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Add MS 10043

Record Id:
032-002107843
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-002107843
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100000000042.0x000120
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Add MS 10043
Title:

The first volume of a three-part glossed History Bible in Middle Dutch, covering the Old Testament books of Genesis until Tobit, with commentary from the Historia Scholastica by the French theologian Peter Comestor (d. 1179).

Scope & Content:

This is the first volume of a three-part Dutch History Bible: a bible in which the biblical text alternates with commentary from the Historia Scolastica by the French theologian Peter Comestor (d. 1179). This part contains the Old Testament books from Genesis to Tobit; its other two volumes are now in the Royal Library in Brussels (Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, HS 9018-19 and HS 9020-23). The three parts form one of the over fifteen multi-volume copies of the so-called 'Utrecht Bible' that are known to have been produced between 1430 and 1470. The Utrecht Bible is a translation that an anonymous compiler, probably from the North Netherlands, made in the second quarter of the fifteenth century by bringing together materials from the Dutch History Bible of 1360 (thought to have been made at the Carthusian monastery of Herne) and the Bible translation that Johan Scutken (d. 1425), a lay brother in the Augustinian monastery of Windesheim, made around 1390. The 'Utrecht Bible' is so called because the decoration of most of its copies is associated with artists in Utrecht, and the earliest owners were situated there as well. This set was decorated by a group of Utrecht artists (see below), and was most likely commissioned by a member of the aristocratic family of Lochorst in Utrecht (as was Add MS 38122, another volume containing the first Old Testament books of the Utrecht Bible).

Contents:

ff. 1r-2v: A prologue to the Pentateuch taken from the Dutch History Bible of 1360, 'Hier begint die prologe vander vander [sic] bibelen also als si over gezet is wten latijn in duusche'.

ff. 2r-39v: The Book of Genesis.

ff. 39v-44v: The Book of Exodus.

ff. 45r-77v: The Book of Leviticus.

ff. 77v-97v: The Book of Numbers.

ff. 97v-112v: The Book of Deuteronomy.

ff. 112v-122v: The Book of Joshua.

ff. 123r-134v: The Book of Judges.

ff. 134v-136v: The Book of Ruth.

ff. 136v-153r: The Book of 1 Kings.

ff. 153r-166v: The Book of 2 Kings.

ff. 166v-185r: The Book of 3 Kings.

ff. 185r-205r: The Book of 4 Kings.

ff. 205v-209v: The Book of Tobit.

Decoration:

This part of the Utrecht Bible was decorated by an otherwise unknown artist (the other two parts feature work of several Utrecht masters whose work is known from other manuscripts).

Numerous (243) miniatures in colours and gold with golden frames surrounded by foliate pen-flourishing in gold, illustrating biblical events at their relevant passages.

Fourteen large initials (ff. 1r, 2r, 39v, 65r, 77v, 97v, 112r, 123r, 134v, 136v, 153r, 166v, 185r; 205v) in blue or purple set against a gold background or, in case of the opening of the Book of Leviticus (f. 65r), a chequered background with squares in red, blue and gold. The initial opening the Book of Genesis (f. 2r) is historiated: a man holding a book, presumably Moses, who, according to the introductory rubric, is the book's author. Flowers with colours have been painted inside most of the other initials. Some initials feature foliate pen-flourishing in green and gold, others feature foliate pen-flourishing in purple, blue, green and gold that sometimes form partial (two- or three-sided) borders, and, in case of the initial that opens the Book of Genesis (f. 2r), a three three-quarter border. Some of the borders feature zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures in colours (ff. 2r, 77v, 112v, 136v).

Numerous small initials in blue or red with red or blue penwork decoration open biblical chapters. Numerous small initials in blue or red without penwork decoration open subsequent passages to indicate the alternation between commentary from the Historia Scolastica and biblical verses.

Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Additional Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-002107843", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 10043: The first volume of a three-part glossed History Bible in Middle Dutch, covering the Old Testament books of Genesis until Tobit, with…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-002107843
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-002107843
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

Parchment codex

Digitised Content:
Languages:
Dutch, Middle
French, Middle
Scripts:
Latin
Start Date:
1400
End Date:
1499
Date Range:
c 1431
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 390 x 295 mm (text space: 270 x 190 mm), in 2 columns.

Foliation: ff. 209 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves + 1 unfoliated 15th-century parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves + 1 unfoliated 15th-century parchment flyleaf at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house, rebound in October 1957 (the previous binding, perhaps added by Richard Heber in the final quarter of the eighteenth or first quarter of the nineteenth century, is pasted on the inside of the covers).

Custodial History:

Origin: Utrecht (Netherlands, North)

Provenance:

A member of the Lochorst family in Utrecht: its crest (f. 112v); written c. 1431 as noted in its third volume. De Flou and Gailliard state that a French proverb in the initial of f. 136v ('nul bien sans pane') is the motto of an aristocratic family in East Frysia and Rietberg, but the motto was not exclusive to them.

Richard Heber (b. 1773, d. 1833), book collector: his sale, 11 February 1836, lot 329, noted on f. iirecto (see also Bibliotheca Heberiana, part 11, p. 30) sold for £ 105 to the British Museum.

Publications:

H. Brugmans, Verslag van een onderzoek in Engeland naar archivalia, belangrijk voor de geschiedenis van Nederland in 1892 op last der regeering ingesteld (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1895), p. 422.

Karel de Flou and Edward Gailliard, 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. 49-52 (no. 4).

Robert Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, 2 vols (Erlangen: Junge, 1896–1901), II (1901), p. 100 (no. 115).

C. H. Ebbinge Wubben, Over middelnederlandsche vertalingen van het Oude Testament: bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlandsche bijbelvertaling (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1903), pp. 25-27.

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. 35.

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. 750-866.

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-), 3: Höllandische Schule (1975) [Österreichissche Akademie der Wissenschaften philosophisch-historische Klasse Denkschriften, 124], p. 52.

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), pp. 135-36.

Jos A. A. Biemans, Codices Manuscripti Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae: Corpus Sacrae Scripturae Neerlandicae Medii Aevi, Catalogus (Leiden: Brill, 1984), pp. 256-57 (no. 250).

Johan Peter Gumbert, The Dutch and their Books in the Manuscript Age: The Panizzi Lectures 1989 (London: The British Library, 1990), p. 90, ns. 54.

Henri L. M. Defoer and others, The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting (New York: Braziler, 1990), pp. 135-37 (no.42).

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 (p. 591).

Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Related Material:

From the Catalogue of Additions (1843): 'De Bibel overgeset wten Latijn in Duusche : Vol. I., containing the Pentateuch, the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, the four books of Kings, and the book of Tobit ; with a commentary, taken from the Historia Scholastica of Petrus Comestor, translated into the Low Dutch or Flemish language. On vellum, of the xvth century, with numerous illuminations. Folio. [10,043.]'