The Bobbio Missal
Liturgy and Religious Culture in Merovingian Gaul

A major re-evaluation of one of the most important liturgical manuscripts of late Merovingian Francia.

Yitzhak Hen (Edited by), Rob Meens (Edited by)

9780521823937, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 March 2004

246 pages
24.2 x 18.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.6 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This volume of studies is, in its production as well as the quality of its contents a credit to the distinguished series in which it appears.' The Library

The Bobbio Missal was copied in south-eastern Gaul around the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century. It contains a unique combination of a lectionary and a sacramentary, to which a plethora of canonical and non-canonical material was added. The Missal is therefore highly regarded by liturgists; but, additionally, medieval historians welcome the information to be derived from material attached to the codex, which provides valuable data about the role and education of priests in Francia at that time, and indeed on their cultural and ideological background. The breadth of specialist knowledge provided by the team of scholars writing for this book enables the manuscript to be viewed as a whole, not as a narrow liturgical study. Collectively, the essays view the manuscript as physical object: they discuss the contents, they examine the language, and they look at the cultural context in which the codex was written.

1. Introduction: The Bobbio Missal - from Mabillon onwards Yitzhak Hen
2. The script of the Bobbio Missal Rosamond McKitterick
3. The palimpsest leaves in the Bobbio Missal David Ganz
4. Reading and writing the Bobbio Missal: punctuation, word separation and animated initials Marco Mostert
5. Liturgical Latin in the Bobbio Missal Els Rose
6. Additions to the Bobbio Missal: De dies malus and 'Joca monachorum' Charles D. Wright and Roger Wright
7. The Liturgy of the Bobbio Missal Yitzhak Hen
8. Reforming the clergy: a context for the use of the Bobbio penitential Rob Meens
9. Doctrinal and theological themes in the prayers of the Bobbio Missal Louise P. M. Batstone
10. The Missa pro principe in the Bobbio Missal Mary Garrison
11. Liturgy in the Rhône Valley and the Bobbio Missal Ian N. Wood
12. Conclusion Yitzhak Hen and Rob Meens
Manuscript index
General index.

Subject Areas: Acquisitions & collection development [GLH], Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]