Many of the books produced in Europe during the medieval and Renaissance periods contained religious texts. Often beautifully decorated and illustrated, these were made for a variety of uses in churches and monasteries.They could be biblical books, choir books (to be sung from in church), missals (containing the text for the celebration of the Catholic mass throughout the year) or prayer books.
By the late 18th century, most of these manuscripts were no longer in use, having been replaced with more up-to-date printed books. Their ornamentation, however, appealed to art collectors and a market for manuscript cuttings developed from the 1820s, with entire leaves or sections showing miniatures, decorated borders and/or initials being bought and sold. By the second half of the 19th century, newly founded museums of applied arts, like the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the V&A), were keen to purchase these manuscript cuttings in large quantities and use them as a visual sourcebook for art practitioners.
Today, the V&A has over 2,000 manuscript cuttings in the collection. One of the largest groups of leaves and cuttings from a single source (80 full leaves and 3 half leaves) has come from a Bible made in the early 14th century, probably in Liège in present-day Belgium.
This Bible was originally produced in three volumes. Volume 1, which contained the beginning of the Old Testament (Genesis – II Chronicles), is not known to have survived. The leaves in the V&A collection are from Volume 2, which contained the end of the Old Testament (Esdras – II Maccabees). Fourteen additional cuttings from this same volume are in the British Library collection. Volume 3, containing the New Testament, has survived virtually in its entirety and is now in the library of Keble College at the University of Oxford. This volume is probably only missing a few leaves at the beginning and at the end.
On the first leaf of Volume 3, the initial 'L' that introduces the Gospel according to Matthew, depicts the evangelist examining his quill, with the first words of his Gospel Liber generationis… written on a piece of parchment in front of him. An angel, traditionally the symbolic representation of Matthew, descends from heaven holding a scroll. The hair style of the man kneeling by the pulpit, with the crown of his head shaven in what is called a tonsure, designates him as a member of the clergy, while his grey habit with a black cross on the shoulder tells us that he belonged to the Order of the Teutonic Knights. This important clue indicates that this three-volume Bible was commissioned by members of the Order of the Teutonic Knights for use in one of their communities.
The Teutonic Order was originally founded by German merchants in 1189 – 90 AD in Acre (present-day Israel) as a fraternity to care for the sick and protect pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Following the death of the Holy Emperor Henry VI in 1197, the fraternity decided to remain in the Middle East, but was militarised and became a religious order of knights. In the early 13th century, they transferred their activities to Eastern Europe where they fought brutal campaigns to convert local populations to Christianity. By the end of the century, they ruled over large parts of Prussia, having eradicated most of the native non-Christian population. They continued to expand their territories in the 14th century, through conquest and purchase. Their decline began in the following century when they were defeated by a Polish-Lithuanian alliance determined to bring an end to their rule.
An 18th-century inscription Biblioth[eca] Trajecto Juncetanae, on what was originally the first leaf of Volume 2, indicates that the Bible belonged at this time to the Library of the Rushes in Maastricht. This name refers to the commandery of the Teutonic Knights founded in 1280 in Maastricht (present-day Netherlands). These headquarters were known in Dutch as 'Nieuwen Biesen', or 'New Rushes'. The Bible was therefore certainly commissioned for the library of Nieuwen Biesen around 1300 and remained there until 1794 when the commandery was dissolved and its properties dispersed.
The third volume, now in Oxford, must have been in Germany at some point in the 19th century where it received a binding with imposing metal fittings adorned with eagles. A description cut out from a sale catalogue (where this book was lot 669) is pasted inside the upper cover. Thanks to the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, it is possible to establish that this clipping came from the sale catalogue of the library of William Brice (about 1812/3 – 14 March 1887), a clerk to Justices of the Peace and later town clerk in Bristol. The Brice sale was organised by Sotheby's in London on 26 July 1887.
The book sold for the sum of £40 to Henry Parry Liddon (1829 – 90), who inscribed it inside the upper cover 'H.P. Liddon Aug. 3 1887', when he took possession of it. Liddon was an English theologian, canon of St Paul's Cathedral, London, eminent preacher, and very influential within the Church of England. When he died in 1890, the volume came to Keble College Library as part of the Liddon bequest.
It is difficult to know when the second volume was taken apart, but by the late 19th century, many of its leaves had made their way into the hands of art historian William Henry James Weale (1832 – 1917). All leaves with large initials from this volume have survived, as they were more visually appealing, but many text leaves were probably discarded unless they surface one day in a public or private collection. We, however, find no trace of the Book of Psalms. This long text, traditionally attributed to King David, would normally come between the Book of Job and the Book of Proverbs. But this Bible may in fact never have contained this section, as it was sometimes kept in a separate volume.
It was from Weale that, in 1883, the British Museum acquired its 14 pieces and the South Kensington Museum 28. Most are full leaves, though a few are half leaves. Weale was an expert in early Netherlandish art as well as book binding, who between 1890 and 1897 was Keeper of the South Kensington Museum library. Another 56 leaves were bought by the V&A in 1906 from Maggs Bros., London booksellers still active today. It is likely that they ultimately also came from Weale, though further research is needed to confirm this.
Explore the Teutonic Knights Bible
We have collaborated with the British Library to reconstruct, for the first time since the manuscript was taken apart, the second volume of the Teutonic Knights Bible, with all surviving leaves and cuttings in the correct sequence.
Please note that due to recent cyberattacks on the British Library systems, the images of the British Library leaves cannot for the moment be viewed in this reconstruction.
List of surviving leaves and cuttings
Volume 2
V&A
84 leaves/cuttings – 28 acquired in 1883 from William Henry James Weale [9036A-Z, 9036F/1 and 9036Z/A] and 56 acquired in 1906 from Maggs Bros. [D.544 to D.599-1906. D.556-1906 is currently not located].
The British Library
14 leaves/cuttings acquired in 1883 from William Henry James Weale [Add. MS 32058, ff. 9-22]
Volume 3
Keble College Library, University of Oxford
Near complete volume acquired in 1890 through the Liddon bequest [ms. 69].
