Edmund Images
Morgan Library, MS M.736
This miscellany containing the life, passion, and miracles
of Edmund of East Anglia was written and illuminated 1125x1135 probably at the
Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. The major texts are the Miracula (fols.
23-76), the Passio (fols. 77-86), and the office for Edmund (fols.
87-100). Letters and records pertaining to Bury St. Edmunds along with offices
begin the manuscript.
The manuscript has been attributed to the “Alexis
Master” and his workshop. The signature of George Roche (sixteenth century)
appears on fol. 2r and that of W. Stonehouse (seventeenth century) on fols.
1r and 5r. J. P. Morgan bought the manuscript for the Pierpont Morgan Library
from the estate of Sir George Holford in 1927. The manuscript has 32 full-page
miniatures and 12 historiated initials.
See:
Gameson, Richard. The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), p 125, no. 606.
Hahn, Cynthia. “Peregrenatio et Natio: The Illustrated Life of Edmund, King and Martyr,” Gesta 30 (1991), 119-39.
___________. Portrayed on the Heart: Narrative Effect in Pictorial Lives of the Saints from the Tenth through the Thirtenth Century (Berkeley, 2001), passim.
Kauffman, C.M. Romanesque Manuscripts, 1066-1190 (London: Harvey Miller, 1975), no. 34, figs. 79-83, 90;
Parker McLachlan, Elizabeth , The Scriptorium of Bury St. Edmunds in the Twelfth Century (New York: Garland Publishing, 1986), pp. 74-119, 330-32.
The images assembled here recount the capture, suffering, and entombment of Edmund, fols. 12r to 18r:
fol. 12r: Edmund Captured
fol. 12v: Edmund Led Captive
fol. 13r: Edmund Disrobed
fol. 13v: Edmund Tied to a Tree and Scourged
fol. 14r: Edmund Pierced by an Arrow
fol. 14v: Edmund Decapitated, Head Concealed in Thicket
fol. 15r: Vikings Depart
fol. 15v: Finding of Edmund’s Body
fol. 16r: Finding of Edmund’s Head
fol. 16v: Edmund’s Head Borne Back
fol. 17r: Head and Body Reunited
fol. 17v: Body Carried to Burial
fol. 18r: Body Entombed
Click here for the pages with thumbnails.
Images of Morgan M.736 are also available in William M. Voelkle, ed., with photographs
by Charles V. Passela, The Pierpont Morgan Library: Masterpieces of Medieval
Painting (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980). This collection
offers the following slides, not reproduced on this
fol. 7r: Barbarians Arriving by Sea
fol. 7v: Battle of Britons and Invaders
fol. 8r: Investiture of Edmund
fol. 10r: Danes Attacking Town
fol. 18v: Eight Thieves Invading Church
fol. 19r: Thieves Before Bishop Theodred
fol. 19v: Thieves are Hanged
fol. 21r: Edmund Appearing and Killing King Sweyn
fol. 22r: Dying Man Reporting Death of King Sweyn
fol. 22v: Apotheosis of Edmund
The editor would like to thank Dr. Sylvie Merian for her kind assistance in
introducing him to the research resources of the Reading Room, including in-house
catalogues, which provide the basis for the work above. These detailed descriptions
are now available at
http://corsair.morganlibrary.org/msdescr/BBM0736.htm
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Presented by The Richard Rawlinson Center for Anglo-Saxon Studies
and Manuscript Research,
The Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University
Original material © Copyright 2003, The Board of the Western Michigan University.