Two small cuttings from Hrabanus Maurus, Homilies 150 and 151, quoting Paterius' lost commentary on Luke 10, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [probably Italy, c. 900]
(77 x 43 mm ; 72 x 39 mm) 2 fragments from the same leaf, recovered from post-medieval binding. 13 lines of Carolingian minuscule, with use of et-, st- and ct- ligatures; remnants of rubrications, and one 7+ line initial F (Fratres fiducium tale… from Homily 151) with stem formed of intertwined red and negative space blank parchment, with terminals ending in stylised openwork foliage sprays. Scuffs, holes, fraying to edges. Overall FAIR condition.
These fragments are the sole known survivors of a Carolingian manuscript of Hrabnus Maurus, produced within decades of the saint’s death. Furthermore, the small scraps of text carry the weight of bearing quoted material from a long-lost text of Paterius, whose work was known and used by Hrabnus before its disappearance from history.
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day. His reign would become the Holy Roman Empire, lasting into the 19th century and brought a system of reforms to Europe, stabilising administration, law, education, military, and religion.
These fragments show two aspects of Charlemagne’s educational reforms, which emphasised the standardisation of handwriting and literacy and the production of learned texts.
As you look at this script, written over 1000 years ago, you will notice that the letters themselves are remarkably legible to our eyes. You will also notice the use of the ampersand (&) and elegant ligatures connecting C and S with T, a feature of Carolingian script that helps us date the manuscript. The roundness of the letters suggests Italy as the location of production. The legacy of Carolingian script can be seen even today— our Times New Roman font is based on the Humanist script of the 15th and 16th century Italians, as they revived Charlemagne’s script.
The text comes from the works of Hrabnus Maurus (c. 780 - 856), who studied under Alcuin of York, Charlemagne’s chosen architect of his intellectual reform. It was Alcuin who gave him the name ‘Maurus,’ honouring him with the name of St Benedict’s favourite disciple. Hrabnus served the school and library of Fulda and his own written works reflect on subjects ranging from biblical commentaries, an encyclopaedia in the style of Isadore of Seville, and a work intended to improve Frankish martial skills.
This particular text, preserved only in these small fragments, quotes the work of Paterius (d. 606), from whom we have only one surviving work: an anthology of Pope Gregory I’s biblical exegesis. This work is fragmental— the commentary on the New Testament only has only Genesis to the Song of Songs remaining. The later sections have been in part recovered through 12th century records of excerpts. These 10th century fragments predate those excerpts, demonstrating the centuries-long importance of this now-lost work.
These important fragments are a remarkable survival of an increasingly rare and far-away moment of history that laid the seeds for a modern Europe and host the ghosts of an important scholar from nearly a millennium and a half ago.