A Companion to the History of the Book (34 page)

Insular vernacular writers followed in the steps of Ulfila, apostle to the Goths, who translated the Gospels into Gothic as part of his fourth-century mission to Moesia (Brown 2005, 2006b). His translation survives in the splendid Codex Argenteus (Uppsala UB, DG I), written in Ravenna for the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, in the early sixth century (Webster and Brown 1997: 242–3). The adaptation of the Greek alphabet to produce those of Armenia and Georgia is similarly ascribed to the missionary St. Mesrob during the early fifth century (Brown 1998: 39). Cyrillic script, used for over sixty languages, is descended from the forty-character, Greek-based, Glagolitic alphabet, ascribed to St. Cyril (c.827–69), who was sent from Byzantium as a missionary to the Slavs at the request of King Ratislaw of Moravia (Brown 1998: 39). Other aspects of Greek influence can likewise be seen in the way in which books from these regions were constructed, written, and decorated.

The appearance of the Insular book was equally distinctive and indebted to varied cultural sources (Alexander 1978; Webster and Backhouse 1991; Brown 2006b, 2007b). The well-understood hierarchy of scripts, combined with pen-drawn initials and display lettering, enlivened even modest volumes, whilst the great Gospel-books (such as the Book of Durrow, Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 57; the Lindisfarne Gospels, BL Cotton MS Nero D. iv; and the Book of Kells, Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 58) blended influences from Celtic, Germanic, European, Byzantine, and North African art in decorated incipit pages in which the word exploded across the page as an iconic image in its own right, carpet-pages resembling prayer-mats (sometimes used in northern Europe as well as the Middle East), arcaded canon tables and evangelist miniatures in which the Gospel writers were depicted by author portraits and/or by their symbols (Henderson 1987; Brown 2003). The Insular “historiated” (storytelling) initial, in which the letter contained an illustration of the text, integrated text and image, and some full-page miniatures appeared, often containing layers of meaning. Hierarchies of initials marked chapters, lections, and the like, whilst decorative line-fillers and run-over symbols further articulated text layout.

Some works were consciously “romanizing,” notably the three great Ceolfrith Bibles made in the Northumbrian twin monasteries of Wearmouth/Jarrow, one of which (Codex Amiatinus, Florence, Bibl. Medicea-Laurenziana, MS Amiatino 1) was taken by Abbot Ceolfrith as a present to the Pope in 716 and subsequently considered the work of Italo-Byzantine, rather than English, craftsmen (Webster and Brown 1997; Brown 2006b, 2007b). Yet it was no antiquarian facsimile but a dynamic feat of editorial scholarship, probably led by Bede. In eighth- and ninth-century Southumbria (Mercia), Insular features blended with Byzantine and nascent Carolingian classicism and near-eastern exoticism, reflecting the international aspirations of its rulers (as in the Barberini Gospels, Vatican, Bibl. Apost., MS barb. lat. 570, and the Royal Bible, BL Royal MS 1. E. vi; Brown 2002).

Insular nuns also made books. Two prayer-books (the Royal Prayerbook, BL Royal MS 2. A. xx, and the Book of Nunnaminster, BL Harl. MS 2965) made in Mercia in the early ninth century, show signs, from their language, devotional themes, and provenance, of being written by and for women. Abbess Eadburh and the nuns of Minster-in-Thanet supplied books to St. Boniface in the German mission fields during the early eighth century and may have helped furnish books to major English churches, just as the nuns of Jouarre, Chelles, and Faremoutiers-en-Brie had in Merovingian Gaul (Brown 2002, 2006b).

Merovingian and early Carolingian books featured colorful initials composed of fish, birds, and beasts and, from the late eighth century, human figures (as in the Sacramen-tary of Gellone, Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 12048). Scripts varied with scriptoria, influential local varieties including Luxeuil minuscule and Corbie “ab” minuscule (Brown 1990: 32–47). During the late eighth century, experiments to produce a more regular, standardized script occurred, initially at Corbie (with “Maurdramnus minuscule” under Abbot Maurdramnus, d. 781) and at Charlemagne’s court at Aachen, which harbored scholars and craftsmen from as far afield as Ireland and Byzantium (Ganz 1990; McKitterick 1994). Amongst the earliest examples of the cultural renaissance they produced were the Godescalc Evangelistary of c.781–3 (Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 1203), which echoes Insular style, the works of the Palace School (such as the Coronation Gospels in Vienna), illuminated by Italo-Byzantine artists, and the great Court School Gospel-books made around the time of Charlemagne’s imperial coronation in 800 (including the Soissons Gospels, Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 8850, and the Harley Golden Gospels, BL Harley MS 2788).

These sumptuous volumes, designed for display on the altar or as prestigious gifts (such as the Dagulf Psalter, made around 800 as a gift for the Pope, Vienna, öNB, Cad. 1861), ooze gold and purple, recalling imperial Rome and Byzantium. They fuse the figural and architectural styles of classical antiquity with the exoticism of the early Christian East and the symbolic pattern-making of “barbarian” northern Europe, building upon Insular tendencies introduced via Insular mission churches such as Echternach, Fulda, Salzburg, Luxeuil, St. Gall, and Bobbio, which in turn transmitted continental influence to Britain and Ireland (Bischoff 1979; Brown 2007b).

The Carolingians standardized script, the multipurpose Caroline minuscule spreading throughout Carolingia as part of a campaign to disseminate approved versions of scriptural and liturgical texts, fostering cultural cohesion and common religious observance throughout its disparate territories (McKitterick 1989, 1990). The scriptorium of Tours, established by Alcuin of York, played a leading role, producing massive single-volume Bibles (large teams producing three such tomes per year) which were circulated to other scriptoria (Kessler 1977; Ganz 1990). These include the Moutiers-Grandval Bible (BL Add. MS 10546) and the Vivian Bible (Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 1). The edition of the Bible produced by Alcuin (heavily indebted to Jerome’s Vulgate and the Northumbrian Ceolfrith Bibles), along with that by Bishop Theodulf of Orléans, underpinned subsequent medieval biblical studies. The Tours (or Alcuin) Bibles made during the early ninth century also contained full-page miniatures, arranged in registers (like cartoon-strips), recalling early Christian art.

Nonetheless, the Carolingian stance on imagery was ambivalent. They used it to emphasize the interdependence of Church and state, but were uncomfortable about idolatry. In 787, the Byzantine Council of Nicaea restored the use of images after a period of iconoclasm that had endured since the 720s (and temporarily recurred during the early ninth century). The Carolingian
Libri Carolini,
composed soon after by Theodulf of Orléans, asserted the primacy of text over images, which were permitted in accordance with the teachings of Gregory the Great (who wrote, c.600, to Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, that “in images the illiterate read”) but deemed to possess no inherent holiness or iconic value (Diebold 2000: 100–1, 117–18; Brown 2006b). Copies of Scripture produced from this time until around 810 are noticeably devoid of pictures of the divine, preferring biblical illustrations or evangelist portraits and paving the way for substitute royal iconography (Mütherich and Gaehde 1976).

The Carolingian expansion absorbed many fine monastic libraries and archives containing much classical learning which had languished undiscovered whilst book production focused on supplying religious texts. Some classics would not have survived had they not been copied at this time. Insular and Merovingian scribes had preserved such works, when available, but many more now came back into scholarly circulation, including Cicero’s
Aratea
(his Latin translation of the Greek
Phenomena
of Aratus, dealing with the constellations and their mythology), Vitruvius on architecture, and medical texts by Dioscorides and Pseudo-Apuleius. Hrabanus Maurus’ oeuvre included
carmina figurata,
word poems in which figural images were superimposed upon grids of letters, isolating some to form a poem within a poem – a genre popularized by Emperor Constantine’s court poet, Porphyrius (McKitterick, 1994). Other classical works were preserved within Islamic territories; some survived only in fragmentary form in anthologies or lists compiled by scholars such as the Byzantine authors Stobaeus (fifth century) and Photius (ninth century); some were lost forever; others, such as Archimedes, are still being recovered through archaeology and digital image enhancement techniques.

Revived classical devices included Tironian
notae,
the shorthand system of Cicero’s secretary, Tiro, some symbols of which were also used by Insular scribes. The Irish system of punctuation using
distinctiones –
a system in which either an escalating number of points (. .. ...) or the positioning of a point on the line (low, medial, or high) denoted a rising value of pause – was extended by the introduction of the
punctus versus
(;), the
punctus elevatus
(a point with a tick above), and the
punctus interrogativus
(?). Neumes were introduced by the Carolingians to record music, previously taught orally. Glossing (a technique used for language teaching in England and Ireland), and parallel texts alongside one another on the page, also enjoyed popularity in Carolingian schoolrooms and scriptoria, as did diagrams. Codicology (the way in which books were physically constructed) favored late Roman practices: thinly prepared membrane with a marked distinction in appearance between hair and flesh sides, necessitating care in the arrangement of quires (gatherings) to ensure that like faced like when the book was open (so that a bifolium with its flesh-side uppermost had to have the next bifolium placed on top of it with its flesh-side downwards, and so forth). Bifolia were pricked and ruled one at a time, before folding, although templates were sometimes used to speed up and standardize the ruling (Bischoff 1979; Brown 1991; Bately et al. 1993).

Insular scriptoria, conversely, used skins that had not been scraped down so far and exhibited little distinction between hair and flesh sides. Insular skins were therefore beiger, with a suede-like knap. Insular quires were usually arranged with four bifolia folded into gatherings of eight leaves, with hair-side outermost and with flesh facing hair throughout. Pricking and ruling were conducted after the quire was folded and ruled with a hard point, so that the impression penetrated through the quire. Such codicological variations can indicate whether an Insular scribe was working abroad or at home (Brown 1991; Bately et al. 1993), although Insular scribes sometimes experimented with late antique or continental codicological methods, usually in romanophile contexts, as at Wearmouth/Jarrow c.700, and Kent and Mercia c.800 under Carolingian influence. During the tenth century, Carolingian methods were more generally introduced into England.

Ninth-century Carolingian authors, such as the Irishmen Duns Scotus and John Eriugena, Walafrid Strabo, the Visigoth Theodulf, the Italian Paul the Deacon, and Einhard (Charlemagne’s biographer), composed new works of scholarship, poetry, history, and theology. The Carolingian empire’s impetus toward cultural renovation outlived its territorial reality. Frankish inheritance laws partitioned it between Charlemagne’s grandsons: Charles the Bald, Louis II, and Lothar. Competition split the empire and laid the foundations of France and Germany. Amongst the most opulent ninth-century books were the First Bible of Charles the Bald or Vivian Bible (made at Tours in 846 as a gift to Charles from Abbot Vivian) and the Lothar Gospels (Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 266), also made at Tours c.850 as a gift for its monastic community from Charles’s rival, Lothar, to extend his influence. Such books depicted the ruler enthroned, like Christ in Majesty, his power acknowledged by supporting figures from Church and state or personifications of subject territories.

A particularly significant Carolingian book is the Utrecht Psalter (van der Horst et al. 1996), made nears Reims c.830, containing an extensive illustrative cycle of outline drawings. It inspired several Psalters made at Canterbury from the early eleventh century, when it was imported to England, through the twelfth century. These include the Harley Psalter, the Trinity Psalter, and the Eadwine Psalter. It is extremely rare for an exemplar and its “copies” to survive, enabling them to be compared – hence the Utrecht Psalter’s fame. The first English version, the Harley Psalter (BL Harley MS 603) was made at Christ Church in the early eleventh century by a team of artists and scribes including Eadui Basan (Eadui the Fat), one of the foremost and most prolific Anglo-Saxon artist-scribes (Noel 1996; van der Horst et al. 1996). The images were adapted to emphasize different theological nuances, colored outline drawings replaced ink drawings, and details of Anglo-Saxon implements were introduced, situating the English within the biblical landscape. The words presented an even greater challenge, for the text used at Canterbury (Jerome’s Romanum) differed from the prototype’s Gallicanum –- so the words were not the same. Utrecht was written in rustic capitals and Harley in English Caroline minuscule – so the letter size differed. This complicated the planning of the “copy” to ensure that text and image marched in tandem. Usually scribes prepared layout, but in Harley it is possible to see the artists rebelling and seizing the initiative, thereby squeezing the script into inadequate spaces – at which point the scribes complained. Utrecht was disbound to enable the team to see “how it ticked,” but 150 years later the scriptorium was still struggling with the project, although it had learned a lot about book production in the process.

Carolingia influenced England in earnest from the late ninth century. Viking raids disrupted northwestern Europe throughout the century, their first victim being the monastery of Lindisfarne which was raided in 793. Shock waves reverberated around Europe, and from Carolingia Alcuin wrote to one of the monks who survived, commiserating but opining that it was divine retribution for relinquishing the ascetic lifestyle of its founder saints. This was a recurrent theme during the death throes of the Roman empire and was revived by King Alfred the Great when he embarked upon the unification of what remained of free England and the reconquest of the Danelaw. For Alfred and his scholarly English, Celtic, and Carolingian advisers, lax standards of morality, spirituality, and learning were to blame for England’s woes and a program of religious and educational renewal presented the solution. Instrumental within this was the book (Lapidge 2006; Brown 2007b).