Les traces des copistes dans la Bible Anglo-Normande
Rezumat
The traces left by the copyists in the Anglo-Norman Bible
Abstract: The Anglo-Norman Bible is a French translation of the Latin Vulgate, made in England, and dated from the 14th century. The text has come down to us in two manuscripts with very dif-ferent appearances. What can we perceive of the personality of these clerics from these diffe-rences in their work? What individual traces do these two copyists leave in the manuscripts? How do these two writings readable today show the work at work and the intentions of the writers? Scholarly clerics knowing the Biblical text, they are also translators, theologians, proofreaders, illuminators perhaps, depending on whether or not these tasks were combined or assigned to a single person within the framework of a workshop. The biblical text appears em-bellished with decorative elements, but it is also the subject of interpretation using punctua-tion, corrections and even more through the presence of glosses (more numerous and varied in the manuscript from London, including in several languages). All these elements also show that those who intervened worked for very different recipients: the serious work, a little aus-tere and yet open to internal interpretations of the London manuscript seems well dedicated to a religious and studious environment; the more worldly and pleasant manner of the manuscript preserved in Paris, whose text is more readable but sometimes more messy, points towards less specialized readers and a more family audience. Thus, the same Latin words reappear in French wrapped in a linguistic, pragmatic (even artistic or stylistic) reflection, from a theologi-cal and religious perspective.
Keywords: Anglo-Norman, Bible, Translation, manuscripts, clerical work, medieval rhetoric
Citation suggestion: Revol, Thierry. “Les traces des copistes dans la Bible Anglo-Normande”. Transilvania, no. 8 (2025): 21-30.
https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2025.8.03.
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