Codex Amiatinus
Codex AmiatinusFirenze: La Meta, 2003xBS1975 2003 oversize FacsimileProduced sometime before 716 at the twin monasteries of Jarrow and Wearmouth in Northumberland, the Codex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate version. It is considered the most accurate copy of St. Jerome’s text. The integrity of the text suggests that it was likely copied from an older copy brought from Rome to England. Revisers (including Pope Sixtus V in 1585-90) of the Vulgate referred to the Codex Amiatinus for the uncorrupted official Vulgate translation. The codex also contains St. Jerome’s “Prologus Galeatus” and his prefaces to individual books; a summary of contents; dedicatory verses; a list of the books contained within the codex; a division of the books according to Jerome, another according to Hilary and Epiphanius, and a third by Augustine. The original manuscript of high-quality parchment weighs more than seventy-five pounds. The script is uncial, beautifully written by at least seven different scribes. Typical of manuscripts produced in this time period, there is little or no space between words and no punctuation. The text layout is, however, stichometric, or verse-like, indicating principal and dependent clauses of a sentence. The layout aids the reader and also gives the page a pleasing, spacious appearance. The initial letter of a section was sometimes written in a different colored ink from that of the black text ink, as was the first line of each book. Beyond this, there was no page decoration. The codex is sparsely illuminated but includes a picture of the Tabernacle and a full-page portrait of the scribe and Prophet Ezra, seated and writing into a book resting on his lap with a full book cupboard in the background. The illumination is based upon a similar portrait of the statesman and monk, Cassiodorus (ca. 490 – ca. 585). Another illumination depicts Christ in majesty. The illuminations suggest an intentional trend away from Insular to Mediterranean artistic styles. The use of gold in the illumination also indicates Byzantine influence. Codex Amiatinus is the only extant of three copies of the Bible commissioned by Ceolfrid of England, a place then referred to as “The end of the world”, in 692. For this commission, the Wearmouth-Jarrow monasteries received a grant of additional land in order to raise two thousand more head of cattle needed to make the parchment required for the three codices. Ceolfrid, at the age of 74, carried the Codex Amianitus with him on one of his many trips to Rome, to present as a gift to Pope Gregory II. Ceolfrid died on September 25th, 716 during this journey, but the codex arrived safely. |