Glossa Ordinaria

Not to be confused with the Glossa Ordinaria written by Accursius c. 1230 collecting commentaries on the Roman law Digest.

The Glossa Ordinaria, which is Latin for "Ordinary [i.e. in a standard form] Gloss", is a collection of biblical commentaries in the form of glosses. The glosses are drawn mostly from the Church Fathers, but the text was arranged by scholars during the twelfth century. The Gloss is called "ordinary" to distinguish it from other gloss commentaries. In origin, it is not a single coherent work, but a collection of independent commentaries which were revised over time. The Glossa ordinaria was a standard reference work into the Early Modern period, although it was supplemented by the Postills attributed to Hugh of St Cher and the commentaries of Nicholas of Lyra.

Composition

Before the 20th century, this Glossa ordinaria was misattributed to Walafrid Strabo.^[1] The main impetus for the composition of the gloss came from the school of Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) and his brother Ralph. Another scholar associated with Auxerre, Gilbert the Universal (d. 1134), is sometimes credited with the Gloss on much of the Old Testament, although only the gloss on the Book of Lamentations has been firmly attributed to him. The Gloss achieved a more-or-less standard form at Paris in the second half of the twelfth century.

Editions

The Patrologia Latina, volumes 113 and 114, contain a version of the glossa which, as well as being misattributed to Strabo, represents a later manuscript tradition. There is currently available a facsimile of the first printed edition of a glossa, which was published at Strasbourg in 1480/1^[2] which can be found here.^[3] There are now modern editions of the following books: Genesis; Lamentations (prothemes and ch 1); Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; the Epistles of John; the Book of Revelation ; and others.^{[4] [5]}

Other works

It is a parallel tradition to the Jewish Mikraot Gedolot.

Many important works would also have their own glossa ordinaria, such as that of Accursius for Justinian's Corpus or that of Johannes Teutonicus Zemeke and Bartholomew of Brescia of Gratian.^[6]

References

1. The misattribution was first shown by Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1941).
2. Biblia latina cum glossa ordinaria: Facsimile reprint of the Editio Princeps, (Adolph Rusch of Strassburg 1480/81), 4 vols., with an intro. by Karlfried Froehlich and Margaret T. Gibson (Turnhout: Brepols, 1992).
3. "[Biblia cum glossa ordinaria. Pars IV]". dhb.thulb.uni-jena.de. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
4. See references in 'Further Reading'.
5. Litteral John and Sarah van der Pas. The Glossa Ordinaria on the Epistles of St. John 1-3. Consolamini Publications 2015. WorldCat website Retrieved 8 March 2023.
6. Baldwin, John W., The Scholastic Culture of the Middle Ages, 1000-1300, pp. 72-73 ISBN 0-88133-942-3

Further reading

• Dove, Mary (1997). Glossa ordinaria in canticum canticorum. CCCM. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 9782503047010.
• Dove, Mary (2004). The glossa ordinaria on the Song of songs. TEAMS Commentary Series. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University. ISBN 1580440843.
• Froehlich, Karlfried (2010). Biblical Interpretation from the Church Fathers to the Reformation (Variorum Collected Studies Series; CS951; Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010) [seven essays on the Glossa ordinaria]. ISBN 9781409403654.
• Gilbert the Universal (2005). Glossa ordinaria in Lamentationes Ieremie prophete. Prothemata et Liber I: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and a Translation. Studia Latina Stockholmiensia 52. Alexander Andrée (ed.). Stockholm: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis. ISBN 91-7155-069-0.
• Hutton Sharp, Alice (2015). In Principio: The Origins of the Glossa ordinaria on Genesis 1-3. University of Toronto: PhD thesis.
• Klumpenhouwer, Samuel J. (2023). Biblia cum Glossa Ordinaria – Genesis, The Great Medieval Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic. ISBN 9781645853268.
• Kostoff-Kaard, Jenny (2015). The Glossa Ordinaria on Ecclesiastes: A Critical Edition with Introduction. University of Toronto: PhD thesis.
• Matter, E. Ann (1997). "The Church Fathers and the Glossa Ordinaria". In Irena Dorota Backus (ed.). The reception of the church fathers in the West: From the Carolingians to the Maurists. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill. pp. 83–111. ISBN 9004097228.
• McDermott, Ryan (March 2013). "The Ordinary Gloss on Jonah". PMLA. 128 (2): 424–438. doi:10.1632/pmla.2013.128.2.424. ISSN 0030-8129. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
• Smith, Lesley (2009). The Glossa Ordinaria: The Making of a Medieval Bible Commentary. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004177857.
• Smith, Lesley (1996). Medieval exegesis in translation: commentaries on the book of Ruth. TEAMS commentary series. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University. ISBN 1879288680.
• Woodward, Michael S. (2011). The Glossa ordinaria on Romans. TEAMS commentary series. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University. ISBN 9781580441094.
• Litteral, John (editor) and Van Der Pas, Sarah (translator) (2014). The Glossa Ordinaria, Epistles of St. John. Ancient Bible Commentaries in English. Litteral's Christian Library Publications. ISBN 9781500626280.
• Van Der Pas, Sarah (2015). The Glossa Ordinaria on Revelation: an English Translation. Consolamini Commentary Series. ISBN 978-0692538333.
• Schoenfeld, Devorah (2012). Isaac on Jewish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exegesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria, New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823243495.
• Zier, Mark A. (1993). "The manuscript tradition of the Glossa ordinaria for Daniel, and hints at a method for a critical edition". Scriptorium. 47 (1): 3–25. doi:10.3406/scrip.1993.1649. ISSN 0036-9772.
• Zier, Mark (1997). “Peter Lombard and the Glossa ordinaria on the Bible”. In J. Brown and W.P. Stoneman (eds.). A Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies in honor of Leonard E. Boyle. O.P. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 629-641. ISBN 978-0268008833.
• Zier, Mark (2004). “The Development of the Glossa Ordinaria to the Bible in the Thirteenth Century: The Evidence from the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris”. In G. Cremascoli and F. Santi (eds.). La Bibbia de XIII Secolo: Storia del Testo, Storia dell’Esegesi. Florence: Sismel - Edizioni del Galluzzo. pp. 155-184. ISBN 8884501180.
• Zier, Mark (2007). “Peter Lombard and the Glossa Ordinaria: A Missing Link?” In Pietro Lombardo. Atti del XLIII Convegno storico internazionale. Todi, 8-10 ottobre 2006. Spoleto: Fondazione Centro italiano di Studi sull'alto medioevo. pp. 361-409. ISBN 9788879880657.

External links

• Complete glossa ordinaria at Glossae Scripturae Sacrae-electronicae (Gloss-e)
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Scriptural Glosses
• "A Handlist of Medieval Manuscripts of the Glossa Ordinaria" with links to online catalogues and digitized manuscripts where available
• Glossa ordinaria, ed. Migne, Google Books facsimile: vol. 1, vol. 2
• Glossa ordinaria via VulSearch ! This version of the Glossa is incomplete and is not representative of the medieval text. It is not suitable for scientific work.
• Website providing resources about the Glossa Ordinaria and other glosses to the Bible: Glossae.net