A MEDIEVAL FRAGMENT OF MACCABEES, ITALY ca. 1350

[Bible, Medieval Manuscript on vellum] Medieval fragment of Maccabees with commentary. [Italy, about 1350].

A fragment of a medieval Bible, containing the first book of Maccabees (chapther 2:42) with the commentary by Rabanus Maurus.

Rabanus Maurus Magnentius (c. 780 – 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis (On the Nature of Things). He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible. He was one of the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, and was called “Praeceptor Germaniae”, or “the teacher of Germany” . Rabanus’ works, many of which remain unpublished, comprise Scriptural commentaries and various treatises relating to doctrinal and practical subjects, including more than one series of Homilies.

In 2006, the 1150th anniversary of his death was celebrated in Germany, especially in Mainz and Fulda. One of the highlights of the celebrations was the display of Codex Vaticanus Reginensis latinus 124, an extremely rare loan by the Vatican to Mainz of a spectacular manuscript containing De laudibus sanctae crucis. The anniversary also saw the publication of no fewer than three book-length studies of Maurus and his work.

References: The first nominally complete edition of the works of Hrabanus Maurus was that of Colvener (Cologne, 6 vols. fol., 1627). The Opera omnia form vols. cvii-cxii of Migne’s Patrologiae cursus completus. The De universo is the subject of Compendium der Naturwissenschaften an der Schule zu Fulda im IX. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1880).

A bit faded, but fascinating.