Biblical Exegesis at Wearmouth-Jarrow before Bede? The Hereford commentary on Matthew

Cardwell, Samuel

Abstract

This article examines a previously neglected fragment of an early medieval commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, the bifolium Hereford Cathedral Library, P. II. 10. I argue on palaeographical grounds that this fragment was produced in Bede’s monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the first decades of the eighth century, at roughly the same time as the production of the Codex Amiatinus. This leads into a study of the text itself, which is in fact a compilation of two quite different texts. The second part of the text is mostly based on a known early medieval commentary, one of the supposedly ‘Hiberno-Latin’ texts identified by Bernard Bischoff in the 1950s. The first part of the text is unique to this fragment, has few clear analogues, and has never previously been studied. I consider the implications of this fragment – both as a codicological artefact and as a piece of biblical exegesis – on our understanding of Bede’s monastery at a crucial early point in its history. The appendix of the article includes an edited text and translation of the fragment.

Citation

Cardwell, S. (2025). Biblical Exegesis at Wearmouth-Jarrow before Bede? The Hereford commentary on Matthew. Early Medieval Europe, 33(2), 183-219. https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12762

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 29, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025-05
• Deposit Date: Feb 23, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 22, 2027
• Journal: Early Medieval Europe
• Print ISSN: 0963-9462
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0254
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 183-219
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12762
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/45850005
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/emed.12762