An Illustrated Speculum Humanae Salvationis

Speculum Humanae Salvationis was one of the most popular works of medieval scriptural exegesis. It appears here for the first time in a full transcription and English translation, including an apparatus of biblical references and notes on the visual iconography.

The Speculum Humanae Salvationis or "Mirror of Human Salvation," is the only medieval work that exists in illuminated manuscripts, in blockbook editions of the mid-fifteenth century, and in sixteen later incunabula. The authors have provided lavishly illustrated accounts of the manuscripts and included reproductions of all 116 woodcuts of the blockbooks, accompanied by a description of the typography and production and an interpretation of each scene. The Speculum Humanae Salvationis or "Mirror of Human Salvation," is the only medieval work that exists in illuminated manuscripts, in blockbook editions of the mid-fifteenth century, and in sixteen later incunabula. The authors have provided lavishly illustrated accounts of the manuscripts and included reproductions of all 116 woodcuts of the blockbooks, accompanied by a description of the typography and production and an interpretation of each scene.

The Speculum humanae salvationis (Mirror of Human Salvation), a medieval book recounting in forty-five chapters the story of human redemption within the larger context of the Virgin Mary's life, was something of a best seller in the Middle Ages, surviving in over 400 copies. Because the author wrote anonymously, however, little about the book's initial context is known despite a century's-long effort to uncover the author's identity. Friars, Scribes, and Corpses investigates a Marian confraternal setting for the Speculum's emergence, and newly proposes consideration of Nicola da Milano as the poem's author. Its central chapters show how the scribes who copied the Speculum preserved the author's rhetorical considerations that served so well the purposes of Marian confraternal preaching, including elements that suit memory training techniques used in the Middle Ages, such as building an architectural structure in one's mind, tagging memories with emotion, and internalizing the transformative nature of spiritual lessons. The final chapter asserts that the poem's lessons would have been particularly desired in the context of plague, when the number of corpses threatened to destroy people's faith in a merciful God. Friars, Scribes, and Corpses challenges assumptions about the Speculum, as well as the dominantly held view that there was an overwhelming emphasis on death in the late medieval period. Rather, this book demonstrates that there was a competing emphasis on life as glimpsed in the glass of the Speculum.

(Peeters 1996)

The holy and the faithful -- The sinful and the spectral -- Daily life and its fictions -- Death and its aftermath

An interdisciplinary study touching not only upon medieval art, but also upon such disciplines as medieval history, history of the Church, Latin and vernacular literature both religious and secular, medieval drama, mythology, and folklore. Mellinkoff's goal is to provide an iconographical interpretation of horned Moses in as deep a sense as possible.

This book is the first detailed investigation to focus on the late medieval use of Tree of Jesse imagery, traditionally a representation of the genealogical tree of Christ. In northern Europe, from the mid-fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, it could be found across a wide range of media. Yet, as this book vividly illustrates, it had evolved beyond a simple genealogy into something more complex, which could be modified to satisfy specific religious requirements. It was also able to function on a more temporal level, reflecting not only a clerical preoccupation with a sense of communal identity, but a more general interest in displaying a family’s heritage, continuity and/or social status. It is this dynamic and polyvalent element that makes the subject so fascinating.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived