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Acknowledgments I have experienced such generosity over the many years I have been at work on this project that I could not possibly name all of those who have played a role in bringing the book to fruition. Some of the work for this book was begun many years ago while I was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and I remain grateful for the support I enjoyed then. Williams College was extraordinarily generous during the time I served as a visiting professor of history there, funding a trip to consult Italian manuscripts and archival materials. Boston University has since supported my research in a number of ways. A fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania ’s Center for Advanced Judaic Studies allowed me to spend a semester of uninterrupted time on the project in the stimulating company of colleagues working on related issues in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic exegesis; much of my thinking on Nicholas of Lyra’s role as Hebraist emerged during that time. The Boston University Humanities Foundation has borne the cost of Harvard University library borrowing privileges for me for the past several years, an invaluable contribution. Librarians at Boston University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana were particularly helpful at various stages; the head librarian at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts , graciously allowed me access to the library’s collection while it was closed for the summer. Laura Giles, of the Princeton University Art Museum , went out of her way to make a valuable manuscript in the museum’s collection available to me, including providing digitized images for study. Adelaide Bennett, of Princeton University’s Index of Christian Art, came through with helpful information on the manuscript at just the right time. My work was also facilitated by the generosity of book collector David Wells, who gave to me his copy of the first volume of the  Basel edition of Nicholas of Lyra’s Postilla litteralis super Bibliam, just for the pleasure of seeing the book used. John Clayton was chair of the Department of Religion at Boston Uni-  Acknowledgments versity when I first arrived. His enthusiasm for my research and his conviction that a historian could and should feel at home in a religion department made the transition to a new disciplinary environment a positive experience . Sadly, he did not live to see this work brought to completion; he is missed. My students and my colleagues in the departments of both Religion and History at Boston University have contributed to a stimulating environment in which to work; special thanks are due to Peter Hawkins, Michael Zank, and Jon Roberts for their encouragement. Stephen Prothero, my department chair, helped to bring the manuscript to completion by providing me with a research assistant during the final stages of preparation . Emily Taylor Merriman has been the most wonderful research assistant imaginable, chasing books, manuscripts, and illuminations, providing editorial feedback, proofreading, and being generally indispensable. Thanks also to Cristine Hutchison-Jones for technical assistance with the manuscript in various versions. I am sincerely grateful to Jerome Singerman, Mariana Martinez, Alison Anderson, and the staff at the University of Pennsylvania Press for their help in bringing the book to print. I would also like to thank the Press’s anonymous readers and the copy editor for their helpful comments, as well as Matthew Reidsma, who took great care in proofreading the Latin. I owe special thanks to David Ruderman, series editor, for his encouragement and help moving the manuscript toward publication. I would like to thank Koninklijke Brill N.V. for permission to reprint material in Chapter  that appeared originally in a volume edited by Philip Krey and Lesley Smith entitled Nicholas of Lyra: The Senses of Scripture (), and the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Princeton University Art Museum , the Bibliothèque Municipale de Reims, and the Bibliothèque Municipale de Tours for permission to reproduce images. I am grateful to many individuals whose conversation at critical moments forwarded the work in different ways, including Jeremy Cohen, Michael Signer, Philip Krey, Lesley Smith, Kevin Madigan, Christopher Ocker, Stephen McMichael, Ruth Nisse, Miri Rubin, Gilbert Dahan, Alexander Patschovsky, Nina Caputo, Nancy Turner, Jeffrey Hamburger, Deborah Goodwin, and above all Robert E. Lerner, with whom I had the privilege of studying at Northwestern University and whose influence is evident in my work. I...

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