Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- I Studying the Velislav Bible: An Overview
- II Image and Text in the Velislav Bible: On the Interpretation of an Illuminated Codex
- III The Velislav Bible in the Context of Late Medieval Biblical Retellings and Mnemonic Aids
- IV The Books of Genesis and Exodus in the Picture Bibles: Looking for an Audience
- V The Life of Antichrist in the Velislav Bible
- VI The Antichrist Cycle in the Velislav Bible and the Representation of the Intellectual Community
- VII Ibi predicit hominibus: In Search of the Practical Function of the Velislav Bible
- VIII The Velislav Bible: Critical Edition with Commentary
- Bibliography
- Index
II - Image and Text in the Velislav Bible: On the Interpretation of an Illuminated Codex
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- I Studying the Velislav Bible: An Overview
- II Image and Text in the Velislav Bible: On the Interpretation of an Illuminated Codex
- III The Velislav Bible in the Context of Late Medieval Biblical Retellings and Mnemonic Aids
- IV The Books of Genesis and Exodus in the Picture Bibles: Looking for an Audience
- V The Life of Antichrist in the Velislav Bible
- VI The Antichrist Cycle in the Velislav Bible and the Representation of the Intellectual Community
- VII Ibi predicit hominibus: In Search of the Practical Function of the Velislav Bible
- VIII The Velislav Bible: Critical Edition with Commentary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Text in the so-called Velislav Bible has often been neglected by researchers. Even though its function is mainly to help a better understanding of the imagery, an analysis of the way in which the text was used may shed light on the creation of the codex as a whole. There are mostly two to three lines of text, either corresponding to the Bible or created on the basis thereof, which was written between prepared lines to accompany premade illustrations. The scribe often summarized the biblical text in a statement that best epitomized the image. Such a summary can take various forms. In some places, the scribe used all the free space in the illustration and even wrote the text outside the prepared lines, while elsewhere he maintained and sometimes even invented dialogues for the characters, or wrote one word as a kind of catchword encapsulating an entire biblical scene. In some cases the compression is so absolute that the image, and especially the text, only provide an introduction to a particular story, or else simply present its outcome.
The first part (ff. 1r-52v) contains the illustrations according to the Book of Genesis (hereinafter Gn), from the Creation to the death of Joseph of Egypt. Since the images were able to express fairly dense stories corresponding to longer text sections in Gn, the scribe had to use all the free space the illustration allowed, either to the sides or directly within the picture, to inscribe the text. Other important additions are the original scribe's notes written for individual characters, objects or whole motifs directly into the illustrations, especially when naming entirely abstract things (darkness, light, etc.), or at places where the notes were to supplement or even replace the accompanying text. An example of this might be f. 27r, depicting Isaac digging a well and arguing with shepherds over two other wells. The scribe wrote the following into the prepared lines:
Fodit ergo puteos Isaac, quos foderant servi patris sui Abraham, pro quibus rixati pastores Gerare cum pastoribus Ysaac dicentes: Nostra est aqua.
Over the first couple of shepherds, there is an inscription that reads Inimicitie, over the second one Calumpna. The illustration summarizes Isaac's quarrel over wells with shepherds from Gerar (Gn 26:15-22).
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Velislav Bible, Finest Picture-Bible of the Late Middle AgesBiblia depicta as Devotional, Mnemonic and Study Tool, pp. 35 - 68Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018