A Journey of a Thousand Years The Giant Bible of Saint Maximin

Until the rise of the universities in the 13^th century, manuscripts (i.e., texts written by hand on especially prepared sheep, goat, veal or cow hides, generically known as ʽparchmentʼ) were almost exclusively produced in monasteries. Acting as the main repositories of learning and literacy, both classical and contemporary, many of these monasteries had their own scriptorium, i.e. a place where especially trained scribes would copy manuscripts (or compose new ones), either for their own use, for exchange, or for sale.

Thus, the Ottonian emperors (11^th century) had some of the most spectacular surviving early medieval manuscripts (such as the famous Codex aureus, now in Nürnberg) written and illuminated at Echternach, whose scriptorium was renowned for the quality and accuracy of its productions.

Most mediaeval libraries have not survived the tides of the times in their entirety, and even fewer can still be admired in situ (the Stiftsbibliothek at Sankt Gallen and the Biblioteca Capitolare at Verona being great exceptions). They were sold, burned, pillaged, dispersed, or otherwise dismantled and destroyed. In absolute terms, it is very rare for a manuscript to return to its ʽbirth-placeʼ, as it were, nearly a millennium after its confection; and it is even rarer that its whereabouts over such a long period of time can be traced almost year by year. The Giant Bible that the BnL has been fortunate enough to purchase after protracted negotiations is an almost unique example.

Chronology and Peripeties

1. The great imperial abbey of Sankt Maximin in Trier was founded in the Merovingian period, sacked by the Vikings in the 9^th century and taken under the protection of Emperor Lothaire (795–855) in 882. Alongside the abbey of Echternach (founded 697/98), to which it was intimately connected until the 17^th century, it became one of the most important and wealthy medieval monasteries of the Rhineland. It is there that our Giant Bible was written in the last quarter of the 11^th century, thus being only a few years younger than the other Giant Bible held by the BnL (Ms 264), itself composed under abbot Regimbert (1051–1081) in Echternach, and by which our piece was clearly influenced. There are many intrinsic pointers that allow a precise determination both of the book’s origin (Schriftheimat) and of its provenance (Bibliotheksheimat), such as highly specific instructions for prayer, unusual liturgical lessons, or a document attributed to Pope Leo VII excommunicating the abbey’s enemies. Its presence at the abbey was (perhaps) recorded in one of the oldest surviving library catalogues, written c. 1125 (now Trier, Wissenschaftl. Bibl., 2209/2328, fol. 1^r), as being one of two ʽbibliothece maiores perfecteʼ (ʽover-sized bibles, with full textʼ; the other full bible mentioned here was a Carolingian pandect, later cut up and only surviving in less than 200 fragments, of which two were only recently acquired by the BnL [used as pastedowns in BnL Inc 159]).
2. In the five centuries that followed, the Bible served as a lectionary for special occasions in the choir (high altar) of the abbey church. At some stage during the first quarter of the 16^th century, its original binding was replaced. The current binding (two heavy wooden boards covered with thick, white pig skin) goes back to this period.
3. Very likely during the second part of the 16^th century, the Bible was removed from the church and integrated into the library, where the librarian Nicolaus Petreius identified it as ʽex libris imperialis monasterii sancti Maximiniʼ. Around 1593, the library was re-ordered and the manuscripts re-classified; our codex then received the (still visible) pressmark N 204 (fol. 2^r).
4. At some stage during the 18^th century, Duke Karl Eugen von Württemberg (1723–1798) offered the monks 300 gold ducats for the purchase of the book. The Duke’s offer was turned down; had it been successful, the Bible might now be housed, alongside the other books once belonging to the Duke’s private collection, at the Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart.
5. Following the secularisation, Sankt Maximin, like every monastery on the left bank of the Rhine, was suppressed in 1802. The tale of the dispersal of its library is complex and complicated. Many of its manuscripts were acquired by the historian Joseph von Goerres (1776–1848). About 60, including those from the Goerres collection, are now in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin; 72 are in the Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek in Trier; another 100 or so are scattered across the world. Several have ended up at the BnL (Ms 136, Ms 271 etc. – not counting a handful of incunabula, i. e. books printed before 1 January 1501).
6. It is not exactly clear how the Giant Bible ended up among the possessions of Leander van Ess (1772–1847), former monk of Marienmünster and Catholic biblical translator. In any case, he lists it as no. 15 in the catalogue of manuscripts owned by himself that he published in 1823 (the pressmark given by van Ess can still be found on a paper label on the spine).
7. The remains of the van Ess collection were bought en bloc in 1825–6 by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872), who had amassed the largest collection of manuscript material (some 60,000 volumes) in the 19^th century. Phillipps’ stenciled crest (ʽPhillipps 400ʼ) can be seen on folio 1^r. (The BnL owns another manuscript formerly belonging to the Phillipps collection [olim Phillipps 8863; now BnL Ms 871, acquired in 2016].)

8. We know that the codex was still in Thirlestaine House (Cheltenham), the Phillipps family’s home, around 1895. After the acquisition of the so-called ʽresidueʼ of the collection by the Robinson brothers in 1946, what were considered to be the 34 most valuable books ʽof the highest importance and interestʼ were almost immediately consigned to Sotheby’s. On 1 July 1946, the Giant Bible was sold as lot 4a to Maggs (their pencil code in lower corner of upper cover).
9. From there, it passed into the possession of Philip M. Chancellor (b. 1909), who pasted his armorial bookplate (ʽque je surmonteʼ) on the first fly leaf.
10. In November 1955, M. Chancellor presented it to an unknown family in central America (Mexico?), who in turn consigned it again for sale to Sotheby’s in London.
11. Sotheby’s offered the codex for sale on 6 December 1983 as lot 46 in their Catalogue of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures to be sold with the Gospels of Henry the Lion and including … The Giant Bible of St. Maximin in Trier. (On that occasion, the Gospels of Henry the Lion were sold for £8,140,000, which was then the most expensive book in the world). At this auction, the Deutsche Bank (on behalf of the West German government) did not manage to purchase the Giant Bible; they were overbid by the bibliophile, collector, and philanthropist Henri Schiller.
12. Henri Schiller (b. 1933) owned the manuscript for two decades, from 1983 to 2003 (London).
13. Sam Fogg purchased it from Henri Schiller in 2003 and owned it until 2007.
14. In 2007, the codex was acquired by Sir Paul Ruddock (b. 1958), collector and philanthropist, in London. Ruddock in turn owned the manuscript only for one year.
15. In 2008, it was sold to a private collector in Switzerland (Idda Collection).
16. The latter entrusted it for sale to Les Enluminures in 2022, one of the world’s leading expert in Medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination, who never advertised it in any of its catalogues, but immediately approached the BnL as a prospective buyer.
17. In 2024, the codex was finally purchased by the BnL, c. 950 years after it was written at Sankt Maximin with the help of monks from Echternach.