Thirteenth-Century Portable Manuscript Latin Bible

Latin Bible. Biblia latina.
England, ca. 1250. Decorated manuscript on vellum. (BRMS 1)

This manuscript, written in small gothic script in black and red ink, is a fine example of the new one-volume portable Bibles copied in great numbers in the thirteenth century. Produced in England, this example appears to differ from the standard text found in the Paris Bible, a textual recension dating from circa 1230 but with origins earlier in the thirteenth century. Intended for individual rather than institutional use, these late medieval compact Bibles were often richly decorated. This manuscript includes a page-length initial “I” in red, blue, and green ink at the beginning of Genesis; page headings in red and blue; and filigree pen work in the margins throughout the volume.