Poor Bible

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Page of a Biblia Pauperum from the 15th century: Annunciation in the middle, Eva on the left , Gideon on the right

As arms Bible ( Latin Biblia pauperum , "Bible for the poor"), the medieval designated collection a certain number of sheets on which most of each figuratively a scene from the New Testament is framed or its associated tradition of scenes and texts from the Old Will .

In the Romanesque period , this art form was sometimes used in churches as a fresco cycle , for example in the vestibule of the Gurk Cathedral and in the nave of the Sogn Gieri church (German Saint Jöri or Georg) von Rhäzüns .

Structure and content

Biblia pauperum, around 1455: Block print with partly printed, but mostly handwritten text

Usually a page of a Biblia Pauperum is divided into nine parts: In the center (1) either a scene from the life of Jesus Christ is depicted, which tells of the birth, childhood, public ministry or the passion of Jesus, or of the beginnings of Christianity, the end of world history and the beginning of Christ's eternal kingdom of peace. Four images (2–5) are arranged above and below the central scene, optionally those of biblical prophets, poets and people, provided with a corresponding text passage. The leitmotif is often framed on the right (6) and left (7) by a scene from the Old Testament (including Apocrypha ), both of which are explained briefly in separate text fields (8–9) and brought into relation to the main picture. When choosing the two wing paintings (6 and 7), a story is often chosen that happened before and one that happened after the union on Sinai .

The Biblia Pauperum is thus a kind of concordance that connects passages from the Old and New Testaments as type and antitypus ( typology ). This is also shown by the designations "Figuræ typicæ Veteris Testamenti atque antitypicæ Novi Testamenti" (figurative images of the Old and New Testaments) or "Historia Christi in Figuris" (story of Christ in pictures) . Typical late medieval poor bibles consist of around forty such scenes, which are arranged chronologically, creating a harmony of the chronological sequence that is not given in the traditional texts. The poor bibles were either produced as a block book using the wood printing process, with each page individually printed on one side and then two pages glued together, or the individual sheets were hand-painted on one side; the whole thing was bound as a book.

Because it contained only a part of the biblical stories, such a Bible edition was much cheaper and easier to use than the manuscript of an extensive full text, and the poor bibles were thus one of the first block books to be widely distributed. In addition, the assignment of eight pre- New Testament texts often included a kind of commentary on the New Testament , the beginnings of church history and its future, which made it easier to understand and convey the core history.

Table of contents for a copy from 1518

History and reception

The invention of the Biblia Pauperum is attributed to Ansgar von Bremen . This is supported by a handwritten note on a Bible for the poor in Hanover and matching remains of pictures that were found in Bremen Cathedral. The name Poor Bible for this type of representation appears for the first time in a library catalog in Wolfenbüttel .

The exact purpose of the poor bibles is not known. However, it had some influence in spreading belief mysteries and the motifs were used by preachers and artists. The selection of stories is reminiscent of that of the medieval Lenten cloth , the combination of image and a two-part, brief rhyming verse underneath it is reminiscent of the Great Zittau Lenten cloth .

The fact that a story from the pseudo-Matthew Gospel found its way into the core of the otherwise canonical texts plays a special role : the story of the fall of the gods in Egypt when the infant Jesus entered the city of Sotinen.

With the spread of printed full Bibles in the 16th century, the poor Bibles lost their importance and were almost forgotten.

See also

Web links

Commons : Poor Bible  - collection of images, videos and audio files