The Making of the Ambrosian Bible and the Emergence of the German-Ashkenazi Variant of the Masoretic Biblical Codex

Abstract

Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 11

The foundations of the German-Ashkenazi variant of the Masoretic Bible, which flourished around 1300, were first established in the 1230s within the scholarly and social hub of Würzburg and the surrounding areas. By analyzing the production of the Ambrosian Bible—one of the most significant works from this period—we can define its three volumes as an experimental collaboration involving two masoretes from different cultural backgrounds. One of these was Joseph ben Kalaonymos, a skilled and highly sought-after local masorete and vocalizer. The other, whom we have designated as “Masorete B,” has a style of work that bears a striking resemblance to that of Ḥayyim ben Isaac, the French scribe and masorete responsible for the 1215 La Rochelle Bible. By reconstructing the production stages and the circumstances surrounding the Ambrosian Bible, we aim to shed light on this experimental phase. We also propose that this collaborative effort may have contributed to the consolidation of the German-Ashkenazi variant of the Masoretic Bible that came to prominence a few decades later.