Manoscritti di età carolingia a Chieti e nel suo territorio

This article deals with three Carolingian manuscripts from an area of central Italy corresponding to the southernmost tip of the Carolingian Empire, Chieti and its district, which has been poorly investigated from a palaeographic point of view, so far. The earliest manuscript is Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. perg. CCXXIX, originating from a monastery identified with S. Stefano in Lucana, in the south of present-day Chieti province; the other two, Reg. lat. 1997 and Vat. lat. 7701 respectively, were written in the cathedral of Chieti. The history of the codices, their palaeographic and codicological characteristics, as well as their textual and even decorative features, all concur in pointing to a hitherto unnoticed cultural liveliness in this area, fuelled by strong relations with leading cultural centres in Carolingian Europe, such as the abbey of Reichenau and the episcopate of Metz