Beneventana

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Page of the Regula Benedicti , dated 1075–1090, from the library of Monte Cassino
Institutiones des Cassiodor, Bamberg, State Library, Ms. Patr. 61, fol. 29 BC

The Beneventana is a Longobard book font that was mainly widespread in southern Italy . The most famous is the Monte Cassino style .

It got its name from Elias Avery Lowe after the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy, where it was widespread. Occasionally it is also referred to as Langobarda, Longobarda or Longobardisca. It was counted among the national scripts by the older palaeographic research .

It was mainly used in the south of the Italian peninsula, although writing centers can be found on the Dalmatian Adriatic coast. The older forms have developed from the southern Italian semi-italics since the middle of the 8th century . The more recent forms are in use from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Individual examples can also be traced back to the 16th century. The two main centers where the writing was cultivated are the Monte Cassino Monastery and the Scriptoria in Bari . The Bari type is a further development of the type that was written in Monte Cassino in the 10th century.

In its high phase in the 11th / 12th Century (Lowe) the shafts of the letters turned in the middle are characteristic. Refraction and arch connections are also among the distinguishing features. Overall, the script is rich in ligatures.

Leading letters are:

  • the “oc” -shaped a , which in the older manuscripts is open at the top, shaped like a “cc-a”;
  • the e with a long middle bar and ascender, which is similar to the double-storey c notched in the middle , typical of the Beneventana from Bari;
  • the g with an open curve above and below;
  • the pole-shaped r in the older form of the Beneventana;
  • the t with the crossbar rolled up on the left, which can be connected in a typical way with a subsequent i : The " overturned " t - i ligature, which looks like a standing "8", denotes the tsi sound (as in amicitia ), while the "lying eight" is used for simple ti (as in contineri ). (The Codex Patr. 61 from Bamberg, the oldest manuscript in Beneventana, does not yet have this distinction.)

Another typical feature is the abbreviation symbol, which often puts a point above the abbreviation line. For the closing m , an abbreviation similar to a "3" is often used above the line.

Manuscripts

One of the oldest evidence is the Bamberger Cassiodor manuscript (Msc. Patr. 61), the oldest and best tradition of his Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum . The Exultet roles are also well-known testimonies of the Beneventana .

literature

  • Francesco Bianchi / Antonio Magi Spinetti: BMB. Bibliografia dei manoscritti in scrittura Beneventana, Rome 1993 ff.
  • Virginia Brown : A second new list of beneventan manuscripts, Studi medievali 40 (1978) 239-289
  • Guglielmo Cavallo : Rotoli di Exultet dell'Italia meridionale, Bari 1973.
  • Guglielmo Cavallo: Struttura e articolazione della minuscola beneventana tra i secoli X - XII, in: Studi medievali 3rd ser. 11, pp. 343-368 (1970).
  • Alfonso Gallo: Contributo allo studio delle scritture meridionali nell'alto medio evo, in: Bulletino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano 47 (1931), pp. 333-350.
  • Elias Avery Lowe : The Beneventan Script. A history of the south Italian Minuscule, Oxford 1914.
  • Elias Avery Lowe: Scriptura beneventana. A history of the South Italian minuscule, 2 vols., Oxford 1929.
  • Elias Avery Lowe: A new list of beneventan manuscripts. In: Collectanea Vaticana in honorem AM card. Albareda, Città del Vaticano 1962 (Studi e testi 220), pp. 211-244 = ders., Palaographical Papers II, Oxford 1972, pp. 417-479.
  • Elias Avery Loew [= Lowe]: The Beneventan Script, 2 vols., 2nd ed., Rome 1978–1980.
  • Francis Newton: Fifty Years of Beneventan Studies, in: AfD 50 (2004), pp. 327–346.
  • Viktor Novak : Scriptura Beneventana s osobitim obzirom na tip dalmatinske beneventane . Zagreb 1920.

Web links

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