The Opening Page
The Opening Page (fol. 1r)
As is often the case in medieval manuscripts, the opening page is decorated more elaborately than any of the other pages. While it is written in the same script and offers the same organization in terms of rubrication and decorated capitals, a richer painted decoration with pen scrollwork and gold leaf accents extends into three of the margins. The luxurious feeling of the first page is further enhanced by the presence of an inhabited first large initial (4 x 3.5 cm), the capital F of Fratres at the beginning of the text, and the painted emblem filling the lower margin. Unique to this page of the manuscript, these two elements invite speculation as to their meaning.
The Portrait
Two distinctive characteristics of the man portrayed in the capital are the sword he holds in his right hand and the book he holds in his left. The book often indicates a writer, a man of learning, or an official in the church. The sword could make a reference to a military man or to a specific event associated with the person portrayed, such as the instrument of his death in the case of a martyr. The head, with hair cut in the large tonsure of clerics, is surmounted by a golden halo usually reserved to saints.
According to Dr. Carol Neuman de Vegvar, “the bearded saint with the long hollow-cheeked face and substantial bald spot is St. Paul who was martyred with a sword, which is his usual attribute along with the book, typically representing the Epistles of the same saint; the image type (long brown beard, long face, extensively bald head) is also standard for St. Paul from the 400's on (as in the apse of Sta. Pudenziana in Rome). The adjacent text is a partial paraphrase of the Vulgate version of Romans 13:11 ‘scientes (tempus) quia hora est iam nos de som(p)no surgere: nunc enim proprior est nostra salus quam cum credidimus’, so Paul would be the man for the text.”
Other interpretations have attempted to link the illuminations of the first page to the local monastery or to its Abbot Sigismund who had the book made. Nothing in the portrait could suggest the abbot as the subject, however. One link could be seen in what would be a transfer of the attributes of St. Paul to a portrayal of St. Martin, the 4th century bishop of Tours, who was one of the patron saints of the abbey of San Martino Bocci associated with this manuscript. Before becoming a member of the clergy, St. Martin was a cavalry man in the Roman Imperial army. The popularly known event in his life is his sharing of his cloak with a beggar by dividing it with his sword. To further this identification, one could argue that the person in the portrait is wrapped rather prominently in the green cloak style garment.
The Emblem
The emblem filling the lower margin of the page is surrounded by the abbreviations -SIG- and -AB-, likely referring to Abbot Sigismund, the person specified in the colophon as the owner of the book and 10th abbot of the abbey of Santa Maria of Vallis Serena (the other name for the abbey).
It may be the coat of arms of the abbot or the abbey. While the emblem is painted in the same style, colors, and with the same degree of craftsmanship as the other decoration on the page, the letters SIG and AB could be later additions. The script of the letters does not correspond to the script in the rest of the manuscript. However, the difference in script may be due to its emblematic character and the fact that it may have been written by the illuminator rather than the scribe.
While the exact origin and meaning of the emblem is still to be deciphered, it is composed of iconographic elements that are well known to suggest power and glory in a Christian context. The orb surmounted by the cross is an ancient symbol of imperial power and, with the star and moon in its design, may refer to the firmament as well as the earth. It is also a symbol of the universality of the faith. Surrounding the orb and cross, the almond-shaped mandorla was often used to express godly power and glory.
Dr. Carol Neuman de Vegvar does not see it as a cross on orb, but “rather a cross above a star above a pendant crescent moon” and thus, a symbolic representation of the Virgin Mary, Santa Maria (the other patron saint of the abbey), whose “titles include stella maris, the star of the sea, and she’s often shown above the crescent moon, in her role as intercessor at the Apocalypse (albeit that imagery might be later). So I'd think this might be an emblem of the Virgin. And/or it might be an image of a metal pendant cross hung above or in front of the altar in the abbey church and thus a symbol of the place.”
Concerning the other element of the emblem, the eight-pointed star of intermeshed squares, Dr. Neuman de Vegvar says that it “is not a specifically Christian motif, as far as I know or can discover easily (it's a legacy of classical decorative forms) but the number 4, which it reiterates, is the symbol of the presence of the holy/the word of God in the earthly realm (the 4 evangelists, the 4 gospels, the 4 rivers of paradise with their four sacred liquids).”