Lot pagina - Van De Wiele Auctions

[GREGORY THE GREAT, MORALIA IN IOB]

Cutting from a large leaf with Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob, in Latin, manuscript on vellum

[probably France
late 10th c. or opening decades of the 11th c.]

€1.500 - €2.000

Cutting with text in double columns with remains of 15 lines in a tall and elegant late Carolingian minuscule, with et-ligature commonly employed within words and at their ends, tall and looping ct- and st-ligatures, and a distinctively small and squat '-us' abbreviation (see ending of ""perpendamus"" in second column, line 8), recovered from reuse as a pastedown in a later binding and hence with stains, torn edges and worm damage (especially to extremities), overall fair condition, 165 by 230mm

A large fragment from an early codex of an important Early Medieval work on morality, written in the late sixth century by Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604) as a way of preserving the author's discussions on the book of Job with his followers who accompanied him to Constantinople (where he served as papal ambassador to the imperial court). The text was of fundamental importance for the Early Medieval Church, and for the period up to and including the twelfth century it survives in vast numbers of manuscript witnesses. The text here is from book IV, ch. 29:3 to 30:4

Manuscripts