BIBLIA PAUPERUM. - A devotional book containing representations of the principal scenes

of the life of Jesus, depicted according to the medieval conception, that is, according to the typology of the Concordantia Veteris et Novi Testamenti, with stories from the Old Testament and accompanied by figures of prophets. The conventional term B. p. was adopted after the compilation of the book, and therefore does not indicate its authentic title; it refers not so much to the "poor in spirit" as to the poor clerics who lacked the means to procure an entire B. and had, on the other hand, to provide themselves with the bare minimum needed to know, teach and preach the Holy Scriptures: this purpose is perhaps confirmed by the fact that some versions of the text exist in German and in other languages. It is no longer possible to trace the archetype of the work, but it can be dated to around the end of the thirteenth century and attributed to a Benedictine convent in Bavaria; the original compilation probably comprised 38 groups of images, each of which combined one scene from the New Testament with two parallel ones from the Old Testament and four figures of prophets.

The general scheme of the aforesaid compendium has been handed down to us: 1) by no fewer than 68 manuscripts of the 14th and 15th centuries, all originating from Upper Germany or Austria, and divisible, according to the choice, order and graphic arrangement of the individual scenes, into various classes; 2) by several editions of block books: one of them, originating from the Upper Rhineland and preserved in the unique copy at Heidelberg, bears the text in manuscript; among the others those from the Netherlands predominate; two bear engraved

German signatures (there is also a late Italian imitation: Opera nuova contemplativa, Venice 1510); 3) by books printed with movable type: for example, the three editions of the printer Pfister (Bamberg), which perhaps precede the other copies chronologically.

The immense diffusion of the B. p. explains its extraordinary iconographic influence on the monumental painting of the late Middle Ages, especially in Germany.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: H. Cornell, B. p., Stockholm 1925 (fundamental); H. Zimmermann, Armenbibel, in Reallexikon zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, Stuttgart 1937, cols. 1072-84 (with bibliography).

Kurt Rathe

@incollection{ec2_biblia_pauperum, author = {Rathe, Kurt}, title = {Biblia Pauperum}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1588--1590}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/biblia-pauperum} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry