English Apocalypse manuscripts

Apocalyptic Scene, Saint Louis Art Museum

Illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts are manuscripts that contain the text of Revelation or a commentary on Revelation and also illustrations. Many of the more famous Apocalypse manuscripts were made in England c. 1250-1400.

Paul Meyer and Léopold Delisle, in their book L'Apocalypse en français au XIIIe siècle (Paris MS fr. 403), 2 vols., Paris, 1900-01, were the first scholars to try to list, describe and categorise the English Apocalypse manuscripts.

M. R. James also wrote about illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts in his book The Apocalypse in Art, London, 1931.

Since M. R. James' work, there have been a number of more recent studies by R. Freyhan, George Henderson, Peter Klein, Suzanne Lewis, Nigel Morgan and Lucy Sandler.

These manuscripts can be divided by the language and form of the Apocalypse text. Many manuscripts have a Latin text, others have an Anglo-Norman prose text and others have a French verse text combined with a Latin text. Two manuscripts do not have a separate text, but incorporate excerpts from the text into the illustrations.

The illustrations can be divided into several different iconographic groups. The manuscripts with a Latin text all belong to the same iconographic family. With a few exceptions, this is also true of the manuscripts with the French prose texts and also with the French verse-Latin texts. The Eton Apocalypse features a Jewish Antichrist,^[1] part of a larger anti-Jewish theme present throughout the manuscript.^[2]

This is a complete list of known English Apocalypse manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries.

• Berlin, Kupferstichkabinet Blatt Inv. No. 1247
• Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale MS II.282
• Cambrai, Bibliothèque Municipal MS 422 Cambrai Apocalypse
• Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 20 Corpus Apocalypse
• Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 394
• Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS Add. 317
• Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS McClean 123 Nuneaton Book
• Cambridge, Magdelene College MS F.4.5 Crowland Apocalypse
• Cambridge, Magdelene College MS Pepys 1803 Pepys Apocalypse
• Cambridge, Trinity College MS B.10.2
• Cambridge, Trinity College MS B.10.6
• Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.16.2 Trinity Apocalypse
• Cambridge, University Library MS Gg 1.1
• Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliothek MS Thott 89.4
• Dublin, Trinity College MS 64 Dublin Apocalypse
• Eton College Library MS 177 Eton Apocalypse
• Lisbon, Gulbenkian Museum MS L.A.139 Gulbenkian Apocalypse
• London, British Library MS Add. 18633
• London, British Library MS Add. 35166
• London, British Library MS Add. 38842
• London, British Library MS Add. 42555 Abingdon Apocalypse

The Douce Apocalypse (21r); Oxford, Bodleian Library

• London, British Library MS Royal 15.D.II Welles/Greenfield Apocalypse
• London, British Library MS Royal 19.B.XV Queen Mary Apocalypse
• London, British Library MS Royal 2.D.XIII
• London, Lambeth Palace Library MS 209 Lambeth Apocalypse
• London, Lambeth Palace Library MS 434
• London, Lambeth Palace Library MS 75
• Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS Ludwig III.1 Getty/Dyson Perins Apocalypse
• Metz, Bibliothèque Municipal MS Salis 38 (no longer extant) Metz Apocalypse
• Moscow, State Lenin Library MS NH.1678
• New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M.524 Morgan Apocalypse
• New York, Public Library MS Spencer 57 Spencer Apocalypse
• Norwich, Central Library MS 287 Norwich Apocalypse
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 753
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auct D.4.14
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auct D.4.17 Bodleian Apocalypse
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 401
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Canonici Bibl.62 Canonici Apocalypse
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Douce 180 Douce Apocalypse
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Selden Supra 38 Selden Apocalypse
• Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Tanner 184 Tanner Apocalypse
• Oxford, Lincoln College MS lat.16
• Oxford, New College MS D.65 New College Apocalypse
• Oxford, University College MS 100
• Paris, Bibliothèque de Arsenal MS 5214
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS fr.403 Paris Apocalypse
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS fr.9574
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS lat.10474
• Toulouse, Bibliothèque Municipal MS 815
• Yorkshire Apocalypse, private collection Yorkshire Apocalypse

References

1. Higgs Strickland, Debra (2003). Saracens, Demons, & Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art. Princeton University Press. p. 213.
2. Henry, Avril (1990). The Eton Roundels: Eton College MS 177. Scholar Press. pp. 42–3.

External links

• Resources for English Apocalypse Manuscripts