both volumes of the book were written by two benedictine monks, the calligraphers brother ernest (or ernesto) and brother goderannus. goderannus had the habit, helpful to modern scholars, of adding colophons with some detailed information to his manuscripts. in the stavelot bible a colophon records that the work took four years, including the illuminations and what was no doubt a magnificent metalwork treasure binding. the task was finished when "jerusalem was under attack by many peoples", in other words during the first crusade. goderannus had written the lobbes bible, which another colophon dates to 1084; at that time he was a monk of lobbes abbey, but it is assumed that he had moved to stavelot in the intervening years, as the "josephus" was also made for the abbey there. many scholars believe that he was also the main artist for the miniatures in both manuscripts, although it is agreed that at least four hands were involved in the miniatures in the stavelot bible. in particular, the most famous miniature, the image of "christ in majesty" (shown to the right) was contributed by a different artist, sometimes termed the "master of the holy majesty", who may have been a layman. it has even been suggested that it is a later addition to the manuscript, considering its advanced technique for the time, although most scholars find this theory unlikely, given that other artists of the region were known to demonstrate similar precocity at the time. a number of other miniatures are also attributed to this artist, including the arcades over the canon tables. in general the artists worked roughly on stretches of books in the biblical sequence, so that, for example, the pentateuch initials are all by the same hand.