The Ashburnham Pentateuch and its Contexts: The Trinity in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

245 Pages·2022·32.188 MB·Latin

by  Jennifer Awes Freeman

THE ASHBURNHAM PENTATEUCH AND ITS CONTEXTS
BOYDELL STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE
ISSN 2045-4902
Series Editors
Professor Julian Luxford
Professor Asa Simon Mittman
This series aims to provide a forum for debate on the art and
architecture of the Middle Ages. It covers all media, from manuscript
illumination to maps, tapestries, carvings, wall-paintings, and
stained glass, and all periods and regions, including Byzantine art.
Both traditional and more theoretical approaches to the subject
are welcome.
Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to the
editors or to the publisher, at the addresses given below.
Professor Julian Luxford, School of Art History, University of St
Andrews, 79 North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, UK
Professor Asa Simon Mittman, Department of Art and Art History,
California State University at Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0820, USA
Boydell & Brewer, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
Previously published titles in the series are listed at the back of this
volume.
THE ASHBURNHAM
PENTATEUCH AND
ITS CONTEXTS
THE TRINITY IN LATE
ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY
MIDDLE AGES
Jennifer Awes Freeman
THE BOYDELL PRESS
© Jennifer Awes Freeman 2022
The right of Jennifer Awes Freeman to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part
of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published,
performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or
reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner
First published 2022
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978 1 78327 684 4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978 1 80010 490 7 (ePDF)
ISBN 978 1 80010 491 4 (ePUB)
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620-2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites
is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover image: Creation, Ashburnham Pentateuch, Paris, Bibliothèque
nationale de France, MS NAL 2334, fol. 1v (Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF)
For Paul Meyvaert, beatae memoriae

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction: Losing and Finding the
Ashburnham Pentateuch 1
1
Early Trinitarian Texts and Debates 20
2
The Trinity in Early Christian Images 34
3
Carolingian Conceptions of the Trinity 61
4
Carolingian Image Theory 118
5
The Carolingian Reception of the
Ashburnham Pentateuch 147
Conclusion: Possible Motivations for the Ashburnham
Pentateuch Erasures 164
Coda: The Afterlives of the Ashburnham Pentateuch 181
Acknowledgments 191
Bibliography 195
Index 215

ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
I Creation, Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 1v
II Plague of the Firstborn, Ashburnham Pentateuch,
fol. 65v (detail)
III Jacob and Esau, fol. 25r (detail)
IV Hospitality of Abraham, Santa Maria Maggiore,
Rome, 435 CE
V Hospitality of Abraham, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy,
547 CE
VI Creation, Vienna Genesis, fol. 1r (detail)
VII Incipit Page of Gospel of Mark, Gospel Book of
St. Médard of Soissons, fol. 82r
VIII Apse Mosaic, Germigny-des Prés, France,
c.806 CE
FIGURES
1 “The Ashburnham Pentateuch,” Frank Leslie’s
Sunday Magazine 14 (July–Dec., 1883): 264 2
2 “The Ashburnham Pentateuch,” Frank Leslie’s
Sunday Magazine 14 (July–Dec., 1883): 265 3
3 Reconstruction of Ashburnham Pentateuch
fol. 1v (illustration) 13
4 Plague of the Firstborn, Ashburnham Pentateuch,
fol. 65v 38
5 Jacob and Esau, Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 25r 40