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THE MATERIAL CULTURE of the
late medieval and early modern Bible is at the core
of a new research project, which commenced at the academic
year 2007-2008. Eyal Poleg,
with the assistance of funding from the British Academy,
examines the role of the Bible in medieval society,
and its transition from the Late Middle Ages to Early
Modernity. The project scrutinises the evolution
of the one-volume Bible and sheds new light on the connection
between layout, provenance and usage. Based on
an examination of dozens of biblical manuscripts, incunabula
and early prints, an inner biblical hierarchy is established,
and leads to a new understanding of the physical as
well as the sacred object that is the Bible.
Two moments in the history of the book are key.
The second is the invention of movable type in the west,
most obviously in Gutenberg's celebrated edition of
the Bible, a moment whose significance in world history
is inestimable. However, Gutenberg's and subsequent
Bibles, were to varying extents derived from earlier
Bibles going back to the first half of the thirteenth
century. Even the reformation printers who went
against catholic doctrine in their publication of vernacular
Bibles can be seen to have perpetuated the layout of
these earlier manuscripts.
The introduction of small, one-volume
Bibles in the thirteenth century enabled the establishment
of specific layout that was to have considerable repercussions.
The introduction of technological innovations, which
enabled their mass production, accompanied by changes
within the Catholic church, created further demand for
as well as the means to supply such Bibles. New
formats, displaying evidence of innovation as well as
the perpetuation of older customs, suggests a shift
in the perception of the Bible, and the sources of its
sacrality.
The layout of the Bible was profoundly implicated in
the oral and visual mediation of the biblical text,
whether in art, literature or liturgy. Bibles
were rarely read silently but were used for oral dissemination,
facilitated biblical and theological studies, or were
reiterated in the course of liturgy. These uses,
and chief among them preaching, were at the core of
the layout of the new Bibles. Thus, for example,
the layout of the Psalms in the late medieval period
imitated liturgical practice while simultaneously breaking
from its confines in offering a closer reading of cryptic
passages. Moreover, common addenda, such as the
Interpretations of Hebrew Names , enhanced
the reader's experience, and accommodated it to sanctioned
dogma. Studying biblical layout and common addenda
can therefore allow us to trace the late medieval Bible
as the precursor of humanists and reformers alike.
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