Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch by Dorothy Verkerk (review)

REVIEWS 310 brewing industry in the later Middle Ages and in his treatment of Judith Bennett ’s gendered analysis of women in the brewing industry in late medieval England. She argues that the shift from the small-scale domestic production of ale, which women dominated, to the commercial production of hopped beer reveals the continuity of patriarchy and the persistent marginalization of women’s work. Ale production was a low status, low-profit, part-time craft that was acceptable for women. The arrival of hopped beer, however, attracted professional , male brewers who ultimately pushed women into marginal and lessprofitable sectors of the industry. Thus, women’s roles changed, but their lowstatus did not.34 Unger argues, on the other hand, that England was exceptional and that women remained important members of the beer industry, with many women continuing to brew beer throughout this period in other parts of northern Europe, including Scotland. While offering an important counterbalance, his argument also relies on the idea that both brewing and tavern-owning were profitable ventures for women, even though women tavern-keepers were heavily critiqued. Greater attention to the lives and livelihoods of these women might have shed more light on this issue. Nevertheless, Unger provides an excellent overview of the development of the brewing industry and presents this story in a manner that will allow future historians to delve deeper into the lives of these entrepreneurs and to question the impact of beer and other alcohols on medieval and Renaissance society. MARK P. O’TOOL, History, UC Santa Barbera Dorothy Verkerk, Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2004) x + 262 pp., ill. The richly illustrated Ashburnham Pentateuch (Paris, BNF lat. nouv. acq. 2334) has long presented a scholarly conundrum as to its origins and models. It has been ascribed, variously, to northern Africa, Spain, southern France, Dalmatia, Illyrium, Syria, and northern Italy. In her intriguing new book, Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch, Dorothy Verkerk seeks to place it firmly within a Roman milieu of the late sixth to early seventh centuries, between the reigns of Pope Gregory the Great and Pope Honorius I. Drawing on liturgy, catechetical, and exegetical literature, and paleographic and iconographic comparisons, she weaves a persuasive argument that in her words “place(s) this fascinating manuscript within the mainstream of early medieval culture” (197). In chapter 1, Verkerk challenges some basic assumptions about the Ashburnham Pentateuch: that it is provincial in origins; that the style of its illustrations is mediocre and their format haphazard; and that its iconography derives primarily from Jewish art and literature. She argues that these assumptions and doubts about the books origins have tended to marginalize it within the field of early medieval manuscript studies. The search for origins, she suggests , has focused too narrowly on selective details rather than addressing the evidence provided by the manuscript as a whole. The widely embraced theory 34 Judith M. Bennett, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World 1300–1600 (New York and Oxford 1996). REVIEWS 311 of influences from Jewish art draws on limited evidence from broadly divergent dates such as the earlier frescoes at Dura Europos or much later fourteenth century illuminated Jewish manuscripts. While parallels to some motifs can be found in Jewish literature, Verkerk demonstrates that the Ashburnham Pentateuch shares very similar “cultural patterns” with late antique Christian exegetical and catechistic literature such as Augustine’s De catechizandis rudibus (32). In fact, she maintains that the Ashburnham Pentateuch was largely intended as a didactic tool for teaching clergy. The second chapter gives an overview of the script, text, illuminations and provenance, and reassesses the manuscripts overall importance. Verkerk tells us that the manuscript can be dated to the late sixth to early seventh century on paleographic and stylistic evidence; and that the text is one of the earliest surviving examples of the Vulgate. In reassessing the quality of the Ashburnham Pentateuch miniatures, she praises their evocative colors, attention to detail, and “astonishingly rich illustration” (51). The book was in Tours at an early date, where it influenced the format and iconography of Carolingian illustrated Bibles, as well as...