Masoretic Manuscripts from France

The Jonah Pentateuch (BL, Add. MS 21160) Revisited

Abstract

This essay focuses on the Jonah Pentateuch (BL, Add. MS 21160) and the way it was produced. It identifies the masorete as Isaac of Bressuire, who also wrote the Masorah in another Pentateuch, preserved in Parma (Biblioteca Palatina, MS Parm. 2338-2339). The study then explores a group of related French manuscripts from the early fourteenth century that display similar codicological and palaeographical features and traces their subsequent history in Piedmont in the second half of the fifteenth century. Further, based on palaeographical and textual evidence, it looks at the unique aspects of the local Masoretic tradition of west-central France and the way it was spread.