The Study of the Bible in the Cathedral Schools of Twelfth-Century France: A Case Study of Robert Amiclas and Peter Comestor

Abstract

: This article explores some of the surviving evidence from twelfth-century France regarding how the Latin Bible was taught in the cathedral schools of Northern Europe. In addition to raising the question of the genre status of these manuscripts, which survive in the thousands, the article also clarifies what this material evidence can teach modern scholars about the practice of sacra pagina , or biblical exegesis, as was undertook specifically in the ‘classroom’. While the manu- scripts discussed claim to be straightforward students’ reports of a master’s oral lectures on a single canonical text (in this case those of Peter Comestor on the Gospel of Luke), the ‘reports’ themselves significantly challenge our understanding of late twelfth-century teaching practice, manuscript culture, and conception of biblical studies and theology more broadly.