Name/TitleThe earliest extant Latin Bible, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Codex Amiatinus

About this objectCodex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving complete one-volume Latin Bible. It was one of three single volume bibles produced around 700 at the Benedictine monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow in the northeast of England and it is recorded that the monastery needed 2,000 head of cattle to produce sufficient parchment: the skins of stillborn or new-born calves can be used. However, research suggests that this copy used parchment made from goat and sheep skins rather than that of calves, and that the parchment might have been imported from Italy. The remaining parts of the other two are made from calfskins. This copy has over 2,000 folios of parchment and was sent to Italy as a gift for Pope Gregory II in 716.

Date Madec.700

PeriodAnglo-Saxon

Place MadeEngland

Subject and Association KeywordsLiving in Belief

Subject and Association KeywordsBooks

Subject and Association DescriptionLearn More: Breay and Story 2018, Vcounek 2019.

Medium and MaterialsInk and pigments on parchment

TechniqueManuscript

Measurements49 x 34 cm x 18 cm, 34 kg.

Credit LineBiblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

Object numberEXH72, Codex Amiatinus