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Add MS 15410
- Record Id:
- 032-002087169
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002087169
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000052.0x00027a
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100174683135.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 15410
- Title:
-
A fifteenth-century manuscript containing Old Testament books from a Dutch History Bible, featuring commentary from the Historia Scholastica by the French theologian Peter Comestor (d. 1179).
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains Old Testament books, from the Book of Genesis until the Book of Esther, in a Dutch History Bible in which the biblical text alternates with commentary from the Historia Scholastica by the French theologian Peter Comestor (d. 1179). In the fifteenth century the History Bible was one of the most popular books in the North Netherlands. This manuscript presents a version of the so-called 'Utrecht Bible': the work of an anonymous compiler who, in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, joined materials from the Dutch History Bible of 1360 (perhaps made at the Carthusian monastery of Herne) and the translations of the New Testament and Old Testament lessons that Johan Scutken (d. 1425), a lay brother at the Augustinian monastery of Windesheim, made around 1390. The 'Utrecht Bible' is so called because the decoration in most of its copies is associated with artists in Utrecht. This manuscript contains seven miniatures by the Master of Catherina of Cleves (fl. c. 1430-1460), a Utrecht artists who is named after a Book of Hours he decorated for the Duchess of Guelders, and who is considered to have been one of the most skilled artists in the Low Countries.
Contents:
ff. 4r-7v: A table of contents.
ff. 8r-9r: Prologue.
ff. 10r-54r: The Book of Genesis.
ff. 54r-854v: The Book of Exodus.
ff. 85r-101v: The Book of Leviticus.
ff. 102r-127v: The Book of Numbers.
ff. 127v-147v: The Book of Deuteronomy.
ff. 147v-160r: The Book of Joshua.
ff. 160r-174v: The Book of Judges.
ff. 174v-177r: The Book of Ruth.
ff. 177v-190r: The Book of 1 Kings.
ff. 190r-207r: The Book of 2 Kings.
ff. 207r-231v: The Book of 3 Kings.
ff. 231v-258r: The Book of 4 Kings.
ff. 258r-262v: The Book of Tobit.
ff. 263r-265r: The Book of Ezekiel.
ff. 265r-280v: The Book of Daniel.
ff. 280v-282v: The Book of Habakkuk.
ff. 283r-285r: The History of Cyrus the Great.
ff. 285r-291v: The Book of Judith.
ff. 291v-295r: The Book of Esdras.
ff. 295v-301v: The Book of Esther.
The manuscript features several 17th-century additions:
f. 2r: A poem, in a roundel, praising the manuscript's scribe, written and decorated by Peeter Bergaigne, a schoolmaster in Antwerp, 'Tot lof vanden schryver van desen boecke'.
f. 3r: An introduction to the manuscript, in full borders, written and decorated by Peeter Bergaigne.
f 3v: A table of contents listing the included Old Testament books, and a note about the bible as a historical book written by Peeter Oris (b. c. 1582, d. c. 1647), an Antwerp merchant and book collector.
f. 9r: A note about the Bible's translation by Peeter Oris.
f. 9v: Notes about Old Testament books by Peeter Oris.
f. 295r: An introduction to the Book of Esther by Peeter Oris.
Decoration:
20 miniatures in colours with golden frames opening the Old Testament books (with the exception of the Book of Habakkuk): these indicate that it belongs to the second group of Dutch History Bibles where miniatures are placed only at the beginning of books, rather than placed near their relevant passages in the text. The miniatures were executed by four masters, including the Master of Catherine of Cleves, who is responsible for those from the books of Joshua until 4 Kings. Instructions for his miniatures can be found in the lower margins, but are largely covered by border decoration.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 10r: The seven days of creation; Cain and Abel (the Book of Genesis).
f. 54r: The passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea (the Book of Exodus).
f. 85r: God instructs Moses to pay tribute with burnt offerings (the Book of Leviticus).
f. 102r: Moses and Aaron numbering the Israelites (the Book of Numbers).
f. 127v: Moses delivering his final teachings to the Israelites before entering Canaan (the Book of Deuteronomy).
f. 147v: The Israelites in the Battle of the Waters of Merom (the Book of Joshua).
f. 160r: An Israelite Judge (the Book of Judges).
f. 175r: Ruth gleaning grain, and with Boaz (the Book of Ruth).
f. 177v: Elkanah and his two wives, Penninah, with her children, and Hannah, childless (the Book of 1 Kings).
f. 190r: The death of King Saul (the Book of 2 Kings).
f. 207r: King David and Abishag (the Book of 3 Kings).
f. 231v: Elijah calling down fire from heaven on King Ahaziah's men and prophesying the king's death (the Book of 4 Kings).
f. 258r: Tobit cured from blindness and Tobias, his son, guided by the archangel Raphael (the Book of Tobit).
f. 263v: The prophet Ezekiel, Jerusalem in the background (the Book of Ezekiel).
f. 265r: Daniel imprisoned in the lion's den miraculously fed by the prophet Habakkuk (the Book of Daniel).
f. 283r: Cyrus the Great observing the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (the History of Cyrus).
f. 285r: Judith beheading Holofernes (the book of Judith).
f. 291v: The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (the Book of Esdras).
f. 295v: Esther presenting herself before King Ahasuerus, her husband (the Book of Esther).
One large initial in blue with red penwork decoration (f. 8r).
One large initial in red and green with outline in gold and a three-sided border with foliate decoration in green, red, blue and gold (f. 10r).
19 large initials with gold against red and blue background either with partial borders featuring bars in red, blue and gold with foliate decoration in green, red, blue and gold (54r; 85r; 102r; 127v; 147v; 160r, 175r, 177v, 190r, 207r, 231v), bars in red, blue and gold with large leaves in green or red (ff. 258r, 263r, 265r, 283r, 285r, 291v, 295v) or without border decoration (f. 280v).
Numerous small initials in red and blue, used for alternating biblical text with commentary.
Numerous cadels, many with faces.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002087169", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 15410: A fifteenth-century manuscript containing Old Testament books from a Dutch History Bible, featuring commentary from the Historia…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002087169
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002087169
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment manuscript
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100174683135.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Dutch
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1400
- End Date:
- 1440
- Date Range:
- c 1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 390 x 290 mm (text space: 285 x 190 mm), 2 columns.
Foliation: ff. ii + 301 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); ff. i-ii are paper flyleaves; ff. 1-3 are early modern parchment leaves. The manuscript originally contained 306 folios but misses a quaternion after f. 185.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: 17th/18th-century leather binding.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Utrecht (?), indicated by the manuscript's artwork.
Provenance:
Guislain (Gheleyn) Janssens (fl. 1587–1619), book printer and seller in Antwerp: his name inscribed with the year 1609 (f. 7v). Peeter Oris notes that he has bought it from him (f. 2v: ‘gheleijn Janssens boeckdrucker ende librarier inde cammerstrate inder wakende haen [...] voor de somme van xvj gulden eens Int Jaer 1609’).
Peeter Oris: his name inscribed with the year 1611 (f. 3r). Oris notes (f. 1v) that after he bought the manuscript from Guislain Janssens he had it rebound in calf leather by Peeter Lovick, an Antwerpian bookbinder, who also added five flyleaves at the beginning and end. Oris requested the Antwerpian schoolmaster Peeter Bergaigne, in exchange for an ‘old Aeneas’, to add the poem and introduction with border decoration and roundel on f. 2r and f. 3r. Oris notes that he finished reading the Bible from ‘cover to cover’ on 26 July in the year 1616 (f.301v: ‘Ick peeter oris hebbe dezen bijbel uut gelezen van vore tot achter toe den 26 Juli Anno 1616’). Several additions, corrections and marginalia by him can be found throughout the manuscript.
Johan Meerman (b. 1753, d. 1815), jurist, book collector, founder of the Royal Library (The Hague): the public sale of his library, 8 June 1824, The Hague: Bibliothecae Meermannianae (1824), IV, no. 932.
Thomas Rodd (b. 1796, d. 1849), London bookseller: from 1824 (Biemans, Codices Manuscripti Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae, p. 272).
Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (b.1801, d.1843): his bookplate with the ink inscription 'VI.E.a.1' inside upper binding; see also Bibliotheca Sussexiana (1827), Vol. I, Part 1, pp. 244-48); his sale, 31 July1844, lot 113, bought by Thomas Thorpe (b. 1791, d. 1851), London bookseller.
Thomas Rodd the younger (b. 1796, d. 1849), London bookseller: Purchased by the British Museum from him on 18 January 1845: inscribed 'Purchased of Tho. Rodd 18 Jan. 1845, lot 113 of Super Sale' (f. [ii]).
- Information About Copies:
-
Complete digital coverage available for this manuscript; see Digital Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Ilustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 11.
Karel de Flou and Edward Gaillard, Beschrijving van Middelnederlandse andere handschriften die in Engeland bewaard worden, Verslagen en Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, 3 vols (Ghent: Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, 1895–1897), I (1895), pp. 39-42 (no. 1).
Robert Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, 2 vols (Erlangen: Junge, 1896–1901), II (1901), pp. 133-34 (no. 154).
Alexander Willem Byvanck and Godefridus Johannes Hoogewerff. Noord-Nederlandsche miniaturen in handschriften der 14e, 15e en 16e eeuwen, 3 vols (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1922-25), no. 60.
Jean Deschamps, Middelnederlandse handschriften uit Europese en Amerikaanse bibliotheken: Tentoonstelling ter gelegenheid van het honderjarige bestaan van de Koninklijke Zuidnederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis: Brussel, Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I, 24 Okt. – 24 Dec. 1970 (Leiden: Brill, 1972), p.154.
Friedrich Gorissen, Das Stundenbuch der Katharina von Kleve: Analyse und Kommentar (Berlin: Mann, 1973), pp. 400, 797, 802.
Otto Pächt and Ulrike Jenni, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters, I: Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, 13 vols (Vienna: 1974-ongoing), 3: Höllandische Schule (1975) [Österreichissche Akademie der Wissenschaften philosophisch-historische Klasse Denkschriften, 124], pp. 38, 51.
Sandra Hindman, Textus et Imagines in Codicibus Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicis Saec. XV Imaginibus Ornatis, Corpus Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae Medii Aevi, Miscellanea 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1977), p. 137.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Manuscript (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), pl. 58.
Robert G. Calkins, 'Distribution of Labor: The Illuminators of the Hours of Catherine of Cleves and Their Workshop', Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 69:5 (1979), 3-83 (pp. 30, 39, 41-44, 81, figs 36- 38, 40- 42).
Jos A. A. Biemans, Codices Manuscripti Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae: Corpus Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae Medii Aevi, Catalogus (Leiden: Brill, 1984), pp. 270-72 (no. 261).
Jos A. A. M. Biemans, ‘The Seventeenth-Century Antwerp Book Collector Peeter Oris: New Discoveries and New Questions’, Quaerendo, 18:4 (1988), 243-77 (pp. 253-57, 276, fig. 4).
Henri L. M. Defoer and others, The Golden Age of Dutch manuscript Painting (New York: Braziller, 1990), pp. 140-43 (no. 42).
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: 1997), p. 181 (no. 156).
Wilhelmina C. M. Wüstefeld, 'Manuscript Painting in the Circle of the Master of Catherine of Cleves (ca. 1435-60): Tradition and Context of Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, Ms. A B M h15', in Tributes in Honor of James H. Marrow. Studies in Painting and Manuscript Illumination of the Late Middle Ages and Northern Renaissance, ed. by Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Anne S. Korteweg, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), pp. 585-99 (pp. 587-88, 591-99).
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), p. 148, fig. 134.
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World (London: Thames and Hudson, 2016), pp. 294-99.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)