Leaf from a Bible (Prologue & Book of Hosea), present-day Belgium (Liège), ca. 1300.
A duplicate number MS.740 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.

Prologue and Book of the twelve Minor Prophets - Hosea
Leaf, with a decorated 11-line initial L (interlace decoration and grotesque heads extending into the margin); 8-line initial U with grotesque in vine tendrils: a 3-line initial D in blue with red penwork flourishing. In margin, dog with sketch of dog in pencil, also sketch of vine tendril by the initial V - these sketches either underdrawings or instructions to the illuminator.
Rubric (1) Incipit prefatio beati Ieron imi presbiteri in librum duodecim proohetarum. Non idem ordo (2) Explicit prologus, incipit Osee. Verbum domini
40 lines; 2 cols.

Part of a Bible in three volumes which probably belonged to the house of the Teutonic Knights in Maastricht (Nieuwe Biesen), according to an inscription on a leaf from vol. II (see London, British Library, Add. MS 32058, fol. 9). All leaves now in the V&A collection belong to volume II. The second volume was dismantled by the time the museum acquired a first batch of leaves in 1883 from W.H. James Weale (9036A to 9036Z, 9036Z/A, 9036F/1). Another batch was bought in 1906 (D.544 to D.599-1906). No part of volume I is known to survive (Genesis to II Chronicles) and volume III is now Oxford, Keble College, MS 69.

Part of cuttings purchased in batches from William Henry James Weale in 1883, 95 on 9 April 1883, 258 on 17 April 1883, 20 on 20 February, for the total sum of £96.7.2 (now Museum nos 8972-9042). These included 27 leaves and 1 cutting from the Teutonic Knights Bible, vol. II.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 9036A to 9036Z, 9036Z/A, 9036F/1, D.544 to D.599-1906.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in other collections: London, British Library, Add. MS 32058, ff. 9-22.

Vol. III (containing the Old Testament): Oxford, Keble College, MS 69.

This is a page from a Bible made for the monastery of the Teutonic Knights at Nieuwe Biesen in Maastricht, where the order owned property. The Teutonic Knights were among the more successful military orders. They were given papal approval in 1199 and oversaw the colonization by German settlers and the imposition of Christianity in what is now Poland and Lithuania. Like their counterparts, the Templars, who suffered the brutal suppression and nationalization of their assets by the French crown just after 1300, they operated a system of banking to get money 'to the front line'. This Bible was made in Liège for their house of Nieuwe Biesen in Maastricht, where the order owned property. The ornament in the initials is inhabited by dragons, heads and grotesques which spill over into the margins.

9036W