bavarikon4UDescription
This codex contains two works by Saint Jerome, Adversus Jovinianus (Against Jovinianus) and Apologeticum ad Pammachium (Apologetical work for Pammachius). The latter consists of two letters that refer to Adversus Jovinianus. Written in 393, the main work is a polemical diatribe against the monk Jovinianus, who had asserted the equality of virginity and marriage. Following a treatise on marriage by the Roman author Seneca that is now lost, Jerome defends the Christian ideal of virginity while at the same time excoriating earlier pagan morals and ideas. Pammachius was a Roman senator, who in later life devoted himself to charitable works and study. That the volume was used in a classroom setting can be deduced from entries in the margins of the manuscript, which apparently were intended to facilitate the reading of the book, and from notes concerning details of grammar and content. A middle level of calligraphic sophistication is typical of this type of literature; the number of decorated initials is usually very limited. The decoration used in this volume, namely initials decorated with knot work, is typical of the Freising scriptorium under Bishop Abraham (died 994). The same type of decoration is also found in a number of codices copied in a monastery at Metz for Freising.