bavarikon4UDescription
The manuscript contains the commentary by Petrus Lombardus (died 1160) on the 150 psalms of the Old Testament and was most probably created around 1180 in the Michelsberg Benedictine monastery in Bamberg. Petrus Lombardus taught at the cathedral school of Notre Dame and was Bishop of Paris in the year before his death. His commentary on the psalms was very widely read in the Middle Ages and has therefore often been preserved, but what is special about the Bamberg manuscript is its high-quality and extensive decoration with book illumination. In addition to 171 initials (decorative letters at the beginning of a section of text), it features a seven-page picture cycle in delicately coloured pen and ink drawings, which precedes the actual text. These tell the story of the life of David, from his time as a shepherd boy to the battle against Goliath and events during his reign as king. In terms of content, this theme fits in with the manuscript's next part of text insofar as, according to tradition, David was regarded as the author of the psalms and is therefore often the subject of medieval psalm manuscripts in book illumination. Not all of the scenes depicted in the Bamberg manuscript are found in the Old Testament, some are based on later inventions such as the wedding feast on the third page. The depiction corresponds to that of a medieval knightly epic: the illuminator transposes the Old Testament into his own 12th century context by giving the depicted figures a certain type of clothing and armaments. The page design, with three picture strips arranged one below the other and explained by short texts, reminds today's reader of modern picture stories or comics. Datum: 2020
Author
Stefan Knoch