This manuscript contains the commentaries on the Book of
Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua of the Benedictine monk Hrabanus
Maurus (b. c. 780, d. 856). It was one of several biblical
commentaries that the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, one of the
oldest daughter houses of the Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux,
produced in the 1st quarter of the 13th century. The manuscript was
preserved in the abbey's library from the 12th century until the
monastery was dissolved by French revolutionary forces in
1790.Contents: ff. 1r-1v: Hrabanus Maurus, dedicatory letter to
Freculphus, Bishop of Lisieux (d. 850), ‘Incipit epistola Rabani
ad a friduricum [sic] episcopum in exposicione Deuteronomium’.
ff. 1v-3r: A table of contents for Hrabanus Maurus, Commentary on
Deuteronomy. ff. 3r-95r: Hrabanus Maurus, Commentary on Deuteronomy
(Books I-IV). ff. 96r-97r: Hrabanus Maurus, dedicatory letter to
Frederick I, Bishop of Utrecht (d. 838), beginning, ‘Incipit
epistola Rabani ad friduricum episcopum in exposicione Josue’.
ff. 97r-98r: A table of contents for Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on
Joshua. ff. 98r-150r: Hrabanus Maurus, Commentary on Joshua (Books
I-III). f. 150r: A book curse (rubricated) from the Cistercian
abbey of Pontigny: ‘Volumine isto continetur Rabanus super
deuteronomium . Et super Josue. Est autem liber iste sancte Marie
pontiniacensis. Cuius fraude vel dolo perierit ; anathema sit’.
[f. 95v and f. 150v are empty].Decoration:7 large initials in
frames with interlace containing foliate decoration, some with
zoomorphic figures, in colours at the beginning of the preface and
the books (ff. 1r, 3r, 21r, 48v, 71r, 98r, 116r). 1 large initial
in blue and red with pen-flourishing at the beginning of Joshua (f.
96r). 1 large red initials in a green frame with blue penwork
decoration and pen-flourishing (f. 98r). Small initials in red or
blue throughout the manuscript, some with penwork decoration in
blue or red.
