Genesis initial, Creation scenes with the Crucifixion
Fitzwilliam Mus. MS McClean 12, f. 4v
Bible with Dominican Calendar
Paris or Northern France?, ca 1250–1260

Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

In Paris during the first half of the thirteenth century the text and chapter divisions of the Vulgate Bible became standardised and this ‘Paris Bible’ was soon copied in Italy and England as the up-to-date text. The scribes and illuminators who made these Bibles were in most cases laymen, and direct involvment of the friars in their production was in most cases unlikely, although they were certainly much involved in the establishing of the ‘Paris Bible’ standardised text and in biblical studies at the university. This small sized Bible was certainly made for Dominicans because it includes a liturgical calendar of their use as indicated by the feasts of Dominic (5 August) with an octave and the Translation of Dominic (24 May), both highly graded by writing in blue ink. The feast of St Peter Martyr (Peter of Verona) on 29 April has been added and as he was not canonised until 1253 it is possible that the book was written and decorated before that date. It has historiated initials to almost all the books and may have been made in Paris or in Northern France. Although small Bibles of this type, sometimes called ‘Pocket Bibles’, are usually considered as Paris products they were also made in other centres such as Amiens and Reims.