Early Medieval Tours

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Introduction
- Key dates, people (especially key scribes) and events c. 600–1000.
- Key churches and monasteries producing books associated with the name of the centre (whether in the city or in the region immediately beyond).
- Nearby minor centres (such as Nivelles near Liège), that produced only a few MSS, may be included for completeness.
- General activity, influence and links to other centres.
- Texts known to have been composed there.
The Foundations of Tours
St Martin (316-397) did more than found the spiritual life of early medieval Tours. Indeed, the physical space and commercial life of the city revolved around the three most important centres of his cult: his episcopal seat at the cathedral of St Gatian (then dedicated to St Maurice);
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However, while McKitterick contends that Tours at its height only produced bibles, gospel books, sacramentaries, and copies of the Martinellus for export, Ganz argues that they also copied classical, patristic and theological authors extensively throughout the ninth century for other houses. If this is indeed the case, Tours participated more broadly in a book economy than is suggested by their ‘trademark’ …show more content…
Alcuin’s text of the bible, credited by some with a revolution in textual standardization, was not exclusive to Tours; examples from other centres appeared soon after it was introduced. While the size of Tours Bibles is impressive, it too was not exclusively Touronian; large one and two volume bibles were produced before 800 elsewhere. Further, Alcuin’s corrected text was not the only popular or accepted version in the Carolingian period; Theodulf of Orléans, for example, made headway with his own. This is not to say that Tours Bibles had no influence. Their text, order of the books, headings and divisions, and some details of their format and layout were certainly imitated. The success of Tours in the breadth of their dissemination may also have inspired other houses, and certainly the standards for script and textual purity were followed even after Tours lost its primary position among the best