Gospels Saint-Evroul, 12th century. 1st quarter 183 f. 316 x 195 mm. Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen, ms. 31 ( A 24 )

    One of the major values of this manuscript is the identification on many of the sheets of the writing of Orderic Vital, known for his key role in the development of the scriptorium of Saint-Evroult.
In folio 9, the preface of Saint Jerome addressed to pope Damasus begins with a large historiated letter B which illustrates the scene: the upper loop shows us Saint Jerome entrusting his letter to a messenger while in the lower register we see the latter giving the missive to the pope.
The gospel of saint Luke begins in folio 88. The evangelist is strangely represented in the form of a winged figure, with a bull's head, like the symbol identifying him. The antecedents of this very unusual iconography are ancient and can, in particular be found in Brittany in the 9^th century.