THE CONTEXT AND RECEPTION HISTORY OF THE ILLUMINATIONS IN NICHOLAS OF LYRA’S POSTILLA LITTERALIS SUPER TOTAM BIBLIAM: FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CASE STUDIES by Sarah Emily Bromberg B.A., Brandeis University, 1995 M. A., Tufts University, 1999 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 gg UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Sarah Emily Bromberg It was defended on April 30, 2012 and approved by Ann Sutherland Harris, Professor, History of Art & Architecture Adam Shear, Associate Professor, Religious Studies Bruce L. Venarde, Associate Professor, History Ryan McDermott, Assistant Professor, English Dissertation Advisor: M. Alison Stones, Professor, History of Art & Architecture ii Copyright © by Sarah Emily Bromberg 2012 iii THE CONTEXT AND RECEPTION HISTORY OF THE ILLUMINATIONS IN NICHOLAS OF LYRA’S POSTILLA LITTERALIS SUPER TOTAM BIBLIAM: FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CASE STUDIES Sarah Emily Bromberg, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2012 ABSTRACT This dissertation traces the reception history of the Latin biblical commentary, the Postilla litteralis super totam bibliam (c.1333), originally written and illustrated by Nicholas of Lyra (1270-1349) in Paris. The Postilla was one of the most frequently copied texts during the later Middle Ages and Renaissance in Western and Central Europe, as evidenced by the approximately seven hundred extant manuscripts. The Postilla’s astounding popularity is often attributed to its thorough treatment of a fundamental issue in Christian thought: how to validate the authority and utility of Jewish exegetical traditions while asserting the truth of Christianity. Lyra compared Jewish and Christian biblical commentaries more comprehensively than any other previous Christian commentator and was the only scholar who designed diagrams to augment these comparisons. These comparative illustrations depicted Old Testament temple structures and their ritual objects. My study of this manuscript tradition reveals that Lyra’s original images were dramatically altered in fifteenth-century copies, indicating that the reasons for the Postilla’s vast transmission had changed. My dissertation begins with an analysis of several early fourteenth- century French Postilla manuscripts to demonstrate how that they were prepared for scholarly audiences. I then present in-depth case studies of three fifteenth-century Postilla manuscripts that display startling ruptures in the Postilla tradition. I have chosen three luxurious copies produced iv and owned in Italy, Portugal, France and the Burgundian Netherlands. I utilize these particular manuscripts to document that fifteenth-century Postilla manuscript imagery camouflaged, obscured or even erased Nicholas of Lyra’s study of Jewish exegesis as well as his presentation of the differences between Jewish and Christian exegesis; the appearance of deviations in imagery is complicated by the fact that the text sometimes replicated Lyra’s original scholarly format whereas the picture diverged from the original. These case studies demonstrate that Postilla manuscripts were valued not only for their intellectual content, but also as status symbols, emblems of political power, luxury items, aesthetic objects and signifiers of piety. I also reveal how the text and imagery of Postilla manuscripts advances our knowledge regarding changes in Christian usage of Jewish biblical scholarship in the late middle ages. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................. XII NOTE TO READER.................................................................................................................. XV 1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 1.1 LYRA: BIOGRAPHY AND WORK ................................................................. 9 1.2 PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP ON NICHOLAS OF LYRA’S POSTILLA ... 11 1.3 ICONOGRAPHIC PRECEDENTS AND PARALLELS FOR LYRA’S FIGURAE ............................................................................................................................ 15 2.0 CHAPTER TWO: FOURTEETH-CENTURY POSTILLA MANUSCRIPTS .... 22 2.1 EARLIEST POSTILLA MANUSCRIPTS AND THE EVIDENCE FOR THEIR DATES ................................................................................................................... 23 2.1.1 Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine MS 169 ........................................................... 24 2.1.2 Reims BM MS 171-2 ....................................................................................... 25 2.1.3 Charleville-Mézières BM MS 267, volumes I-VIII ....................................... 26 2.1.4 Princeton Art Museum MS y1937-266 .......................................................... 27 2.2 EVIDENCE FOR HOW THE EARLY POSTILLA WERE USED OR INTENDED TO BE USED BY A SCHOLARLY AUDIENCE ..................................... 29 2.2.1 Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine MS 169 ........................................................... 29 vi 2.2.2 Princeton Art Museum MS y1937-266 .......................................................... 30 2.3 EARLY POSTILLA FIGURAE FOR SCHOLARLY UNDERSTANDING OF THE SENSUS LITTERALIS ....................................................................................... 32 2.3.1 Ground Plans of Tabernacle ......................................................................... 32 2.3.2 Ground Plan of Temple of Solomon ............................................................ 34 2.4 EARLY POSTILLA FIGURAE AS VISUAL DEVICES TO ELUCIDATE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HEBREW AND LATIN COMMENTARY ................... 37 2.4.1 Figurae: External Attachments to Solomon’s Temple ............................... 37 2.5 CONSISTENCY IN THE REPRESENTATION OF LYRA’S FIGURA ..... 40 2.5.1 Figurae: External Attachments to Solomon’s Temple ............................... 40 2.5.2 Consistency in other figurae ......................................................................... 45 2.6 LYRA’S COMMENTS ON HIS OWN FIGURAE......................................... 47 2.6.1 Role of memory in viewing figurae .............................................................. 48 2.6.2 Figurae visually replicate Lyra’s textual commentary .............................. 49 2.6.3 Lyra’s intentions to integrate figurae and text on manuscript page ......... 51 2.6.4 Lyra’s directions for viewing figurae: Tabernacle ..................................... 52 3.0 CHAPTER THREE: KING MANUEL I OF PORTUGAL’S POSTILLA ........... 57 3.1 BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP................................... 59 3.2 AN UNUSUAL EXEMPLAR: INFLUENCE OF A VENETIAN POSTILLA INCUNABULUM ON THE LISBON POSTILLA ........................................................... 69 3.2.1 Figurae in the Lisbon Postilla ....................................................................... 70 3.2.2 Analysis of Lisbon Postilla figurae within Postilla tradition ...................... 71 vii 3.3 ERASING LYRA’S INTEREST IN JEWISH COMMENTARY IN THE LISBON POSTILLA ........................................................................................................... 75 3.3.1 Example of erasure: Attachments to exterior walls of Solomon’s Temple… ..................................................................................................................... 75 3.3.2 Sources of erasure: Patterns of Corruption in Postilla Tradition ............. 78 3.3.3 Total Erasure: Missing Figurae in the Lisbon Postilla .............................. 81 3.4 EFFECT OF PATRONAGE: HOW THE UNIQUE QUALITIES OF THE LISBON POSTILLA EXPRESS KING MANUEL’S INTERESTS .............................. 82 3.4.1 Contract for Lisbon Postilla’s Production................................................... 82 3.4.2 Visualizing Foreign Art and Architecture in the Lisbon Postilla .............. 83 3.4.3 Visualizing Portuguese Power in the Lisbon Postilla ................................. 87 3.4.4 Christianization in the Lisbon Postilla ........................................................ 89 3.5 TEXTUAL LAYOUT OF LISBON POSTILLA ............................................. 92 3.6 OTHER MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED BOOKS OWNED BY KING MANUEL I OF PORTUGAL ............................................................................................ 96 3.7 GALEOTTO MANFREDI’S LUXURY POSTILLA .................................... 101 4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: TOURS BM MS 52 ................................................................ 108 4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 108 4.2 CIRCUMSTANCES OF PRODUCTION ..................................................... 109 4.3 FIGURAE IN TOURS BM MS 52 .................................................................. 110 4.4 NARRATIVE IMAGE VS. FIGURAE: QUANTITY .................................. 115 4.5 NARRATIVE IMAGES: VERNACULAR ................................................... 118 viii 4.6 PRECEDENT FOR VERNACULAR FRENCH TEXT THAT ACCOMPANIES NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS IN TOURS BM MS 52 ............ 120 4.7 NARRATIVE IMAGES FOR VISUAL PLEASURE AND LUXURY ...... 123 4.8 CHRISTIANIZING ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE IMAGES IN TOURS BM MS 52 AND OTHER POSTILLA MANUSCRIPTS ................................................. 126 5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: