Latin Palaeography 3 2010 ° Outi Merisalo Århus The Latin scripts of the High Middle Ages (sixth-eighth centuries) Western Europe in the sixth-seventh c. • radical political & cultural changes > radical changes in book production • disappearance of the cultured lay class • Church: responsibility for cultural heritage • political fragmentation after the fall of the Western Empire in 476 • specialisation of scribes according to function/script: e.g. Longobard notaries of the 7th-8th c. competent in New Roman cursive, not book scripts Book production in the High Middle Ages • Christian parish and episcopal libraries from the 3rd c.: autonomous production instead of external commercial workshops • triumph of Christianity 4th c. > autonomous production model adopted by e.g. the Imperial library in Constantinople • book production unit of the monasteries = scriptorium • initial competition of lay workshops and ecclesiastical scriptoria in Late Antiquity > disappearance of lay workshops in the 6th c. • monastic scriptorium main production unit in W Europe until the 13th c. Monasticism 1 • ascetic Zeitgeist 1st-3rd c.: Serapi, Qumran, Nag Hammadi (Gnosticians) • Egypt: Anthony (c.250– c.355) • retires into the desert Nag Hammadi, mss. end 4th c. (gr. eremos > hermit, gr. anakhoresis ’retirement’ > anchorite/anachoret, anchoress f.) • Athanasius: Life of Anthony, Latin translation c. 370 Caves of Qumran Monasticism 2 • Pachomius (d. 346): community (= Gr. koinobion) c. 320 Tabennesis (Egypt) • agriculture • monakhoi: Bible study, prayer, divine office = physical and spiritual work Monasticism 3 • propagation in the Western part of the Empire 3rd-4th c. – Pachomian type • Martin (c.315 – 11 Nov 397): soldier converted to Christianity • founds Ligugé monastery in W Gaul (361), bishop’s seat at Tours (371), monastery of Marmoutier (372) • tomb at Tours: pilgrimages • Lérins (off Cannes): Honoratus (d. 429) • Massilia (Marseilles): monastery of St Victor founded by John Cassian (c.360- 433/435) 415; Institutiones Monasticism 4 • John Cassian: Collationes (for Lérins) • Jerome (c. 347-419/20): translation of the Rule of Pachomius • communal asceticism prevalent in W Europe Saint Benedict • Benedict of Nursia c. 480-547 • monastery of Subiaco, Pachomian rule • Monte Cassino c. 529, rule c. 540-560 Montecassino The Rule of St Benedict • Ora et labora: physical + spiritual work • physical work includes copying books > preserving texts of the past • sources for the Rule: John Cassian, the Rule of Caesarius of Arelate, the Regula Magistri (Rome 500- 530?) Monastic book production • main form of book production in W Europe until the 13th c. • scriptorium: experienced monastic scribes schooling young monks Apennine peninsula 6th-8th c. • lay schools until end of 6th c. • acceptation of the Classical heritage (Augustine) and Classical literature • Ostrogothic renaissance: Theoderic the Great (c. 454-526), capital Ravenna Galla Placidia (388/9- 450), ”mausoleum”, Ravenna Codices in the mosaics of the ”mausoleum” of Galla Placidia Saint Vitalis, Ravenna 526-547 Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius c. 475-524 • related to the Symmachi • career in Ostrogothic service • translations of Aristotle (Categoriae, De interpretatione, Topica, Analytica, Sophistici elenchi = Logica vetus) • De institutione musica, De trinitate • emprisoned 522, De consolatione philosophiae: Aristotelicism, Neoplatonism Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, Cassiodorus c. 490-583 • career in Ostrogothic service from 509 • councillor of the kings on monuments • salaries to Roman teachers of eloquence • Historia Gothorum • 535-554 Gothic wars (Justinian vs. Ostrogoths) : Byzantium re-conquers large part of Central and Southern Apennine Peninsula Bamberg, Dombibliothek, Vivarium Patr.61 (750-800): Cassiodorus, Institutiones • Cassiodorous mid-530s: project of a Christian school (< Origenes, school at Alexandria, 3rd c. • Squillace, Calabria, after 552: Vivarium • trasfers part of private library to Vivarium • monastic school, Christian culture Fish swimming in the fish- growing pool, vivarium → Vivarium 2 • disciplines indispensable for a Christian: Latin grammar, edition of texts, copying mss. Institutiones • Book II: Classical literature necessary for the understanding of the Bible • septem artes liberales (already defined by Martianus Capella, 3rd c.): • Book I: Christian culture, grammatica, rhetorica, istructions for monastic dialectica (trivium); life arithmetica, musica, • Tot enim vulnera Satanas geometria and astronomia accipit, quot antiquarius (quadrivium) Domini verba describit Vivarium library • taken to Rome (Lateran library of the Pope) after Cassiodorus’ death • dispersal through missionaries • mss. left in Rome destroyed with the Lateran library 12th c. Codex Amiatinus • written at Wearmouth- Jarrow end 8th c. • copy of a ms. of Vivarium brought to England • order of books according to Institutiones • now Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Amiat. 1 Gregory the Great dictating to his scribes BNF, lat. 818, f. 2v c. 1050 Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) • aristocrat, retires to his manor on the Caelius, founds monastery of St Andrew (570s) • Latin theology • intellectual activities part of monastic life • Classical culture and artes liberales needed to understand the Bible • Pope in 590 • evangelisation of England from 597 Latin script in the Apennine peninsula until the 8th c. • Uncial, Half-Uncial for books, New Roman cursive for documents (e.g. Ravenna papyri) • graphical diversity (cf. political diversity • New Roman cursive occasionally used for books, e.g. Bobbio, Vercelli 7th-8th c. • Southern Italy: absence of documentation c. 600- 750 Insular scripts British Isles • Irland: evangelisation by Patricius (Patrick) from 432 • Monastic Christianity • Latin: a foreign language to learn • copying mss. = central activity • Half-Uncial basis for later developments • 7th c.: Insular minuscule , then also cursive variants 7th-8th c. Ireland, land of monasteries Irish missionary activity • Columba (c. 521-597): evangelisation of Scotland – monastery of Iona c. 563 > Lindisfarne c. 635 ( (Aidan) • Columbanus (c. 543-615): Luxeuil c. 590, Bobbio 614 • Gallus (Gall): hermit on the site of the later monastery of Saint Gall 612 • important writing and cultural centres • Insular scripts, then local variants (e.g. Rhaetian, Alemannic minuscules) Lindisfarne Wearmouth-Jarrow Luxeuil Saint Gall Bobbio • Durham Gospel fragment c. 600 • Insular Half- Uncial and cursive minuscule Book of Durrow Dublin, TC 57 c. 680 Apocalypse, 800 Insular minuscule from St. Gall Anglo-Saxon scripts importation of Half-Uncial and Insular minuscule by Irish missionaries in the North of Britain > Anglo-Saxon Half-Uncial and minuscule (both square and pointed Anglo-Saxon minuscule) 7th- 8th c., in use until 10th-11th c. • Roman missionaries: importantion of Uncial 6th c., eliminated by Irish-origin scripts in the 8th c. • Anglo-Saxon missionaries: dissemination of Anglo-Saxon scripts (e.g. Fulda) Anglo-Saxon monasteries on the Continent • Reichenau (Pirmin 724) • Fulda 744 (Sturmi, disciple of St Boniface) • Hersfeld 770 (Lullus) Hersfeld • Anglo-Saxon scripts, book Fulda culture Reichenau • importance for the formation of the Carolingian culture Gaul - Francia • Clovis: lord of Gaul in 507 • S Gaul: urban culture, trade, Late Antique book culture until mid-7th c . • Roman aristocrats at the service of the Frankish kings: Gregory of Tours, Venantius Fortunatus, Deodatus • Latin: administrative language Scripts of the Merovingian period (507-751) • New Roman cursive derivatives • lateral compression – especially Merovingian chancery script • used by the chancery of the Frankish kings and kings of France until c. 1000 BNF, lat. 9427, f. 8 Lectionary of Luxeuil Luxeuil script 7th-8th c. Rhaetian minuscule, Alemannic minuscule • Rhaetia (Eastern Switzerland), 8th-9th c.: Rhaetian minuscule • Saint Gall and surroundings c. 760-c. 850: Alemannic minuscule Rhaetian minuscule Saint Gall 722, 800-820 f. 3 CONSTITUCI ONES IMPERATOR IS IUSTINIANI PII AUGUSTI • Alemannic minuscule • SG 228 • 775-800 • Isidorus, • Sententiae Iberian peninsula 6th-8th c. Hispania: Visigothic Renaissance 6th-8th c. • Visigothic takeover of the Iberian peninsula Alovera eagles c. A.D. 500 5th c. – early 6th c. • 507 loss of Gaul to Franks except for Septimania • Arians until 586 • Late Antique administrative and urban structures • King Leovigild (r. 568-586): preserved efficient central administration, unification programme (conflicts with Basks, Suebians, Byzantines) Toledo Hispania 2 • unification of the realm in 585 • King Leovigild: Byzantine models • cooperation State and Arian Church • Permanent capital city Toledo: court + archives + treasure • Byzantinising court ceremonial (throne etc.) • money Hispania 3 • son Reccared (586-601): conversion to Catholicism • III Council of Toledo 589: condemnation of Arianism > persecution • Court of Toledo: cultural centre, learned ecclesiastics: Leander of Seville, Licinianus of Cartagena, Isidore of Seville (d. 636) • contacts with Byzantium, knowledge of Greek, Classical culture • Arab conquest of the Peninsula 711 Writing and book culture of the Visigothic Renaissance (sixth-eighth c.) • Wulfila (c. 310 – 383): Gothic script based on the Greek alphabet, translation of the Bible into Gothic • for Latin : Capitalis, Uncial, Half-uncial as book scripts • sixth-seventh c. graffiti on schist and parchment documents in New Roman cursive • seventh-eighth c. : new Roman cursive with local elements, inclination to the left • after 711 (Arab conquest): stylistic influences from Arabic script .