Bibliography

Crawford, Matthew R., “Scholarly practices: the Eusebian canon tables in the Hiberno-Latin tradition”, in: Matthew R. Crawford, The Eusebian canon tables ordering textual knowledge in late antiquity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 195–227.

  • article in collection
Citation details
Article
“Scholarly practices: the Eusebian canon tables in the Hiberno-Latin tradition”
Pages
195–227
Year
2019
Description
Description
New version of an article published in 2017.
Related publications
First edition or printing
Crawford, Matthew R., “Scholarly practices: the Eusebian canon tables in the Hiberno-Latin tradition”, in: Giles E. M. Gasper, Francis Watson, and Matthew R. Crawford (eds), Producing Christian culture: medieval exegesis and its interpretative genres, London: Routledge, 2017. 65–88.  
abstract:
In this chapter I take up the reception of the Eusebian canon tables in the Hiberno-Latin exegetical tradition, since the Irish were exceptional in the degree of interest they demonstrated in Eusebius’ system, going well beyond the mere copying of the system in their gospelbooks. Indeed, Bernard Bischoff, in his seminal study inaugurating the study of Hiberno-Latin exegesis, highlighted an interest in the canon tables as a distinctive feature of this Irish tradition, but this observation has not received much elaboration in subsequent scholarship. Here I consider four representative texts which illustrate the way in which early medieval Irish scholars exploited the potential of the canon tables for understanding the gospels: 1) the poem Canon Evangeliorum of Ailerán of Clonard; 2) the Pauca de libris catholicorum scriptorum in euangelia excerpta; 3) the Irish Reference Bible; and 4) the commentaries of Sedulius Scottus. My argument is twofold. First, I suggest that these four texts are similar enough to one another that they form a distinct and identifiable tradition, belonging to the world of Hiberno-Latin biblical exegesis. Second, I argue that these texts demonstrate that their authors thought of the canon tables as more than merely ornamental decoration. Rather, they viewed them as an indispensable reading aid for understanding how the fourfold gospel, despite its diversity, nevertheless witnesses to the one Jesus. In this way, the Hiberno-Latin tradition, long noted for its magnificent artistic embellishment of gospelbooks, also stands out as unique within the broader Christian world for its focus on using Eusebius’ cross-referencing system as a hermeneutical tool for reading the gospels.
Subjects and topics
Headings
Hiberno-Latin literature to c.1169 The Bible and its reception
Sources
Texts
History, society and culture
Agents
Sedulius ScottusSedulius Scottus
(fl. 9th century)
Irish scriptural scholar, teacher, grammarian and poet who made a career in Francia and became a leading intellectual figure at the court of Charles the Bald.
See more
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2020, last updated: January 2022