What is this?
The Morgan Crusader Bible is an illuminated manuscript with 46 surviving folios which depict stories from the Hebrew Bible. It is not a complete Bible, rather it tells selected stories that focus primarily on stories of kings, particularly King David. This folio, 23v, shows scenes from I Samuel 11:11 and 11:15.
The top of the page shows Saul, the first king of Israel, and his army attacking the Ammonite city of Jabesh-Gilead. Saul is holding the lion shield on the left hand side of the page and is stabbing Nahash, the Ammonite king, through the head. Saul's army surround the Ammonites on both sides, and many enemy soldiers meet their end in gruesome ways.
The bottom left of the image shows Saul anointed as king. He holds a scepter with a fleur-de-lis on its top, a symbol of the French nobility. He is sitting on a sella curulis, a special stool which symbolized political or military power in medieval Europe.
The bottom right of the image shows a sacrifice being made to the Abrahamic God, with an angel looking down to view the scene from above.