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Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

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What is this? By Emma VanSeveren '23

The Morgan Bible is a medieval picture Bible that contains over 380 scenes from the Old Testament. The illuminated manuscript brings alive the biblical stories in a thirteenth-century French setting. Most of its stories are dedicated to kings or heroes, especially King David. Forty percent of the pages in this manuscript are dedicated to David, who was a king of the Israelites and who established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This page, folio13r, relates events from the Book of Judges. The protagonist in these events is Gideon; a historically timid yet praised judge who ruled over Israel. This page of the Morgan Picture Bible illustrates both triumph and defeat in battle in order to demonstrate the importance of religion in the Crusades.

In the upper left, Gideon and his companions arrive at the altar of Baal, a pagan god, and begin to shatter the altar as instructed by God. In the upper right, Gideon is guided by an angel to assemble an army with the golden trumpet.

In the lower half of the manuscript, Gideon relies only on three hundred men to defeat the Midianite army as they cry aloud: “the Sword of the Lord and Gideon.”

The thematic connection between the battles of the Old Testament and the Crusades in thirteenth-century France suggest that the people of France who viewed this manuscript used these biblical events to think about current events.
Morgan Crusader Bible Folio 13r (MS M.638) By Emma VanSeveren '23

This folio tells the story of Gideon from the Book of Judges. Gideon was a judge, prophet, and a military leader known for his miraculous success in battle against overwhelming numerical odds. In the upper left, Gideon and his companions arrive at and subsequently destroy the altar of the pagan god Baal. On the upper right, Gideon is guided by an angel to assemble an army, shown in its full ranks in the lower half of the manuscript defeating the pagan Midianites. In this illumination, the use of intentional linework and bold color establish a narrative of triumph and defeat. Gideon and his companions are also shown in contemporary 13th-century French clothing, establishing the relevance of Old Testament military narratives in the time of the crusades.

What is the Morgan Crusader Bible?
The Morgan Crusader Bible, so-called because it was purchased by renowned American banker J. P. Morgan (1867–1943) in 1916, is a medieval picture Bible that contains over 380 scenes from the Old Testament. (The text known to Christians as the Old Testament is primarily based on the Hebrew Bible.) The Morgan Crusader Bible originally contained no text explaining the actions depicted on its pages. As time passed, individuals added explanatory text in Latin, Persian, and Judeo-Persian. These later annotations witness the appeal of the scenes to audiences of multiple faiths: a Christian audience who read Latin, a Muslim audience who read Persian (an Iranian language also known as Fārsī), and a Jewish audience who read Judeo-Persian (a Jewish dialect spoken by Jews living in Iran and written in the Hebrew alphabet).
The narratives in the Old Testament took place many centuries before the Middle Ages, but the figures and scenes in this manuscript appear to be set in 13th-century France. This visual translation of Old Testament narratives into contemporaneous crusading imagery connects the battles of the Old Testament to crusader battles in the Holy Land – here, the French king could imagine himself as a type of Gideon and Samson who, in the book of Judges, are reclaiming the Holy Land from the Midianites and the Philistines. King Louis IX of France (1214–1270), the Bible’s presumed patron, frequently commissioned religious works that articulated a militant Christian kingship, imitating Old Testament models. Louis IX led two crusades to Egypt and North Africa, the Seventh (1244–1254) and the Eighth (1270), which ended when Louis died of dysentery.
Augusta Holyfield ‘22, College of the Holy Cross
Emma Vanseveren ‘23, College of the Holy Cross
王謙謙 Qianqian (Audrey) Wang '25, College of the Holy Cross
How did the Morgan Crusader Bible come to bear Persian inscriptions?
Although the Morgan Bible was created during the Crusader era for a French patron, it crossed cultures in later periods. The manuscript’s relationship to Safavid Iran dates to 1604, when Pope Clement VIII sent members of the Discalced Carmelite order from Rome to the Safavid dynasty’s capital, Isfahan (in modern day Iran). The Carmelite friars stopped in Kraków, Poland, where Cardinal Bernard Maciejowski gave them the Bible as a gift for the Safavid shah, ʿAbbas I (r. 1587–1629). The mission was part of an ongoing campaign to form an alliance between European powers and the Safavids against the Ottoman Empire. Many features of the Morgan Crusader Bible would have appeared familiar to Shah ʿAbbas because the arts of the book were highly valued in Perso-Islamic society, and illustrated manuscripts were part of the Safavid court’s visual culture. The shah apparently asked for Persian glosses to be added to all the images, indicating his interest in the gift. Occasionally, the marginal notes will reveal the distance between the image and its interpreter, as is the case on folio 14 recto where, in reference to a story from Samson’s childhood, the Judeo-Persian gloss reads: “I do not know what this tale is.”
The folios shown here depict triumphs of the Israelites from the Old Testament. Folio (manuscript page) 13 narrates how, after Gideon destroyed an idol, God chose him to expel invaders from Israel. Folios 14 recto and 23 verso illustrate the glorious actions of Samson slaying the lion and King Saul defending his land.
As is convention for medieval manuscripts, the folia (pages) are identified by their front (recto, or r) and back (verso, or v) in relation to the book’s front cover.
Nadiia Fuchedzhy '22, Eliza Howlett '25, Natalia Ramirez '22, Bjorn Shurdha '25, Emma Villegas '25, Alexander Vollbrecht '25, Isabella Wellinghorst '22, Peyton Wilson '22, Boston College
What does this tell us about the Crusades? By Emma VanSeveren '23

The presumed patron of the Morgan Picture Bible, King Louis IX, “took greatest personal interest in religious commissions that reflected both his extreme personal piety and his desire to elevate the status of the monarchy through close association with the divine.” In other words, King Louis IX was dedicated to religious commissions that could outline his militant Christian kingship, while his leadership in the crusades would achieve this ideal as reality.
In the decade following Louis’s decision to embark on crusade, the royal chapel Sainte-Chapelle and the Morgan Picture Bible were produced. Both of these affirmed the king's crusading ideals.
The use of the Old Testament in the Morgan Picture Bible suggests the importance of historical kingship and holy war in medieval France. The Morgan Bible presents themes such as the “historical inevitability of war, the nature of sacrifice and unpredictability of God’s will, and the responsibilities of sacred kingship.” The emphasis on holy war is seen on this page by the destruction of a pagan statue, the assembly of an army, and a miraculous victory during war.

This page displays an epic battle, soldiers, horses, and a moment of religious resolution; but most importantly, it showcases the violent nature of the military. This page illustrates the religious conviction that controlled the Crusades; establishing that the violence had a purpose.
Why was this made, and how was it used? By Emma VanSeveren '23

The Morgan Bible is believed to have been made as a political statement under the crusader King Louis IX of France. The Franks, under the command of Louis IX, viewed themselves as the rightful descendants of the Old Testament heroes shown in this manuscript. They viewed their engagement in battles in the Holy Land as connected to the battles in the Holy Land fought by the Israelites. King Louis IX also used his role in the crusades to legitimize his reign at home.

In general, Christian Bibles in the Middle Ages were used to present the teachings of Christianity. Illustrated, or illuminated, Bibles could be used by monks and other missionaries to spread Christianity in the years before widespread literacy. However, the size and luxury of this illuminated manuscript suggest elite patronage. An illuminated manuscript of this size and luxury would require high intellectual, artistic, and financial resources.

When the Morgan Bible was first made, it contained only images, without any text. (The texts you see on the folio were added later.) The initial lack of text meant that the audience of this manuscript needed to be knowledgeable about the Old Testament, otherwise they would not be able to recognize the characters and events on the folio.
Why was this made, and how was it used? By Reuben Reyes '23
Spandrels are the triangular space found on either side of an arch. They play an important dual role as an architectural element and artistic element: in addition to ensuring the stability of the archway, it allows artisans to place a design in the triangular space for viewers to admire.
From the eleventh century to the fourteenth century, several regions of Europe built in the style of Romanesque art, which was greatly influenced by ancient Byzantine artwork. The architecture was also very Romanesque: cathedrals were characteristically built with an abundance of round-headed arches for support, barrel vaulted naves (rounded ceilings), and apses (semi-circular domes). From these elements came a unique and innovative style that was found in cathedrals such as the Vézelay Abbey.
A very important characteristic of Romanesque art was figurative sculpture that decorated architectural structures. In a similar way that manuscripts at the time would have colorful, decorative elements adorning their borders (think Morgan Picture Bible!), architectural elements such as the tympanum (the space above an entrance, like an archway) would have artistic elements carved into it that were largely pictorial and religious in nature. It was on the tympanum where prophetic scenes such as the Last Judgement could unfold, so that people could be primed to the rich and mystical history of Catholicism before entering the church.
The unique upside down triangular shape of our object along with its rigid arched edges suggest that it probably abutted the voussoirs of arcades. In other words, it was found at the intersection of consecutive repeating arches. Considering the relatively small dimensions of the object, the spandrel with a griffin may have been used as part of a cloister, an open arcade that ran along the walls of a building to form a courtyard in the middle. Since the griffin represented Christ within religious contexts, the object may have been used for the apotropaic purpose of steering away evil spirits or to remind people of the power of Christianity and the dominance they had over other religions within the Crusades. Since it also was very representative of Byzantine textiles and silk (which also displayed griffin symbolism), the sculpted griffin may have reminded the Crusaders of those textile productions of the Holy Land, further inspiring them before they ventured off to the Holy Land.