Toulouse Apocalypse

This extraordinary manuscript features one nearly full-page miniature and a remarkable one hundred twenty smaller miniatures, rendering it one of the most extensively illustrated specimens of its kind. While the identity of its patron remains shrouded in mystery, the enthralling visual narrative woven throughout offers a window into the evolving landscape of luxury book ownership and patronage during the late Middle Ages.

The Toulouse Apocalypse brings together the Latin text of the Apocalypse, presenting the visionary account of Saint John’s revelations concerning the culmination of time. This is complemented by a metrical translation of John’s text into Anglo-Norman, the French dialect spoken in England at the time. An Anglo-Norman prose commentary further enriches the manuscript. Following these treasures, an Anglo-Norman verse translation of the Visio Pauli (the Vision of Paul), an apocryphal narrative of Saint Paul’s experiences in both heaven and hell, unfolds.

Within the manuscript’s elaborate decorative program, we encounter one hundred six miniatures dedicated to the Apocalypse and an additional fifteen illustrations depicting the Vision of Paul. These miniatures are intricately linked in iconography and style to two contemporary English Apocalypses, the Corpus Apocalypse of Cambridge, and London’s with shelfmark British Library, MS Add. 18633. As in the Cambridge and London manuscripts, the miniatures in the Toulouse Apocalypse grace the width of the two columns of text and span a third to half a page in height, with the depiction of the Heavenly Jerusalem being the sole image surpassing its width (found on fol. 53r).

Each miniature serves as an entrée to the illuminated section of text and its corresponding commentary. The exaggerated gestures of the characters and the vivid palette, characterized by rich, saturated oranges and blues, evoke a visual intensity befitting the profound source material. The frames, patterned backgrounds, and intricate details are enhanced with delicate touches of shimmering gold.

The text of the Apocalypse was meticulously penned by a single scribe in two columns, utilizing the distinctive Gothic Textualis script. The Visio Pauli, discernible by its lighter ink, is believed to be the work of a second scribe. The initiation of each section of text is marked by pen-flourished initials that alternate between red and blue. When the columns’ lengths differ, some miniatures feature a stepped upper or lower edge to harmoniously occupy the space (e.g., on fol. 40r).

This exceptional codex most likely resided in England until it found a new abode within the convent of the Augustinians in Toulouse in the early eighteenth century. Following the secularization of the convent in 1790, it opened its doors to the public as the Musée des Augustins in 1795. In the nineteenth century, the convent’s library became part of the collection of the Bibliothèque municipale of Toulouse, now known as the Bibliothèque de Toulouse. The manuscript numbers among the treasures of its Bibliothèque d’Etude et du Patrimoine.

The facsimile edition of the Apocalipsis de Toulouse is complemented by a case for its conservation and a complementary study book made by subject matter experts.

This facsimile is a unique edition of 600 books numbered and authenticated by notarial deed.