Harley 1527 Bible Moralisée

Harley 1527 Bible Moralisée

Although the British Library's Harley 1527 manuscript with its no less than 1,208 golden medallions on 306 pages is an impressive masterpiece of Gothic book illumination in itself, it is only the New Testament part of a former three-volume manuscript comprising the entire Bible. The corresponding Old Testament, which is just as exquisitely illuminated, is divided into three fragments, which are now preserved in three different collections: Ms. Bodl. 270b in the Bodlein Library, Oxford (Genesis to Job); Ms. Lat. 11560 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (end of the Book of Job, Psalms, Books of Solomon, Prophets); Ms. Harley 1526 in the British Library, London (Maccabees).

The Counterpart to the Bible of Louis the Saint

The magnificent Bible moralisée was probably commissioned by Blanche of Castile (1188–1252), mother of Louis the Saint, as a wedding gift for his wife Margaret of Provence (around 1222–1295). It is the counterpart to the famous Bible of Louis the Saint, which has an almost identical picture program. Remarkably, the content of the accompanying short texts differs considerably, even though they were arranged in the same manner on the pages.

A Golden Bible Moralisée

In the late Middle Ages, moralized bibles were an extremely popular and widespread book genre for the wealthy Christian laity. As didactic works, they served to present and exegete the stories of the Bible to their readers in an understandable, relatively relatable and, above all, moralizing manner. Each illuminated page of the Bible moralisée - Harley 1527 features four biblical events in text and image. Each story first appears in the Latin version of the Bible with a corresponding picture medallion. This is followed by the moralization in another short paragraph and a second medallion. Thus, each page provides a total of eight miniatures with eight explanatory text snippets.

Images of the New Testament

Although the moralizing text passages in particular provide an interesting insight into the understanding of the Bible in 12th century Western Christianity, the images clearly dominate this work. The opulently gold-decorated medallions display the typical vibrant red and blue color palette of the Parisian Gothic and are reminiscent of light-flooded church windows of the time. The associated medallions are often characterized by complementary compositions. The moralizing images frequently depict moral transgressions such as greed and lust, which were to be avoided. Interestingly, the sinful figures are often assigned to the clergy by their appearance, although the actual work is aimed at aristocratic laypeople.

Royal Owners

The luxurious manuscript came to England as early as the mid-13th century – probably as a gift from Margaret to her sister and English Queen Eleanor of Provence (around 1223–1291). The manuscript was divided in the same century, whereupon Harley 126 and 127 were bound together and passed into the hands of various collectors until Robert Harley (1661–1724), Earl of Oxford, acquired them in 1721. Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715–1785), Duchess of Portland, eventually sold his library to the British Museum, where, together with Harley 126 and 127, it co-founded the Manuscript Collection, which is now held and maintained by the British Library.