The (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "Paupers' Bible") was a tradition of picture

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

s beginning probably with

Ansgar Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), also known as Anskar, Saint Ansgar, Saint Anschar or Oscar, was Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in the northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North" b ...

, and a common printed block-book in the later

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 ...

to visualize the typological correspondences between the Old and New Testaments. Unlike a simple "illustrated Bible", where the pictures are subordinated to the text, these Bibles placed the illustration in the centre, with only a brief text or sometimes no text at all. Words spoken by the figures in the miniatures could be written on scrolls coming out of their mouths. To this extent one might see parallels with modern

cartoon strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

s. The tradition is a further simplification of the ''

Bible moralisée The , also known as the "Bible Historiée", the "Bible Allégorisée" and sometimes "Emblémes Bibliques", is a later name for the most important examples of the medieval picture bibles, called in general "biblia pauperum", to have survived. The ...

'' tradition, which was similar but with more text. Like these, the ''Biblia pauperum'' was usually in the local vernacular language, rather than Latin.

History

Originally Paupers' Bibles took the form of colourful hand-painted

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

s on

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anim ...

, though in the fifteenth century printed examples with

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

s took over. The ''Biblia pauperum'' was among the commonest works put out in block-book form, mainly in the Netherlands and Germany, where both text and images were done entirely in a single woodcut for each page. The first of many editions printed using

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation m ...

was printed in German, in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...

in about 1462 by

Albrecht Pfister Albrecht Pfister (c. 1420 – c. 1466) was one of the first European printers to use movable type, following its invention by Johannes Gutenberg. Working in Bamberg, Germany, he is believed to have been responsible for two innovations in the use ...

; there were about eighteen incunabulum editions. A ''Biblia pauperum'' was not intended to be bought by the poor — some manuscripts were opulent and very expensive, although the block-book versions were far cheaper, and probably affordable by parish priests. The simpler versions were however probably used by the clergy as a teaching aid for those who could not read, which included most of the population. The name ''Biblia pauperum'' was applied by German scholars in the 1930s. Biblia

Each group of images in the ''Biblia pauperum'' is dedicated to one event from the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, which is accompanied by two slightly smaller pictures of

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

events which prefigure the central one, according to belief of medieval theologians in

typology Typology is the study of types or the systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics. Typology is the act of finding, counting and classification facts with the help of eyes, other senses and logic. Ty ...

; these parallels are explained in two blocks of text, and each of the three Biblical scenes is introduced with a Latin verse. Four

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

hold scrolls with quotations from their Books, which prefigure the same event from the Gospels. For example, the scene of Longinus spearing Jesus as he hangs on the Cross is accompanied by God bringing forth Eve from the side of Adam, and Moses striking the rock so that water flowed forth, together with prophecies of

Zechariah Zechariah most often refers to: * Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah * Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to: People *Zechariah ...

, the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

, the Lamentations and Amos. Faksimile
The earliest manuscripts of the ''Biblia Pauperum'' were made in Bavaria and Austria in the 14th century, they have 34–36 groups. Later versions add more scenes, and one of the most detailed versions is th
50-part blockbook version
produced in the Netherlands in 1480–1495.

Alternatives

The ''Biblia'' was rivalled by the ''

Speculum Humanae Salvationis The ''Speculum Humanae Salvationis'' or ''Mirror of Human Salvation'' was a bestselling anonymous illustrated work of popular theology in the late Middle Ages, part of the genre of encyclopedic speculum literature, in this case concentrating on ...

'' (''Mirror of Human Salvation''), another very popular compilation of typological pairings, with rather more text than the ''Biblia''. The iconographical programmes of these books are shared with many other forms of medieval art, including stained glass windows and carvings of biblical subjects. Since books are more portable than these, they may well have been important in transmitting new developments in depicting the subjects. Most subjects, such as the

Annunciation to the Shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibl ...

, can be seen in a very similar form at different dates, in different media and different countries.

References

External links

* * Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.
Bibliotheca Palatina, Heidelberg. Cod. Pal. germ. 59, Biblia pauperum, Schweiz (?), 1518.
Contents
Inhaltsverzeichnis, 2009

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Biblia Pauperum (50-part Blockbook) (Block A)
Facsimile of the 50-part blockbook ''Biblia Pauperum'' with identifications of all scenes and prophets, in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Arch. G c.14
Digital facsimile of the Biblia Pauperum in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

Hunterian Library, University of Glasgow, Sp Coll Hunterian Ds.2.4

John Rylands Library, Manchester, Biblia pauperum, deutsch. Bamberg: Albrecht Pfister, ca. 1462 (GW 4325; ISTC ib00652700)

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Biblia pauperum.
Netherlands or Germany, ca. 1470 40 leaves. illus. 29 cm. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biblia Pauperum Late Middle Ages Types of illuminated manuscript Incunabula Christian genres Woodcuts Bible versions and translations

History

Alternatives

See also

References

Further reading

External links