Bible moralisée

They are heavily illustrated, and extremely expensive, illuminated manuscripts of the thirteenth century, and from the copies that still survive it is clear that they existed in at least two versions with different contents.

They were similar in the choice and order of the Biblical texts selected, but differed in the allegorical and moral deductions drawn from these passages.

There are seven surviving fully illustrated manuscripts of the Bible moralisée group;[2] all date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries and were designed for the personal use of the French royal family.

[6] In the European Middle Ages the Catholic church made use of pictures as a means of instruction, to supplement the knowledge acquired by reading or oral teaching.

So frescoes of scenes from the Old and New Testaments, stained-glass windows, and the like were set up in the churches, because, as the Synod of Arras (1025) said, "The illiterate contemplated in the lineaments of painting what they, having never learnt to read, could not discern in writing".

Pictures spread abroad a knowledge of the events recorded in the Bible and of the mutual connection between the leading facts of the Old and New Testaments, whether as type and antitype, or as prophecy and fulfillment.

A broad didactic movement in the first half of the thirteenth century was one that placed an importance on pictures teaching morality.

But the object of the writer seems to have been chiefly to make the texts cited the basis of moral and allegorical teaching, in the manner so common in those days.

In the Psalter he was content with copying out the first verse of each psalm; whilst when dealing with the Gospels he did not quote from each evangelist separately, but made use of a kind of confused diatessaron of all four combined.

Thus the sleep of Adam, recorded in the beginning of Genesis, is said to prefigure the death of Christ; and Abraham sending his servant with rich presents to seek a wife for his son is a type of the Eternal Father giving the Gospels to the Apostles to prepare the union of His Son with the Church.

A specimen of the second edition of the "Bible Moralisée" is to be found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (MS. Français No.

Whilst it is identical with the copy which has just been examined in the selection and order of the Biblical passages, it differs from it in the greater simplicity and brevity of the moral and allegorical teaching based on them.

The difference is that stained glass art and the Theophilus Windows are created for public viewing while the Bibles moralisées were not.

[10] Both the Theophilus Windows and the Bibles moralisées are a part of a didactic movement, wherein pictures are relied upon to teach morality.

This manuscript is the most accessible to scholars from all the Bibles moralisées, this is due to an exceptional facsimile that has been published in full colour.

[17] The number of requests the cathedral Chapter received from scholars seeking direct access to the Bible of St Louis in order to study and conduct research on a great many subjects, increased every day, so eventually the Chapter decided to produce a facsimile edition of the Bible of St Louis.

After approaching different publishing houses, the project was finally entrusted to M. Moleiro Editor in Barcelona and since 2006 a complete facsimile edition is available.

There was also the Spanish Biblia moralizada (Biblioteca nacional de Madrid 10232) from the late 14th century, which contains independently translated passages and glosses, though it has few illuminations.

[18] Of the seven Bibles moralisées only one, manuscript Français 167 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France at Paris, has survived in its complete form.

[19] The sixth of the Bibles moralisées is known now as MS Additional 18719 and is the least known of the seven, and is the work of well known late thirteenth-century English artist.

[21] Historians still dispute the time, place and the intended readers of the first two bibles moralisées, though consensus seems to believe that they were created during the first three decades of the thirteenth century in Paris.

18719 manuscript, the illustrations were created by a number of craftsmen with speed and sloppiness, borders are completed crudely and in freehand.

Of these the earlier ones are divided horizontally in the centre, and it is the upper part of the page that contains the picture illustrative of some Old Testament event.

Seventy-six pages at the end of the volume are devoted to depicting the lives of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The images that were replaced were created to imitate the originals and have been identified as having been completed by a master working for King Charles V around 1370-1380.

This artist’s work was compared to the Ashridge Comestor, British Library, MS Royal 3.D.VI, which is a different manuscript.

“In France the style is particularly noticeable in a series of magnificent Bibles Moralisées ... done probably for the French court c. 1230–40.”[50] The Vienna 2554 frontispiece is famous and has often been reproduced.

“There is no close iconographic antecedent for this image.” In this image God is utilizing a huge pair of compasses, which are carefully balanced so as to draw and define.

In a broadly read study of Gothic architecture by Otto Von Simpson, this image is titled “The Creator as Architect,” this theme has been important from Plato and onward.

[53] Expensive paint and ink was used in the creation of the Bibles moralisées as well, for example the blue that was used for the borders, backgrounds, and clothes was lapis lazuli.