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This imposing double manuscript, only the first of which is on exhibit (with books I-XVI), contains Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Iob. According to the universal judgment of the critics, the “twin” manuscripts – completed by several hands – represents the summa of work produced by the scriptorium of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Maximinus of Trier during, unsurprisingly, the third quarter of the 10th century. In fact, the Abbey was destroyed during the Norman invasion of 882 and only with the reform introduced by Odo I in 934 was active and lasting community life regained, vitality also reflected in manuscript production. However, the wealth of the ‘new’ library was not linked to internal production alone, but ‘profited’ shrewdly from the offerings of an increasingly active manuscript circuit […]. Despite the numerous hands at work – sometimes following one after the other at the change of gatherings, sometimes alternating within the gatherings themselves – there is no doubt that a single editorial project produced two products: […]. The two manuscripts probably formed a single volume at one time. The elaborate decoration consists of ornate pages and initials probably done by several hands. The examples of ornamentation can be divided into two groups: one clearly oriented toward the Carolingian models of Tours, the other – more numerous – makes use of the models of St. Gallen or Reichenau. […]. Despite the fact that the “ex-libris” inscription linking the two products unequivocally to the Trier foundation, is later, the local origin is ‘guaranteed’ by the suggestive testimony preserved in f. Ir of the volume containing the second part of the Gregorian text (books XVII-XXXV). In fact, as often occurs with the oldest inventory examples – which survive due to dependence on a particular tradition, but find space on sheets of manuscripts that otherwise would have remained blank – an early 12th century copyist wrote out a long list of the works (of some 170 ‘titles’) making up the manuscript collection of the Benedictine foundation […].
FABRIZIO CRIVELLO and DONATELLA FRIOLI
Reproduced here: f. 175v with decorated initial Q.
The complete record can be found in the exhibit catalogue Gregorio Magno e l'invenzione del Medioevo, ed. Luigi G. G. Ricci, Florence, SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo 2006 (Archivum Gregorianum, 9).