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To rectify a long-entrenched emphasis on scholastic sentences, summae, and philosophical ideas in secondary literature about theology in the High Middle Ages and a correlated assumption that “theology” proper was a movement away from study of the biblical text, some scholars in recent years have devoted considerable attention to biblical commentaries and exegesis of the twelfth century, reviving scholarship of the 1960s.1 Scholars frequently cite the classic works of Jean Leclercq and Beryl Smalley, which remain on many a graduate student's required reading list in the field of medieval history.2 But these studies of biblical exegesis, though important and extensive compared to anything prior, were limited in scope and did not inspire the kind of sustained investigation by other scholars that would have carried their research forward as much as might have been expected. These works also encouraged a division between studies of monastic culture and that of scholasticism, or the academic culture of “the schools.” In terms of manuscript studies on glossed books, the studies by Patricia Stirnemann have been foundational; meanwhile, in the history of the book and manuscript and codicological studies, Christopher de Hamel's book-length study remains key.3 One of the schools studied by Smalley, that of St. Victor in the twelfth century, has recently received significant scholarly attention through the efforts of Franklin T. Harkins, Frans van Liere, and others.4 Their work has brought to light and assessed both theological ideas arising from biblical exegesis and methods utilized in reaching them, a layer of scholarly engagement not yet sustained in regard to many other figures and schools of the period, with the exception of certain individuals such as the Benedictine Rupert of Deutz.5
Moreover, scholars have revived interest in the school of Laon and the focus of Rupert's disdain, Anselm of Laon (d. 1117). Some of the attention has focused on his life together with intense manuscript research into sententiae, or authoritative teaching opinions on various matters as preserved in various twelfth-century collections. Cédric Giraud's masterful and extensive book has shed light on Anselm and his school in an unprecedented way.6 Though largely summarizing other research, Lesley Smith's book on the development of the Glossa ordinaria on the books of the Bible...