The Codex Amiatinus and the Place of Rome in Early Medieval Culture and Thought

FAIN: FB-51662-05

Celia Chazelle
College of New Jersey (Ewing, NJ 08628-0718)

This book reassesses the distinction between Roman and non-Roman, Mediterranean and barbarian commonly posited in studies of early medieval Latin culture. A new analysis is offered of the art of the Codex Amiatinus, a Bible made at Wearmouth-Jarrow in northern England by 716 and sent from there to Rome. Amiatinus, which shows the influence of late-antique Mediterranean art, is generally held to reflect the importation into England of essentially alien cultural norms. I critique this view, and the theory on which it is based of the cultural relation between early medieval northern Europe and the Mediterranean, by examining the artistic, intellectual, and political context in which Amiatinus and its "sister Bibles" were produced.

Associated Products

The Codex Amiatinus and its "Sister" Bibles: Scripture, Liturgy, and Art in the Milieu of the Venerable Bede (Book)
Title: The Codex Amiatinus and its "Sister" Bibles: Scripture, Liturgy, and Art in the Milieu of the Venerable Bede
Author: Celia Chazelle
Abstract: The Codex Amiatinus and its “Sister” Bibles examines the full Bibles (Bibles containing every scriptural text that producers deemed canonical) made at the northern English monastery of Wearmouth–Jarrow under Abbot Ceolfrith (d. 716) and the Venerable Bede (d. 735), and the religious, cultural, and intellectual circumstances of their production. The key manuscript witness of this monastery’s Bible-making enterprise is the Codex Amiatinus, a massive illustrated volume sent toward Rome in June 716, as a gift to St. Peter. Amiatinus is the oldest extant, largely intact Latin full Bible. Its survival is the critical reason that Ceolfrith’s Wearmouth–Jarrow has long been recognized as a pivotal center in the evolution of the design, structure, and contents of medieval biblical codices.
Year: 2019
Publisher: Brill
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9789004390133
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

---