An early product of the Cîteaux
scriptorium which was completed during Stephen
Hardings abbacy is an elaborately decorated copy of Gregory
the Greats Moralia in Job. This was a lengthy work of thirty-five
books, divided into six volumes. The Cîteaux copy was originally
in one volume but survives now at Dijon in four (MSS 169, 169, 170,
173). It was completed on Christmas Eve 1111 and includes depictions
of the community at work felling trees, splitting logs and
reaping corn, as well as more fanciful images of jongleurs, beasts
and grotesques.
The image to the right is from Gregorys prefatory letter addressed
to Bishop Leander of Seville. This shows St Gregory (left) nimbed
and vested as pope, handing a copy of his Moralia to Bishop
Leander of Seville, to whom it is addressed. |
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