Worms Bible - Harley 2803, London

	Title Bible (the 'Worms Bible') , Genesis to Job Origin Germany (Frankenthal, near Worms, Middle Rhineland) Date 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century, probably c. 1148 Language Latin Script Protogothic Decoration 1 large miniature in colours and gold of Jerome writing before his preface (f. 1v). 19 very large historiated initials in colours and gold (ff. 6v, 176, 199, 226v, 229, 253, 264, 267v, 269, 272, 273, 274, 276v, 278, 279v, 281, 282, 286v, 288v). Large or very large initials in colours and usually gold with foliate or interlace decoration and usually clasps (ff. 1v, 5, 28, 45v, 58v, 76v, 92v, 93v, 104v, 115, 116v, 133v, 146v, 162, 175v, 229, 252v, 263 (x2), 267, 269, 272, 272v, 274, 276, 277v, 279, 282, 286v, 288), some also with faces, men, or dragons (one with a linen curtain (f. 93v). Large zoomorphic initial in colours (f. 280v) . Large initials in red or brown, some with penwork decoration. Small initials in brown or red. Rubrics in red. Marginal drawing in ink of Samson (f. 111v). Marginal drawing of a head, and of other figures in green and black (ff. 122, 126v, 133v). Dimensions in mm 530 x 365 (390 x 230) in two columns Official foliation ff. 301 ( + 3 paper fllyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end) Form Parchment codex Binding BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1929. Provenance Possibly written or illuminated in 1148 in the Augustinian abbey of Mary Magdalene in Frankenthal, 10 kilometers south of Worms: inscription 'anno m.c.xlviii [inceptus est liber] ?' (f. 1): see Cohen-Mushlin 1990. The Augustinian monastery of St Mary, outside of Worms: 17th-century inscription 'Hic liber pertinet ad Ecclesiam Beatae Mariae Virginis in Suburbio Wormatiensis', signed 'J. G.' (f. 1). J. G. might be Joannes Georgius Renner, dean from 1597-1605: see Cohen-Mushlin 1983 pp. 14-15. The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, probably acquired by George Suttie, their agent, in Germany in either 1717 or 1720 (see Cohen-Mushlin). Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Notes The second volume of the Bible is Harley 2804. Ampersands. Instructions to rubricator (e.g., ff. 1v, 45v). Quire signatures. Select bibliography Bibliography for each of Harley 2803 and 2804. A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), I, nos 2803-4. David Casley, Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1736), II, p. 713, and I, p. 31. Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 5. J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 154. Georg Swarzenski, Die Salzburger Malerei, 2 vols (Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1913), I, 69 n. 4, 76 n. 4. [Eric G. Millar], British Museum Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 4 (London: British Museum, 1928), pl. 11. Meyer Schapiro, 'From Mozarabic to Romanesque in Silo', Art Bulletin 21 (1939), 313-374 (p. 342 n. 91). Ernst Kitzinger, Early Medieval Art with Illustrations from the British Museum Collection (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1940), pl. 42. D. H. Turner, Romanesque Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Library(London: British Museum, 1966), p. 19, pl. 10. C. R. Dodwell, Painting in Europe: 800 to 1200 (London : Penguin Books, 1971), p. 163. Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), no. 706. Walter Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1982), no. 9, p .238, pls.146, 149, 201. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, The Making of a Manuscript: The Worms Bible of 1148 (British Library, Harley 2803-2804), Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 25 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1983). Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, A Medieval Scriptorium: Sancta Maria Magdalena de Frankendal, Wolfenbütteler Mittelalter-Studien, 3, 2 vols (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1990), passim, esp. I, 154-5; II, figs 4-6, 20, 340, 342, 344, 345, 349, 350-4, 357, 364, 366-7,8 , Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, 'The Twelfth-Century Scriptorium at Frankenthal', inMedieval Book Production: Assessing the Evidence, ed. by Linda l. Brownrigg, Proceedings of the Second Conference of The Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford, July 1988 (Los Altos Hills, California: Anderson-Lovelace, 1990), pp. 85-101 (esp. pp. 88, 94). Walter Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts: The Twelfth Century, 2 vols (London: Harvey Millar, 1996), II, 179. Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), no. 36. Christopher de Hamel, The Book: A History of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), p. 83, pl. 58. Justin Clegg, The Medieval Church in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 6, pl. 2. Edgar J. Hürkey, Schätze aus pergament: mittelalterliche handschriften aus Frankenthal (Frankenthal: Erkenbert-Musuem, 2007), no. 3 [exhibition catalogue]. Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), pp. 10 and 94, fig. 81. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, 'A School for Scribes,' in Teaching Writing, Learning to Write: Proceedings of the XVIth Colloquium of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine, ed. by P. R. Robinson (London: King's College Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies, 2010), pp. 61-87. Images   f. 1 Jerome f. 1 Inscription f. 1 Inscription   f. 1v Jerome f. 1v Miniature f. 1v Jerome   f. 1v Monk f. 3 Text f. 4 Text   f. 5v Text f. 6v Creation f. 6v Creation   f. 6v Creation f. 6v God f. 15v Text   f. 16v Text f. 28 Inhabited initial f. 45v Decorated initial   f. 58v Numbers f. 76v Decorated initial f. 92v Decorated initial   f. 93v Decorated initial f. 104v Inhabited initial f. 111v Samson   f. 111v Samson f. 111v Samson f. 116v Decorated initial   f. 122 Head f. 126v David and his sheep f. 126v David and Goliath   f. 126v David and Goliath f. 133v Inhabited initial f. 133v Inhabited initial   f. 133v Marginal drawing f. 146v Inhabited initial f. 162 Decorated initial   f. 175v Decorated initial f. 176 Isaiah f. 176 Isaiah   f. 198v Interlace initial f. 199 Jeremiah f. 226v Jeremiah   f. 229 Ezekiel f. 229 Ezekiel f. 229 Ezekiel   f. 252v Decorated initial f. 253 Daniel f. 263v Decorated initial   f. 263v Decorated initial f. 264 Hosea f. 264 Hosea   f. 267 Decorated initial f. 267v Joel f. 269 Amos   f. 269 Decorated initial f. 269 Amos f. 269 Decorated initial   f. 269 Head of Amos f. 272 Obadiah f. 272 Interlace initial   f. 272 Obadiah f. 272v Decorated initial f. 273 Jonah   f. 273 Detail f. 273 Jonah f. 274 Micah   f. 274 Decorated initial f. 274 Micah f. 276 Decorated initial   f. 276v Nahum f. 277v Decorated initial f. 278 Habakkuk   f. 279 Decorated initial f. 279v Zephaniah f. 280v Zoomorphic initial   f. 281 Haggai f. 282 Zacharias f. 282 Detail   f. 282 Feet f. 282 Zacharias f. 286v Malachi   f. 286v Decorated initial f. 286v Malachi f. 286v Robe   f. 286v Malachi f. 288 Decorated initial f. 288v Job