Analise Crítica dos Blockbooks

The Apocalypse BlockBooks and Their Manuscript Models Authors Gertrud Bing Source Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Vol 5 1942 pp 143158 Published by The Warburg Institute Stable URL httpwwwjstororgstable750451 Accessed 05082013 0550 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms Conditions of Use available at httpwwwjstororgpageinfoaboutpoliciestermsjsp JSTOR is a notforprofit service that helps scholars researchers and students discover use and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship For more information about JSTOR please contact supportjstororg The Warburg Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize preserve and extend access to Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes httpwwwjstororg This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS By Gertrud Bing n the history of the Apocalypse illustrations there are two outstanding periods These produced such an imposing series of works of art that the attention of scholars has been almost entirely focused on them It was in the 13th century that the greatest number and the most beautiful of illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts were written on either side of the English Channel the classical tradition of illustrating the Book of Revelation was then founded and the pictorial shape which it received survived for centuries almost without change It seemed so final that it canonized certain interpolations into the text of the Book the validity of which would probably otherwise have been questioned the manuscripts contain not only the time less text of Revelation itself but also glosses upon it which were the result of a long development in biblical interpretation lasting from the 4th to the late I Ith century These glosses intrude into the pictures themselves and thus the much older conception of the Bible which they represent survives in the pictorial tradition of Apocalypse illustration from the 13th century on wards The second great period of Apocalypse illustration is the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century In the printed Bibles the Apocalypse was the first part to be illustrated then came the great woodcut cycles by individual artists and the pictures lost the traditional aspect which they had so far maintained They began to reflect the new searching attitude towards the biblical text and finally with the publication of the Luther Bible the illustrations of the Book were made to proclaim the message of the Reforma tion to a greater number of people than could have been reached by theolo gical writings alone Between these two periods nothing much seems to have happened in this field There is a gap between the legacy of the I3th century and the achieve ments of the time of the Reformation But in the first half of the 1I5th century there appeared the series of Blockbooks illustrating the Apocalypse they made use of the new medium of the woodcut which though still incomplete in the light of later development yet from its start fulfilled a function different from the illuminated page The mechanically produced books had a wide circulation and the fact that the Apocalypse was among the first subjects to appear in this shape and that no less than six editions of it were published within a generation shows how great the demand must have been In this respect these books were the forerunners of the popular imagery of the Reformation but the pictures which now became known to a large public still retained with an astonishing faithfulness the shape in which they had been the property of the few in earlier times The shortened explanations which accompanied them were also taken from the old glosses The Blockbooks have mainly been discussed in terms of what followed after them They were appreciated by those scholars who saw that they foreshadowed the printing press and that they were woodcut incunabula of 43 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 144 GERTRUD BING great beauty students of illuminated manuscripts regarded them as epigones of a great tradition Yet it is impossible to assess them properly before their place in this tradition is defined Until we know what immediate predecessors they had we cannot tell for what kind of public they were made or what was the mental and religious attitude of those who first planned them No surmise has ever been made as to what contemporary sources of inspiration they may have added to the 13th century manuscripts of which they conclude the tradi tion It will not be doubted that they represent a renaissance of the 13th century in the 15th The Wellcome Apocalypse with which this paper deals though of an infinitely lower artistic standard than that of the Blockbooks and their great models enables us for the first time to compare them in detail with the contemporary manuscripts which preserved the tradition and made its revival possible The iconography of the Wellcome Apocalypse conforms on the whole with the group of i3th century MSS representing the Apocalypse which M Delisle termed the first family2 That is to say it belongs to those MSS which open and close with pictures taken from the accounts of St Johns Life and Death by PseudoAbdias and Jacobus da Voragine and which also contain an insertion of scenes from the Life of Antichrist In this group of MSS the first part of St Johns life up to his deportation to Patmos is placed at the beginning of the MSS Then come the Apocalypse pictures opening with the Angels appearance on the island and the scenes of St Johns life preceding it lead up to it like the exposition of a drama The later scenes of his life and the death scene logically occur at the end of the MSS forming the epilogue to the narrative of the Visions3 The Antichrist pictures are three in number and follow the picture of the Slaying of the two Witnesses Rev xi 7 The Beast from the Pit which according to the text makes war on them is replaced in these MSS by the Antichrist who orders them to be slain and the insertions enlarge upon the analogy by adding to it the representations of Antichrists reign on earth and his fall4 The narrative of Revelation is again taken up with the thanks giving of the 24 Elders xi 1517 1 H L Heydenreich saw the photographs of the Wellcome Apocalypse some years ago and was the first to suspect its im portance as the missing link between the Blockbooks and their I3th century pre decessors We wish it might have been possible for him to cooperate in the present paper He alluded to the Wellcome MS in a note in his recent article Der Apoka lypsenZyklus im Athosgebiet und seine Beziehungen zur deutschen Bibelillustration der Reformation Zeitschrift fir Kunstge schichte VIII I939 pp I40 L Delisle and P Meyer LApocalypse en franfais au XIIIe sidcle Paris 19oi0 3 The first part of the Life at the beginning of the MSS is taken from PseudoAbdias the second half at the end follows the account by Jacobus da Voragine 4 The Book nowhere mentions the Anti christ explicitly The connection is purely a matter of interpretation and from the earliest down to modern times commentators have seen a reference to Antichrist in the Beast from the Sea the False Prophet the Beast on which the Scarlet Woman sits and in Satans last struggle after his release The little season xx 3 during which his reign This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 145 The arrangement of the Wellcome MS differs in two respects from that found in the 13th century group First it opens with the Apocalypse and places all scenes from the life and death of St John together at the end of the series instead of in two sections separated by the Apocalypse and Antichrist material And secondly the Antichrist insertion into the Apocalypse comes at a different point namely after the Ascension xi 1213 and not as in the earlier group after the Slaying of the Witnesses It comprises eighteen separate pictures and is much more elaborate than the version traditionally found in the Apocalypse MSS1 Yet the Wellcome MS conforms to the tradition not only in that it con tains both the life of St John and the Antichrist classes of additional material but also in that it has the halfpage illustrations2 and the choice of subjects with which the bulk of Apocalypse MSS have made us familiar Typical examples of the first family are the Paris MS Bibl Nat fr 403 and Bodley Auct D 4 178 Of these two which in many respects are not identical the Bodley version is the one from which Wellcome is derived It conforms with it and differs from the Paris MS in a number of compositions4 and details5 The main difference between the two types is that the Paris MS has its half on earth will last has been identified with the 42 months of the Gentiles who tread the Holy City under foot xi 2 the I260 days of the Witnesses xi 3 the 1260 days xii 6 and the time and times and half a time xii I4 which the Woman will spend in the Wilderness and the 42 months of power given to the Beast from the Sea xiii 5 The replacing of the Beast by Antichrist and the insertion in this group of MSS is therefore in itself a piece of interpretation and in fact a number of MSS of the second family render the text literally by showing the Beast devouring the Witnesses 1 The account in Wellcome of Antichrists Life and Death must have been taken from other sources than those which provide the orthodox Apocalypse version I have not been able to identify them Another diver gence at this place from the first family tradition is that the Ascension of the Wit nesses which occurs in Wellcome is omitted by the MSS of the first and represented in those of the second family There are other instances in Wellcome of an intrusion of the second family tradition into that of the first family see below p 149 f 2This is the standard form of both families of MSS A small number place the pictures irregularly on the page and vary them in size 3 I leave out the two other main examples of the Bodley type Delisles MS Vicomte Blin de Bourdon now at the Pierpont Morgan Library MS 524 and the Crawford MS now at the Rylands Library Manchester MS I95 4 The Angel appears in front of St John on the Isle of Patmos not behind him and the note of surprise in the backward turn of St Johns head is omitted the Lamb with the Book does not appear in any of the visions of the Four Riders the Angels of the Euphrates are warriors not armed demons the Devouring of the Book and the Measuring of the Temple form one scene instead of the two placed right and left of the angel there is no devil who prompts in the Hearing and the Slaying of the two Witnesses the Angels with the Vials and the Harpers in the Sea of Glass are two separate visions both of which St John is seen to witness the 4th and 5th Vials each occupy a separate picture the Armies of Heaven are not nimbed no angel is present at St Johns first vision of the Holy City 5 Note the number of figures in Paris fols I 15 16 29v and Bodley fols I 5v 6 14r the omission of St John in Paris fol 22v his presence in Bodley fol Ior St John standing in Paris fol 36v sitting in Bodley fol I9r Christ present in Paris fol 36 omitted in Bodley 19r Angel present in Paris fols 41 42 omitted in Bodley fols 2 1V 22r half figure in Paris fol 42 full figure in Bodley fol 2 1v flying in Paris fol 27v standing in Bodley fol 13v ellyptical halo in Paris fol 32v clouds in Bodley fol 17v In all these instances Wellcome follows Bodley This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 146 GERTRUD BING page illustrations at the top of each page the rest being filled with writing whereas the folios of the Bodley MS are uniformly made up of two halfpage illustrations which contain the text on scrolls or blocks of script This is also the layout adopted by the Wellcome MS The only differences are occasioned by the greater volume of space reserved for the writing in Wellcome on the margins of which and on all available spaces in and around the pictures is written the whole text of the Book of Revelation as well as a gloss in which other glosses are added to the glosa ordinaria The Bodley type was also as is known the model of the Blockbook editions of the Apocalypse They copy exactly its layout of two scenes filling the whole page they follow its choice of subjects they have the same text inserted in the pictures and their iconography is so surprisingly like that of Bodley that one wonders why an interval of 200 years a different medium of artistic expression and the changes in style and taste inherent in the transition from the monastic Middle Ages to the age of the invention of mechanical book production left so little trace on the conception of the biblical images In what relation then does the Wellcome MS stand to the Blockbooks if the iconography of both is derived from the Bodley type of MS There are six editions of the Blockbook Apocalypse Those numbered I 2 3 by Schreiber are said by him to be of Netherlandish those numbered 4 5 6 of German origin2 For the purposes of a purely iconographical inquiry the first three are identical The 4th and 5th editions are closely related to one another but differ from the first group in details These differences although slight in themselves are striking in view of the close affinity which otherwise exists among the Blockbooks and between them and Bodley The 5th edition compared with the 4th repeats the relation in which the second group stands to the first it is such a close replica of the 4th edition that one is at a loss to account for the changes which some of the pictures have under gone The 6th edition is simply a copy of the 5th From the iconographical point of view we have therefore only three editions to deal with No I standing for I 2 3 No 4 and No 5 including 5 and 6 The dates at which they were published are controversial Schreiber holds that the first fourth and fifth versions may have been published almost simultaneously about I465 For the present purposes this question can be ignored for though a comparison with the Wellcome MS will fix a terminus post quem for 1 Mainly excerpts from Berengauduss gloss See below page 153 2Schreiber Manuel de lamateur IV 1902 p I6o ff For the discussion on the age and provenance of the Blockbooks and for the relationship of the six editions among them selves see Kristeller Die Apokalypse Alteste Blockbuchausgabe Berlin 1916 pp 6 ff and 25 and Musper in Die Graphischen Kiinste N F II I937 p I28 ff III I938 p 41 ff esp p 51 I and in GutenbergGesellschaft Kleiner Druck Mainz 1939 3 This date has been questioned and re cently there has been a tendency to advance the date of the publication of the Blockbooks to almost the beginning of the 15th century Muspers date of 1420 for the first Apocalypse editionif correctwould seem to indicate that the Wellcome MS must have been copied from the Blockbooks This is ipso facto unlikely for reasons of style and general appearance of the drawings but it can be proved not to be the case see below p I57 Hind in his History of the Woodcut London 1935 I p 224 holds that 1440 is a more likely date for the first Apocalypse edition than 1420 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Subject Wellcome MS Bodley Auct D 4 17 Blockbook I Blockbook IV x St John on Patmos Island is shaped like a Island fills lower right like Wellcome like Wellcome round block surrounded by hand corner angel within water angel outside this area surrounded by water area no boat boat with boatmen taking I off 2 Vision of Christ in Full page angel whole Half page angel is half Full page angel whole Full page angel full Majesty between the figure animals have figure animals have figure animals have figure lamps like Animals scrolls books books and the lamps are Bodley but animals have P1 36a b c arranged as in Bodley scrolls 3 Apparition of the Full page 6 angels in top Half page 8 angels in top Full page 6 angels no Full page 6 angels win Lamb row window behind St row no window behind window dow behind St John John St John 4 The Angels holding No sun near the angel but Face of the sun to the right Face of sun in the same Sun omitted inscription the Winds inscription Ortus Solis of angels foot inscription position as in Bodley in placed as in Wellcome and in top righthand corner Ortus Solis above it scription Ortus Fons in Blockbook I righthand top corner 5 The Angels receiving Last angel looking back All angels looking to like Bodley like Wellcome the Trumpets to left at St John right towards the angel distributing the trumpets 6 The Two Witnesses Antichrist sitting on high Antichrist sitting on low like Bodley like Wellcome attendants before Antichrist backed chair legs crossed stool legs apart has sword lowered holding sword but no sheath attendants sword sheath attendants sword raised lowered 7 The Witnesses slain Antichrist on highbacked Antichrist on low stool like Bodley like Wellcome groups P1 37a b c chair left group witness left group witness pros identical sword instead ol kneeling executioner with trate with severed head axe no grasping of fore raised sword right group executioner leans sword lock no standing on vic witness prostrate with across his knee right foot tims back but in reverse severed head executioner on victims back looks left order resting on sword holds his towards Antichrist right sheath looking left towards group witness kneeling Antichrist executioner raises axe and grasps victims hair 8 The Dragon adored Man with purse hanging No man with a purse like Bodley like Wellcome from his belt among the among the crowd followers of the dragon 9 The False Prophet Group left of the False Left group compact Left group like Wellcome Left and right groups has an Image of the Prophet man kneeling crowd of kneeling men right group looking to exactly like Wellcome Beast made with bandaged eyes an two executioners in ar wards image as in Bodley Pl 38a c e other one lying dead mour one with axe the executioner with knee executioner in short jerkin other with sword right length coat and cap wielding sword group all looking to right left hand on victims head towards image of beast behind him man with No crowned man in the crown and sceptre looking centre Victims eyes not right towards False Proph bandaged et in group right of False Prophet man looking back towards centre i o The Mark of the 3 groups of followers Followers form compact like Wellcome the man like Wellcome man in Beast among 1st group man group of parallel figures in the first group has no first group has the purse P1 38b d f with purse in his hand none characterized except purse looking back 2nd group last one who wears beg 2 persons one making gars clothes with bare gesture of counting 3rd legs group 2 persons one with wallet leading small dog one is lame with crutch and bandaged stump of leg bent at the knee I I Beati Mortui Walledin churchyard with The dead lying on the The dead lying half like Blockbook I but the P1 3ib gate and church apse and ground as if sleeping souls buried in the soil partly soil is flat and the spires spire in the corner graves in the shape of children 3 hidden by a hill one soul of a church appear in the and bodies halfburied in carried to heaven in cloth wrapped in angels gar distant background the soil souls in the shape or angels garment by ment carried to heaven by of children rising from one halflength angel halflength angel their mouths two being carried to heaven by 2 fulllength angels 12 The First Vial Massive building on right Building on right only like Weilcome like Wellcome mans Compact group of clearly sketched Loose groups of gesture more like counting characterized persons 1st gesticulating men or demonstrating man with arms and hands outstretched last figure is This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Wellcome MS J Bodley Auct D 4 17 Blockbook I Blockbook IV Blockbook V and is shaped like a Island fills lower right like Wellcome like Wellcome like Wellcome und block surrounded by hand corner angel within iter angel outside this area surrounded by water ea no boat boat with boatmen taking I off 11 page angel whole Half page angel is half Full page angel whole Full page angel full like Blockbook IV but ure animals have figure animals have figure animals have figure lamps like Christ holds short sceptre oils books books and the lamps are Bodley but animals have like Wellcome arranged as in Bodley scrolls 11 page 6 angels in top Half page 8 angels in top Full page 6 angels no Full page 6 angels win like Wellcome and Block w window behind St row no window behind window dow behind St John book IV hn St John sun near the angel but Face of the sun to the right Face of sun in the same Sun omitted inscription like Wellcome and Block cription Ortus Solis of angels foot inscription position as in Bodley in placed as in Wellcome and book IV top righthand corner Ortus Solis above it scription Ortus Fons in Blockbook I righthand top corner st angel looking back All angels looking to like Bodley like Wellcome like Bodley and Block left at St John right towards the angel book I distributing the trumpets Ltichrist sitting on high Antichrist sitting on low like Bodley like Wellcome attendants like Wellcome and Block cked chair legs crossed stool legs apart has sword lowered book IV Iding sword but no sheath attendants sword ath attendants sword raised vered tichrist on highbacked Antichrist on low stool like Bodley like Wellcome groups like Blockbook IV vic air left group witness left group witness pros identical sword instead of tims with bandaged eyes eeling executioner with trate with severed head axe no grasping of fore sed sword right group executioner leans sword lock no standing on vic ness prostrate with across his knee right foot tims back but in reverse ered head executioner on victims back looks left order ting on sword holds his towards Antichrist right ath looking left towards group witness kneeling tichrist executioner raises axe and grasps victims hair an with purse hanging No man with a purse like Bodley like Wellcome like Bodley m his belt among the among the crowd lowers of the dragon oup left of the False Left group compact Left group like Wellcome Left and right groups like Wellcome and Block phet man kneeling crowd of kneeling men right group looking to exactly like Wellcome book IV th bandaged eyes an two executioners in ar wards image as in Bodley ter one lying dead mour one with axe the executioner with knee cutioner in short jerkin other with sword right length coat d cap wielding sword group all looking to right hand on victims head towards image of beast hind him man with No crowned man in the wn and sceptre looking centre Victims eyes not ht towards False Proph bandaged in group right of False phet man looking back vards centre groups of followers Followers form compact like Wellcome the man like Wellcome man in like Wellcome and Block iong 1st group man group of parallel figures in the first group has no first group has the purse book IV th purse in his hand none characterized except purse king back 2nd group last one who wears beg persons one making gars clothes with bare ature of counting 3rd legs up 2 persons one with l1et leading small dog is lame with crutch d bandaged stump of bent at the knee illedin churchyard with The dead lying on the The dead lying half like Blockbook I but the like Blockbooks I and IV e and church apse and ground as if sleeping souls buried in the soil partly soil is flat and the spires but the dead are lying full re in the corner graves in the shape of children 3 hidden by a hill one soul of a church appear in the length on the flat soil and d bodies halfburied in carried to heaven in cloth wrapped in angels gar distant background a church building with soil souls in the shape or angels garment by ment carried to heaven by spires appears in the back children rising from one halflength angel halflength angel ground nearer and bigger ir mouths two being than in Blockbook IV ried to heaven by 2 Ilength angels Sssive building on right Building on right only like Weilcome like Weilcome mans like Wellcome and Block mpact group of clearly sketched Loose groups of gesture more like counting book IV aracterized persons xst gesticulating men or demonstrating n with arms and hands tstretched last figure is This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions towards centre 1o The Mark of the 3 groups of followers Followers form compact like Wellcome the man like Wellcome man in Beast among Ist group man group of parallel figures in the first group has no first group has the purse P1 38b d f with purse in his hand none characterized except purse looking back 2nd group last one who wears beg 2 persons one making gars clothes with bare gesture of counting 3rd legs group 2 persons one with wallet leading small dog one is lame with crutch and bandaged stump of leg bent at the knee I I Beati Mortui Walledin churchyard with The dead lying on the The dead lying half like Blockbook I but the Pl 3 1b gate and church apse and ground as if sleeping souls buried in the soil partly soil is flat and the spires spire in the corner graves in the shape of children 3 hidden by a hill one soul of a church appear in the and bodies halfburied in carried to heaven in cloth wrapped in angels gar distant background the soil souls in the shape or angels garment by ment carried to heaven by of children rising from one halflength angel halflength angel their mouths two being carried to heaven by 2 fulllength angels 12 The First Vial Massive building on right Building on right only like Wellcome like Wellcome mans Compact group of clearly sketched Loose groups of gesture more like counting characterized persons Ist gesticulating men or demonstrating man with arms and hands outstretched last figure is a woman 13 7The Fourth Vial Living man embracing a No embraces no woman like Wellcome like Wellcome dead one on left of group woman in centre of group 14 Satan bound St John standing dragon St John seated dragon St John seated dragon St John standing dragon fully visible is locked up emerges from hill which only half visible emerges visible full length locked in house with door win hides it is locked up in from hill is locked up in in small house with win dows and tiled roof mouth of hell with lock houseshaped kennel dow 15 The Dragon and his The dragon and armoured Satan and his host emerg Satan appearing from be Satan appearing from be host reemerging host emerging from behind ing from mouth of hell hind a hill no armoured hind hill men in town a mountain armoured no armoured men inside men in town archers are armoured archers men defending town from town archer in the act of bow vertical attitude like Wellcome inside outside wall archer drawing his bow arrow with raised bow and pointing downward arrow 16 St John baptizes Drusiana in stone font Drusiana in wooden tub Font like Wellcome 6 Font like Wellcome group Drusiana shaped like a chalice Group of idolaters 6 per persons in group no ar of idolaters like Wellcome Pl 39a b c Group of idolaters man sons none in armour one mour contemporary dress in every detail with hood on his knees crouching one on back of but arrangement exactly one above him looking the others one carries an like Bodley backwards 2 armoured axe on his shoulders men behind one with pointed helmet one with round helmet and axe in his hand 17 St John before the Man with axe behind St One man behind St John Men behind St John have like Wellcome Prefect John youth with hat in has a halberd the other a halberd and sword man hand standing next to the sword Man with a dog with dog next to prefect prefect prefect sitting on on his lap sitting on the chair with back highbacked gothic chair step of the prefects chair prefects chair has no back Four scenes of St missing existing existing missing Johns Ife I8 St John welcomed Front row of crowd are Front row of crowd are like Wellcome like Wellcome and Block children adults drawn on a smaller book I scale 19 St Joohn destroys the Group of standing men Group of men with closely Group of standing men Group of men with flat Temple of Diana some with pointed some fitting caps some standing with pointed caps woman and pointed caps woman with round caps on left some kneeling no woman kneeling next to St John like Blockbook I but woman isolated kneeling but not isolated hand of more isolated hand of next to St John pointing man over her head man above her head hand of man behind her appears directly above her head 2o The Death of St St John in a chapel before No church interior St No church interior St Church interior with win John the altar raising the Host John raises hands in prayer John without the Host dows otherwise like Block P1 39d e with both hands cleric holds no Host cleric cleric standing close to book I behind him holding St standing away from him him candlestick and lec Johns garment candle no candlestick tern stick behind him This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ards centre groups of followers Followers form compact like Wellcome the man like Wellcome man in like Wellcome and Block mg 1st group man group of parallel figures in the first group has no first group has the purse book IV a purse in his hand none characterized except purse king back 2nd group last one who wears beg persons one making gars clothes with bare ure of counting 3rd legs up 2 persons one with let leading small dog is lame with crutch bandaged stump of bent at the knee Iledin churchyard with The dead lying on the The dead lying half like Blockbook I but the like Blockbooks I and IV r and church apse and ground as if sleeping souls buried in the soil partly soil is flat and the spires but the dead are lying full e in the corner graves in the shape of children 3 hidden by a hill one soul of a church appear in the length on the flat soil and Sbodies halfburied in carried to heaven in cloth wrapped in angels gar distant background a church building with soil souls in the shape or angels garment by ment carried to heaven by spires appears in the back children rising from one halflength angel halflength angel ground nearer and bigger ir mouths two being than in Blockbook IV tied to heaven by 2 length angels ssive building on right Building on right only like Wellcome like Wellcome mans like Wellcome and Block npact group of clearly sketched Loose groups of gesture more like counting book IV racterized persons 1st gesticulating men or demonstrating a with arms and hands stretched last figure is oman ing man embracing a No embraces no woman like Wellcome like Wellcome like Wellcome d one on left of group nan in centre of group John standing dragon St John seated dragon St John seated dragon St John standing dragon St John standing dragon y visible is locked up emerges from hill which only half visible emerges visible full length locked visible dragons house iouse with door win hides it is locked up in from hill is locked up in in small house with win elaborated with tiled roof rs and tiled roof mouth of hell with lock houseshaped kennel dow and windows Sdragon and armoured Satan and his host emerg Satan appearing from be Satan appearing from be like Wellcome and Block t emerging from behind ing from mouth of hell hind a hill no armoured hind hill men in town book IV mountain armoured no armoured men inside men in town archers are armoured archers a defending town from town archer in the act of bow vertical attitude like Wellcome de outside wall archer drawing his bow arrow Sraised bow and pointing downward w isiana in stone font Drusiana in wooden tub Font like Wellcome 6 Font like Wellcome group like Wellcome and Block ped like a chalice Group of idolaters 6 per persons in group no ar of idolaters like Wellcome book IV up of idolaters man sons none in armour one mour contemporary dress in every detail h hood on his knees crouching one on back of but arrangement exactly above him looking the others one carries an like Bodley kwards 2 armoured axe on his shoulders Sbehind one with ited helmet one with nd helmet and axe in hand n with axe behind St One man behind St John Men behind St John have like Wellcome like Wellcome and Block n youth with hat in has a halberd the other a halberd and sword man book IV d standing next to the sword Man with a dog with dog next to prefect fect prefect sitting on on his lap sitting on the chair with back ibacked gothic chair step of the prefects chair prefects chair has no back sing existing existing missing missing nt row of crowd are Front row of crowd are like Wellcome like Wellcome and Block like Wellcome and Block dren adults drawn on a smaller book I books I and IV scale up of standing men Group of men with closely Group of standing men Group of men with flat like Blockbook IV but e with pointed some fitting caps some standing with pointed caps woman and pointed caps woman woman isolated like Well a round caps on left some kneeling no woman kneeling next to St John like Blockbook I but come nan isolated kneeling but not isolated hand of more isolated hand of t to St John pointing man over her head man above her head d of man behind her ears directly above her d John in a chapel before No church interior St No church interior St Church interior with win Church interior St John altar raising the Host John raises handsinprayer John without the Host dows otherwise like Block raises the Host and cleric z both hands cleric holds no Host cleric cleric standing close to book I holds his garment as in ind him holding St standing away from him him candlestick and lec Wellcome ns garment candle no candlestick tern k behind him This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 147 the first edition and define the relations between the different editions it is not intended here to attempt to establish dates It is sufficient to note that Schreibers theory of the almost contemporary publication of the three relevant editions is at least not incompatible with the results of this compari son The table facing this page shows the place of the Wellcome MS between the Bodley type and the different editions of the Blockbooks illustrated by the most conspicuous examples of divergence from the one and agreement with the others The descriptions of the pictures are not exhaustive they only include features relevant for the comparison Details that are not mentioned should be taken to conform to type But in order to provide a picture of the Wellcome MS the table should be read in consultation with the facsimiles in Kristellers edition of Blockbook I Pilinskis2 of Blockbook 5 and the Roxburghe Club reproduction of the Bodley MS3 The results gained from this comparison are a that the Wellcome MS shares with all the Blockbooks some iconographical features4 which are missing in Bodley and for this reason have either been passed over by the critics or where commented on were eulogized as the happy inventions of the woodcutters imaginative genius5 b that some of the details which dis tinguish the 4th and 5th versions from the first 3 editions are either found literally in Wellcome6 or may be retraced by steps to a model which Wellcome and the second group of Blockbooks used but elaborated in different ways 7 1 Pictures not listed in the table confirm the conclusions which may be drawn from the comparison of the most striking examples 2 Monuments de la Xylographie L LApocalypse reproduite en Facsimild sur lexemplaire de la Bibliotheque FirminDidot par Adam Pilinski Paris I882 3 The Apocalypse of St John the Divine Repre sented by figures reproduced infacsimilefrom a MS Auct D 4 I7 in the Bodleian Library The Roxburghe Club I876 Preface by H O Coxe 4Nos I 10 I2 I3 19 of the table Note in particular the group of the man with a wallet leading a dog and the beggar with a lame leg and a crutch in the Mark of the Beast the counting gesture of another man in the same scene P1 4Ie f 5 Kristeller op cit p 14 ff 6 Nos 6 7 16 I 7 in particular the groups of executioners and victims in the Slaying of the Witnesses reversed but otherwise identi cal P1 37b c the group of idolators in the Baptism of Drusiana P1 38b c the youth with cap in hand in St Johns Trial before the Prefect 7 Nos 4 I I 17 In Bodley the face of the sun and the explanatory legend Ortus Solis are placed correctly next to one an other in the picture of the Angels holding the Winds In Blockbook I the representation of the sun and the inscription misunderstood and misread into Ortus Fons have parted company In the Blockbooks 4 and 5 the sun is omitted and the legend left standing solitary at the top righthand corner of the picture The identical arrangement although the legend is again read correctly in Wellcome shows that the misunderstanding of the con text must already have existed in the model The churchyard in the Beati Mortui picture P1 32b appears to be an arbitrary invention of the Wellcome draughtsman But the tiny tops of spires in Blockbook 4 and the massive edifice in Blockbook 5 show that the model illustration must at least have included a building of a church and the Wellcome draughtsman probably added nothing but the cemetery wallThe assumption of such a process of gradual development from one version into another is confirmed by the preservation of an intermediary stage in Lambeth MS 209 The prefects attendant in St Johns Trial resembles Bodley and Blockbook I in position and gesture But he carries his dog under his arm very much as the youth carries his hat in Blockbooks 4 and 5 and in Wellcome This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 148 GERTRUD BING c that although the 5th edition copies the 4th in all but details the divergences cannot be due to the woodcutter for the same variations exist in the Wellcome MS and must therefore be put down to a common source Didot2 and Kristeller have noticed the divergences of the Blockbooks from the Bodley type of MSS They have attributed them to various reasons the most plausible one being that the new technique required more space than the delicate pen and brush stroke of the illumination Some omissions may perhaps be explained in this way for instance the absence of the boat in the picture of St John on Patmos But the argument fails to convince where the elaboration of a halfpage illustration in Bodley into a fullpage picture in the Blockbooks is also found in Wellcome P1 36a b c and where the means used for the ensuing rearrangement of the composition are identical in both3 Nor does it explain the composition of the 7th Vial xvi 1 7 the steps on which the angel and Christ stand and which seem to have been in vented by the woodcutter with a view to gaining space occur also in Well come4 It has been said that the woodcutters misunderstood5 or in accordance with their modern taste enriched the pictures which they found in their model always assuming that this model looked exactly like Bodley These explanations which held good as long as there was no proof to the contrary arise from the conception that the mark of a great artist is the originality of his inventions The comparison of the Blockbooks with Wellcome shows however that all the details in which the woodcut versions differ from Bodley must have existed independently in a MS tradition The conclusion is that both Wellcome and the Blockbooks used a MS model which conformed to the Bodley type yet incorporated those details which used to be attributed to the woodcutters A fresh influx of MS material is traceable in the first fourth and fifth editions and it must therefore be assumed that the wood cutters consulted their MS model afresh for each of these editions while at the same time they also copied the preceding xylographic version Their remarkable achievement lies therefore less in their inventions than in the emphasis which they gave to the archaic features better suited to their forcible message than the soft style of the contemporary MS draughtsmen 1 Nos 2 14 2o The most conspicuous divergence is that of St John raising the host and the cleric ceremoniously bearing the trailing end of the surplice in the scene of St Johns last service P1 38d e 2A Firmin Didot Les Apocalypses figurees manuscrites et xylographiques Paris 1870 3 Scenes 2 3 I4 in the table Note in par ticular the supporting angel with large wings which is elaborated so as to become almost the main figure of the composition in the picture of the Appearance of Christ between the Animals P1 36b c SThis picture is missing in Bodley but the composition in the Paris MS gives enough indications to provide a basis for the argu ment The angel stands on a low socle or raised step in front of one of those dia phanous buildings frequent in Bodley and Paris Christ instead of being enthroned hieratically in a mandorla bends forward from a window as if eager to approach the destruction wrought below by the Vial of Wrath similarly in Bodley in the scene of the Distribution of Vials Taking the representa tion in Wellcome as a mild intermediary stage one sees how the bold transformation in the Blockbooks was evolved 5 The woodcutters lack of understanding of 13th century style was held to be responsible for the group of children in the scene of St Johns welcome by the people of Ephesus instead of adults drawn on a smaller scale It also occurs in Wellcome This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 36 mom 14144 771 aOxford Bodl Auct D 4 17 fol 3V p I48 Table No 2 77 7 T Aw C AWL IV ply oil X low its V xv mb V0 If bBlockBook Ist Ed Kristeller p 148 V or itctM 0 Y7 tat4 4 i tow x iiiiiiiito tei r4 woiiiilll iiiiiiiiiiA l P or niiii wiiilfti iiiiiiiiiiik7 cWellcome MS fol 4r p 148 acChrist between the Animals Rev IV 5 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 37 Aom4 aThe Slaying of the Witnesses Rev XI 7 Bodl Auct D 4 17 fol 7r p I47 Table No 7 bThe Same BlockBook 4th Ed Bodl Auct M 3 15 P 147 Rt a f t rwaw tu On o bmb 6q Ie aiM u6m l W rvvcttvai V0 4 A mpaarptsb Ilus o at m u tm T nu t mui as tv 0 scat piVae ftfWOW tio al fts itmertnix cUO i At 4ila4gKf1 ski it 4A4 loaft mvtra p inpai nrtb Tprtoutf aO t afgu oa ti A t e i llOtttvabs lfdehUk tir far ie f p vmllta 4 11 avt o VA PRhsthft cThe Same Wellcome MS fol Ior p 147 4i4 II U e t 10 1n f uowreq 6Jirl v i of ifni Ol wil i Wil 1 4 p nA lrs90builg woti 4 0 Ser isets t 1Ufsa 4UL 4a04r 44vaf4t i4400 r igo h oiIo ninto enwe uti b77 dThe First Resurrection Rev XX 4 Wellc MS fol 26r pp 149 I5I This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 38 UL VwO aThe Baptism of Drusiana Bodl Auct D 4 17 fol I p 47 Table No I6 fli bThe Same BlockBook 4th Ed Bodl Auct M 3 15 p I47 40 iu4 J cThe Same Wellc MS fol 27r p 47 pleastobifmnune filueutwua thtb tatcelo1eiintnrrt ntoA trlitlmljaut dThe last Mass BlockBook 5th Ec Pilinski p 148 Table No 20 i5i Iiiii iii eThe Same Wellc MS fol 28v p I48 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 39 flv MOil ONALi aLondon Lambeth MS 75 fol I8r pp 149 I50 at illa eroa4p ijpg u 1ee1W1w S11 n4dedid bo lvr mr fruyuau ur is n iaheesiuia r f bWellc MS fol 8v pp 149 I50 155 abThe Appearance of the Locusts Rev IX I3 dhr r 64 414 h A A r r 1Ov t 14lkivtit atfIidpui cCambridge University Libr MS Mm 5 31 P I50 dWellc MS fol 14r pp 149 150 I56 cdThe Woman clothed with the Sun Rev XII 3 5 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 149 Besides the divergences from the Bodley type of MS which Wellcome shares with the Blockbooks it has some which are not found in either of the two other versions They are listed in the following summary i Scenes differently arranged First and Second Censers VIII 3 and VIII 5 are on one picture First Second and Third Trumpets VIII 7 8 9 have each a separate picture Fiery Horses and Seven Thunders IX 1720 and X 4 are on one picture Woman receiving Wings and Dragon casting water XII 14 and XII 1516 are on one picture The first four scenes of St Johns Life P1 38a b c are arranged two to a halfpage picture and come after the Apocalypse 2 Scenes elaborated Third and Fourth Trumpets VIII io and 12 Dragon worshipped XIII 4 Beast worshipped XIII 4 False Prophet XIII 11xx3 have an increased number of figures or the figures are Image of the Beast XIII 1415 P1 41ac individually characterized Mark of the Beast XIII 16 P1 41df Fifth Vial XVI io St John destroying Dianas Temple First Trumpet VIII 7 St Michael fighting the Dragon XII 7 P1 4ob Fall of the Dragon XII 9 P1 4od False Prophet XIII 11x x13 have devils added Seventh Vial XVI 17 Fall of Babylon XVIII 2 Defeat of the Beast XIX 20 3 Scenes differently composed Locusts emerging from the Well IX xx x P1 39b cf p 15o note 3 Woman clothed with the Sun XII 35 P1 39d cf pp 150 f 156 St Michaels Fight XII 7 P1 40b cf p 150 note 3 Nunc factus est salus XII 9 P1 4od cf ibid Dragon casting water XII 1416 has hilly landscape on the right with trees houses and a church men and women in rural occupations connected with the water drawing from well carrying pails etc Lambs Bridal XIX 78 cf p 151 First Resurrection XX 46 P1 37d cf p 151 4 Scenes added St John resuscitating a youth two young men with branches in their hands followed by a figure veiled in a shroud and an elderly woman cf p 156 f St John converting Aristodemus a priest with a mitre resuscitates two young men the criminals killed by the same poison of which St John had drunk with hands raised in thanksgiving by spreading St Johns mantle over them cf p I52 note 3 The available parallels to the divergences of Wellcome from both Bodley and the Blockbooks are not found among the first family MSS but in some MSS belonging to the second family which the Wellcome draughtsman seems to have taken as models for entire series of consecutive pictures These 1 Mr James has noticed that at some points the first family type overlaps with the second family type The Apocalypse in Art pp 49 if But neither his textual nor his pictorial criteria are detailed enough for a final grouping of the MS material No attempt at regrouping can be made at present because only a fraction of the material is available The Wellcome MS may one day become a guide to a more detailed classi fication of the MSS than the points such as the Slaying of the Witnesses by the Beast or the Distribution of the Vials by the Lion which Mr James used as landmarks for his first mapping out of the whole field This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 150 GERTRUD BING series are i The part from the First Censer onwards Rev viii 3 down to the Seven Thunders Rev x 4 where he spreads the narrative over more pictures than are found in any MS of the first family and follows the arrange ment of the second family illustrations 2 this part includes the picture of the Locusts emerging from the Well ix i3 P1 39b 2 the illustrations to the 12th Chapter of the Book relating to the Woman and the Dragon Rev xii 1I7 3 3 the pictures in which the Beast is replaced by or connected with the Antichrist 4 a preoccupation with the Antichrist conception is also notice able in a picture which for want of a parallel must for the time being be called unique in Wellcome The First Resurrection Rev xx 4 P1 37d A number of these divergences may I think be grouped under a common heading they point to the inclusion of parts of the gloss into the representa tions The most obvious example known also from other sources is that of the Woman clothed with the Sun P1 39d Her pose standing5 instead of halflying makes her look like the Virgin6 and immediately suggests a mario 1 As the majority of illustrations in almost all Apocalypse MSS first and second family alike follow the same pattern it is often difficult to decide in the case of a single representation which tradition the artist followed In the present case the pictures of the Trumpets in Wellcome are not very dis tinctive and may have been modelled on a MS of either family But in the allocation of a single picture to each of the Trumpets and the resulting arrangement of the scenes in Wellcome the second family order is un mistakable 2 For instance Douce 18o Cambridge Trinity College R I6 2 Add 17333 Dyson Perrins Io0 Of these Douce like Wellcome has a separate picture for each of the Seven Churches Lincoln College lat I6 and New College 65 also have one picture for each of the Seven Trumpets but the Censers are added to the Distribution of the Trumpets which has a separate illustration in Wellcome The Emergence of the Locusts occurs in the part of the Book now discussed but its illus tration in Wellcome conforms with a different group of MSS from those just mentioned see the following note 3 The nearest parallels are Oxford Univer sity College ioo New College 65 and Lambeth 75 P1 39a and P1 4oa c All these also represent the Locusts in a similar way to Wellcome The features on which the comparison is based and in which the three MSS resemble Wellcome are i The locusts are shaped like insects not like horses Abaddon is singled out and different in shape from the locusts The well is a solid edifice with a door not a mere rectangular wall The picture which usually follows of horse shaped locusts with Abaddon in human shape riding on a locust at the head of the proces sion follows in Wellcome on the same page but on a smaller scale 2 St Michael stands on the same level as the Dragon whom he fights he does not thrust down from above he is assisted by a group of angels on the left the Dragon by a number of devils on the right P1 40b 3 Nuncfactus est salus is quite a different representation from the usual proclamation of salvation by the angels a group of devils with horns wings and wild faces fall headlong down from heaven the chair in Wellcome is unique P1 4od The three MSS resemble Wellcome also in repre senting the bottomless Pit into which Satan is cast as a house with a door and windows In view of this multiplication of coinciding details there can I think be no doubt that the three MSS are also related to one an other Mr James does not class them to gether 4 See p I51 f 5 The only examples of the Woman stand ing occur in MSS containing the gloss by Alexander Bremensis a follower of Joachim da Fiore the illustration in one of the best copies of his book Cambridge University Library MS Mm 5 31 is very similar to Wellcome P1 39c d On Alexanders gloss see Kamlah p I 19 ff and James op cit p 67 f 6 Lilli Burger Maria auf der Mondsichel BerlinNitrnberg 1938 gives a survey of this representation The nearest parallel to the Wellcome woman occurs in a MS at Eich staidt the photograph of which I owe to H This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 40 t in aiti t totratt iiiii n q m nr ru l it iiId v11 aLondon Lambeth MS 75 fol 25r p I50 M AL dd v Twamtncwrat40 cLondon Lambeth MS 75 fol 25V p 150 bWellc MS fol 14r pp 149 150o abSt Michael fighting the Dragon Rev XII 7 A ftk flu Po 0 dWellc MS fol 14V pp i49 I50 cdThe Fall of the Dragon Rev XII 9 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 151 logical interpretation This is given by the glosa ordinaria Carnali genera tione Christus de abraham et david precessit vel peperit ecclesia filium id est fidem Christi in cordibus auditorum It is stressed in Wellcome by the cross nimb of the Child2 and by the legend from Berengaudus3 written next to it Christus in membris suis The fire falling from heaven that accompanies the appearance of the False Prophet is represented by Wellcome as being caused by a winged devil who seems to turn the sun as if it were a fire wheel xiii I 113 Berengaudus comments Legimus in libro Job diabolum ex permissione Dei ignem de caelo fecisse descendere Christ with a cross nimb appearing at the Lambs Bridal4 is explained by the glosa ordinaria Conveniens est ut iungatur ecclesia Christo quia ipsa ecclesia fecit se idoneam ut reciperetur And Berengaudus again gives the clue to the illustration of the First Resurrection per animas interfectorum propter verbum Dei martyres qui diversis temporibus interfecti sunt possumus accipere per eas vero quae non adoraverunt bestiam cos qui ab Antichristo interficiendi sunt It is true that the text of the Book by using the word decollati evokes the memory of those who for the sake of their faith have met their deaths by violence but in none of the illustrations which I was able to consult has this allusion been taken up On the contrary those taking part in the First Resurrection are mostly shown peacefully dying in their beds The Wellcome artist does more than allude to the connection with the martyrs of Antichrist he underlines it pictorially by fashioning the two groups of executioners and victims on the model of the swordsmen beheading the Witnesses P1 37b c d5 Antichrist whose workings this scene presupposes appears in person in a scene where his presence is justified only in a metaphorical sense The False Swarzenskis kindness There the full profile of the downwardlooking moon sickle is also shown Only one more Apocalypse picture exists in this MS Christ among the Seven Lamps 1 See the short but very instructive appen dix on the interpretation of the Woman as the Virgin in W Kamlah Apocalypse und Geschichtstheologie Berlin I935 p I30 f 2 Also occurring in Lambeth 209 see be low p 152 note 3 3 Migne PL XVII col 837 in the Ap pendix to the works of St Ambrose It seems to have passed unnoticed that excerpts from the Berengaudus gloss were also printed under the name of Ambrosiaster in the Bibles such as the Antwerp edition of 1617 which in clude the glosa ordinaria supplemented by other authorities like Richard de St Victor Rupert von Deutz Beda Haimo in addition to Nicolaus de Lyras postillae Berengaudus is well known to the students of illuminated Apocalypse MSS because his gloss appears in the majority of the AngloFrench group See James op cit 45 f and passim He is less familiar to theologians and students of Bible commentaries On the Wellcome gloss see below p 153 f 4 In Paris B N fr 403 the men sitting at the table have also nimbs and in some MSS the man sitting next to the Bride though not nimbed is singled out by the distance between him and the other guests and his face reflects the traditional portraits of Christ But no where so far as I know is he so clearly marked as Christ as in Wellcome 5 The relevant features of the 3 pictures Death of the Witnesses First Resurrection and False Prophet see below are distinct groups each consisting of one executioner and one victim instead of a compact mass as in Bodley the victims are elderly men with beards kneeling with hands raised in prayer the executioners in caps short jerkins and with evil faces wield their swords over the victims heads This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 152 GERTRUD BING Prophet ordering the Image of the Beast to be adored Rev xiii 14 is dupli cated by a man crowned and bearded dressed like a nobleman the un mistakable likeness of Antichrist P1 41b c The False Prophets opponents whom he orders to be slain and who in Bodley form a compact group in accordance with the text P1 4I1a are here represented by one man He and his executioner form a group which repeats the postures dresses and physiognomical characters of one of the Witnesses and his executioner P1 37a b c d and P1 41ac The illustrator would thus seem to have felt in all three pictures the Slaying of the Witnesses the False Prophet and the First Resurrection an analogy with the Antichrist All this reveals a conception of the Apocalypse not unlike that prevalent in what Mr James calls the interpretative group of MSS2 In the outstand ing representatives of this group3 each illustration of the text has a counter part representing its metaphorical interpretation The Woman clothed with the Sun stands opposite the Virgin and Child the comparison being enhanced by a picture of the Murder of the Innocents the False Prophet is consistently interpreted as the Antichrist the First Resurrection is followed by a picture which includes the slaying of two Holy Men and the numerous devils which occur in Wellcome as the companion actors to the Dragon the Beast from the Abyss and the PseudoProphet also figure prominently in the corresponding pictures of the interpretative group Judging solely from pictorial evidence therefore the hypothetical model of the Wellcome Apocalypse disproves the opinion that the Blockbook artists were themselves responsible for their departures from the Bodley type of model it also proves that the iconographical distinctions which led to the hard and fast division of illustrated Apocalypses into two families do not cover all the facts And finally it suggests that the illustrations are not drawn from the biblical text alone The question of the influence of the text on the illustrations in illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts has never been properly examined4 Delisles admir 1 The figure of the crowned man and the group of swordsman and victim occur also in the Blockbooks See No 9 of the table 2 James op cit p 65 f 3 Brit Mus Add 42555 from Abingdon and Henry Yates Thompson MS 55 now in the Gulbenkian collection See R Flower in The British Museum Quarterly VI I932 and M R James Descriptive Catalogue of MSS from the Collection of H Y Thompson 2nd series 1902 They are related to Lambeth 209 see E Millar in Bulletin Soc franf de reprod de MSS a peintures I924 p 38 ff and M R James Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS in the Library of Lambeth Palace 1930 Two details connecting Wellcome with Lambeth 209 have already been mentioned p 147 note 7 and p 151 note 2 It is a second family MS but has a Life and Death of St John and Antichrist scenes like Well come it belongs therefore to those MSS which share some of their characteristics with both families Moreover it contains like Wellcome the rare picture of the Resuscita tion of the Convicts by means of St Johns mantle in the Aristodemus scene see below p 157 Delisle op cit p cvi and pp clxix clxxv proves that this whole group of MSS contains the gloss by Berengaudus The MSS in which parallels to Wellcome pictures are found Lincoln Coll 16 New College 65 University Coll Ioo Douce I8o all contain Latin or French excerpts from the same gloss 4 This refers to mediaeval illustrations H L Heydenreich op cit has pointed out very convincingly how 16th century concep This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 41 wii 4 dit aBodl Auct D 4 I7 fol I Iv p 52 Table No 9 qoO s m tt dBodl Auct D 4 17 fol 12r p 147 Table No I o I a a V bBlockBook 4th Ed Bodl Auct M 3 15 p 152 Alasteii p estingen lau t a eBlockBook 4th Ed Bodl Auct M 3 I5 P 147 AFT IN Xi X cWellc MS fol I6v p 152 acIThe Image of the Beast Rev XIII 14 iiii iiiiiiiii tt I w 1 I ftifI 0 V iii iiiiiiii i tlxor r Irv rqq t t J fr12iiaw r rt Vo fiC rilr ijt fWellc MS fol I7r p 147 efThe Mark of the Beast Rev XIII 16 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 153 able survey of the glosses most frequently found in them does not touch on their relation with the pictures The Wellcome Apocalypse contains considerably more text than Bodley and the Blockbooks a text whichlike the picturesreveals the use of a common model An almost complete Bible text is written in the margins It is fuller and slightly more correct than in the Blockbooks but shares some variants with them2 In certain instances moreover it is nearer to the 4th and the 5th editions than to the earlier ones3 In addition to the text there is the gloss which is derived from two sources One of these is the 9th century commentary on Revelation by Berengaudus one of the glosses most frequently found in illuminated Apocalypse MSS it occurs both in the Latin original and in a French version4 The Bodley legends are based on it as Mr James noticed5 and it follows though to my knowledge it has never been stated that the Blockbook legends are excerpts from the same gloss The Wellcome manuscript not only contains a fuller Berengaudus text but adds to it matter from the glosa ordinaria that is it combines a 9th century Apocalypse commentary with the standard gloss of the later Middle Ages Both Berengaudus and the glosa ordinaria are based on the same principles of interpretation they explain the visions of St John allegorically and in terms of the history of the early Church without comment on contemporary events and institutions The Wellcome gloss is arranged in two parts one running on in the margins the other contained on scrolls inside the field of the pictures In the margins the glosa ordinaria is freely interspersed with sentences and short passages from Berengaudus which follow each other at random and may be due to the arbitrary selection of a scribe The excerpts inside the pictures on the other hand are based on some prototype in which tradition had brought about an organic fusion between the two glosses These excerpts consist of tions of the Book of Revelation are reflected in DiIrers and Holbeins woodcuts 1 For reasons of expediency I refer to Kristellers Verzeichnis der Darstellungen op cit p 27 ff in which he gives a detailed unfortunately not always quite correct synopsis of the variants contained in Bodley and in all the six editions of the Blockbooks Wellcome is more correct than the Block books in the following passages Rev i 14 the wrong et is omitted in tamquam lana alba i 15 the sentence et vox illius is not omitted i 16 the two sentences et de ore gladius and et facies lucet are in their correct order Krist Io xiv 14 similem filium hominum in accordance with the text Krist 59 xiv 8 bissino splendenti et candido in accordance with the text Krist 76 xxi 18 structura instead of the statura of Bodley and Blockbooks Krist 88 These are only some examples 2 Sentences in Wellcome and the Block book missing in Bodley viii I0oII Krist 24 and x IoII Krist 31 xv 3 Krist 62 Wellcome has sanctorum like all Blockbook editions instead of seculorum like Bodley and the Bible text The conclusion drawn from this passage by Kristeller is unjustified The abbreviation in the editions I and 2 should also be read sanctorum and the editions 4 and 5 do not copy quite as indiscriminately as Kristeller maintains Wellcome proves that the variant sanctorum must also have occurred in the model 3 xii 7 fuisset instead of est Krist 40 xiv 20ofrenos instead offrenes Krist 60 xxii 3 has the word conspectu which is missing in the Ist and 2nd editions Krist 89 The writing of figures in numerals instead of words also connects Wellcome with the 4th and 5th editions 4 Delisle LApocalypse pp clxivclxxv James op cit p 45 5 James op cit p 3 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 154 GERTRUD BING isolated sentences or words which explain the single figures in the pictures and are remarkably similar in arrangement and contents to the legends in Bodley and the Blockbooks But owing to its greater variability this gloss shows more clearly than the biblical text how closely related the Wellcome MS is to the Blockbooks They both contain additions which do not occur in Bodley1 and the variants from the Bodley text are throughout the same in Wellcome as in the Blockbooks2 On the strength of these similarities it may be shown that the Wellcome text reveals the existence of an unknown elaboration of the Berengaudus gloss which also found its way into the Blockbooks The pictures of the Four Riders vi 18 may be taken as examples Some of the legends are almost literal quotations from Berengaudus3 But they are mixed up with other explanations which rather contradict them and actually do not belong to the Berengaudus text Berengaudus says explicitly that contrary to common usage he interprets the Four Riders in bonam partem4 The legends Diabolus and Tyrannus in martyribus which are the epithets of the second Rider in Wellcome and the Blockbooks are hardly reconcilable with that conception Also the aggressive note in Homines in quibus regit Diabolus sicut praelatores ecclesiae added to the picture of the third Rider is out of harmony with Berengauduss dispassionate interpretation so is Malum exemplum doctorum in the picture of the fourth Rider These are all legends which Wellcome and the Blockbooks add to those contained in Bodley On the other hand those legends which Bodley shares with them are if not literal quotations yet quite in keeping with Berengauduss spirit The fourth Rider whose name is Death and with whom Hell follows is generally held to signify the Antichrist Berengaudus who refutes the argument that the figure should be regarded as the personification of wickedness succeeds in giving it an optimistic turn in spite of its terrifying description and the 1 Equus albus mater ecclesia estfirst Rider Krist 13 Tyrannus in martyribus Diabolus second RiderKrist 14 Homines in quibus regit diabolus third RiderKrist i5 Malus exemplum doctorumfourth Rider Krist I6 The case of Ortus Solis Holding of the Winds Krist I9 has been mentioned on p 147 note 7 in the same picture there is an addition written in the margin in Well come Hii quatuor angeli diaboli sunt More additions are per aureum altare ecclesia intelliqitur First Censer Krist 22 Mater ecclesia transit in heremum Wings given to the Woman Krist 43 Septem capita antichristi sunt septem vitia princi palia The Dragon hands the sceptre over to the Beast Krist 47 2It may be taken that in all cases where Kristeller lists divergences of the Blockbook gloss from that in Bodley Wellcome conforms to the Blockbooks for instance Krist 10 14 15 16 17 19 22 23 et passim Wellcome also contains the mistake Apertio sexti sigilli ad vocationem pertinet iudeorum deiec tionem et gentium instead of iudeorum deiectionem et gentium vocationem per tinet The Earthquake following on the Opening of the 6th Seal The occurrence of this mistake in Wellcome makes it very unlikely that the 4th and 5th editions only copied mechanically the awkward arrangement of the script on the scroll in the ist edition as Kristeller says the more so as Wellcome writes it in the margin in running script not split up into lines owing to the length of the scroll 3 For instance all those beginning apertio primi secundi etc sigilli those begin ning veni et vide Sessor huis equi dominus est Ist Rider Gladius magnus 2nd Rider Statera signifi cat 3rd Rider Per ignem 4th Rider 4 Migne PL XVII col 837 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 155 author of the Wellcome gloss following him gives this explanation Sessor huius equi dominus est huic nomen mors iuxta illud Ego occidam ed Ego vivere faciam his name is Death because he kills but also makes alive The suggestion that two contradictory interpretations have provided the legends which the Blockbooks share with Wellcome is confirmed by the legend under the Black Horse of the third Rider equus hypocrisis est This should by rights refer to the Pale Horse of the fourth Rider2 which in the glosa ordinaria and the commentaries based on it signifies hypocrisy3 This is not in Berengauduss gloss according to which the vision of the third Rider refers to the Prophets Apart from its being misplaced4 therefore it belongs to those interpretations which have crept into Berengauduss gloss out of the glosa ordinaria Now the legend does not occur in Bodley which has only the correct biblical inscription equus niger to the third and equus pallidus to the fourth Horse The gloss appears for the first time in the first three editions of the Blockbooks they write equus pallidus hypo crisis est but add it to the Black Horse of the third Rider The fourth and fifth editions cancel the unsuitable word pallidus and what remains is the same text that appears in Wellcome Fragments of the glosa ordinaria must therefore already have intruded into the manuscript which was the direct source of the first Blockbooks this is another argument in support of the view that the variations of the Blockbooks were not caused by lack of space Moreover the revision which took place between the first and the second group of the Blockbooks was based on a manuscript of the Wellcome type A certain elaboration of the Berengaudus gloss may have occurred at an early date for traces of it are already found in Bodley5 It is also found in the pictures in which the Wellcome artist departed from the tradition of the Bodley group and its derivatives The picture of the Locusts emerging from the Well P1 39b is as we have seen completely different from that tradition6 Some of the legends accompanying it are peculiar to Wellcome7 But among 1 The first part of the sentence is literally Berengaudus col 838 but he uses a different scripture verse Ego sum vita John xiv 6 instead of Ego occidam Deut xxxii 39 It is generally assumed Bousset Die Offen barung Johannis G6ttingen 1906 p 7o and Kamlah op cit p 15 that the Berengaudus gloss found no successor but this may be due to the fact that the illuminated manuscripts in which it is mostly found have attracted the attention of art historians rather than theologians The explanation of the fire which the fourth Rider carries and which is not mentioned in the Bible must belong to a gloss which affected the pictures of a large group of I13th century illuminated manu scripts It may belong to Berengaudus but is not verbatim Cf below p 156 2 It will be remembered that the four Horses have different colours which were all made the object of various interpretations 3 Ie in the glosa interlinearis 4 Kristeller Verzeichnis 15 was led astray in his explanation of this fact by his prejudice in favour of the Ist edition Schreiber was more correct in his surmises because he argues on the assumption that the Block books had a MS model 5 Cf above note 2 6 It shares some features with the Beatus representations of the passage Mr James points out other similarities which exist between the Beatus illustrations and the 13th cent cycle op cit p 38 f Cf the picture from the Beatus MS of Saint Sever Paris Bibl Nat cod lat 8878 fol I145V reproduced in Neuss Die Apokalypse des Heiligen Johannes in der altspanischen Bibelillus tration 1931 vol II pl XCV 7 Eg de fumo exierunt locustae id est de spermate luxuriae nascentur homines in vanitate gloriantes Vulvam sive profundi This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 156 GERTRUD BING those shared by Bodley and the Blockbooks some of which are straight forward quotations from Berengaudus1 there is one that shows how the Berengaudus gloss was turned round and summarized so as to be almost unrecognizable It is the sentence apertio putei prolationem maliciae cordis eorum id est hereticorum insinuat which reads in the printed text Stella puteum aperuit quia heretici ad proferenda mala quae in cordibus eorum latebant ora sua aperuerunt It may be that this free handling of the gloss is responsible for more than one unorthodox inscription in Wellcome In the picture of the Woman clothed with the Sun for instance P1 39dwhich as we saw deviates from the Bodley traditionsome of the legends are quotations from Berengaudus and occur also in the Blockbooks The illustration to this scene shows at the bottom a waterspouting serpent with only one head Such a serpent appears neither in this scene nor in the later one of the Sevenheaded Dragon casting water out of his mouth xii 15 Added to the serpent is a gloss Fluvius multitudo populi designat which also does not occur in the commentaries to this chapter A very similar gloss Fluvius multitudo gentium how ever appears in Chapter XVII I of Berengaudus as an interpretation of water but here it refers to the Scarlet Woman who sits upon the waters and not to the Woman clothed with the Sun In his attempt to link up the dark visions of the Book Berengaudus connects the passage about the Woman clothed with the Sun with that about the Scarlet Woman by comparing in detail the holy with the unholy womanone pursued by the other sitting on a sevenheaded monster and both associated with streams of water2 This parallelism may have induced the Wellcome painter or his predecessor to add a serpent to the picture of the Woman clothed with the Sun where it is out of place and to couple with it Berengauduss gloss originally referring to the Scarlet Woman3 A word must be added on the Wellcome illustrations of St Johns Life and Death The first part which should precede the Apocalypse pictures is taken from PseudoAbdias like the pictures in Bodley and the Blockbooks but there are two scenes instead of one to each halfpage illustration Four scenes are left outthe same as those which are missing in the Blockbooks 4 and 5 The legends conform to those in the Blockbooks and one has a variant which occurs only in the fourth and fifth editions4 The second part which in Bodley and the Blockbooks is separated from the first forms a con tinuous narrative with the first part in Wellcome and the two together conclude the Apocalypse series It represents the scenes as they are described by Jacobus da Voragine They add to the Blockbook scenes a fuller version tatem libidinis significat They do not occur in Bodley or the Blockbooks and are certainly not Berengaudus 1 Eg Per fumum doctrina hereticorum S Quartus angelus ecclesiae catholi cae defensores Stella de coelo cadens hereticos Clavis liber arbitrium hereticorum etc 2PL XVII col 3 The small figure of a kneeling crowned and winged woman with the legend Fugit a voluptatibus mundi belongs to the scene of the Woman receiving Wings XII 14 and is unjustified in this picture In the Blockbooks exactly the same figure occurs in the right place 4 idolorum instead of deorum Krist 3 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions APOCALYPSE BLOCKBOOKS AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT MODELS 157 of the story of the resuscitated youth and the scene in which Aristodemus raised the convicts who died of poison by throwing St Johns mantle over them Both are to be found in the Golden Legend2 The inscriptions in the second part are throughout like those in the Blockbooks and different from those in Bodley One of them includes a variant otherwise only found in the Blockbooks 4 and 53 In short the relation of this part of the manuscript to the Blockbooks is the same as in the Apocalypse pictures but as one studies the similarities which exist in the illustrations 4 the close connection between Wellcome and the 4th and 5th editions strikes one here as particularly pronounced Out of this welter of details three facts emerge The Wellcome Apocalypse is the copy of a type of manuscript which was also the model of the Blockbooks The similarities between them and their common divergences from the Bodley type cannot be explained otherwise except on the impossible assumption that the Wellcome MS itself was copied from one of the Blockbooks Leaving aside arguments of draughtsmanship there are two reasons why this cannot have been the case i the explanation does not account for the pictures in Wellcome which differ from the Block books and the tradition which they follow and it is very unlikely that the timid Wellcome draughtsman would have had the boldness to combine the woodcuts which might have impressed him by their forceful simplicity with a manuscript of quite a different derivation and to translate both parts into his own rather fussy style of narrative 2 He could only have copied from the 5th edition of the Blockbooks otherwise he would not have known the details which occur only in the latest Blockbook version He might have found in it those features which his drawings have in common with the illus trations of the Ist and the 4th editions but he could not have anticipated those of the 5th version in the earlier ones And no effort of the imagination will antedate the 5th edition sufficiently to make it compatible with the date of the Wellcome MS By comparing the Blockbooks with the Wellcome MS and both with their 13th century models a fair picture may be gained of their immediate common source It was a manuscript of the Bodley type but it incorporated additional interpretative details It may therefore have been not unlike those manuscripts which made use of the Bodley tradition for the literal illustrations of the biblical text but which add to them an interpretation in pictures The text of the Blockbooks and of Wellcome are based on the 9th century Beren gaudus gloss which was also used in the interpretative group of manu scripts This gloss is not used verbatim in Wellcome and the Blockbooks there are traces in them of an elaboration which was begun before the 13th century and which was later combined with the standard exegesis of the Middle Ages I regret that at present it is impossible to set the seal on the argument The manuscripts of the interpretative group are inaccessible and 1 Cf list on p I49 2 Ed Graesse 1890 pp 57 iff and 59 iff 3 Stultus huius mundi est contemptus Krist 93 4 Cf table nos 1621 11 This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 158 GERTRUD BING their gloss cannot be examined in detail It remains to be seen if they contain a clue to the gloss which Wellcome and the Blockbooks used and which perhaps influenced the illustrations The Wellcome MS also contains pictures which do not conform to the Bodley type but which point to the influence of a manuscript of the second family The different editions of the Blockbooks are what would now be called revised impressions That is to say they reproduce a given text which in their case is a whole book of pictures When a new edition became necessary the woodcutters again consulted their text and noticed details which they estim ated would improve the preceding version At the same time they copied the earlier editions as far as they found them satisfactory The process is not different from the method used by the editors of standard texts and as such the Apocalypse pictures must in fact have been regarded The Blockbook editors only used the philological methods of their humanist contemporaries in checking up on the text and improving it by constant recourse to the model Their reversion to the 13th century style of Apocalypse illustration in the middle of the 15th century is a sign of editorial conscience no less than of artistic taste In the source which Wellcome reflects the authors of the Blockbooks sought and found the perfect prototype of their classical text Bible gloss and pictureswhich they tried to approach as closely as their means would allow This content downloaded from 205133226104 on Mon 5 Aug 2013 055019 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Análise crítica dos Blockbooks A interpretação e influência do glossário de Berengaudus que remonta ao século IX sobre as ilustrações do Apocalipse encontradas em manuscritos medievais Ela começa examinando a discrepância entre os versículos bíblicos originais e aqueles substituídos por Berengaudus em seu glossário destacando a questão da falta de sucessores para essa interpretação possivelmente devido à predominância do interesse dos historiadores de arte nos manuscritos iluminados em detrimento dos teólogos A autora destaca a intrincada relação entre as ilustrações do Apocalipse e o glossário de Berengaudus sugerindo que certas interpretações como a explicação do fogo carregado pelo quarto Cavaleiro podem ter origem nesses glossários influenciando um grupo específico de manuscritos iluminados do século XIII Além disso são exploradas as diversas interpretações dadas às cores dos quatro cavalos do Apocalipse e a presença de glossas interlineares em manuscritos medievais O texto também aborda a possibilidade de manipulação livre do glossário por parte das artistas resultando em inscrições não ortodoxas especialmente evidenciadas na figura da Mulher vestida com o Sol Há uma análise detalhada da relação entre o manuscrito Wellcome e os Blockbooks do Apocalipse sugerindo que ambos compartilham um modelo comum provavelmente um manuscrito do tipo Bodley e examinando as revisões constantes dos Blockbooks que seguem uma prática editorial similar à das autoras de textos padrão da época A análise crítica dos Blockbooks de São João revela a importância de compreender a influência do glossário de Berengaudus e sua interpretação sobre as ilustrações do Apocalipse encontradas em manuscritos medievais O texto destaca a necessidade de investigar a discrepância entre os versículos bíblicos originais e aqueles substituídos por Berengaudus em seu glossário bem como a falta de sucessores para essa interpretação A intrincada relação entre as ilustrações do Apocalipse e o glossário de Berengaudus é ressaltada evidenciando a possível origem de certas interpretações nos glossários e sua influência em um grupo específico de manuscritos iluminados do século XIII A possibilidade de manipulação livre do glossário por parte dos artistas é abordada destacando inscrições não ortodoxas especialmente evidenciadas na figura da Mulher vestida com o Sol A análise detalhada da relação entre o manuscrito Wellcome e os Blockbooks do Apocalipse sugere um modelo comum provavelmente um manuscrito do tipo Bodley e examina as revisões constantes dos Blockbooks que seguem uma prática editorial similar à das autoras de textos padrão da época Por fim o texto reflete sobre as dificuldades em determinar com precisão o modelo exato usado pelos Blockbooks e pelo manuscrito Wellcome devido à inacessibilidade de certos manuscritos interpretativos No entanto destaca a importância desses estudos para compreender melhor a produção e influência desses materiais medievais contribuindo para uma compreensão mais profunda da cultura e das práticas intelectuais da época 3 EXEMPLOS DE IMAGENS DE BLOCKBOOKS REFERÊNCIA DO TEXTO ANALISADO BING Gertrud The Apocalypse blockbooks and their manuscript models Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld institutes v 5 n 1 p 143 158 1942