BIBLIA PAUPERUM

One of the small, late-medieval picture books (biblia picta ) for religious instruction of the poor in spirit (pauperes spiritu ); used also by clerics who could not afford a complete Bible or expensive handbooks, such as historiated and moralized Bibles for preaching and catechism. The layout of the material differs according to the quality of the book. In principle, a central roundel or rectangular, picturing one of the most important events of the New Testament (the Annunciation, the Assumption of the Virgin, or the Last Judgment), is surrounded by four half-length figures of Prophets and flanked, on either side, by a roundel or rectangular with typological incidents from the Old Testament. Textual instruction is given in a general title, in an explanation of each of the Old Testament scenes and, on scrolls, in prophetic sayings. The name Biblia pauperum occurs only in late manuscripts, but the content of the work is derived from an ancient Christian method of teaching by means of typological picture cycles. It was prepared by an unknown late-13th-century theologian; the oldest manuscripts suggest Bavarian origin. It was particularly popular in Germany, France, and the Low Countries. More than 70 manuscripts (from c. 1300), blockbooks (c. 1450–80), and incunabula (1st ed., Albert Pfister, Bamberg 1462–63) exist. Together they give about 65 New Testament scenes; texts are in Latin or German. Illustrations differ widely; the usual pen-drawings with washes hardly ever have artistic value.

Bibliography: Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (Leipzig 1925–) 4:4325–27. Reallexikon zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, ed. o. schmitt (Stuttgart 1937–) 1:1072–84. p. heitz and w. l. schreiber, Die Entstehung … der Biblia pauperum (Strasbourg 1903). p. kristeller, Biblia pauperum (Berlin 1906). h. cornell, Biblia pauperum (Stockholm 1925). h. rost, Die Bibel im Mittelalter (Augsburg 1939). g. schmidt, Die Armenbibeln des 14. Jahrhunderts (Graz-Cologne 1959).

[s. j. p. van dijk]