Bibbie atlantiche e non solo nella biblioteca della cattedrale di Messina in epoca normanna

Studying the old Cathedral Library of Messina, whose holdings today are preserved mostly in Madrid (BNE), we have focused on the presence of one “Atlantic” Bible and some non-biblical manuscripts with a similar size to the Bibles. The production of these books can be located in Central Italy, perhaps in Rome, since they share features of this region. They mostly transmit biblical commentaries or patristic writings (Augustine, Gregory the Great). Three hypotheses will be pursued on the inclusion of this manuscripts in the holdings of the Cathedral Library: the commission by someone from the cathedral staff (as for the manuscripts of the diocese of Troia, commissioned by Bishop William); the purchase by the clerics of the cathedral for liturgical needs; the gift by one or more clerics who had arrived in Sicily with his own books. Two more hypotheses will be explored on the size of these books: the intent to declare the intellectual and political dependency of at least one part of the diocese of Messina on papal power as opposed to the other political forces; the need of books for liturgical and ecclesiastical uses. In the latter case, the presence of manuscripts of this size might be explaned as a preference for another type of book production other than that of Southern Italy: Norman readers do not seem to have a taste for Southern Italian books in Beneventana script.