Obj. ID: 2042
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Munich Liturgical Pentateuch, Franconia, late 13th century

The manuscript with its large dimensions is a typical Franconian liturgical Pentateuch of the second half of the 13th century. It can be attributed more specifically to the last decades of the 13th century from its mixed practice of ruling: the pricking in both outer and inner margins is “modern”, whereas the ruling by stylus keeps to the “old” method (Beit-Arié 1981, p. 84). It is written in three columns with the massorah and the Targum verse by verse, and in addition to the haftarot and Five Scrolls it contains the book of Job and sections of Jeremiah (1:1-23:6) and Isaiah (34:1-35:10). Apparently it was intended for reading the haftarot in the synagogue rather than for personal use (Shalev-Eyni 2010, pp. 9-10 and n. 55).

Fig. 1: Micrographic decoration

Fig.2: Micrographic decoration Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Former and Latter Prophets Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 64v Germany, the second half of the 13th century London, BL Or. 2091, fol. 324 (London, BL Website; Jerusalm, CJA documentation)

Fig. 3: Micrographic decoration The Jonah Pentateuch South Germany, c.1300 London, BL Add. 21160, fol. 184 (London, BL Website; Jerusalem CJA documentation) Munich Liturgical Pentateuch

Fig. 4: Micrographic decoration Fig. 5:Micrographic decoration Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Paris Bible Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 204 Franconia, 1294/95 Paris, BnF hébr. 6, fol. 268v (Sed-Rajna 1994, Cat. 71, pp. 183-187)

The micrographic decoration of our Pentateuch recalls several South German Bibles produced in the last decade of the 13th century. Compare for example our manuscript (fig. 1) with the 13th-century South German Bible in London (fig. 2). In both the geometrical and dragon motifs surround the text space as well as the initials and extend along the lower margins, similar to the South German Jonah Pentateuch of c.1300 (fig. 3).

The geometrical interlaces with pen-drawn dragon's heads at their ends on the left of the lower margins of our Pentateuch (figs. 1, 4), are similar to another Franconian Bible of 1294/95 (fig. 5).

Fig. 5:Micrographic decoration, Paris Bible, Franconia, 1294/95,  Paris, BnF hébr. 6, fol. 268v

(Sed-Rajna 1994, Cat. 71, pp. 183-187)

Fig. 6: Full-page micrographic panel

Fig. 7: Full-page micrographic panel Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Pesah ben Ephraim Prophets and Hagiography Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 153v Franconia, c.1300 New York, JTS MS L228a, fol. 19 (Jerusalem, CJA documentation)

Of special interest is the full-page micrographic panel at the end of a quire in our manuscript (fig. 6). Its broad frame recalls in shape and details the micrographic panel framing the initial word opening the book of Joshua in the Franconian Prophets and Hagiography by Pesah ben Ephraim of c.1300 (fig.7). Both panels contain inhabited medallions, and those in the upper corners enclose similar heraldic eagles.

Fig. 8: Inhabited medallions Fig. 9: Inhabited medallions Vatican Bible Paris Bible Germany, 1294 Franconia, 1294/95 Vatican, BAV Cod. Urb. ebr. 1, fol. 829v Paris, BnF hébr. 5, fol. 119 (Jerusalem CJA documentation) (Sed-Rajna 1994, Cat. 71, pp. 183-187)

The two-legged hybrids within the lower medallions in our frame (fig. 6) recall those in the Vatican Bible of 1294 (fig. 8), as well as those in the initial word panel of the Paris Bible of 1294/95 (fig. 9).

Fig. 9: Inhabited medallions, Paris Bible  Franconia, 1294/95 Paris, BnF hébr. 5, fol. 119 (Sed-Rajna 1994, Cat. 71, pp. 183-187)

Fig. 10: Hunting scene, Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 64

Fig. 11: Hunting scenes Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Rashi Biblical Commentary Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 64 South Germany, Würzburg, 1232/33 Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, II:122v (Jerusalem, CJA documentation 2012)

A noteworthy drawing in our manuscript is that of the two dogs at the end of Exodus chasing an animal which is out of sight (fig. 10). This snippet of a popular hunting scene (fig.11) suggests that the two dogs serve as a decorative motif rather than a symbolic one (see remarks in Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, fol. 122v).

The only text illustration in our Pentateuch is of the Hanging of Haman and his ten Sons on the gallows (Esther 7:10, 9:6-10; fig. 12). The dangling figures outlined in the micrography of the massorah magna are similar to the dangling birds (fig. 13), and recall the Four Creatures of Ezekiel’s Vision, illustrating the text in the Jonah Pentateuch from South Germany of c.1300 (fig. 14).

Fig. 12: Hanging of Haman and his Sons Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 261

Fig. 13: Massoretic text shaped as dangling birds Munich Liturgical Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 2, fol. 252

Fig. 14: The Four Creatures of Ezekiel’s Vision The Jonah Pentateuch, South Germany, c.1300 London, BL Add. 21160, fol. 285 (Narkiss 1984, fig. 44)

The hanging of Haman and his Sons is often depicted in the Jewish art of Western Europe from the 13th century on, but the iconography differs from our manuscript. In Ashkenazi Bibles and mahzorim Haman and his sons are usually hanged from the branches of a large tree, which fills an entire text column. One example is in the Kalonymos Bible from Ulm of 1238 (Wrocław, University Library, M.1106, fol. 301v; Narkiss 1986, p. 82, fig. 5; Sternthal 2008, p. 51). A similar depiction is found in the Michael Mahzor from Regensburg of 1258 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mich. 627, fol. 15), as well as in the Laud Mahzor from Franconia of c.1260 (fig. 15).

Fig. 15: Hanging of Haman and Sons Laud Mahzor Franconia, c.1260 Oxford, Bodl. Lib. Laud. Or. 321, fol. 51 (Sed-Rajna 1983, fig. 25)

Fig. 16: Hanging of Haman and his sons, Regensburg Pentateuch Liturgical Pentateuch Regensburg, c.1300

Jerusalem, IM MS180/52, fol. 157v Paris, BnF hébr. 53, fol. 130 (Jerusalem, CJA documentation) 

Fig. 17: Hanging of Haman's Sons  North France, third quarter of the 13th century (Sed-Rajna 1994, Cat. 60, p. 152)

However, a comparable scene to that in our manuscript, albeit depicting a two-tiered gallows, is found in the Regensburg Pentateuch (fig. 16). Haman is hanging separately above his sons. A similar gallows appears in another Ashkenazi Liturgical Pentateuch from Northern France of the mid-13th century (fig. 17). In this example the sons are not depicted but represented by ten double ropes arranged in two tiers; that for Haman is missing.

The hanging of Haman and his Sons is unique to Ashkenazi iconography. They are considered descendants of Amalek, and like him were destined to annihilation (Horowitz 2006, pp. 95-96). Since the Ashkenazi Jews suffered frequent persecutions at that period, the depiction of the hanging of Haman and his sons alludes to their wish to see the destruction of their enemies (Kogman-Appel 2005, pp. 187-208). On the other hand, in Christian art Haman is usually depicted hanging without his sons, as a prefiguration of the crucifixion of Christ. One example is in the Hortus Deliciarum from Alsace of 1167-1185 (fig. 18).

Fig. 18: Hanging of Haman Hortus Deliciarum Alsace, before 1176 - c.1196 (Green et al. 1979, fol. 60v, fig. 89) In our Pentateuch, Haman, and his Sons are depicted without heads (fig. 12). The convention of avoiding human features or distorting them by depicting hidden faces or animal heads was prevalent in South German Hebrew manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries. Yet the way chosen by our artist to avoid showing the human face is unique: each pair of figures shares a single visor without heads, recalling that in the Michael Mahzor of 1258 (e.g. fols. 4v, 11; van Boxel and Arndt 2010, p. 49, fig. 27). The phenomenon of avoidance of human features in Ashkenazi manuscripts has been studied by several scholars over the last sixty years (e.g. Ameisenowa 1949, pp. 21-45; Narkiss 1983, pp. 49-62; Mellinkoff 1999) though without a satisfactory conclusion.

In the late 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, our manuscript was in the possession of Shlomo Ulma of Augsburg or Prague (see History) who owned two other manuscripts: the French Talmud of 1342 (Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 95), and the 1309 Levy Pentateuch of Brussels (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. Levy, 19). At some point, the Ulma family sold our manuscript to the Stadtbibliothek Augsburg olim MS 98 (now Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg), from whence it reached in 1806 the Hofbibliothek in Munich, together with 113 manuscripts and prints (informed by Dr. Paul Gerhard Dannhauer, former curator of the Oriental Manuscripts Department in BSB Library, Munich).