Brill Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible: 27 (Library of the Written Word - The Manuscript World, 27)

Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Latin Bibles survive in hundreds of manuscripts, one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages. Their innovative layout and organization established the norm for Bibles for centuries to come. This volume is the first study of these Bibles as a cohesive group. Multi- and inter-disciplinary analyses in art history, liturgy, exegesis, preaching and manuscript studies, reveal the nature and evolution of layout and addenda. They follow these Bibles as they were used by monks and friars, preachers and merchants. By addressing Latin Bibles alongside their French, Italian and English counterparts, this book challenges the Latin-vernacular dichotomy to show links, as well as discrepancies, between lay and clerical audiences and their books. Contributors include Peter Stallybrass, Diane Reilly, Paul Saenger, Richard Gameson, Chiara Ruzzier, Giovanna Murano, Cornelia Linde, Lucie Doležalová, Laura Light, Eyal Poleg, Sabina Magrini, Sabrina Corbellini, Margriet Hoogvliet, Guy Lobrichon, Elizabeth Solopova, and Matti Peikola. Review "a great contribution to the study of bibles from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries."- Pablo Alvarez, University of Michigan, in: Renaissance Quarterly 67/2 (Summer 2014), pp. 662-663 "A major contribution to recent advancements in medieval biblical studies [...]. Form and Function has, in a very important way, raised as many questions as it has answered, and has suggested many fruitful areas of research for historians of material and religious culture, book and manuscript history, art history, liturgy, exegesis, preaching and monastic reform." - Jessalynn Bird, Naperville, IL., in: Sehepunkte 14/1 (15 January 2014) "What Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible shows us, is the diversity and scope of late medieval Bibles and how this is connected to readers and users in, but also outside monastic communities. [...] A worthy addition to the impressive and rapidly expanding series Library of the Written Word." - Mart van Duijn, Leiden University Libraries, in: Quaerendo 44/3 (2014), pp. 216-218 About the Author Eyal Poleg, Ph.D. (2008) in History, University of London, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh. He is fascinated by the medieval (and early modern) Bible, and has recently published Understanding the Bible in Medieval England (Manchester 2013) Laura Light, C.Phil. (1981) in History, UCLA, is a cataloguer for Les Enluminures (Paris, Chicago, New York). She has published extensively on the thirteenth-century Bible, and compiled the Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Volume 1 (Binghamton 1995).