Add MS 11575

Contents:

ff. 1-5: Added paper leaves with a description and table of contents in a modern hand;

ff. 6-102: Spieghel der menscheliker behoudenisse, a Middle Dutch verse adaptation of the Speculum humanæ salvationis, in the dialect of West Flanders. The Speculum is an early fourteenth-century encyclopaedic work on typology, a form of biblical exegesis in which events of the Old Testament are interpreted as prefigurations of those of the New Testament. There is only one other surviving copy in Middle Dutch is a prose version in Haarlem, Stadtsbibliotheek Manuskript II 17.

Decoration:

153 column-width pen drawings with ink colour wash, some with gold (e.g., f. 65v). Initials in blue with penwork decoration in red. Partial borders. Initials highlighted in red at the beginning of each line.

The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:

f. 8v: The Creation of Eve; Adam and Eve with God in the Garden of Eden;

f. 9v: The Temptation of Adam and Eve;

f. 10r: The Fall;

f. 11r: The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden;

f. 12r: Noah's Ark;

f. 12v: An angel with a scroll addressing Joachim or Joseph;

f. 13r: Astyages' dream;

f. 13v: Solomon's temple;

f. 14r: Balaam meets the angel;

f. 15r: The birth of the Virgin Mary; the Tree of Jesse;

f. 16r: The wedding of the Virgin Mary and St Joseph;

f. 18r: Moses kneeling before the burning bush (left) and with his staff (right);

f. 18v: Rebecca and Eliser at the well;

f. 19r: The Nativity, with St Joseph preparing food;

f. 19v: Pharaoh's cupbearer, with hands and feet bound, dreaming;

f. 20v: The dream of plenty and famine;

f. 21r: Two kings have a vision of the Virgin Mary and the Christ-child;

f. 21v: The three Magi;

f. 22r: Three soldiers bring water to King David;

f. 22v: The Queen of Sheba kneeling before Solomon on his throne;

f. 23r: The Ark of the Covenant;

f. 23v: A menorah;

f. 24v: The Presentation of the infant Christ in the Temple;

f. 25r: The Flight into Egypt, with an idol on a plinth shattering (left);

f. 25v: The Madonna and Child (left); Moses breaks Pharaoh's crown (right);

f. 26v: Nebuchadnezzar dreaming;

f. 27r: Two trees;

f. 27v: The Baptism of Christ; (left) the brazen urn (right);

f. 28v: The leper Naaman is healed;

f. 29r: Two men carry the Ark of the Covenant through the Jordan;

f. 30r: Bel and the Dragon with Daniel on the roof of the Temple;

f. 31v: Daniel feeds the dragon poisoned cakes;

f. 32r: David and Goliath;

f. 32v: David slays wild beasts;

f. 33r: Mary Magdalene anoints Christ's feet;

f. 33v: King Manasser in captivity;

f. 34v: The return of the Prodigal Son;

f. 35v: David is admonished for adultery by God and repents;

f. 36r: Christ's entry to Jerusalem (left); Jeremiah laments over the destruction of Jerusalem (right);

f. 37r: David with the giant's head speared on a pole, presenting it to a group of men and women, one of whom holds a harp;

f. 37v: Christ and the moneylenders in the Temple;

f. 38r: The punishment of Heliodorus;

f. 39r: The Last Supper;

f. 39v: The Jews make offerings;

f. 40v: The Passover meal;

f. 41r: A seated figure removes his shoes before the Passover meal;

f. 41v: Abraham and Melchisedek;

f. 42v: Christ dismisses his adversaries;

f. 43v: The Betrayal (left); Joab kisses Amasa (right);

f. 44r: Saul throws a spear at David;

f. 45r: A lamb is sacrificed and Cain murders Abel;

f. 45v; Christ is blindfolded and mocked;

f. 46r: Ham, Shem and Japheth (left); Ham mocks his father Noah, who lies drunk on the ground (right);

f. 46v: Samson pulls down the Temple;

f. 47v: The Flagellation of Christ;

f. 48v: The Israelites find Achior tied to a tree (left); Lamech is persecuted by his wives, Adah and Zillah;

f. 49r: Job is persecuted by his wife and Satan;

f. 50r: Christ is crowned with thorns and the Cross is prepared;

f. 51r: Apamene steals Darius's crown;

f. 51v: Shimei curses David and pelts him with filth;

f. 52r: King Hanun seizes David's messenger;

f. 52v: Christ carrying the Cross;

f. 53v: The Sacrifice of Isaac;

f. 54r: The son of the vineyard owner is killed;

f. 54v: The vine is carried by two men into the desert;

f. 55r: The raising of the Cross;

f. 56r :Jubal and Tubal-Cain;

f. 56v: Martyrdom of Isaiah;

f. 57r: King Moab sacrifices his son;

f. 57v: The Crucifixion;

f. 58r: Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a tree with baby birds in a nest;

f. 59v: King Codrus sacrifices himself to the enemy for his people;

f. 60r: Joab murders Absalom;

f. 61v: The Deposition of Christ from the Cross (left); Joseph's brothers bring his coat to his father, Jacob (right);

f. 62r: Naomi and her daughters in law, Ruth, and Orpah;

f. 63r: The Virgin Mary mourns at the Entombment of Christ;

f. 63v: David mourns at the funeral of Abner;

f. 64v: Joseph is thrown in the well;

f. 65v: Jonah is thrown into the mouth of a whale (left); the four tiers of Hell (right);

f. 66v: The three youths, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace, with the angel protecting them (left); Daniel in the lions' den (right);

f. 67r: The ostrich kills the serpent to use the blood to free its young;

f. 67v: Christ defeats Satan with the Cross;

f. 68r: Benaja slays a lion;

f. 69r: Samson slays a lion;

f. 69v: Ehud stabs King Eglon;

f. 70r: Mary defeats Satan;

f. 70v: Judith murders Holofernes;

f. 71r: Jael stabs Sisera in the eye with a tent peg;

f. 71v: The Harrowing of Hell;

f. 72v: Moses leads the Israelites across the Red Sea;

f. 73r: Abraham is rescued by God from the Chaldeans' fire;

f. 73v: An angel leads Lot and his family out of Sodom;

f. 74v: The Resurrection;

f. 75r: Samson removes the gates of Gaza;

f. 75v: Jonah emerges from the whale;

f. 76r: The builders of Solomon's temple with the corner stone;

f. 77r: The Ascension (left); Jacob's ladder (right);

f. 77v: The Good Shepherd (partly erased);

f. 78v: Pentecost;

f. 80v: A figure with the head erased;

f. 81r: A figure holding a lamp (partly erased);

f. 81v: ?King Saul with Michal and Paltiel (partly erased);

f. 82r: The Dormition of the Virgin Mary;

f. 83r: The Ark is carried into David's house;

f. 83v: The sun of the Apocalypse;

f. 84r: Solomon's mother seated on his right;

f. 84v: The Virgin Mary mediates with Christ;

f. 85r: Abigail pleads with David for Nabal; a woman pleads for David's mercy on her husband;

f. 85v: A woman pleads for David's mercy on her husband, Absalom (partially erased);

f. 86r: The Virgin Mary protects sinners with her cloak (left); Tarbis of Ethiopia and Moses (right);

f. 87r: A woman of Thebes drops a millstone on Abmilech (right);

ff. 87v-102v: The images on these folios are damaged and have only traces remaining.

The cycle of miniatures differs in layout, style and iconography from the tradition of manuscripts of the Speculum (see Cardon 'Pre-Eyckian Originality' (1995), p. 267).