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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
The two texts presented here as a contribution to Hiberno-Latin literature are only a fragment of the still unedited Bible commentaries which came forth from the Irish Bible Schools of the Early Middle Ages. These two pieces are valuable sources for the development of biblical exegesis in the pre-Carolingian age, which, except for the accomplishment of the Venerable Bede (d. 735), is distinguished neither for the richness nor the depth of its theological writing. The years between the death of St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636) and Alcuin of York (d. 804) were dominated by the intellectual activity of the Irish monks, whose reputation for learning was mainly founded on their Bible scholarship. But the fruit of this scholarship is not well known. Though the two texts edited below do not represent all the intellectual factors involved in the biblical exegesis of the ancient schools of Ireland, they do reflect the spirit and method of these schools; and they do afford a clear insight into the cultural problem of the development of medieval exegesis at its earliest stage.
1 Cf. for a general conspectus of biblical exegesis in the Early Middle Ages, McNally, R. E., The Bible in the Early Middle Ages (Woodstock Papers 4; Westminster, Maryland 1959).Google Scholar
2 There are 71 folios, written in double columns with 34 lines to a column and measuring 239 X 239 mm (170 X 170–180 mm). See Bischoff, B., Die südostdeutschen Schreibschulen und Bibliotheken in der Karolingerzeit I (Sammlung bibliothekswissenschaftlicher Arbeiten 49; Leipzig 1940) 68, 132, whose paleographical description I have followed.Google Scholar
3 Bischoff, ‘Wendepunkte in der Geschichte der lateinischen Exegese im Frühmittelalter,’ Sacris erudiri 6 (1954) 238, 259. Google Scholar
4 Bischoff, , ibid. 266–68; Thurneysen, R., in Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 21 (1939) 284–87.Google Scholar
5 Bischoff, , ibid. 236–37; Griesser, B., ‘Beiträge zur Textgeschichte der “Expositio IV Evangeliorum” des Ps. Hieronymus,’ Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 54 (1930) 40–87; Id., ‘Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der “Expositio IV Evangeliorum” des Ps.-Hieronymus,’ Revue bénédictine 49 (1937) 279–321. The Irish character of this Gospel commentary is beyond question.Google Scholar
6 Bischoff, , ibid. 260–62; Thurneysen, op. cit. 287.Google Scholar
7 This triad, found in the grammarians of Late Antiquity, may have been immediately suggested by Gregory, Hom. in Ezechielem 1.2.1 (PL 76.795C). Google Scholar
8 Cf. n. 5 supra. Google Scholar
9 McNally, R. E., Der irische Liber de numeris (Munich 1957) 169–70.Google Scholar
10 Bischoff, ‘Wendepunkte’ 242–45. Since the author actually lists eleven categories, decem might be emended to <un>decem. decem.>Google Scholar
11 Bischoff, , ibid. 245–46.Google Scholar
12 Bardy, G., ‘La littérature patristique des “Quaestiones et Responsiones” sur l’Écriture sainte,’ Revue biblique 41 (1932) 210–36. 341–69; 42 (1933) 14–30, 211–29, 328–52. Cf. on the use of the question-and-answer form in Irish works, McNally, Der irische Liber de numeris 147–48, 199 n. 8; Bischoff, ibid. 206–207; Kenney, J., The Sources for the Early History of Ireland I (New York 1929) 666.Google Scholar
13 I have not attempted to list in this study all the possible literary parallels which could be cited.Google Scholar