The Tenth Century Onwards: Scholarship and Heresy

Abstract

Abstract Although the adoption of the Vulgate text of the New Testament was largely complete by the tenth century, a handful of witnesses continue to transmit Old Latin forms of individual biblical books. These include manuscripts associated with the heretical groups of the Cathars and Waldensians. Trends in book production spanned the Italian Giant Bibles (‘Atlantic Bibles’), associated with the reforms of Pope Gregory, to the tiny Irish pocket gospel books. The Paris Bibles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries led to the development of an influential format and characteristic text. Revision of the biblical text moved on from individual scholars to groups associated with monasteries and schools who produced companion volumes of ‘correctoria’. Biblical glosses, in particular the Glossa ordinaria, formed an important part of teaching and commentary. Bilingual Greek–Latin manuscripts made a reappearance with the rediscovery of Greek tradition in the Renaissance.