VULGATE
Wordsworth's
numeration)
was
copied
from
one
of
these
MSS,
and
the
same
was
probably
the
case
with
another
Northern
copy
ot
the
Gospels
now
in
the
British
Museum
(Royal
1
B
vii.).
The
great
Cod.
Amiatinus
(A)
itself,
the
best
single
MS
of
the
Latin
Bible
in
existence,
was
written
in
Northumbria
before
716,
and
must
have
been
copied
from
MSS
brought
from
Italy
either
by
Theodore
or
by
Ceolfrid
of
Jarrow,
by
whose
order
it
was
made.
Other
MSS
{notably
A
and
S),
written
in
the
north,
are
closely
akin
to
these,
and
must
be
derived
from
the
same
source;
and
this
whole
group
of
MSS
furnishes
the
best
text
of
the
Vulg.
now
available.
The
centres
of
English
scholarship,
to
which
this
pre-eminence
in
Biblical
study
was
due,
were
the
twin
monasteries
of
Wearmouth
and
Jarrow,
of
which
the
most
famous
members
were
Ceolfrid
and
Bede;
but
their
influence
spread
widely
over
North-umbria,
and
was
renowned
in
the
more
distant
parts
of
England
and
western
Europe.
9.
To
this
renown
it
was
due
that,
when
a
king
at
last
arose
in
France
with
a
desire
to
improve
the
religious
education
of
his
country,
he
turned
to
Northumbria
for
the
necessary
assistance
to
carry
out
the
reform.
The
king
was
Charlemagne,
and
the
scholar
whom
he
invited
to
help
him
was
Alcuin
ot
York;
and
the
record
of
their
joint
achievement
constitutes
the
next
chapter
in
the
history
of
the
Vulgate.
Alcuin
came
to
France
in
781,
ahd
was
made
master
of
the
schools
attached
to
Charle-magne's
court
at
Aix-la-Chapelle
(Aachen).
He
was
subsequently
made
titular
abbot
of
'Tours,
and
in
796
he
obtained
leave
to
retire
to
that
monastery,
where
he
spent
the
nine
remaining
years
of
his
life
(.d.
805)
in
establishing
the
school
of
calligraphy
for
which
Tours
was
long
famous.
His
work
in
connexion
with
the
Latin
Bible
falls
into
two
stages.
To
the
earlier
part
of
his
life
at
Aix
belongs,
in
all
probability,
the
beginning
of
a
series
of
magnificent
copies
of
the
Gospels,
of
which
several
have
survived
to
the
present
day.
Certainly,
they
date
from
about
this
period,
and
have
their
home
in
the
country
of
the
Rhine
and
the
Moselle.
They
are
obviously
modelled
on
the
Anglo-Celtic
MSS,
of
which
the
Lindisfarne
Gospels
is
the
most
eminent
example.
Prefixed
to
each
Gospel
is
a
portrait
of
the
Evangelist
(in
the
Byzantine
style),
a
full
page
of
elaborate
decoration,
and
another
containing
the
first
words
of
the
Gospel
in
highly
ornamental
illumina-tion.
The
English
MSS
excel
their
French
successors
in
elaboration
and
skill
of
workmanship;
but
the
French
books
have
an
added
gorgeousness
from
the
lavish
use
of
gold,
the
whole
of
the
text
being
written
in
gold
letters,
sometimes
upon
purple
vellum.
Hence
the
whole
series
of
these
books
(the
production
of
which
continued
through
the
greater
part
of
the
9th
cent.)
is
often
described
as
the
'Golden
Gospels.'
10.
The
importance
of
the
'
Golden
Gospels
'
group
of
MSS
is
artistic
rather
than
textual,
and
although
their
dependence
upon
Anglo-Celtic
models
is
obvious,
their
connexion
with
Alcuin
personally
is
only
hypothetical.
It
is
otherwise
in
both
respects
with
another
great
group
of
MSS,
which
are
directly
due
to
the
commission
given
by
Charlemagne
to
Alcuin
to
reform
the
current
text
of
the
Vulgate.
About
the
end
of
796,
Alcuin
established
the
school
of
Tours,
and
sent
to
York
for
MSS
to
enable
him
to
carry
out
his
work.
On
Christmas
Day
of
801
he
presented
to
the
king
a
complete
Bible,
carefully
revised.
Several
descendants
of
this
Bible
are
still
in
existence,
and
enable
us
to
judge
of
Alcuin's
work.
They
differ
from
the
'
Golden
Gospels
'
in
being
complete
Bibles,
and
in
being
written
in
the
beautiful
small
minus-cule
which
at
this
time,
under
Charlemagne's
influence,
superseded
the
tortured
and
unsightly
script
of
the
Merovingian
and
Lombardic
traditions,
and
of
which
Tours
was
one
of
the
principal
homes.
The
MS.
which
appears
most
accurately
to
represent
the
edition
of
Alcuin
at
the
present
day
is
the
Cod.
Vallicellianus
at
Rome
(Wordsworth's
V);
with
this
Wordsworth
and
White
associate
the
'Caroline
Bible'
(Add.
MS
10S46
[Wordsworth's
K]
in
the
British
Museum),
and
there
are
VULGATE
some
8
or
10
other
MSS
(written
mostly
at
Tours)
,
besides
several
others
containing
the
Gospels
only,
which
in
varying
degrees
belong
to
the
same
group.
In
text
these
MSS
naturally
show
a
great
affinity
to
the
North-umbrian
MSS
headed
by
the
Cod.
Amiatinus,
and
there
is
no
question
that
Alcuin
introduced
into
France
a
far
purer
text
of
the
Vulgate
than
any
which
it
had
hitherto
11.
Alcuin's
attempt,
however,
was
not
the
only
one
made
in
France
at
this
period
to
reform
the
current
Bible
text.
Another
edition
was
almost
simultaneously
produced
in
western
France
by
Theodulf,
bishop
of
Orleans
and
abbot
of
Fleury
(about
795-821);
but
its
character
was
very
different
from
that
of
Alcuin.
Theodulf
was
a
Visigoth,
probably
from
Septimania,
the
large
district
of
southern
France
which
then
formed
part
of
the
Visigothic
kingdom
ot
Spain;
and
it
was
to
Spain
that
he
looked
for
materials
for
his
revision
of
the
Latin
Bible.
The
MS
which
represents
his
edition
most
fully
(Paris,
Bibl.
Nat.
9380)
has
a
text
closely
connected
with
the
Spanish
type
of
which
the
Codd.
Cavensis
and
Toletanus
are
the
most
prominent
examples,
except
in
the
Gospels,
which
are
akin
rather
to
the
Irish
type;
and
a
contemporary
hand
has
added
a
number
of
variants,
which
are
often
Alcuinian
in
character.
With
this
MS
may
be
associated
a
volume
at
Puy,
and
Add.
MS
24124
in
the
British
Museum,
which
are
closely
akin
to
the
Paris
MS,
but
follow
sometimes
its
first
and
sometimes
its
second
reading;
the
latter
(especially
in
its
corrections)
has
been
used
by
Wordsworth
and
White
along
with
the
Paris
MS
to
represent
the
Theodulflan
edition.
All
are
written
in
an
extremely
minute
Caroline
minuscule.
12.
In
spite,
however,
ot
the
labour
spent
upon
these
attempts
to
improve
the
current
text
of
the
Vulgate,
the
forces
of
deterioration
were
more
powerfulthan
those
of
renovation.
Theodult's
edition,
which
was
a
private
venture,
without
the
advantages
of
Imperial
patronage,
had
no
wide
sphere
ot
influence,
and
left
no
permanent
mark
on
the
text
of
the
Vulgate.
Alcuin's
had,
no
doubt,
much
greater
authority
and
effect;
yet
its
influence
was
only
transient,
and
even
at
Tours
itself
the
MSS
produced
within
the
next
two
generations
show
a
progressive
departure
from
his
standard.
On
the
other
hand,
the
study
of
the
Scriptures
was
now
definitely
implanted
on
the
Continent,
and
the
number
of
copies
of
them
produced
in
France
and
Germany
shows
a
great
increase.
During
the
9th
cent,
splendid
copies
of
the
"Golden
Gospels'
continued
to
be
produced
in
the
valley
of
the
Rhine,
and
Alcuinian
texts
at
Tours;
while
a
new
centre
of
Scripture
study
and
reproduction
came
into
existence
in
Switzer-
land,
at
the
famous
abbey
of
St.
Gall.
The
library
and
scriptorium
of
this
monastery
(many
of
the
inmates
of
which
were
English
or
Irish
monks)
first
became
notable
under
abbot
Gozbert
(816-836),
and
perhaps
reached
the
height
of
their
importance
under
abbot
Hartmut
(872-883).
Many
copies
ot
the
Bible
were
written
there,
and
the
influence
of
St.
Gall
permeated
a
large
portion
of
central
Europe.
Here,
too,
was
produced
by
Walafridus
Strabo,
dean
of
St.
Gall
before
842,
the
original
form
of
the
Glossa
Ordinaria,
the
standard
commentary
on
the
Bible
in
the
Middle
Ages.
13.
After
Alcuin
and
Theodulf
no
important
effort
was
made
to
recover
the
original
text
of
the
Vulgate,
though
some
attempt
in
this
direction
was
made
by
Lanfranc,
ot
which
no
traces
seem
to
survive;
but
the
history
of
its
diffusion
can
to
some
extent
be
followed
by
the
help
of
the
extant
MSS,
which
now
begin
to
increase
greatly
in
number.
The
tradition
of
the
'Golden
Gospels
'
was
carried
into
Germany,
where
copies
of
the
Gospels
were
produced
on
a
smaller
scale,
with
less
ornamentation,
and
in
a
rather
heavy
Caroline
minuscule,
which
clearly
derive
their
origin
from
this
source.
Iij
France
itself,
too,
the
later
representatives
of
this
school
are
inferior
in
size
and
execution
to
their
predecessors.
Spain
and
Ireland
had
by
this
time
ceased
to
be
ot
primary
importance
in
the
circulation
of
Bible
texts.
