''The Apocalypse of Lorvão'' is an illuminated manuscript from

Lorvão Lorvão is a parish in Penacova Penacova ( or ) is a town and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 15,251, in an area of 216.73 km². Parishes Administratively, the municipality is divided into 8 ...

, Portugal containing the ''

Commentary on the Apocalypse ''Commentary on the Apocalypse'' (''Commentaria in Apocalypsin'') is a book written in the eighth century by the Spanish monk and theologian Beatus of Liébana (730–785) and copied and illustrated in manuscript in works called "Beati" during t ...

'' of Beatus of Liébana Monastery, Spain. It is currently kept at the

Torre do Tombo National Archive The National Archive of Torre do Tombo ( pt, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, ) is the Portuguese national archive located in the civil parish of Alvalade, in the municipality of central-northern Lisbon. Established in 1378, it was renamed ...

in Lisbon.

History

This is a well-dated manuscript whose origin is identified through its colophon, which indicates that it was completed in 1189 in the

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes an ...

of the Lorvão monastery in the present municipality of

Penacova Penacova ( or ) is a town and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 15,251, in an area of 216.73 km². Parishes Administratively, the municipality is divided into 8 civil parishes (''freguesias''): ...

, near

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

. It was signed by the scribe Egeas, who might also be the author of illustrations. It remained preserved in the abbey until the nineteenth century, including while the monastery changed denomination in 1205 and hosted a Cistercian community.Notice du ministère de la Culture espagnol The historian

Alexandre Herculano Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo (28 March 181013 September 1877) was a Portuguese novelist and historian. Early life Herculano's family had humble origins. One of his grandfathers was a foreman stonemason in the royal employ. Herculan ...

discovered the manuscript in the library of the monastery in 1853 and transferred it to the national archives of Portugal in Lisbon to be part of the corpus of documents and texts in the history of Portugal ('' Portugaliae Monumenta Historica''). The manuscript is still preserved there.Notice du ministère de la Culture espagnol It is one of eleven manuscripts of Beatus in the Iberian record of the

Memory of the World Register Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 2015.Présentation sur le site de l'UNESCO
/ref>

Description

This is the only manuscript of the Beatus Commentary on the Apocalypse of Liébana, also called Beatus, produced in Portugal during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. This is a relatively primitive version of the text, probably copied from a ninth century original. It is written in a

Carolingian minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one reg ...

style that made the transition to the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. His miniatures are at number 70, including 18 full-page, 20 of the half-page and the other smaller and variable dimensions. The manuscript also retains its original binding.Notice du ministère de la Culture espagnol Fl- 17 Apocalypse do Lorvão, O Mysterio das Sete Estrellas.jpg, Mystery of the Seven Stars, f.17 Fl- 90 Apocalypse do Lorvão, Visão do Cordeiro e dos Quatro Seres.jpg, Vision of the Lamb and of the Four Symbols, f.90 Fl- 115 Apocalypse do Lorvão, O Grande Terramoto.jpg, The Great Earthquake, f.115 Fl- 172v Apocalypse do Lorvão, Colheita e Vindima.jpg, Harvesting Crops and Picking Grapes, f.172v. These illustrations were considered archaic for the time, marked by a thick stroke and colors dominated by orange and yellow. They may have been copied from an older model, perhaps close to the original manuscript written by Beatus of Liebana. There are also repeatedly scenes of everyday life at the time of

Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I of Portugal (), nicknamed "the Populator" ( pt, "o Povoador"), King of Portugal (Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) was the second but only surviving legitimate son and fifth child of Afonso I of Portugal by his wife, Maud of Savoy. ...

. Finally, Beatus map belonging to the manuscript has been preserved but only half of it. It was reunited with the manuscript after being separated from it.Notice du ministère de la Culture espagnol

Bibliography

* John W. Williams, ''The illustrated Beatus. A corpus of the illustrations of the commentary on the Apocalypse'', tome V, « The Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries », Harvey Miller Publisher, 2003, 416 pages ( (notice 22) * Jorge Manuel Gomes da Silva Rocha, ''L'image dans le Beatus de Lorvão : figuration, composition et visualité dans les enluminures du Commentaire à l'Apocalypse attribué au Scriptorium du Monastère de São Mamede de Lorvão – 1189'', Thèse de doctorat en histoire de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, 2007/2008 Online
/small> * Anne De Egry, ''O apocalipse do Lorvão e a sua relação com as ilustrações medievais do Apocalipse''. Lisboa : Gulbenkian, 1972. 145 p. * Peter Klein, « The Whore of Babylone in the Beatus Codex of Lorvão », in C. Hediger (éd.), ''« Tout le temps du veneour est sanz oyseuseté ». Mélanges offerts à Yves Christe pour son 65ème anniversaire'', Turnhout, Brepols (Culture et société médiévales, 8), 2005, p. 103-111 * Beato de Liébana: ''Códice del Monasterio de San Mamede de Lorvao'' ac-similé Valencia: Patrimonio Ediciones, 2003. Online
/small>

References

External links

Notice sur le site des Archives nationales du Portugal

* [http://www.unesco.org/new/fr/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-5/the-manuscripts-of-the-commentary-to-the-apocalypse-beatus-of-liebana-in-the-iberian-tradition/ Notice] sur le site du Memory of the World Programme#Memory of the World Register, Registre de la Mémoire du monde de l'UNESCO {{DEFAULTSORT:Apocalypse of Lorvao Arts in Portugal 12th-century illuminated manuscripts Memory of the World Register Illuminated beatus manuscripts

History

Description

Bibliography

See also

References

External links