Although their production postdates the ‘Visigothic Kingdom of Iberia’ (which ended with the Muslim conquest in 711 CE), they are generally described as ‘Visigothic manuscripts’ due to the eponymous script employed in their copying. Considering their dates, they may have been among the earliest works created after the refoundation of this monastery, thus making them very important sources to understand the development of local book production.Īll three books are written in Latin on parchment, possibly made from sheep or goat skin. While the origin of Latin MS 89 remains debatable, Latin MS 83 and MS 104 have been identified as products of San Pedro de Cardeña. They preserve key texts for medieval monastic culture (especially for Benedictine houses), namely Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job ( Latin MS 83), Cassiodorus’s Commentary on the Psalms ( Latin MS 89), and Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel’s Commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict ( Latin MS 104). Like most Western early medieval manuscripts, they were made in monastic scriptoria (workshops where books and documents were copied) by scribes in charge of producing the necessary works for monastic study and administration. This period saw a significant growth in cultural activity accompanied by the foundation of several monasteries, which were often located at the unstable frontier between the northern Christian kingdoms and al-Andalus, the territory under Muslim rule in the peninsula. The three manuscripts – Latin MS 83 , Latin MS 89 and Latin MS 104 – were produced between 900-1000 CE in north-central Iberia. Their first-hand examination has enabled me to reflect further on their significance as witnesses to a very important period in the history of Iberian culture and art. Recently, I had the opportunity to consult these works as I develop my next research project about ideas and attitudes to religious images in early medieval Iberia. The circumstances surrounding their arrival in Britain remain mysterious, but they featured in prominent British collections, such as those of Thomas Bateman, James Ludovic Lindsay (the 26th Earl of Crawford) and, since 1901, the John Rylands collection. 700-1080, within the broader intellectual and cultural panorama of the early medieval West and the Mediterranean world.Īmongst the collection of Latin manuscripts in the Rylands, there are three fascinating codices from tenth-century Iberia (modern-day Spain and Portugal). 700-1080: an Intellectual History’, investigates attitudes towards religious images in Iberia, ca. Her project, ‘Image in Iberia and the Medieval West ca. Dr Ana Dias is Visiting Early Career Research Fellow in 2020-21.
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