Making, Writing and Decorating the Bible: Montecassino, a Case Sudy

Capitalising on the results obtained through the detailed cataloging of almost a hundred complete, partial or glossed Bibles produced at Montecassino or by its dependencies, or acquired elsewhere (all of which are still held in the abbey’s archive), the proposed contribution aims to evaluate them as a whole. A multidisciplinary approach will be adopted and particular attention will be paid to the following aspects: - the material, graphic, decorative, textual and paratextual features of the Cassinese biblical tradition and the relationships (of distance or closeness, kinship or foreignness) between manuscripts of different ages; - the relationship between biblical manuscripts produced on site and those acquired from elsewhere; - the interactions between the manufacturing practices used in the production of the Bibles and their intended use within the monastic community; - the evolution of the role played by Montecassino―well beyond the so-called ‘Golden Age’―as a center of culture and book production, examined from typologically specific viewpoint.