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Leaf from an Antiphonal

This antiphonal leaf contains a miniature depicting the dramatic encounter between the Three Marys and an angel standing near the empty tomb announcing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The three Marys refer to Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James, and Mary Salome, as mentioned by the fifteenth-century Easter hymn O Filii et Filiae. However, throughout time and due to differences in the Gospels, tradition has identified one or more of them differently. Some named Mary, mother of Jesus as one of them, as well as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus who famously anointed Christ’s feet with her hair.

The three Marys are depicted in this late fifteenth-century German miniature bearing urns of myrrh and spices intended to anoint the body of Jesus following his death on the cross. This traditional representation earned the three Marys the title of the “myrrhbearers.”

The initial “V” forms the incipit for Vespere autem sabbati, an antiphon for the office of Vespers on Holy Saturday. Vespers traditionally anticipate or mark the beginning of next day’s feast, in this case Easter Sunday. The fact that the antiphon is followed by “alleluia,” which is forbidden to be sung from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday during Holy Week, firmly indicates that this is an Easter liturgy. The antiphon is taken from Matthew 28:1: Vespere autem sabbati quae lucescit in prima sabbati venit Maria Magdalena et altera Maria videre sepulcrum alleluia [And at the end of the Sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. Alleluia].

The leaf contains ten lines of text in a gothic liturgical hand and ten musical staves ruled in five-lines with nagelschrift or hufnagel neumes (literally “horseshoe nails,” due to their visual resemblance). These neumes are particularly characteristic of medieval Germanic musical notation. Rubrics, ruling lines, and staves are penned in red, calligraphic capitals touched in red, with eight initials painted in red or blue (one includes a face peering out of a hood on the verso). The historiated initial is painted blue with leafy tracery in white; the miniature is set against a burnished gold ground tooled with floral motifs within a frame of green and red heightened with yellow, all supporting a broad border of twisting colored flowers and acanthus leaves (one leaf includes a face), gold bezants, and a peacock, a traditional Christian symbol of immortality.

The leaf contains other antiphons such as Mulieres sedentes ad monumentum (for Holy Saturday proper): Mulieres sedentes ad monumentum lamentabantur flentes dominum [The women sitting at the tomb mourned and wept for the Lord]. Another antiphon, Exurge gloria mea, is taken from Psalm 56:9 in the Latin Vulgate, which corresponds to Psalm 57:8 in most translations: Alleluia. Exurge gloria mea aevia. Exurgam diluculo aevia aevia [Alleluia. Awake, my glory! (Alleluia.) I will awaken the dawn (alleluia, alleluia).]

The final chant in this leaf is the long, elaborate, triple Alleluia, typically reserved for Easter. A later scribe rendered in a small, slender script the words Surrexit dominus vere [The Lord has truly risen,] a common Easter acclamation and greeting which also functions as an antiphon. This chant is followed by the 95th Psalm Venite, one of the so-called “Royal Psalms,” which praises God as king of his people and is here linked to Christ as king over all creation: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.”

At the end of the first three antiphons on the verso side of the leaf are musical mnemonics. These are, correspondingly: EOUAE, AEVIA, EOUAE. Each of these is matched with a sequence of notes, which function as shorthands for the common endings of chants. “EOUAE” corresponds to the vowels of the Gloria patri, and “AEVIA” are the vowels for alleluia.

In the miniature, the third Mary is obscured behind the gilded halos of the other two, peering behind them. This is a trend characteristic of late medieval Christian art, which renders halos as physical objects within a painted scene. This oftentimes leads to the amusing effect of saints’ faces peering behind the obstructive halos of those rendered in the foreground. This is taken to dramatic heights in works such as the contemporaneous Hours of Louis de Laval (c. 1480s), where a miniature corresponding to prayers for the feast of All Saints shows a multitude of saints present in the scene—most of them appearing merely as the rims of their halos in the background. Even when these saints’ backs are turned, the viewer is unable to see the back of the head as the dish-like halo stands in between.

The verso side of the leaf contains antiphons for Lauds on Holy Saturday. It is only embellished with rubricated instructions and a sole painted red capital, signaling the start of the office’s chants. The rest of the initials are executed in large calligraphic capitals touched with red and decorated with black penwork.

J.J. Lopez Haddad
PhD Candidate in History, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
2024-25 Stern Center Curatorial Fellow, Sheridan Libraries & University Museums

The World’s Most Mysterious Book

This fine facsimile of the Voynich Manuscript is one of the most remarkable and mysterious manuscript facsimiles in our collection. The only original manuscript, which was carbon dated to 1404-34, exists at Yale University. For 10 years, the Spanish publishing house, Siloe, appealed to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale, asking for access to produce a very small run of the illustrated, hand-written Voynich.

With its apparently encrypted language and illustrations of unknown and imaginary plants and never-seen constellations, this manuscript represents a riddle yet to be solved. Since its creation in the fifteenth century, countless scholars and cryptographers—including some of the world’s most brilliant code breakers—have dedicated themselves to trying to solve the puzzle. With this facsimile available at Hopkins, now our faculty and students can also attempt to solve this singular mystery.

Mysterious, Encrypted Medieval Manuscript Set To Be Published In Replica (NPR)

Spanish Golden Age Carta executoria

This extremely luxurious example of a 16th-century Spanish Golden Age Carta executoria, finely bound in red velvet, incorporates two full page paintings, and a small portrait of King Philip II, as well as two contemporary extra-illustrated hand-colored engravings laid into the front and back binding. The document is dated 1587, and again in 1590 in a later notarial receipt of the document.

This formal legal petition comprised of depositions and other evidence was filed with authorities by Diego de Frias Salazar of the Villa de Alfaro, establishing his family’s limpieza de sangre (“purity of blood”) and, thus, his right to serve in the Cortes and enjoy freedom from taxation.

The two full page paintings reveal the Salazar family’s loyalty to Philip II, many generations of Catholics (i.e., no Jewish or Moorish ancestors), and the family’s role as defenders of the kingdom against heretics.

The first painting is divided in two parts. Top: The Blessed Virgin Mary surrounded by musical angels, as the petitioning family kneel piously before her, in full contemporary attires, mostly made of black cloth, as was customary for Philip’s court. Bottom: Typical image of a battle scene portraying Santiago Matamoros slaying Moors on horseback. The frame is of particular notice, as it contains images of St. Jerome and Mary Magdalen, as well as birds and floral swag arrangements of unusual quality.

The second full-page painting, again within a wide frame showing a variety of motifs, shows a genealogical tree, modeled on the biblical Tree of Jesse, with the coats of arms of Salazar’s loyal Catholic ancestors. The Salazar family armorial at the base of the genealogical tree, 13 red stars upon a yellow field, is mirrored as well in the unusual, handsomely embroidered textile binding.

The two large hand-colored engravings are especially unusual.

The first extra illustration portrays Mary Magdalene with her familiar legend *Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis exemplo qui meo vos preparate Deo* (“Don’t despair, you who habitually sin, since through my example God will restore you”).

The second extra-illustration is a rather popular engraving, probably Spanish as well, portraying events from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, including the main image of the saint holding a crucifix, and ten smaller images surrounding it portraying his deeds. On the lower frame of the Franciscan engraving, the legend in Spanish reads: “Francisco was born in the city of Assisi in a stable, in the year of the birth of our Redemptor 1152, his father was called Pedro Bernardez and his mother, Dona Picha, both natives of the city of Assisi del Valle Spoletano, at age 17, he renounced all his assets before of the bishop of Assisi.”

You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104

Barbara Wolff (b. 1949) is one of the rare contemporary artists using the techniques of medieval manuscript illumination. She paints on vellum—animal skin—and highlights her work with silver, gold, and platinum foils. Her work has been exhibited at The NY Illustrators Club, The Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University Museum, The Museum of Biblical Art, and the Morgan Library & Museum. Her exploration of the world of nature as it relates to Biblical texts has been enriched by her background and work as a renowned natural science illustrator.

The ten illuminations that comprise You Renew the Face of the Earth illustrate passages from Hebrew Psalm 104, a song in celebration of all creation. This great hymn to the divine in nature directs our awareness to the miracle of our world. The sentiments expressed in this psalm have a particular relevance to our own era, a time of growing consciousness of the profound effect of human enterprise on nature, and of questioning our role as stewards of our planet.

In a number of the paintings, Wolff has portrayed flora and fauna that the ancient Psalmist would certainly have known, and that may still be found in the land of Israel today. She has included the flowers and grasses of its fields and forests, birds which pass through the land each spring and fall, and sea creatures of the Mediterranean, from a precious Murex snail to the great whales.

“And the Mountains Rose” (vv. 5-8), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 2.

“The Earth is Full of Thy Creatures” (v. 24), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 7.

“Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Formed” (vv. 25-6), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 8.

Lavishly Illuminated Hebrew Bible from Medieval Spain

The Kennicott Bible counts among the most significant medieval manuscripts from Spain. It is a noble, exceptional work containing a Hebrew Bible, which contains the text Sefer Michlol by Rabbi David Kihmhi alongside the Tanakh.

The colophon at the end of the manuscript, in which the scribe has immortalized himself by name, is a special feature that is extremely useful to scholarship: in 1476, the famous Moses Ibn Zaraba completed the work with the help of the illuminator Joseph Ibn Hayyim in La Coruna in northwestern Spain.

The 922 pages of this Hebrew Bible, which is amazingly preserved in its original gorgeous binding, combines an exuberant and golden splendor of ornaments, carpet pages, and figurative representations, often of a humorous character. The manuscript received its name from the Hebraist and Christian cleric Benjamin Kennicott, who researched the manuscript in the 18th century.

Pictorial Cycle of the Prophet Mohammed’s Ascension

A masterpiece of Timurid style, the Mi’ragnama was produced in 1436 in Herat in the north of modern-day Afghanistan. It is written in a Turkish dialect (Chaghatay Turkish) with Uighur Turkish and Arabic scripts. The manuscript includes the Mi’rajnama or Miraj Nameh (Book of the Ascension). Its sixty-one illustrations show the angel Gabriel leading the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to the Seven Heavens and Hell.

This superb facsimile we’ve acquired captures not only the text and illustrations, but also the luxurious enclosure of the original. It describes the adventures of the prophet Mohamed’s journey through the celestial sphere, in the company of the Archangel Gabriel, to arrive before the throne of God and his subsequent return trip to Earth through the seven circles of Hell.

In medieval Europe, this manuscript became known through the Latin translation that Alfonso the Wise commissioned from the school of translators in Toledo and that, in the judgment of experts, appears to have inspired Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Gem of Medieval Ottonian Manuscript Illumination

This superlative facsimile of the Hitda Codex, a masterpiece of manuscript production from Cologne during the Ottonian era, replicates an exquisite Christian Gospel book with twenty-two full-page miniatures rich in detail and painterly drama. The original manuscript was produced around 1000-20 and its extensive series of images of the life of Christ paired with monumental full-page framed inscriptions is unique in the history of manuscript art.

Commissioned by Abbess Hitda for her convent at Meschede and dedicated to Saint Walburga, this codex stands out for its depictions of women in relationship to the divine. Among these are many images of Virgin Mary, as one might expect, especially in the nativity and infancy scenes. But less familiar women—Saint Peter’s mother-in-law, a widow whose son Christ raises from the dead, and a woman accused of adultery—play roles in the miracle scenes.

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