaps bought it precisely because he recognized it
as a sibling of the group he had cataloged at the
Kupferstichkabinett.
Conclusion
We hope to have shown that the Getty-Berlin cuttings come from
a large Bible produced in the third quarter of the twelfth
century, perhaps in the 1160s, for a French Carthusian house
in the orbit of the Grande Chartreuse. A few corrections,
additions, and erasures to the cuttings can be found, while
some later notes and reading marks by a slightly later hand
bear witness to a prolonged, or at least somewhat later, use
of the Bible.63
The initials were excised from the Bible probably in the first
half of the nineteenth century, possibly by Libri in France,
or more likely in Germany, where most of them came to light.
Many of the cuttings were then acquired by the
Kupferstichkabinett, perhaps as early as the 1830s or 1840s,
and perhaps in two or three tranches, of which one large group
remained forgotten and unaccessioned until 2004. Two others
are known, including the one at the Getty Museum, both of
which came onto the auction market in the 1980s; it is to be
hoped that more emerge as a result of this article bringing
them to wider scholarly attention.
Appendix
Descriptions of the Cuttings in Their Probable Original
Sequence
Because most of the cuttings are completely unpublished,
what follows is a detailed account of their textual contents
and the different types of script used.
Format
Meaning
Italics
rubrics in red
Small caps
majuscules
Small caps in Italics
majuscules in color(s)
[Square brackets]
missing text
Copied page section link to clipboard
Septuagesima
Genesis
18 lines of text, with 15-line foliate illuminated
initial, with gold and body-color
recto: “Incipit liber Bresit id est Genesis. In
principio
creauit deus cęlum . . . ab aquis. Et fecit deus” (see
fig. 4)
13 lines of text, with 10-line (+ stem = 13-line)
foliate initial
recto: “Mortem mittit dominus in omnia peccora
egyptiorum. . . . Consecutus est pharao israel et
cooperuit egyptios mare” (part of capitula list;
Donatien de Bruyne,
Sommaires, divisions, et rubriques de la bible
latine
(Namur: A. Godienne, 1914), 10, series A, XVI.5–XXIII)
verso: “Incipit liber Ellesmoth qui est exodus.
Haec sunt nomina filiorum israhel”
Exodus 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 145
Leviticus, preceded by capitula explicit
18 lines, with 10-line foliate initial
recto: “Explicivnt capitula. Incipit liber
/ uagecra id est /
Leviticvs. Uocavit autem
moysen . . . uictimas. si holocaustum”
verso stuck down, but partially legible and starting:
“[adole]bit sacerdos super altare in holocaustum”
Leviticus 1:1–3, verso: 1:13–(?)
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 4678
Numbers, preceded by capitula
18 lines of text, with 16-line foliate initial
recto: “ex populo xiiii milia dcc quod murmurauerunt
aduersus moysen . . . et fecit ei sicut fecit seon regi
amorreorum”
verso: “Nouem tribubus et dimidię tributi manasse . . .
plebis patris sui.
Explicivnt capitula. Incipit Vagedaber quod est
Numerorvm liber. Locvtvsque
est dominus ad Moysen in deserto sy[nai]”
Capitula (De Bruyne, Sommaires, 29–30, series
A, XLIII–LIIII; 32, series A, LXX–LXXIIII)
Numbers 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 127
Deuteronomy, preceded by the capitula explicit
16 lines of text, with 7-line (+ stem = 13-line)
foliated initial
recto: “Explicivnt capitula. Incipit liber Helleadarbarim id
est Devteronomivm Hęc svnt verba
quę locutus est moyses . . . campestri. con[tra]”
verso: “solitudinem; per uiam maris rubri . . . nec uoci
uestrę uoluit”
Deuteronomy 1:1; 1:40–45
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 30491
Prologue to Joshua, preceded by end of Deuteronomy and
Joshua capitula
9 lines of text
recto: “israel.
Explicit liber Helleadabarim id est Devteromimivm.
Incipit prologus beati Iheronimi presbiteri in librum
Iosue bennun.”
verso: “Vnde natus sit abraham. . . . alloquitur eos
iosue.
Explicivnt capitula Incipit liber Iosve Bennvn”
Deuteronomy (last word only); Joshua capitula (De
Bruyne, Sommaires, 42, series A, XXXIII).
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 157
Joshua prologue
9 lines of text, with 6-line foliate initial
recto: “Tandem finito
pentateuco moysi . . . nominibus effe[runt]”
verso: “iudeos; quod calumniandi . . . quare danielem
iuxta”
Fredericus Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, vol. 1,
Initia biblica, apocrypha, prologi (Madrid:
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas,
Instituto Francisco Suárez, 1950). Printed in Robert
Weber and Roger Gryson, eds.,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 5th ed.
(Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), 402,
lines 1–3, 18–22.
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 166
Ruth, preceded by the end of Judges
22 lines of text, with 13-line historiated initial
Ruth, with halo, holding and pointing to a book
recto stuck down, but partially legible, starting at
“sunt eis uxores de filiabus Jabes”
verso: “Explicit liber Sophtim idem Ivdicvm. Incipit liber
Rvth. In diebvs vnivs
iudicis . . . ipsa cum filiis qui”
recto: Judges 21:14–20(?); verso: Ruth 1:1–4
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 4683
Copied page section link to clipboard
Easter to Ascension
Acts, preceded by capitula list
32 lines of text, with 11-line (+ stem = 23-line)
foliate initial
recto: “Et quia [sic] descendentes de iudea
docebant fratres. . . . Distulit autem illos certissime
sciens de ui.”
verso: “Incipit liber Actvvm apostolorum. Primvm qvidem
sermonem feci . . . interrogabant eum dicentes. Domine”
Capitula (similar to De Bruyne, Sommaires,
377–79, series “In,” XL–LXIIII)
Acts 1:1–6
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 132
Copied page section link to clipboard
Pentecost to August
1 Samuel prologue
12 lines of text, with 8-line foliate initial
recto: “Viginti dvas esse litteras . . . litteras
scripitant;”
verso: “hebraicę omne quod loquium. . . . addabarim qui
deuterono[mium]”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 323.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 510,
lines 1–4, 18–23.
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 137
1 Samuel
19 lines of text, with 8-line (+ stem = 16-line) foliate
initial
recto: “Fvit vir unus de
ramathan . . . dies et immola[vit]”
verso: “omnibus diebus vitę eius; . . . peticionem quam”
1 Samuel 1:1–4; 1:11–17
Carthusian letter “.G.” next to 1 Samuel 1:16
(or, more probably, the text in the adjacent,
now-missing column)
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 150
2 Samuel
28 lines of text
recto: “Incipit liber Regvm .II. Factvm
est autem postquam mortuus est saul. . . . et equites;
appropin[quabant]”
verso: ergo et transierunt. . . . Percussit ergo eum
abner”
2 Samuel 1:1–6; 2:15–23
Carthusian letters “.a.p.” and “.b.”
next to 2 Samuel 1:1 and 1:5; and “.b.” and
“.c.” next to 2 Samuel 2:18 and 2:22
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 149
1 and 2 Chronicles prologues
14 lines of text, with 9-line foliate initial
“Si septvaginta
interpretum . . . erat etiam nostro silen[tio]”
Stegmüller, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi,
no. 328. Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 772,
lines 1–4.
“hystorię de quibus in regnorum libro dicitur . . .
nomina non vocabula homi[num]”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 327 (not
in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem).
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 160
1 and 2 Chronicles prologues
4 lines of text, with 3-line decorated initial
recto: “ceterorum. Explicit prologus.Item alius. Eusebius Ieronimus Donationi et
rogatiano. . . . Quando Grecorum historiam”
verso: “[applicati]ones non homines plerique . . .
quedam narrantur”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, nos. 328 (last
word only) and 327; cf. this appendix, previous entry (1
and 2 Chronicles prologues).
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 158
1 Chronicles
15 lines of text, with 11-line foliate initial
“Adam Seth henos
[sic] . . . dondanim. Filii autem cham.”
stuck down: reverse not readily legible
1 Chronicles 1:1–8
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 4679
2 Chronicles
11 lines of text, with 10-line historiated initial:
King Solomon seated, with halo, crown, and scepter
recto: “Confortatus est
ergo Salomon. . . . Precepitque Salomon”
verso: “erant in terra . . . quam dinumerauit . . .
David in area”
2 Chronicles 1:1–2; 2:17–3:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 4684
Copied page section link to clipboard
August to September
Proverbs
18 lines of text, with 9-line (+ stem = 17-line) foliate
initial
recto: “Incipiunt Parabole Salomonis. Parabolę salomonis filii dauid. . . . Sapientiam
atque doctrinam”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 341.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 988,
lines 1–7.
Carthusian letter “.h.” next to Tobit 12:20
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 141
Esther, preceded by the end of Tobit and a heading for a
prologue
2 columns of 15 lines of text, with a 14-line
historiated initial: Esther, full-length, standing on
the back of a lion(?), with crown, scepter, and orb-like
object
recto stuck down, but partially legible: “quadraginta
duobus et uidit . . . non enim excidit verbum Dei”
verso, col. 1: “ei et omnis generatio ei; . . .
habitatoribus terrę; Explicit liber Tobie.
Incipit prologus beati Ieronimi presbiteri in
librum Hester.”
verso, col. 2: “Incipit liber Hester. In diebus assueri. . . . Cumque implerentur”
Recto includes Tobit 14:1–6; verso: Tobit 14:16 (end);
Esther 1:1–5
Carthusian letters “c.s” at Esther 1:5 (“Cumque
implerentur”)
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 1904
Judith prologue, preceded by the end of Esther
15 lines of text, with 10-line foliate initial
recto: “[sangui]ne & pietatem nostram . . . sed e
contrario”
Esther 16:10–15
verso: “Incipit prologus beati Ieronimi presbiteri in
librum Iudith.
Apud hebreos . . . sanctarum scriptu[rarum]”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 335.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 962,
lines 1–3.
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 163
Judith, preceded by end of Esther
22 lines of text, with 11-line foliate initial
recto: “elevasset faciem & ardentibus oculis furorem
pectoris indicasset . . . quam pro iudeis ad totas”
Esther 15:10–16 (heading)
verso: “[insuperabi]lem superaret.
Incipit liber Iudith. Expli[ . . . ]. Arfaxaz [sic] itaque rex
medorum . . . regni sui nabuchodo[nosor]”
verso: “Incipit prefatio Eusebii Ieronimi in librum
Ezdram”
Carthusian letters “.f.t” next to 2 Maccabees
15:29
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 155
Ezra prologue, preceded by 2 Maccabees
17 lines of text, with 14-line initial
recto: stuck down, but legible words include “[fa]cta
. . . [mnip]otente . . . [adl]ocutus . . . etiam
cer[taminum] . . . promptio[res] . . . [anim]is eorum
. . . [fa]llaciam et . . . [sin]gulos . . .”
2 Maccabees 15:8–11
verso: “Vtrum difficilius sit facere . . . contra se”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 330.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 886,
lines 1–4.
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 4681
1 Ezra
16 lines, with a 13-line foliate initial
recto: “Incipit liber Esdre. Anno primo cyri . . . regno suo; etiam”
verso: “[Mithri]dati filii gazabar . . . saraia.
rahelaia.”
Ezra 1:1; 1:8–2:2
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 162
Copied page section link to clipboard
November to December
Nehemiah (2 Ezra)
11 lines of text, with 8-line foliate initial
recto: “Et factum est in mense chasleu . . . ierusalem;
et dixerunt”
verso: “[edi]ficaverunt filii asnaa; . . . filius
besodia;”
Nehemiah 1:1–3; 3:3–6
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 142
Ezekiel prologue, preceded by the end of Nehemiah
16 lines of text, with 11-line foliate initial
recto: stuck down, and thus only partially legible, but
apparently including as the first and third lines
“[dimid]ia pars m[agistratuum mecum. Et s]acerdo[tes
. . .]” and “et semeia . . .”
Nehemiah 12:39–40, 41
verso: “Explicit liber Ezdre.Incipit prologus sancti Ieronimi presbiteri in
Hiezechielem prophetam.
Hiezechiel propheta cum ioachim . . . tradidissent;”
Prologue to the Minor Prophets, followed by part of
Hosea
15 lines of text, with 9-line foliate initial
recto: “Non idem ordo
est duodecim prophetarum . . . de omnibus dicere.”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 500.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 1907,
lines 1–5.
verso: “gomer filiam debelaim . . . absque
misericordia.”
Hosea 1:3–8
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 161
Hosea, preceded by prologue
13 lines of text and a 9-line historiated initial: Hosea
holding a scroll
recto: “titulos prophetaverunt.
Explicit prologus.Incipit Osee propheta. Verbum domini quod
factum est ad osee. . . . Et dixit dominus ad.”
End of prologue (Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 500.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 1907,
lines 8–9), and Hosea 1:1–2 (a few words of 1:11 visible
on the verso due to show-through)
Private collection
Joel, preceded by the end of Hosea
16 lines of text and an 11-line foliate initial
recto: “Explicit Osee Propheta.
Incipit Iohel propheta. Verbvm
domini quod factum est . . . generationi alterę.
Resi[duum]”
14 lines of text, with 9-line historiated initial:
Obadiah, with halo and scroll
recto: “Incipit Abdias propheta. Visio Abdie.
Hęc dicit dominus . . . in sci / s / suris petrę.”
Obadiah 1:1–3
verso: “Et non despicies . . . caput tuum. Quomodo”
Obadiah 1:12–16
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 30493
Jonah, preceded by Amos and the explicit of Obadiah
14 lines of text and 9-line foliate initial
recto: “in fundo maris; . . . Nunquid non”
Amos 9:3–7
verso: “Explicit Abdias propheta.
Incipit Ionas propheta. Et factvm
est uerbum domini . . . in Tharsis; a facię domini.”
Jonah 1:1–3
Carthusian(?) number “V” next to Jonah 1:1.
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 128
Micah, preceded by Jonah
14 lines of text, with 9-line historiated initial:
Micah, with halo and scroll (see
fig. 1)
recto: stuck down; partially legible text includes
“[po]pulo es tu. Et d[ixit] . . .” (Jonah 1:8)
verso: “Explicit Ionas propheta;Incipit micheas propheta.
Incipit Micheas propheta. Uerbum
domini quod factum est ad Mich / e / am . . . uobis in
testem.”
Micah 1:1–2
Carthusian letter “.S.” next to Micah 1:1
J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 38
Nahum, preceded by the end of Micah
11 lines of text, with 9-line foliate initial
recto: “die illa dicit dominus . . . in omnibus
gentibus”
recto: “[tribulati]onis et sciens sperantes . . . non
affligam te ul[tra]”
Nahum 1:7–12
verso: “Incipit Abacuc propheta. Onvs
quod uidit abacuc propheta. . . . in iusticiam contra
me? Quare respicis con[temptores]” (This verse is not
present in all versions of the Bible.)
Habakkuk 1:1–3
Carthusian number “.III.” at Habakkuk 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 144
Habakkuk, chapter 3
8 lines of text, with 5-line decorated initial
recto: “consurgent qui mordeant te. . . . ut sit in
ex[celso]”
verso: “terra.
Oratio abacuc prohete [sic]
pro ignorationibus. Domine audiui. . . . Deus
ab au[stro]”
Habakkuk 2:7–9; 2:20–3:3
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 167
Zephaniah, preceded by Habakkuk
8 lines of text, with 7-line foliate initial
recto: “[sage]nam suam; et semper . . . & apparebit”
Habakkuk 1:17–2:3
verso: “Explicit Abacvc propheta. Incipit sophonias propheta. Uerbum domini
quod factum est . . . filii ammon re[gis]”
Zephaniah 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 153
Haggai, preceded by the end of Zephaniah and followed by
Zechariah
28 lines of text, with a 14-line foliate initial and a
17-line historiated initial: Zechariah, with halo and
scroll
recto: “[oculis vestris di]cit dominus.
Explicit Sophonias propheta.Incipit Aggeus propheta. In
anno secundo darii regis . . . ob causam dicit dominus
exercituus quia”
Zephaniah 3:20 (end); Haggai 1:1–9
verso: “[quad]drigam et ascensorem eius. . . . Explicit
Aggeus propheta. Incipit Zacharias propheta. IN mense
octauo . . . comprehenderunt pa[tres]”
Carthusian letter “.T.” and plummet numbers
“vi” at Haggai 1:1 and “vii” at
Haggai 1:9
Haggai 2:23–24 (end); Zechariah 1:1–6.
Carthusian letter “P” at Zechariah 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 1905
Malachi, preceded by the end of Zechariah
15 lines of text and 9-line foliate initial
recto: “planctus ad remmon [sic]. . . . Et
pseudo [sic] prophetas; et”
Zechariah 12:11–13:2
verso: “Incipit Malachias propheta. Onus uerbi domini ad israel . . . destructi sumus
sed”
Malachi 1:1–4
Carthusian number “II” next to Malachi 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 143
Daniel, preceded by the end of Malachi and a prologue
19 lines, with 10-line foliate initial (verso), and
10-line historiated initial (recto): Daniel, with halo
and scroll, standing at the gate of a city
recto: “[ser]ui mei. quam mandaui . . . terram
anathemate.
Explicit Malachias propheta.
Incipit prologus sancti hieronimi presbiteri in
danielem prophetam;Danielem prophetam iuxta
lxxta . . . chaldaicus est. et qui”
verso: “Incipit Daniel propheta. Anno tercio regni
ioachim . . . & doctos dis[ciplina]”
recto: “Incipit prologus sancti Ieronimi presbiteri in
Ysaiam prophetam. Nemo cum
prophetas . . . hebreos ligari”
verso: “[Sci]ens ergo et prudens . . . ex iuditio sed
ex”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 482.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 1530,
lines 1–2, 16–21.
Carthusian number “III” adjacent to the last
line on the verso, but probably meant to refer to the
adjacent (missing) text in the other column
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 135
Copied page section link to clipboard
Isaiah, preceded by the end of Daniel and a prologue
12 lines, with 10-line historiated initial: Isaiah, with
halo and scroll
recto: stuck down; visible text includes “Et dixit rex
daniel”
Daniel 14:23
verso: “[insul]tarent.
Explicit prologus.
[rubric, apparently subsequently effaced and later
partially reinked] Incipit ysaias propheta.Visio Isaiaę filii amos
. . . terra; quoniam”
End of prologue (Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 482);
Isaiah 1:1–2
Carthusian number “.II.” next to Isaiah 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 1906
Copied page section link to clipboard
Epiphany to Septuagesima
Prologue to the Pauline Epistles
27 lines, with 9-line foliate initial (+ stem = 21-line)
recto: “Incipit argumentum epistolarum Pauli apostoli. Primvm
quęritur quare post euangelia . . . nostram memoriam
transmi[serunt]”
verso: “tabulas lapideas . . . Nam hanc se
proficis[centem]”
Stegmüller,
Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, no. 670.
Printed in Weber and Gryson,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 2448,
lines 1–8, 13–27.
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 134
Romans
21 lines of text, with 9-line (+ stem = 19-line)
historiated initial: Saint Paul with halo, seated,
writing at a desk
recto: “Incipit epistola ad Romanos. Paulvs seruus christi
ihesu uocatus apostolus. . . . omnibus qui sunt rome”
verso: “et Graeci. Gloria autem et honor et pax omni
operanti bonum”
Romans 1:1–7; verso includes 2:9–(?)
Carthusian letters “b.s.” next to the incipit
Kupferstichkabinett, Min. 4682
1 Corinthians, preceded by the end of Romans
20 lines of text, with 9-line foliate initial (+ stem =
18-line)
recto: “qui sunt in domino. Salutate . . . sapientes
esse in bo[no]”
Romans 16:11–19
Carthusian letters “.d.s.” next to Romans
16:15; “f” adjacent to Romans 16:17, but
perhaps referring to text in the adjacent (missing)
column
verso: “Incipit epistola ad Coronthios
prima. Paulus uocatus apostolus christi ihesu per
uoluntatem dei. . . . testimonium christi con[firmatum]”
1 Corinthians 1:1–6
Carthusian letter “b” next to 1 Corinthians 1:1
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 165
Beatrice Alai is currently affiliated with
the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project Capturing Biographies:
Materiality, Mobility and Agency of the Illuminated Fragments
Collection at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.
Peter Kidd has been a freelance researcher
and cataloger of medieval manuscripts since 2006; before that
he worked at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the British
Library, London.
Notes
François Avril and Patricia Stirnemann were (as always)
especially helpful and generous with information concerning
the style of the cuttings. Joseph Bernaer has done more work
than anyone else on Carthusian biblical readings, and although
we only cite one important article by him, he has generously
shared with us much unpublished information. We also benefited
greatly from the suggestions and corrections provided by this
journal’s anonymous peer reviewer. We are also much obliged to
the Kupferstichkabinett staff, in particular to Dagmar
Korbacher, for facilitating our study in the Berlin
collection. While this essay and its appendix reflect a joint
contribution, Beatrice Alai is responsible for paragraphs two,
three, four, and five, and Peter Kidd is responsible for
paragraphs one, six, seven, and eight.
Unknown maker, historiated initial from a Bible, circa
1160s, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 38
(89.MS.45). An image and some data are available at
www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RWR.
↩︎
Western Manuscripts and Miniatures (1986),
auction cat., Sotheby’s, London, 2 December 1986, lot 4
(ill.). According to the list of buyers and prices
published by Sotheby’s after the sale, lot 4 was bought
by “Fielding.” The Getty acquired it in 1989 from London
dealer Richard Day, so “Fielding” may have been Day’s
colleague Jocelyn Fielding.
↩︎
“It seems more likely, however, that the book was made
further north, perhaps in the north east of France
towards the Rhineland, or in the south of Flanders
somewhere such as Anchin.”
Western Manuscripts and Miniatures (1986),
lot 4 (ill.).
↩︎
The 1989 acquisition was published in
The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 18 (1990):
172, where it is attributed to “probably northeastern
France, circa 1131–1165”; at the time of writing
(January 2023), the online record repeats this
attribution. In Thomas Kren,
French Illuminated Manuscripts in the J. Paul Getty
Museum
(Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007), 5, the
attribution is “French, ca. 1131–65,” but no explanation
is given for these precise dates. The dates may derive
from the date given to a copy of the Twelve Minor
Prophets with Glossa ordinaria, MS M.962 in the
collection of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York,
said to be from the Benedictine abbey of Saint Saviour
at Anchin in Pecquencourt, whose Abbot Gossuin was in
post from circa 1131–65. The decoration of the Morgan
manuscript has little in common with the present
cuttings and in fact rather presents counterevidence to
Sotheby’s suggestion (see the previous note) that the
cuttings may come from Anchin Abbey.
↩︎
Paul Wescher,
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der
Miniaturen—Handschriften und Einzelblätter—des
Kupferstichkabinetts der Staatlichen Museen Berlin
(Leipzig: Weber, 1931), 16–17, Min. 1904–8, 4678–84:
“Französische Schule (Südostfrankreich), 1. halfte 12.
Jahr.”
↩︎
Auktion 60: Bücher, Manuskripte, Graphik, Volkskunst
vom Mittelalter bis zum Beginn der Moderne,
auction cat., Venator & Hanstein, Cologne, 25–27
September 1989, lot 1096.
↩︎
The thirty-eight cuttings had no identifying numbers, so
when he found them in 2004, Schindler assigned them the
provisional numbers 128–68 within his inventory of newly
discovered manuscripts; these numbers are written in
pencil on the mounts and are the only way of referring
to them until such time as official museum accession
numbers are assigned with the exception of four cuttings
(see this essay, note 8).
↩︎
Beate Braun-Niehr, “Initialen I, H, F und V,” in
Schrift als Bild, ed. Michael Roth (Berlin:
Kupferstichkabinett, 2010), 25, reproducing two in
color; attributed to “Maasgebiet, 2. Viertel 12. Jh.”
and “Provenienz: alter Bestand.” These four cuttings
(only) have been assigned the accession numbers Min.
30490–93 for the Kupferstichkabinett; they were formerly
nos. 129, 147, 151, and 164 in Schindler’s inventory.
↩︎
Beatrice Alai,
Le miniature italiane del Kupferstichkabinett di
Berlino
(Florence: Edizioni Polistampa, 2019), 31, fig. 20, 32;
and Peter Kidd, “A Collector’s Mark Re-Interpreted,”
Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (blog), 11
April 2020,
https://mssprovenance.blogspot.com/, archived at
https://archive.ph/e4nBJ
and Archive.org.
↩︎
The evidence of the ruling is in fact considerably more
complex than our subsequent discussion in the main text,
which we have simplified for ease of comprehension. The
cuttings come from a multivolume Bible that was not
ruled consistently throughout. For example, in some
sections the page was ruled not only for the bases of
the minims but also for the tops of the minims, such
that each line of text has two lines of ruling.
↩︎
Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett Mins. 1904, 1906, 4648,
4682, 1908; and Getty Ms. 38, respectively. Dominique
Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence: Enquête codicologique sur les
manuscrits du XIIe siècle provenant de la Grande
Chartreuse
(Saint-Étienne: Publications de l’Université
Jean-Monnet, 2004), 47, recognized such triple rulings
as typical of the books from the Grande Chartreuse and
more specifically of the volumes made from the second
third of the twelfth century onward.
↩︎
Robert Weber and Roger Gryson, eds.,
Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, 5th ed.
(Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), 988.
↩︎
For a general account, see Christopher de Hamel, “Giant
Bibles of the Early Middle Ages,” chap. 3 in
The Book: A History of the Bible (London:
Phaidon, 2001). See also Diane J. Reilly, “The Bible as
Bellwether: Manuscript Bibles in the Context of
Spiritual, Liturgical and Educational Reform,
1000–1200,” in
Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible,
ed. Eyal Poleg and Laura Light (Leiden: Brill, 2013),
13–22.
↩︎
Walter Cahn,
Romanesque Bible Illumination (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1982), 266–83, nos. 50–116. We
can compare this with the reported dimensions of the
volumes of the Romanesque lectern Bibles produced in the
Grande Chartreuse: the Notre Dame de Casalibus Bible
(Ms. 16 = 57.2 × 36.5 cm; Ms. 17 = 52 × 35 cm; Ms. 18 =
55.5 × 36 cm) and the Great Bible (Ms. 12 = 57.5 × 37.5
cm; Ms. 15 = 55.3 × 37.1 cm; Ms. 13 = 54.7 × 37 cm; Ms.
14 = 54.5 × 35.3 cm).
↩︎
These are Kupferstichkabinett Min. 1907, 1906, 1905,
1908, 30493, 1904, 4683, 4684, 4682, respectively. Those
in the private collection and at the Getty Museum are
the prophets Hosea and Micah, respectively.
↩︎
Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 127, 128, Min. 30491; Inv.
130–50, Min. 30490, 31812; Inv. 153, 159, 160, 161, 162,
163, Min. 30492; Inv. 165, 166, 168, Min. 1905, 1908.
↩︎
Schindler inventory nos. 156 and 157 have no decorated
initials; nos. 154, 155, 158, and 167 have small ones.
↩︎
Legendary from Citeaux: Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Mss. 641, 642; and Bible of Talloires: Berlin,
Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Phillipps 1644. Wescher,
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Miniaturen, 16,
cites reproductions in Charles Oursel,
La miniature du XIIe siècle à l’abbaye de Cîteaux
d’après les manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Dijon
(Dijon: Venot, 1926), pls. 32–37; and Joachim Kirchner,
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Miniaturen und des
Initialschmuckes in den Phillipps-Handschriften
(Leipzig: Weber, 1926), 47, fig. 51.
↩︎
Mielle de Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence,
especially 13–16, with a list of related literature at
281–84; Walter Cahn,
Romanesque Manuscripts: The Twelfth Century, 2
vols. (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), 1:19. On the first
Customs written by the prior Guigo I, see Guigues Ier le
Chartreux, Coutumes de Chartreuse (Paris:
Sources Chrétiennes, Éditions du Cerf, 1984), 313. On
the founder of the Order Saint Bruno, see Josef
Hemmerle, “Brun(o), heilig, Stifter des
Kartäuserordens,” in
Neue Deutsche Biographie (Berlin: Duncker &
Humblot, 1955), 2:673–74; and P. De Leo, ed.,
San Bruno di Colonia: Un eremita tra Oriente e
Occidente, Celebrazioni nazionali per il nono
centenario della morte di San Bruno di Colonia;
Secondo convegno internazionale
(Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2004).
↩︎
Guibert de Nogent-sous-Coucy,
De vita sua sive Monodiario libri tres, book 1,
part 11,
Patrologiae cursus completus: Series Latina,
ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, vol. 156 (Paris: J.-P. Migne,
1853), column 854 (hereafter
Patrologia Latina); and Marina Righetti,
“Certosini,” in
Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale (Rome:
Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1992), 4:625–26.
↩︎
Bernard Bligny,
Recueil des plus anciens actes de la
Grande-Chartreuse: 1086–1196
(Grenoble: Imprimerie Allier, 1958), 100–102.
↩︎
Liget Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Mss. Latin 11506–10.The affinities with the Liget Bible
were first suggested by François Avril (personal
communication with Beatrice Alai, 5 May 2014) and
confirmed by Patricia Stirnemann (personal
communications with Beatrice Alai, 12 February and 15
April 2020); on the Bible, see Dominique Mielle de
Becdelièvre, “D’une bible à l’autre . . . La réalisation
des deux premières bibles de la Grande Chartreuse au
XIIe siècle,” Revue Mabillon 74, no. 13 (2002):
175–76; and Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 429–32, cat. no. 126.
↩︎
Liget Bible, Ms. Latin 11508, fol. 35r. For an analysis
of the Romanesque decorative pattern, with special focus
on leaves and shapes, see Carl Nordenfalk, “Die
romanische Buchmalerei,” in
Die romanische Malerei vom elften bis zum dreizehnten
Jahrhundert,
ed. André Grabar and Carl Nordenfalk (Geneva: Skira,
1958), 173–82.
↩︎
Wilhelm Koehler, “Byzantine Art in the West,”
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 1 (1941): 70.
↩︎
Bible of Notre-Dame de Casalibus, Grenoble, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Mss. 1, 8, 3. Dominique Mielle de
Becdelièvre, “Autour de la Bible de Notre-Dame de
Casalibus: Les premiers manuscrits cartusiens,” in
Saint Bruno en Chartreuse: Journée d’etudes organisée
à l’hôtellerie de la Grande Chartreuse le 3 octobre
2002, ed. Alain Girard, Daniel Le Blévec, and Pierrette
Paravy (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und
Amerikanistik, 2004), 31–38; Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcheren silence, 204, 312–15, cat.
no. 1; Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,” 162–70; and
Reilly, “The Bible as Bellwether,” 9–22.
↩︎
Great Bible of the Grande Chartreuse: Grenoble,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Mss. 2, 4–6; Homiliary:
Grenoble, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 103 (38).
Dominique Mielle de Becdelièvre, “Les bibles
cartusiennes,” in
L’exégèse monastique au Moyen Âge, actes du colloque
international (Strasbourg, Palais universitaire,
Faculté de théologie protestante, 10–12 septembre
2007), ed. Gilbert Dahan and Annie Noblesse-Rocher (Paris:
Brepols, 2014), 60.
↩︎
Liget Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Ms. Latin 11509, Ms. 11510, fols. 130r–203v. Mielle de
Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 400–404, cat.
no. 104; and Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,”
170–87.
↩︎
Decretum Gratiani, Grenoble, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 475. Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une
bible,” 176; and Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcheren silence, 406–7, cat. no.
106. ↩︎
De civitate dei, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 159. Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 207; Yolanta Załuska,
Manuscrits enluminés de Dijon (Paris: Editions
du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1991),
125–26, cat. no. 98, pl. 34.
↩︎
Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum, Troyes,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 38, fol. 1r. Mielle de
Becdelièvre, Prêcheren silence, 207.
↩︎
Bible of Stephen Harding, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 15, fol. 94r. Alessia Trivellone,
Images et exégèse monastique dans la Bible d’Étienne
Harding
(Paris: Institut d’Études Augustiniennes, 2014); Cahn,
Romanesque Manuscripts, 2:70–72, cat. no. 58;
Załuska, Manuscrits enluminés, 51–56, cat. no.
23; and Yolanta Załuska,
L’enluminure et le scriptorium de Cîteaux au XIIe
siècle
(Brecht: Cîteaux, 1989), 63–111.
↩︎
Załuska, Manuscrits enluminés, 83–84, cat. no.
40, pl. 27 (Ms. 32); 79–80, cat. no. 36, pl. 25 (Ms.
131); 125–26, cat. no. 98, pl. 34 (Ms. 159); 78–79, cat.
no. 35, pl. H (Ms. 180); 75–78, cat. no. 34, pl. F, I,
22, 25 (Ms. 641). For Ms. 641, see also Cahn,
Romanesque Manuscripts, 2:76–78, cat. no. 61.
↩︎
Kathleen Doyle, “Early Cistercian Manuscripts from
Clairvaux,” in
Illuminating the Middle Ages: Tributes to Prof. John
Lowden from His Students, Friends and Colleagues, ed. Laura Cleaver, Alixe Bovey, and Lucy Donkin
(Leiden: Brill, 2020), 109–22.
↩︎
Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts, 1:19; Mielle de
Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 67–68; and
Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,” 166–67n28. For the
correspondence, see Migne,
Patrologia Latina, vol. 189, cols. 314–15; and
Giles Constable, ed.,
The Letters of Peter the Venerable (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), letter 24, 1:44–47,
2:111–12. Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,”
166–67n28, notes a document of 1156 that sheds light on
the helpful role played by the Cluniacs in supporting
the Chartreuse: “De plus, les frères de cette
congrégation, tant les anciens que les contemporains,
depuis le temps de la naissance de la maison de
Chartreuse, nous ont toujours chéris et vénérés beaucoup
dans le Christ Jésus, et ils ont soutenu notre pauvreté
par de nombreux bienfaits.” On this source, see Bligny,
Recueil, 64–69. See also C. Tosco, “Dai
Cistercensi ai Certosini,” in
Certosini e cistercensi in Italia: Secoli XII–XV;
Atti del Convegno, Cuneo, Chiusa Pesio, Rocca de’
Baldi, 23–26 settembre 1999, ed. Rinaldo Comba and Grado G. Merlo (Cuneo: Società
per gli Studi Storici, Archeologici ed Artistici della
Provincia di Cuneo, 2000), 115–40.
↩︎
Mielle de Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 69.
For Ms. 616, see Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol.
153, col. 631; and Charles Samaran and Robert Marichal,
Catalogue des manuscrits en écriture latine portant
des indications de dates, de lieu ou de copiste
(Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, 1968), 6:517.
↩︎
Great Bible of the Grande Chartreuse, Grenoble,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 2, fol. 5v.
↩︎
Mielle de Becdelièvre, “Les bibles cartusiennes,” 67–73.
↩︎
For a description, see Nordenfalk, “Die romanische
Buchmalerei,” 181.
↩︎
A summary of the history of the Grande Chartreuse books
is offered by Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 65–86, with related
literature.
↩︎
P. Alessandra Maccioni Ruju and Marco Mostert,
The Life and Times of Guglielmo Libri (1802–1869),
Scientist, Patriot, Scholar, Journalist and Thief: A
Nineteenth-Century Story
(Hilversum: Verloren, 1995), 205, 229, 388n145.
↩︎
On these monasteries and their libraries, see Mielle de
Becdelièvre, Prêcheren silence,
87–92, 204–8.
↩︎
Among the later witnesses to this stylistic
dissemination is an early thirteenth-century Bible at
Chambéry that shows in the first volume (Chambéry,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 34, fol. 170v) the style
associated with the manuscripts made for the Grande
Chartreuse. Its Carthusian origin was noted by Mielle de
Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,” 176n55; and Mielle de
Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 225–26. See
also Caroline Heid-Guillaume and Anne Ritz,
Manuscrits médiévaux de Chambéry: Textes et
enluminures
(Paris: CNRS and Brepols, 1998), 118–24.
↩︎
M. B. Parkes,
Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of
Punctuation in the West
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 76–78.
↩︎
Mielle de Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 191.
See also Nigel Palmer, “Simul Cantemus, simul pausemus:
Zur mittelalterlichen Zisterzienserpunktion,” in
Lesevorgänge: Prozesse des Erkennens in
mittelalterlichen Texten, Bildern und
Handschriften, ed. Martina Bakes and Eckart Conrad Lutz (Zurich:
Chronos, 2010), 483–570.
↩︎
Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 50–55.
↩︎
Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination, 19; Mielle
de Becdelièvre, Prêcher en silence, 13–15, 21;
Pierre Vaillant and the monks of the Grande Chartreuse,
Les manuscrits de la Grande Chartreuse et leurs
enluminures
(Grenoble: Roissard, 1984), 36; Migne,
Patrologia Latina, vol. 153, col. 694; and Paul
Lehman, “Bücherliebe und Bücherpflege bei den
Karthäusern,” in
Scritti di storia e paleografia: Miscellanea
Francesco Ehrle, pubblicati sotto gli auspici di S. S.
Pio XI in occasione dell’ottantesimo natalizio dell’E.
Mons. Cardinale Francesco Ehrle
(Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1924), 5:364–89.
↩︎
“Pennas, cretam, pumices duas, cornua duo, scalpellum
unum, ad radenda pergamena novaculas sive rasoria duo,
punctorium unum, subulam unum, plumbum, regulam, postem
ad regulandum, tabulas, grafium.” Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 17, 23, 26; and Guigues Ier
le Chartreux, Coutumes, c. 7.9.
↩︎
No cutting with any part of the book of Judges has yet
been identified, but there is no reason to doubt that it
appeared in its normal position.
↩︎
The sequence of Carthusian readings is discussed in
detail by Joseph Bernaer, “Zur Lesung der Bibel im
Nachtoffizium der Kartäuser: Unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung der Kartausen in Niederösterreich,”
Hyppolytus Neue Folge, St. Pöltner Hefte zur
Diözesankunde
35 (2019): 45–86, with similar tables at 49, 57, 59.
Another similar table (“Ordre des lectures de la Bible
d’après les Coutumes de Chartreuse”) can be
found in Mielle de Becdelièvre, “D’une bible,” 170.
↩︎
The only difference here is that Lamentations follows
Jeremiah, rather than vice versa. Mielle de Becdelièvre,
“Les bibles cartusiennes,” 74 (“Annexe A”), tabulates
the order of books in seven twelfth-, thirteenth-, and
fourteenth-century Bibles.
↩︎
Bernaer, “Zur Lesung der Bibel,” 64, discusses all these
types of markings; cf. Mielle de Becdelièvre,
Prêcher en silence, 115, 190.
↩︎
Mary A. Rouse and Richard H. Rouse,
Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to Medieval Texts and
Manuscripts
(Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991),
225, 228–29, and elsewhere.
↩︎
Frits Lugt,
Les marques de collections de dessins &
d’estampes . . . avec des notices historiques sur les
collectionneurs, les collections, les ventes, les
marchands et éditeurs, etc. (Amsterdam: Vereenigde Drukkerijen, 1921), 291. For a
revised version, see www.marquesdecollections.fr/.
↩︎
This is the case of Min. 31397–98; see Alai,
Le miniature, 121, cat. no. 6.
↩︎
Wescher,
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Miniaturen, 213,
93, and 213, respectively
↩︎
Burton B. Fredericksen,
The Burdens of Wealth: Paul Getty and His Museum
(Bloomington, IN: Archway, 2015), 24–36. The Wescher
provenance of the Getty cutting was first proposed in
Kidd, “A Collector’s Mark Re-Interpreted.”
↩︎
Additions: Inv. 132r, 133v, Min. 4678; erasures: Inv.
130r, 134v, 141r, 146v, Min. 1906v, 4683r; later notes:
capitulum, Inv. 132v, 145v, 149r, 157v, Min. 4679r,
4683r, 4684r; reading marks: Inv. 132r.
↩︎
Fig. 1. —Historiated initial V (Verbum) with the
prophet Micah, ca. 1160s, tempera colors and inks on
parchment, cutting: 13.7 × 13.5 cm.
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 38 (89.MS.45).
Fig. 5. —Decorated initial O (Osculetur), last
third of the twelfth century, gold, tempera colors, and inks
on parchment.
From the Liget Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Ms. Latin 11508, fol. 35r (detail). Image: BnF.
Fig. 7. —Historiated initial V (Vir) with Job
suffering, last third of the twelfth century, gold, tempera
colors, and inks on parchment.
From the Liget Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Ms. Latin 11508, fol. 98r (detail). Image: BnF.
Fig. 8. —Historiated initial O (Omnis sapientia)
with Christ and a personification of Wisdom, last third of
the twelfth century, gold, tempera colors, and inks on
parchment.
From the Liget Bible, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Ms. Latin 11508, fol. 54v (detail). Image: BnF.
Fig. 9. —Decorated initial Q (Quidam), last third
of the twelfth century, gold, tempera colors, and inks on
parchment.
From Decretum Gratiani, Grenoble, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 475, fol. 153v (detail). Image: Bibliothèque
Municipale de Grenoble, Ms.34 Rés.
Fig. 10. —Decorated initial G (Gloriosissimam),
third quarter of the twelfth century, gold, tempera colors,
and inks on parchment.
From De civitate dei, Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 159, fol. 2v (detail). Image: Bibliothèque Municipale de
Dijon.
Fig. 11. —Decorated initial D (De civitate), third
quarter of the twelfth century, tempera colors and inks on
parchment.
From De civitate dei, Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 159, fol. 24v (detail). Image: Bibliothèque Municipale de
Dijon.
Fig. 12. —Decorated initial P (Paulus), ca. 1109,
gold, tempera colors, and inks on parchment.
From the Bible of Stephen Harding, Dijon, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Ms. 15, fol. 94r. Image: Bibliothèque Municipale
de Dijon.