The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation — John Shaqi
The Influence of the Bible on CivilisationDobschütz, Ernst von
History
The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation
Dobschütz, Ernst von
Bible -- Influence
In the Gothic period sculpture is more favoured, the walls being broken
up into groups of columns and large windows. This arrangement lent
itself more to the representation of individual figures of saints; but
even so Biblical personalities, and sometimes even Biblical scenes, were
chosen, and the large windows, with their stained glass, offered another
possibility for decoration based on Bible stories. Besides, the whole
building is directed by a scheme of Biblical symbolism difficult for us
to understand but dear to the men of that period. They loved symbolism.
The cult of the Virgin Mary was surrounded by it. She was the queen of
heaven, she was paradise, she was the tower, she was the unicorn, she
was the well, and so on, and all these symbols were taken from or
related to the Bible.
The growing wealth and the higher standard of civilisation created a new
demand for illuminated manuscripts. The artists of this period did not
follow the classical scheme of filling the lower margin with
representations in water-colour; they put little pictures, framed like
those on the walls, into the text itself, or they decorated the initials
of each book or chapter (Plate XIII). In turning over the pages we
admire the skill of these artists, their simplicity, and sometimes their
sense of humour. We seldom recognise what an amount of reading and
interpretation of the Bible is contained in these little pictures; and
how, on the other hand, they helped and stimulated Bible reading. We are
told of King Charles V of France (1364-80), that he read the Bible all
through once a year during his reign. This means a period of sixteen
years. We are quite sure that he had a beautifully illuminated copy, and
we may assume that the pictures helped him in performing this religious
exercise.
The art of painting is often accompanied by the art of making verses, as
I would rather call this mediæval poesy. And again it is the Bible or,
to speak more accurately, the Biblical history which finds its
expression in this art. Besides the inscriptions added to the pictures
and often given in versified form, there are a number of rhymed Bibles,
as these versifications of the Biblical history are called. There are
short verses giving the content of each book or chapter of the Bible for
mnemonic purposes. There are some real poems, too, dealing with Biblical
subjects.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII--ENGLISH MINIATURE
(Latin Bible, Brit. Mus. Royal I D I)
Written in England, early thirteenth century. Initial I, Gen. 1 : 1,
shows creation, fall, and redemption.
The three upper little compartments give each of them the work of
two days: Christ is the creator; the fourth brings the seventh
day's rest: Christ on the throne; the next three compartments
contain the story of Adam and Eve: temptation, expulsion, and their
working under the curse; the eighth compartment shows the
Redemption as prophesied in Gen. 3 : 15.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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