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Harding Bible, t. 2, Psalms, cycle of David (Bibliothèque municipale de Dijon, ms. 14, f. 13r)

Harding Bible

The Harding Bible is 12th-century illuminated latin Bible created in the Cîteaux Abbey during the abbotship of Stephen Harding, dated 1109. It belongs to a corpus of manuscripts illuminated in the Cîteaux scriptorium in the 12th century, now mostly in the public library of the city of Dijon (ms 12-15). It is considered a masterpiece of romanesque book illumination.

History

It was created at the behest of Stephen Harding, one of the founders of the Cistercian order and abbot of the Cîteaux Abbey from 1109 to 1112. The monitum, inserted at the end of the first tome (ms 13, f. 170v), records the date 1109 and relates the context of its creation. It stipulates that Harding had the scriptures copied from several manuscripts in order to remain as close to Jerome's Vulgate as possible. For the Old Testament, he also states he reached out to rabbis who supplied the Chaldean and Hebraic versions to resolve problematic passages. The second tome (ms.14-15) was completed two years later, by the same scribe as the Cîteaux Moralia in Job dated 1111. The Harding Bible is one of the very first manuscripts illuminated in the abbey scriptorium. The Bible was used for liturgical worship, especially for readings during meals, as noted in a marginalia (ms. 15, f. 166).

The abbey was closed after the French Revolution and the manuscripts from the abbey library were transferred to the city of Dijon and its public library.

Description

The Harding Bible was originally comprised of two tomes, later rebound in 4 volumes.

• Volume 1 (ms. 12): 115 folios with the Prologus Galaetus by Jerome and the Octateuch
• Volume 2 (ms. 13): 150 folios with the Books of Kings, Prophets, and ending with the encyclical by Stephen Harding (f. 150v)
• Volume 3 (ms. 14): 204 folios with the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra, Esther, Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, Tobit, Maccabees
• Volume 4 (ms. 15): 132 folios with the New Testament

Text and decoration

Three copyists have been identified as well as two illuminators. The first illuminator painted the ornaments of the first tome, consisting only of initials, rinceaux (scrolls), animal figures, and a single human head (ms. 13, fol. 132v). The second tome contains two full-page illustrations, 6 miniatures and 29 historiated initials showing a powerful anglo-saxon influence. Its could be the work of an English monk whom could be identified, according to specialists, as Stephen Harding himself.

Further readings

Zaluska, Yolanta, L'Enluminure et le scriptorium de Cîteaux au XII^e siècle, Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses, 1989, Notices 1 et 2.

Zaluska, Yolanta, Manuscrits enluminés de Dijon. Paris : CNRS, 1991, no 22-23, pp. 49-56.

Matthieu Cauwe, « La Bible d'Étienne Harding. Principes de critique textuelle mis en œuvre aux livres de Samuel », Revue Bénédictine, vol. 103, nos 3-4,‎ 1993 (ISSN 0035-0893, DOI 10.1484/J.RB.4.01292).

Melanie Holcomb (ed.), Pen and Parchment : Drawing in the Middle Ages , New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.(ISBN 978-1-58839-318-0), p. 79-81.