BOK.FRA.1260AD.2

Vellum Vulgate Bible 2

Vulgate Bible #2

Vellum Bible

The Vulgate Bible was a translation of the Old Latin and Hebrew text of the Bible into Latin during the 4th century by St. Jerome. It was the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin directly from the Hebrew Tanakh.

This Bible is an excellent example of calligraphy in Western Europe's Middle Age. Monks living in monasteries were given the hefty task of copying the Bible by hand in order to provide it to more people. Books such as this were an expensive undertaking, so it was usually only the rich upper class who would own a Bible. This Bible boasts meticulous, handwritten characters in simplified Latin with occasional illuminations in blue and red. The beginning of the Old Testament is decorated with an illustration of two winged creatures entwined in the middle margin.

The process for making vellum (pages made of animal hide) was arduous and expensive. It took one hide from a single animal to create a few pages depending on the size of the hide. Any fur, hair, or wool had to be scraped off from the hide after which it had to be stretched. Baths in water and other chemicals would help the hide to become more pliable. Eventually the hide would be scraped of excess matter until it reached the desired thinness. Sometimes during the stretching and scraping process, holes would appear in the hide. Since a single page was too expensive to throw away, monks would write around the holes as can be seen on some pages in this Bible (proving it to be an actual "holey" Bible).

1260 AD

France

Late Middle Ages

13th Century

Original Book

History of Writing Collection See all items with this value

Simplified Latin

Bible--Manuscripts See all items with this value

Calligraphy, Medieval See all items with this value

Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval--France See all items with this value

Bible. Latin--Versions--Vulgate See all items with this value

Bible

Vulgate Bible on Vellum. France: ca. 1260.