Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Add MS 10045
- Record Id:
- 032-002107845
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002107845
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000042.0x000122
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 10045
- Title:
- Jacob van Maerlant, Rijmbijbel
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript features an illustrated copy of the biblical history in Dutch, the so-called Rijmbijbel, that the Dutch poet Jacob van Maerlant (c. 1220 - c. 1300) made in 1271 at the request of an anonymous friend. Despite its name, the Rijmbijbel is not directly based on the Bible, but on the Historia Scholastica by the French theologian Peter Comestor (d. 1178) and the Bellum Judaicum by the Roman historian Flavius josephus (c. 37 - c. 100) that Van Maerlant translated into Dutch; the work's other title Scolastica is therefore more appropriate. The Rijmbijbel survives in many complete copies and fragments, which indicates that the work was highly popular in the Low Countries. However, this manuscript belongs to a smaller group of nine illustrated versions of the Rijmbijbel, two of which are in The British Library (the other manuscript is Add MS 10044).
Contents:
ff. 1r-176r: Jacob van Maerlant, Rijmbijbel.
Decoration:
10 miniatures in colours with frames in red, blue and gold (many are damaged). The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f. 1r: The Throne of Mercy.
f. 1v: The Fall of Angels.
f. 2r: The creation of the firmament amidst the waters (second day of creation).
f. 2r: The creation of sea and land (third day of creation).
f. 2r: The creation of sun and moon (fourth day of creation).
f. 2v: The creation of fish and birds (fifth day of creation).
f. 2v: The creation of land animals (sixth day of creation).
f. 106v: Four-compartment miniature showing the allegorical representations of the four evangelists.
f. 137: The city of Jerusalem with emperor Titus, with armour, golden crown and shield, displaying a black eagle.
f. 176r: A table of contents written by a 14th or 15th-century scribe.
Decoration:
1 large initials in gold against a red background (f. 1r).
8 puzzle initials in red and blue with red or blue penwork decoration (ff. 18r, 27v, 28v, 33r, 33v, 42v, 43v, 82r).
Numerous small initials in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002107845", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 10045: Jacob van Maerlant, Rijmbijbel" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002107845
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002107845
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Dutch, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1393
- End Date:
- 1393
- Date Range:
- 1393
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 275 x 190 mm (text space: 225 x 140 mm), in 2 columns.
Foliation: ff. 176 (+2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and end); medieval foliation throughout the manuscript.
Binding: Post-1600: brown (19th-century?) paper binding, re-backed by the British Museum (featuring the erroneous title: 'Jacop's van Maerlant Rijm Bibel'.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Netherlands, North.
Written in 1396: inscribed in a colophon written by the manuscript's scribe: 'Dit boec wart vol ghescreven Int jaer ons heren .m.ccc.xciij. Des donredaghes na onser vrouwen dach te lichtmisse' (f. 176r).
Provenance:
A 14th- or 15th-century owner: f. 106r: 'sanctorum sanctis benedicus applycat astrys' (written in a 14th- or 15th-century hand).
Albertus Bentes (17th century), Amsterdam supreme judge: his sale, Amsterdam, 24 April 1702: see Bibliotheca Bentesiana (1702), p. 1, no 6.
Richard Heber (b. 1773, d. 1833), book collector: his sale, 18 February 1836, lot 509: noted on f. [ii] recto and his auction catalogue Bibliotheca Heberiana, 11(1836), p. 55. Purchased by the British Museum.
- Publications:
-
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), II (1896), pp. 90-94 (no. 3).
Robert Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, 2 vols (Erlangen: Junge, 1896–1901), II (1901), pp. 101-02 (no. 117).
Martine Meuwese, Beeldend Vertellen: De verluchte handschriften van Jacob van Maerlants Rijmbijbel en Spiegel Historiael (Leiden: Leiden University, 1966), pp. 154-59.
Peter van Dael, 'De illustraties bij de proloog en het scheppingsverhaal in de Rijmbijbel van Jacob van Maerlant: woord en beeld', in Scolastica willic ontbinden: Over de Rijmbijbel van Jacob van Maerlant, ed by Jaap van Moolenbroek and Maaike Mulder (Hilversum: Verloren, 1991), pp. 105-25 (pp. 104, 107-08, 111, 115-16, 119-21).
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. 87.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Related Material:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1835-1840 (London: Woodfall, 1843), p. 6: 'DE RIJM BIBEL van Jacop van Maerlandt; a metrical version, in Dutch, of the Historia Scholastica of Petrus Comestor. On vellum, written in 1393. Folio. [10,045.]'.