The Cistercian Reform and the Art of the Book in Twelfth-Century France (Knowledge Communities)

This book is a study of the programmatic oral performance of the written word and its impact on art and text. Communal singing and reading of the Latin texts that formed the core of Christian ritual and belief consumed many hours of the Benedictine monk's day. These texts-read and sung out loud, memorized, and copied into manuscripts-were often illustrated by the very same monks who participated in the choir liturgy. The meaning of these illustrations sometimes only becomes clear when they are read in the context of the texts these monks heard read. The earliest manuscripts of Cîteaux, copied and illuminated at the same time that the new monastery's liturgy was being reformed, demonstrate the transformation of aural experience to visual and textual legacy. Cover 1 Table of Contents 6 Abbreviations 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 14 The Love of Learning and the Desire for God 16 Early Cîteaux 22 Voice and Memory at Cîteaux 29 Meditations on the Song of Songs 33 The Plan of Action 35 After Early Cîteaux 38 1 The Joy of Psalmody 40 The Night Office 41 Reconstructing Advent at Cîteaux 45 The Advent Cursus at the New Monastery 48 2 Jerome’s Legacy at Twelfth-Century Cîteaux 60 Cîteaux and Jerome 63 Stephen as a New Jerome 65 Jerome in the Liturgy 71 Picturing Jerome at Cîteaux 75 Jerome’s Letters 81 3 The Virgin and the Abbot 112 And There Shall Come Forth a Rod Out of Jesse 113 The Jesse Tree 116 Christ as Priest 128 Jesus’ Prefigurations 137 The Virgo Lactans 142 Bernard of Clairvaux, the Virgin, and the Legacy of Cîteaux’s Art and Liturgy 147 4 Fruitful Words in the Stephen Harding Bible 158 Biting, Chewing, and Swallowing: Eating the Word 160 Were All Twelfth-Century Animals Hungry for Scripture? 171 The Meaning of Ornament in the Cîteaux Scriptorium 176 Lips, Tongues, and Ears: Picturing the Spoken Word 182 Fruitful Words in the Refectory 184 Herod’s Downfall and the Sin of Gluttony 193 Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Sung Scripture 198 Conclusion: Beyond Sound 206 Appendices 212 Bibliography 222 Index 236 "The monks of Cîteaux produced some of the most beautiful and enigmatic manuscripts of the twelfth century. This book interprets their function and the meaning of their illuminations as a group for the first time using the monastery's newly reformed liturgy and the literary works that surrounded it. The Cistercian Reform and the Art of the Book in Twelfth-Century France is a study of the programmatic oral performance of the written word and its impact on art and text. Communal singing and reading of Latin texts formed the core of Christian ritual and belief consumed many hours of the Benedictine monk's day. These texts -- read and sung out loud, memorized, and copied into manuscripts -- were often illustrated by the very same monks who participated in the choir liturgy. The meaning of these illustrations sometimes only becomes clear when they are read in the context of the texts these monks heard. The earliest manuscripts of Cîteaux, copied and illuminated at the same time that the new monastery's liturgy was being reformed, demonstrate the transformation of aural experience into visual and textual legacy."-- Back cover Communal singing and reading of Latin texts formed the core of Christian ritual and occupied hours of the Benedictine monk's day. These monks also illustrated the texts, and the full meaning of these images is often only revealed when analysed in concert with the oral and written word that originally accompanied them. The earliest manuscripts of the Cîteaux, copied and illustrated during a period of intense reform at the monastery, demonstrate the interdependence between art, liturgy, and reform Communal singing and reading of Latin texts formed the core of Christian ritual and occupied hours of the Benedictine monk’s day. These monks also illustrated the texts, and the full meaning of these images is often only revealed when analyzed in concert with the oral and written word that originally accompanied them. The earliest manuscripts of the Cîteaux, copied and illustrated during a period of intense reform at the monastery, demonstrate the interdependence between art, liturgy, and reform This book analyses the manuscripts of the Cîteaux, copied and illustrated during a period of intense reform at the monastery, that demonstrate the interdependence between art, liturgy, and reform. This book analyses the manuscripts of the Citeaux, copied and illustrated during a period of intense reform at the monastery, that demonstrate the interdependence between art, liturgy, and reform.

Hitchcock's work through his recurring motifs