Two Leaves
in the Book of Numbers
from the Chudleigh Bible
Latin Vulgate Bible
Northern France
Sant-Vaast Abbey?
Circa 1220–1230
Text written in Gothic Bookhand
Laid out in Double Columns of 56 lines
with Running Titles, Rubrication,
Text-Initials in Red and Blue,
and Marginalia within Frames
[Posted on 17 April 2025, with updates]
Continuing our series of posts describing discoveries for the study of manuscript fragments (see Manuscript Studies Blog: Contents List), we introduce two leaves which belonged to the Book of Numbers in the medium-format Latin Vulgate Bible now known as the Chudleigh Bible. The name derives from one of its former owners, the eleventh Baron Clifford of Chudleigh.
The place Chudleigh itself is an ancient wool town in Devon in Southwest England.
First we introduce the two leaves. Then we describe the original manuscript, insofar as it is known from surviving fragments and the descriptions in catalogues (of sales, collections, and genres of medieval French manuscript production). A preliminary list of surviving leaves, including not only the seemly more significant and financially valuable leaves with illustrations, is offered, as a compliment or companion to existing lists.
Further blogposts will offer more information about both forms of experience for the manuscript and its identifiable fragments, whether indirectly by catalogue or other surrogate representative, or more directly by in-person inspection. The goal is to build towards a fuller recognition of the survivors, their characteristics, and their locations.
I. Two Leaves from the Book of Numbers
These two leaves come to the RGME as a donation by our Associate, Richard Weber. Previous blogposts have reported portions of his collection of manuscript fragments, starting with Set 93 of the Portfolio of Famous Books assembled by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951).
1. That first post has set in motion a continuing study of that portfolio and its different components representing manuscript and printed materials alike. One development recently focuses upon a collaborative study of the dismembered volume of Dante as we prepare for the 2025 Autumn Colloquium on “Break-Up Books and Make-Up Books: Encountering and Reconstructing the Legacy of Otto F. Ege and Other Biblioclasts”. Richard has generously agreed to speak about his collecting interests for that event.
2. The Weber Leaf from Otto Ege Manuscript 22 inspired us to examine closely the evidence of origin, provenance, and genre of book for this leaf and other survivors of the same volume, set against Otto Ege’s labels of attribution based upon incomplete and misrepresented knowledge. The resulting Research Booklet, freely available, presents the evidence. You can find it here:
3. Richard shared photographs of his leaf from the Saint Albans Bible in response to our new series of Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts, Etc.”, which took inspiration from the loan of a leaf from that Bible from the Collection of Jennah Farrell to the RGME for photography, study, and publication. We decided to turn to crowd-sourcing and mentoring in these workshops as a collaborative, collective way to learn about manuscripts together, including beginners, experts, and others in between. It was a good choice.
As the Workshops developed, they considered fragments from different Latin Bible manuscripts pertaining to similar periods, styles of production, and various sizes or formats. By Workshop 5, we could survey their range and the progress which the workshops and their collaborative approach had attained.
At this Workshop, Richard Weber generously offered to give a couple of medieval Latin Bible leaves to the RGME for our Research Library & Archives.
Soon, the leaves arrived, which Richard had had beautifully framed in a pair of matching frames with windowed mats and easily removable backs. Protecting the leaves, these frames both showed each leaf to advantage and allowed for access from the back of the frame to allow us to see the other side of the leaf and its full extent.
Companion sheets of paper report details of the leaves, their seller, and the original manuscript, the Chudleigh Bible.
For this gift, we created a bookplate recording Richard’s donation. We give thanks for his characteristic generosity and thoughtfulness.
The Two Leaves
And so, we introduce a pair of non-consecutive leaves from the Book of Numbers in the Chudleigh Bible. The modern Arabic numbers written in pencil at the center directly below the columns of text label them as “38” and “43” respectively. Presumably they designate the folio numbers for them in a consecutive sequence entered before the separation of the leaves from each other.
So far we have not identified any surviving leaves which formerly stood between them or adjacent to them within the same Biblical Book.
Leaf 1: Folio 38
This leaf must have directly followed the opening leaf of the Book, as it starts partway within Chapter 1. That leaf would have carried the opening initial for the Book, with L for Locutusque. Its present location is unknown, but the contents of its illustrated initial have been recorded to indicate a depiction of the figures of God, Moses, and Joshua at an altar. (p. 69 and 72 note 8)
Recto
Formerly Collection of Richard Weber, Leaf 1 from the Chudleigh Bible: Recto.
Verso
Formerly Collection of Richard Weber, Leaf 1 from the Chudleigh Bible: Verso.
Leaf 2: Folio 43
Recto
Formerly Collection of Richard Weber, Leaf 2 from the Chudleigh Bible: Recto.
Verso
Formerly Collection of Richard Weber, Leaf 2 from the Chudleigh Bible: Verso.
Note that there has been some correction/adjustment in the Chapter Numbering. In the intercolumn for the left-hand column there stands a second XVI on the verso, duplicating the same number on the recto. It has been crossed out with a horizontal stroke. The numbering continues below with XVII and XVIII for the left- and right-hand columns respectively.
Contents: Text
Leaf 1 (recto and verso)
Numbers 1
36 [De filiis Benjamin per generationes et familias ac domos] cognationum suarum recensiti sunt nominibus singulorum a vigesimo anno et supra, omnes qui poterant ad bella procedere,
37triginta quinque millia quadringenti.
Numbers 2
1 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, dicens
Numbers 3
1 Hæ sunt generationes Aaron et Moysi in die qua locutus est Dominus ad Moysen in monte Sinai.
7 et observent quidquid ad cultum pertinet multitudinis coram taberna // culo testimonii,
Numbers 4
1 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, dicens
14 ponentque cum eo omnia vasa, quibus in ministerio ejus utuntur, id est, ignium receptacula[, fuscinulas ac tridentes, uncinos et batilla.]
Leaf 2 (recto and verso)
Numbers 15
9 [dabis per singulos boves similæ tres decimas consper]sæ oleo, quod habeat medium mensuræ hin
Numbers 16
1 Ecce autem Core filius Isaar, filii Caath, filii Levi, et Dathan atque Abiron filii Eliab,
28 Et ait Moyses : In //hoc scietis quod Dominus miserit me ut facerem universa quæ cernitis, et non ex proprio ea corde protulerim :
[Possibly struck through incorrect marking for chapter 16 at]
Numbers 16
36 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens
Numbers 17
1 Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens
Numbers 18
1 Dixitque Dominus ad Aaron
11 Primitias autem, quas voverint et obtulerint filii Israël, tibi dedi, et filiis tuis, ac filiabus tuis, jure perpetuo : qui mundus est [in domo tua, vescetur eis. ]
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As part of the RGME’s Research Library & Archives and our ongoing project on medieval manuscript fragments, we begin the study of this leaf and its context, as part of the quest to identify and virtually reconstruct its former volume. Another blogpost will report more information about these two leaves.
Now we survey reports about the original volume and some of its identified survivors.
II. Once Upon a Time:
A Single-Volume Vulgate Bible
Formerly, as described in its sales catalogue descriptions while still intact, the manuscript comprised a single volume of 411 vellum leaves, with its text laid out in double columns of 56 lines each. Initials opening Books of the Bible contained historiated scenes and decorative elements; some 90 or 91 of them were historiated.
The volume as such was sold at auction in London several times first by Sotheby & Co and then by Christie’s. Its appearance on the market began at the hands of its former owner, Charles Oswald Hugh Clifford, the eleventh Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. By that ownership it acquired its modern name.
I. As a Single Volume
For an overview of the former “Parent Volume” from which came dispersed leaves, see Peter Kidd, McCarthy Collection, Volume III: French Miniatures (London, 2021), No. 17 (pp. 69–73).
Notice of the manuscript, with some black-and-white images of its illustrated elements, appeared in print three times, corresponding with its sale by successive owners, starting with Lord Clifford of Chudleigh himself.
1) Sold by Sotheby & Co, London,
7 December 1953, lot 51 (pp. 00 in catalogue)
Catalogue of fine Western and Oriental manuscripts and miniatures . . . : which will be sold by auction by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. . . . at their large galleries 34 & 35 New Bond Street, W.1
Bought by Maggs Bros., London, for £680.
2) Sold by Sotheby & Co, London,
Wednesday, 8th July 1970 as Lot 104 (pp. 78–79 in catalogue)
Catalogue of important Western manuscripts and miniatures . . . : which will be sold by auction by Sotheby & Co. . . . at their large galleries, 34 and 35 New Bond Street, W.1 . . . ; day of sale: Wednesday, 8th July, 1970
The entry cites 139 illuminated initials, some of which are historiated. It mentions some defects, including many margins “to some extent stained” and damage to some initials, of which “5 are badly damaged and 15 slightly damaged.” Some losses were discernible, with “the first two leaves largely defective” and “a few leaves missing at the end of the Interpretations [of Hebrew Names]”.
Facing the catalogue entry, the companion page of “Illustration” shows 8 cropped images with historiated initials (sometimes two in succession on the same page), encompassing 10 initials altogether. Their locations in the manuscript are not indicated.
“The text is the normal text of a thirteenth-century Bible, i.e. the modern Vulgate with the addition of Esdras III, which is called Esdras II, the modern Estras II being called Nehemiah. Acts follows the Pauline Epistles. . . . Marginal annotations in red and plummet are fairly numerous. Many are enclosed in red cartouches.”
3) Sold by Christie’s, London,
Thursday, July 11, 1974, lot 18 (pp. 00 in catalogue)
Important Western manuscripts and miniatures from various sources: which will be sold at auction by Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. . . . 8 King Street, St. James’s, London, SW1Y 6QT . . . on Thursday, July 11, 1974.
While still intact, the codex was reported in print:
- Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris: A Study of Styles. California Studies in the History of Art (1997), as Number 17 (page 30), described as made in Northern France and related to Parisian examples.
See also:
- Lilian M.C. Randell, assisted by Judith Oliver, Christopher Clarkson, Jeanne Krochalis, and Jennifer Morrish, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, I: France, 875–1420 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press in association with The Walters Art Gallery, 1989), Number 17 (MS W. 61), 40–44, at p. 43. Illustrations of MS W. 61 appear in color in Pl. IVb (from fol. 96r) on p. 290 and in black-and-white in Figs. 33–36 (from fols. 1r, 88v, 228v, and 236r) on p. 303.”The flair exhibited in the figural illustrations from Genesis through Psalms [in MS W. 61, assigned to “Northeast France, s. XIII 2/4″ on p. 40] is most closely paralleled in another Bible of undetermined provenance indubitably produced in the same workshop,” namely “the manuscript formerly owned by Lord Clifford of Chudleigh,” sold at Sotheby’s in 1970, “assigned an English provenance” in that sales catalogue, and “more recently cited in passing as one of a group of manuscripts known to have belonged formerly to Saint-Vaast at Arras” by Robert Branner (1997).
Further, “Another Bible containing illustrations related to this first style in Walters 61 is Lille 37 [5],” assigned to the “Guines Atelier” by Branner (1977), fig. 130 on p. 00.Note that Walters MS W.61 does not yet appear in the Digital Walters suite of online digital facsimiles. See https://www.thedigitalwalters.org/.
Afterward the manuscript was dismembered in the 1980s and resold as leaves. The dispersal of the leaves has progressed piecemeal. At various intervals, the pieces surface for sale or transfer ownership as gifts.
II. As Individual Leaves or Groups of Leaves
Thereafter leaves appeared in various catalogues, including these (which I have not yet seen):
- Quaritch cat. 1147 (1991), no. 15
- Maggs Bros, Fine Books and manuscripts, cat. 1167 (1993), no. 2
- Sotheby’s, Western Manuscripts and Miniatures, 6 December 2005, lot 16
For some others, see below.
Sometimes the manuscript might receive notice on its own account. For example:
- Christopher de Hamel, Scribes and Illuminators. Medieval Craftsman Series (Toronto, 1992), page 43 and plate 36.
The Collection of Robert McCarthy
(No. 17)
A set of leaves assembled from different sources belong to the McCarthy Collection in London. They have been described by Peter Kidd in his catalogue of the French Miniatures in the collection, with color illustrations from them (initials or their pages only).
- Peter Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, III: French Miniatures (London, 2021), no. 17 (pp. 69–73)
Leaf 17a. End of Exodus and beginning of Leviticus (initial on recto)
Leaf 17b. End of Nehemiah and beginning of I Esdras (initial on verso)
Leaf 1c. End of Psalm 25 and beginning of Psalm 26 (initial on recto)
In his blog, Peter Kidd listed more leaves, with their sources:
The list cites the sales catalogues for the opening leaves from Joshua, Sapientia/Wisdom, II Samuel, Ecclesiastes, and the Epistle to the Philippians. See below.
Some Specimens
We gather a list of specimen leaves which have circulated through the marketplace on their own or in groups. To some extent, this list follows the order of the Books in the Vulgate manuscript; sometimes a catalogue listing groups into one entry a set of several leaves from the manuscript.
In time, in combination with other resources such as the list of illuminated leaves by Peter Kidd (see above), this list might aid a full virtual reconstruction of the manuscript, not only of its illustrated leaves, but also leaves of text like the Weber/RGME leaves from within the text of the Book of Numbers.
Old Testament
Leaves of Text from the Book of Numbers (Folios 38 and 43)
See above, with images of both recto and verso for two leaves, bearing the pencil numbers 38 and 43 on their rectos.
Currently on Sale: A Leaf from Ezekiel 41–44 (Folio 269)
Highlights of the seller’s description, wrongly identifying the text as I Samuel:
Single leaf with three columns of 53 lines of a delicate French university bookhand, small initials in red or blue with undulating lines in same forming line-fillers, larger initials in same with contrasting penwork, running titles a or b in red with blue penwork twirls at their sides, slight cockling and discolouration at edges from use, small holes in corner of one leaf, else excellent condition, 285mm x 190 mm. (written space: 187 by 125 mm.) Text is 1 Samuel 2-3.
Openings of Prologue and Book of Joshua
These two openings stand on the recto of the leaf.
Opening of the Book of Esdras
Sold at Sotheby’s, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts, 8 July 2014, lot 13
“. . . with a 12-line historiated initial ‘E’ in light pink and blue with white penwork decoration on contrasting grounds, enclosing Josias celebrating the Passover with the inhabitants of Jerusalem against a burnished gold ground (for the opening of the Book of Esdras), . . . capitals stroked in red, rubrics in red, running headers and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue, 2-line initials in red or blue with contrasting pen-flourishing, with wide margins, small stains, else in excellent condition. . . .
“This is an appealing leaf from the profusely decorated Chudleigh Bible, sold by Baron Clifford of Chudleigh in our rooms, 7 December 1953, lot 51, reappearing again, 8 July 1970, lot 104. . . .
“The Bible fits into a group of illuminated manuscripts associated with the abbey of St.-Vaast in Arras and was perhaps made there, although cross-references with the Alexander atelier in Paris are also apparent [citing Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris, p.30, n.17; see also L.M.C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, I, 1989, p. 43].
“The monumental size and the abundant use of burnished gold attest the high prestige of a grand commission.”
Opening of Prologue for the Book of Malachi
Sold at Sotheby’s, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts, 8 July 2014, lot 14 (see previous item from Esdras)
Three Leaves with Historiated Initials:
Openings of Prologues for the
Books of Tobit, Zephaniah, and I Samuel
Sold at Christie’s sale of Script and Illumination: Leaves from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, 3 December 2019 (Online Sale 12584), lot 9.
Highlights of the seller’s description:
Three leaves from what would doubtless have been a monumental and prestigious 13th-century illuminated Bible. The style of illumination is derived from that of the early Parisian Moralised Bible ateliers, and particularly the Alexander atelier, which takes its name from the inscription at the top of a Bible, now Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 11930–11931. That said, this particular production fits into a group of illuminated manuscripts associated with the abbey of St-Vaast in Arras and was perhaps made there: a testament to early regional collaboration in manuscript illumination.
The illuminated initials are:
(i) ‘C’ opening the prologue to the book of Tobit; historiated initial ‘T’ with Tobias plucking the white spots out of Tobit’s eyes, relieving him of his blindness (surely one of the earliest depictions of cataract surgery?), opening the book of Tobit;
(ii) ‘T’ opening the prologue to the book of Zephaniah; historiated initial ‘U’ with Zephaniah, opening his book;
(iii) ‘U’ opening the prologue to the first book of Kings (I Samuel); historiated initial ‘F’ with Hannah, kneeling in prayer before the priest Eli, her husband Elkanah standing behind her, opening 1 Samuel (or 1 Kings).
Opening of II Samuel
Prologue and Opening of Sapientia/Wisdom
Initials on recto.
- Hartung & Hartung, Munich, Wertvollebücher, Manuskripte, Autographen, Grafik. Auction 150, 2 November 2021, lot 19 (page 15, with color illustration of recto).
(See http://www.mdcom.de/Hartung/PDF/HH_A150_locked.pdf)
Prologue and Beginning of Ecclesiastes; initial on recto
Opening of Ecclesiastes
Initial on verso.
- The Hartung & Hartung, Munich, Auktion 152, 8 November 2022, lot 5 (page 9, with color illustration of verso)
(See http://www.mdcom.de/Hartung/PDF/HH_A152_locked.pdf)
Beginning of Ecclesiastes on verso; presumably End of Canticum Canticorum on recto.
New Testament
Opening of Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians
Initials for Prologue and Epistle on recto, preceded by closing text of Epistle to the Galatians.
Sold at Sotheby’s, Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern, 19 July 2022, lot 3
Opening of the Epistle to the Philippians
Initial on recto or verso?
- The Philippians leaf was in the collection of John Feldman [1957–2021] in 1989, “depicting Paul preaching in the Synagogue at Damascus” ‘ See Kidd, Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (above).
Beginning of Epistle to the Philippians (recto or verso?)
Epistle to the Hebrews 8–18
Sold at Sotheby’s, Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern, 19 July 2022, lot 4
Companion Textual Apparatus
Interpretation of Hebrew Names
(Leaf with Glossary for Da–Du Entries)
Sold at Addison & Sarova, Auctioneers (Macon, Georgia), 2017-11-18, lot 1
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Watch for another blogpost with more information about this research.
Do you know of other leaves from this manuscript? Do you know of other work by its scribal hands?
We look forward to hearing from you.
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