The Glossa ordinaria (Ordinary Gloss) is a Latin Bible commentary that originated in the school of Laon in the twelfth century. It became, as Lesley Smith called it, “the ubiquitous text of the central Middle Ages”, surviving in thousands of manuscripts and numerous early modern printed editions. It was produced with a distinctive layout: a central column of spacious biblical text surrounded by longer marginal ‘glosses’ (exegetical notes) and interwoven with shorter inter-linear glosses. While the compilation of the Gloss was completed in the twelfth century, the content of the individual glosses is largely patristic. The Gloss on Genesis, for example, consists of excerpts from the works of Augustine and Jerome, supplemented with excerpts from Bede, Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, and Alcuin.
Despite the enormous popularity of the Gloss during the medieval period, today its existence is hardly known outside academia. I have prepared the first translations of the Gloss on Genesis and Matthew, published by Emmaus Academic with the original format preserved. These publications are intended for anyone interested in traditional exegesis. They can be purchased on the Emmaus website. Design by award-winning Allison Merrick, and finalist of the 2023 Credo Book Awards and the Catholic Media Association Book Awards. Future volumes are forthcoming, with the intention of eventually publishing, Deo volente, the entire Bible commentary.
More information can be found on the Glossa ordinaria website.
Samuel J. Klumpenhouwer 