Two leaves and a small fragment from a Romanesque codex of Gregory

Two leaves and a small fragment from a Romanesque codex of Gregory the Great, Dialogues, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, [Italy, late tenth century], two single leaves and a small fragment, each leaf with text in double columns of 33 lines of a rounded early Romanesque bookhand, with a strong ct-ligature and a startlingly late use of the pre-Carolingian ri-ligature (see leaf 2, lines 11 and 23, “scriptos” and line 12 “Primum”, for examples), chapter numbers in red Roman Numerals, one-line initials as enlarged capitals decorated with red rectangles or infilled areas, recovered from reuse on a later binding and hence with torn and stained edges (with significant loss to inside of inner column on each leaf), reverses scrubbed clean and illegible, and spots and stains overall, fair and legible condition, 295 x 195, 293 x 195 and 38 x 26mm. *** The works of St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604; Pope from 590 until death) were among the seminal texts of the Early Medieval Church. The leaves here contain parts of book IV, chapters vii-x and xxvi of his Dialogues, a text structured as a conversation (a common medieval teaching method) between him and a deacon, named Peter, that collect together accounts of miracles, wonders and healings performed by Italian holy people. Prior to the composition of the text, most miracle accounts concerned the Egyptian desert fathers, and Gregory seems to have been trying to domesticate that part of Christian life in Europe, showing the devout there that they also lived within a landscape populated by mystics and their deeds. The hand here is fascinating, and shows close affinities to that of a fragmentary monastic Missal from southern Germany and of the third quarter of the tenth century, partly surviving in Berlin, Stadtsbibliothek, Frag. 63 (some 8 leaves), with another leaf sold in Bloomsbury Auctions, 9 December 2015, lot 3. However, the presence of the consistent use of the ri-ligature (with the ‘i’ as a line struck vertically downwards at the end of the ‘r’ passing downwards and to the left under the ‘r’) here is startling, as it is usually a pre-Carolingian feature.

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