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113-563: The Tree of Jesse originates in a passage in the biblical Book of Isaiah which describes metaphorically the descent of the Messiah and is accepted by Christians as referring to Jesus . The various figures depicted in the lineage of Jesus are drawn from those names listed in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke . The subject is often seen in Christian art , particularly in that of

226-440: A reed pen . In the case of manuscripts that were sold commercially, the writing would "undoubtedly have been discussed initially between the patron and the scribe (or the scribe's agent, but by the time the written gathering were sent off to the illuminator, there was no longer any scope for innovation.) The sturdy Roman letters of the early Middle Ages gradually gave way to scripts such as Uncial and half-Uncial, especially in

339-412: A barometer of status with the manuscript was degraded". During this time period the price of gold had become so cheap that its inclusion in an illuminated manuscript accounted for only a tenth of the cost of production. By adding richness and depth to the manuscript, the use of gold in illuminations created pieces of art that are still valued today. The application of gold leaf or dust to an illumination

452-519: A commission. However, commercial scriptoria grew up in large cities, especially Paris , and in Italy and the Netherlands, and by the late 14th century there was a significant industry producing manuscripts, including agents who would take long-distance commissions, with details of the heraldry of the buyer and the saints of personal interest to him (for the calendar of a book of hours). By the end of

565-582: A convenient near-pun with Virgo or Virgin, which undoubtedly influenced the development of the image. Thus Jesus is the Virga Jesse or "stem of Jesse". In the New Testament the lineage of Jesus is traced by two of the Gospel writers, Matthew in descending order, and Luke in ascending order. Luke's Gospel's description in chapter 3 begins with Jesus himself and is traced all the way back, via Nathan to David and then on to " Adam , which

678-600: A few examples from later periods. Books that are heavily and richly illuminated are sometimes known as "display books" in church contexts, or "luxury manuscripts", especially if secular works. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books , such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells . The Book of Kells is the most widely recognized illuminated manuscript in the Anglosphere , and

791-422: A format dominated by huge ornamented capitals that descended from uncial forms or by illustrations". To prevent such poorly made manuscripts and illuminations from occurring, a script was typically supplied first, "and blank spaces were left for the decoration. This presupposes very careful planning by the scribe even before he put pen to parchment." The following steps outline the detailed labor involved to create

904-575: A full-length Blessed Virgin Mary from whose head spring tendrils which enclose a bust of her Son, Jesus . He is encircled by the seven doves, with outspread wings; this became the usual depiction of them. Four Prophets with scrolls occupy medallions in the corners. The Tree appears in several other Romanesque Bibles apart from the Lambeth Bible , usually as a large historiated initial at the start of either Isaiah or Matthew. The Saint-Bénigne Bible

1017-426: A miniature in a frame, a historiated initial beginning a passage of text, and a border with drolleries. Often different artists worked on the different parts of the decoration. While the use of gold is by far one of the most captivating features of illuminated manuscripts, the bold use of varying colors provided multiple layers of dimension to the illumination. From a religious perspective, "the diverse colors wherewith

1130-659: A model for many other such windows, notably the Jesse Tree windows of Canterbury Cathedral , c. 1200, probably also made in France, and St. Kunibert, Cologne of 1220–35. Section references:- Brown, Lee, Seddon and Stephens. A small and much fragmented panel from a Jesse Tree window, at York Minster is thought to be the oldest surviving stained glass in England, dating from perhaps as early as 1150. This window, dating from c. 1200, had an unfortunate history. Having survived

1243-523: A newly constructed road through the wilderness was taken up by all four Gospels and applied to John the Baptist and Jesus. Christians point to Chapter 53 and its discussion of a suffering servant as a striking prediction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the messiah predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah seems always to have had a prominent place in Hebrew Bible use, and it is probable that Jesus himself

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1356-529: A number of figures, as is usual. Instead, the passage from Isaiah has been depicted in a very literal way. In the picture, the prophet Isaiah approaches Jesse from beneath whose feet is springing a tree, and wraps around him a banner with words upon it which translate literally as:- "A little rod from Jesse gives rise to a splendid flower", following the language of the Vulgate. Instead of the ancestors seen in later depictions, seven doves (with haloes ) perch in

1469-401: A number of his friends and relations had several dozen. Wealthy patrons, however, could have personal prayer books made especially for them, usually in the form of richly illuminated " books of hours ", which set down prayers appropriate for various times in the liturgical day . One of the best known examples is the extravagant Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry for a French prince. Up to

1582-771: A small number from late antiquity , and date from between 400 and 600. Examples include the Vergilius Romanus , Vergilius Vaticanus , and the Rossano Gospels . The majority of extant manuscripts are from the Middle Ages , although many survive from the Renaissance . While Islamic manuscripts can also be called illuminated and use essentially the same techniques, comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted . Most manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment until

1695-506: A summary of its contents like the following: The older understanding of this book as three fairly discrete sections attributable to identifiable authors leads to a more atomised picture of its contents, as in this example: While it is widely accepted that the book of Isaiah is rooted in a historic prophet called Isaiah , who lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the 8th century BCE, it is also widely accepted that this prophet did not write

1808-479: A whole page. Sometimes this is the only fully illuminated page, and if it is historiated (i.e. contains a pictured scene) the Tree is the usual subject. When not historiated, the initial had for about two hundred years been most often made up of, or filled with, spiraling plant tendrils, often with animals or men caught up in them, so the development to the tree was a relatively easy step. Indeed, although Jesse's son David

1921-549: Is a formally prepared document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations . Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers and liturgical books such as psalters and courtly literature , the practice continued into secular texts from the 13th century onward and typically include proclamations , enrolled bills , laws , charters , inventories, and deeds . The earliest surviving illuminated manuscripts are

2034-489: Is a very detailed process that only the most skilled illuminators can undertake and successfully achieve. The first detail an illuminator considered when dealing with gold was whether to use gold leaf or specks of gold that could be applied with a brush. When working with gold leaf, the pieces would be hammered and thinned. The use of this type of leaf allowed for numerous areas of the text to be outlined in gold. There were several ways of applying gold to an illumination. One of

2147-638: Is currently undergoing extensive conservation. St Mary's Church in Shrewsbury, England contains an enormous 14th-century depiction of the Jesse Tree. By tradition, it was made for the Franciscan church in Shrewsbury, moved to St Chad's Church after the Dissolution of the Monasteries , and then to St Mary's in 1792. Although it was much restored in 1858 by David and Charles Evans, much of

2260-412: Is divided between verse and prose passages, and a currently popular theory is that the verse passages represent the prophecies of the original 8th-century Isaiah, while the prose sections are "sermons" on his texts composed at the court of Josiah a hundred years later, at the end of the 7th century. The conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon and the exile of its elite in 586 BCE ushered in the next stage in

2373-485: Is evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later. Johann Christoph Döderlein suggested in 1775 that the book contained the works of two prophets separated by more than a century, and Bernhard Duhm originated the view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles : Proto-Isaiah ( chapters 1 – 39 ), containing

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2486-856: Is famous for its insular designs. The Romanesque and Gothic periods saw the creation of many large illuminated complete bibles . The largest surviving example of these is The Codex Gigas in Sweden; it is so massive that it takes three librarians to lift it. Other illuminated liturgical books appeared during and after the Romanesque period. These included psalters , which usually contained all 150 canonical psalms, and small, personal devotional books made for lay people known as books of hours that would separate one's day into eight hours of devotion. These were often richly illuminated with miniatures, decorated initials and floral borders. They were costly and therefore only owned by wealthy patrons, often women. As

2599-482: Is perhaps the earliest appearance, with just Jesse and the doves of the "Seven Gifts". The Capuchin's Bible (see picture) is a later example, c. 1180, in which a Jesse Tree forms the L of Liber generationis.. at the start of the Gospel of Matthew . The Tree is also often found in Psalters , especially English manuscripts, illustrating the B initial of Beatus Vir , the beginning of Psalm 1 , which often occupies

2712-692: Is rarely shown, although unlike Mary he is a link in the Gospel genealogies. It was believed in the Middle Ages that the House of David could only marry within itself, and that she was independently descended from Jesse. Sometimes Jesus and other figures are shown in the cups of flowers, as the fruit or blossom of the Tree. The Jesse Tree was the only prophecy in the Old Testament to be so literally and frequently illustrated, and so came also to stand for

2825-513: Is the "stem of Jesse" by his descent from Jesse's son, David . Pictorial representations of the Jesse Tree show a symbolic tree or vine with spreading branches to represent the genealogy in accordance with Isaiah 's prophecy. The 12th-century monk Hervaeus expressed the medieval understanding of the image, based on the Vulgate text: "The patriarch Jesse belonged to the royal family, that

2938-883: Is the Persian king Cyrus the Great , who is merely the agent who brings about Yahweh's kingship. Isaiah speaks out against corrupt leaders and for the disadvantaged, and roots righteousness in God's holiness rather than in Israel's covenant. Isaiah was one of the most popular works among Jews in the Second Temple period (c. 515 BCE – 70 CE). In Christian circles, it was held in such high regard as to be called "the Fifth Gospel", and its influence extends beyond Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from

3051-492: Is the subject of many stained glass windows and illuminated manuscripts . It is also found in wall paintings , architectural carvings, funerary monuments, floor tiles and embroidery . Generally only a few of the most well-known individuals, like Kings David and Solomon, are represented on Jesse Trees, rather than an attempt to display the entire lineage. The first representations of the passage in Isaiah, from about 1000 AD in

3164-431: Is the usual modern book format, although sometimes the older scroll format was used, for various reasons. A very few illuminated fragments also survive on papyrus . Books ranged in size from ones smaller than a modern paperback, such as the pocket gospel , to very large ones such as choirbooks for choirs to sing from, and "Atlantic" bibles, requiring more than one person to lift them. Paper manuscripts appeared during

3277-409: Is why the root of Jesse signifies the lineage of kings. As to the rod, it symbolises Mary as the flower symbolises Jesus Christ." In the medieval period, when heredity was all-important, much greater emphasis than today was placed on the actual royal descent of Jesus, especially by royalty and the nobility, including those who had joined the clergy. Between them, these groups were responsible for much of

3390-690: The Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī , pointing to a common pictorial tradition that existed since circa 1180 in Syria and Iraq which was highly influenced by Byzantine art . Some of the illustrations of these manuscript have been characterized as "illustration byzantine traitée à la manière arabe" ("Byzantine illustration treated in the Arab style"). The Persian miniature tradition mostly began in whole books, rather than single pages for muraqqas or albums, as later became more common. The Great Mongol Shahnameh , probably from

3503-597: The Artuqids . An explosion of artistic production in Arabic manuscripts occurred in the 12th and especially the 13th century. Thus various Syriac manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, such as Syriac Gospels, Vatican Library, Syr. 559 or Syriac Gospels, British Library, Add. 7170 , were derived from the Byzantine tradition, yet stylistically have a lot in common with Islamic illustrated manuscripts such as

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3616-470: The British Isles , where distinctive scripts such as insular majuscule and insular minuscule developed. Stocky, richly textured blackletter was first seen around the 13th century and was particularly popular in the later Middle Ages. Prior to the days of such careful planning, "A typical black-letter page of these Gothic years would show a page in which the lettering was cramped and crowded into

3729-571: The Dissolution of the Monasteries , the depredations of the Puritans and the ravages of time, it was dismantled and removed, with many other original windows during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and replaced by a copy. Fortunately two surviving panels were later returned and are in place in the Corona Chapel at the eastern end of the building. Wells Cathedral has a rare example of an intact 14th-century Jesse Tree window which survived

3842-551: The Early Modern period. Especially after the book of hours became popular, wealthy individuals commissioned works as a sign of status within the community, sometimes including donor portraits or heraldry : "In a scene from the New Testament, Christ would be shown larger than an apostle, who would be bigger than a mere bystander in the picture, while the humble donor of the painting or the artist himself might appear as

3955-626: The Graeco-Arabic translation movement and the creation of scientific and technical treatises often based on Greek scientific knowledge, such as the Arabic versions of The Book of Fixed Stars (965 CE), De materia medica or Book of the Ten Treatises of the Eye . The translators were most often Arab Syriac Christians , such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq or Yahya ibn Adi , and their work is known to have been sponsored by local rulers, such as

4068-406: The Jesse Tree takes is to show the figure of Jesse , often larger than all the rest, reclining or sleeping (perhaps by analogy to Adam when his rib was taken) at the foot of the pictorial space. From his side or his navel springs the trunk of a tree or vine which ascends, branching to either side. On the branches, usually surrounded by formally scrolling tendrils of foliage, are figures representing

4181-478: The Jesse Tree , with the tree rising from a sleeping Jesse, a window placed in the Saint-Denis Basilica by Abbot Suger in about 1140, which is now heavily restored. The Chartres window comprises eight square central panels, with seven rectangular ones on either side, separated, as is usual in 12th-century windows with no stone tracery, by heavy iron armatures. In the lowest central panel reclines

4294-623: The Late Middle Ages . The untypically early 11th century Missal of Silos is from Spain, near to Muslim paper manufacturing centres in Al-Andalus . Textual manuscripts on paper become increasingly common, but the more expensive parchment was mostly used for illuminated manuscripts until the end of the period. Very early printed books left spaces for red text, known as rubrics , miniature illustrations and illuminated initials , all of which would have been added later by hand. Drawings in

4407-465: The libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as " swords into ploughshares " and " voice in the wilderness ". General scholarly consensus through most of the 20th century saw three separate collections of oracles in the book of Isaiah. A typical outline based on this understanding of the book sees its underlying structure in terms of the identification of historical figures who might have been their authors: While one part of

4520-533: The medieval period. The earliest example is an illuminated manuscript that dates from the 11th century. There are many examples in medieval psalters , because of the relation to King David, son of Jesse, and writer of the Psalms . Other examples include stained glass windows, stone carvings around the portals of medieval cathedrals, and painting on walls and ceilings. The Tree of Jesse also appears in smaller art forms such as embroideries and ivories. Depictions of

4633-465: The 12th century, most manuscripts were produced in monasteries in order to add to the library or after receiving a commission from a wealthy patron. Larger monasteries often contained separate areas for the monks who specialized in the production of manuscripts called a scriptorium . Within the walls of a scriptorium were individualized areas where a monk could sit and work on a manuscript without being disturbed by his fellow brethren. If no scriptorium

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4746-470: The 1330s, is a very early manuscript of one of the most common works for grand illustrated books in Persian courts. Illumination was a complex and costly process, and was therefore usually reserved for special books such as altar bibles, or books for royalty. Heavily illuminated manuscripts are often called "luxury manuscripts" for this reason. In the early Middle Ages, most books were produced in monasteries, whether for their own use, for presentation, or for

4859-417: The 14th century there were secular workshops producing manuscripts, and by the beginning of the 15th century these were producing most of the best work, and were commissioned even by monasteries. When the text was complete, the illustrator set to work. Complex designs were planned out beforehand, probably on wax tablets, the sketch pad of the era. The design was then traced or drawn onto the vellum (possibly with

4972-693: The 15th or 16th century. St. Bartholomew's Church, Rogate, West Sussex. Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( Hebrew : ספר ישעיהו [ˈsɛ.fɛr jə.ʃaʕ.ˈjaː.hu] ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament . It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there

5085-444: The 2nd century BCE, when a more refined material called vellum , made from stretched calf skin, was supposedly introduced by King Eumenes II of Pergamum . This gradually became the standard for luxury illuminated manuscripts, although modern scholars are often reluctant to distinguish between parchment and vellum, and the skins of various animals might be used. The pages were then normally bound into codices (singular: codex ), that

5198-646: The 37 quotations from the prophets in the Pauline epistles , and takes pride of place in the Gospels and in Acts of the Apostles . Isaiah 7:14 , where the prophet is assuring king Ahaz that God will save Judah from the invading armies of Israel and Syria, forms the basis for Matthew 1:23 's doctrine of the virgin birth , while Isaiah 40:3–5's image of the exiled Israel led by God and proceeding home to Jerusalem on

5311-559: The British Isles. Within sixty years the composition had exploded and expanded, with rearranged original elements and new ones added." However this claim of Bohemian origin may be somewhat overstated, as there is an incipient version in an Anglo-Norman manuscript of similar date to the Vysehrad Codex. In the first decades of the 12th century, the early Cistercian illuminators of Cîteaux Abbey played an important part in

5424-570: The Jesse Tree are based on a passage from the Book of Isaiah . "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" ( King James Version ). From the Latin Vulgate Bible used in the Middle Ages: et egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice eius ascendet ( Isaiah 11:1 ). Flos , pl flores is Latin for flower. Virga is a "green twig", "rod" or "broom", as well as

5537-588: The Middle Ages, the Muslim world , especially on the Iberian Peninsula, was instrumental in delivering ancient classic works to the growing intellectual circles and universities of Western Europe throughout the 12th century. Books were produced there in large numbers and on paper for the first time in Europe, and with them full treatises on the sciences, especially astrology and medicine where illumination

5650-538: The Prophets, and their foretelling of Christ, in general. Both the St-Denis and Chartres windows include columns of prophets, as do many depictions. Often they carry banderoles with a quotation from their writings, and they may point to Christ, as the foretold Messiah. The inclusion of kings and prophets was also an assertion of the inclusion and relevance in the biblical canon of books that some groups had rejected in

5763-596: The Romanesque period many more manuscripts had decorated or historiated initials , and manuscripts essentially for study often contained some images, often not in color. This trend intensified in the Gothic period, when most manuscripts had at least decorative flourishes in places, and a much larger proportion had images of some sort. Display books of the Gothic period in particular had very elaborate decorated borders of foliate patterns, often with small drolleries . A Gothic page might contain several areas and types of decoration:

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5876-633: The West, show a "shoot" in the form of a straight stem or a flowering branch held in the hand most often by the Virgin, or by Jesus when held by Mary, by the prophet Isaiah or by an ancestor figure. The shoot as an attribute acted as a reminder of the prophecy, see also the tradition, apparently older, of the Golden Rose given by the Pope. In the Byzantine world, the Tree figures only as a normal-looking tree in

5989-478: The action of burnishing it is vigorous and runs the risk of smudging any painting already around it." Monasteries produced manuscripts for their own use; heavily illuminated ones tended to be reserved for liturgical use in the early period, while the monastery library held plainer texts. In the early period manuscripts were often commissioned by rulers for their own personal use or as diplomatic gifts, and many old manuscripts continued to be given in this way, even into

6102-425: The aid of pinpricks or other markings, as in the case of the Lindisfarne Gospels ). Many incomplete manuscripts survive from most periods, giving us a good idea of working methods. At all times, most manuscripts did not have images in them. In the early Middle Ages, manuscripts tend to either be display books with very full illumination, or manuscripts for study with at most a few decorated initials and flourishes. By

6215-510: The ancestors of Christ. The trunk generally ascends vertically to Mary and then Christ at the top. The number of figures depicted varies greatly, depending on the amount of room available for the design. As a maximum, if the longer ancestry from Luke is used, there are 43 generations between Jesse and Jesus. The identity of the figures also varies, and may not be specified, but Solomon and David are usually included, and often all shown wear crowns. Most Jesse Trees include Mary immediately beneath

6328-422: The background in gold, was taken from Byzantine mosaics and icons . Aside from adding rich decoration to the text, scribes during the time considered themselves to be praising God with their use of gold. Furthermore, gold was used if a patron who had commissioned a book to be written wished to display the vastness of their riches. Eventually, the addition of gold to manuscripts became so frequent "that its value as

6441-623: The background of some Nativity scenes, also a reminder to the viewer. Indeed, the Tree was always far more common in Northern Europe, where it may have originated , than in Italy. There exist also other forms of representation of the Genealogy of Jesus which do not employ the Jesse Tree , the most famous being that painted in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo . The typical form of the image The most typical form which

6554-404: The best surviving specimens of medieval painting, and the best preserved. Indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. Art historians classify illuminated manuscripts into their historic periods and types, including (but not limited to) Late Antique , Insular , Carolingian , Ottonian , Romanesque , Gothic , and Renaissance manuscripts . There are

6667-421: The book is illustrated, not unworthily represent the multiple grace of heavenly wisdom." The medieval artist's palette was broad: Chemical- and mineral-based colors, including: The color red was often associated with imagery like blood, fire, and godly power. It was the most common and inexpensive color and as such was frequently used for initials, lettering, and borders and well as general imagery. Pink

6780-458: The bottom of the B, and the Virgin is no larger than other figures. In the recently re-discovered Macclesfield Psalter of about 1320 another very elaborate Tree grows beyond the B, sending branches round the sides and bottom of the text. In the Psalter and Hours of John, Duke of Bedford (British Library Add MS 42131), of about 1420–23, the Tree frames the bottom and both sides of the page, while

6893-761: The branches. These, in a motif from Byzantine art , represent the Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit as described by the Apostle Paul . Williams goes on to compare it with two other famous images, the Tree of Jesse window at Chartres Cathedral and the Lambeth Bible in England. Williams says:- "While depictions of the Jesse Tree originated in Bohemia, the concept became widely popular throughout Europe and

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7006-500: The chapel of the east end of the church. Thirteen of the figures are original, seventeen are partly restored and thirty-one are modern. The kings are dressed in short doublets which are compared with similar figures in the manuscript of 1640 representing the victories of Edward IV which is in the British Library at Harley MS 7353. Holy Well and St. Dyfnog's Church, Llanrhaeadr , Denbighshire, Wales. The Tree of Jesse window

7119-465: The country and who now owned the land, and there were further conflicts over the form of government that should be set up. This background forms the context of Trito-Isaiah. The Book of Isaiah focuses on the main role of Jerusalem in God's plan for the world, seeing centuries of history as though they were all the single vision of the 8th-century prophet Isaiah. Walter Brueggemann has described this overarching narrative as "a continued meditation upon

7232-482: The destiny of Jerusalem". God's plan for the world is based on his choice of Jerusalem as the place where he will manifest himself, and of the line of David as his earthly representative – a theme that may possibly have originated with Jerusalem's reprieve from Assyrian attack in 701 BCE. God is "the holy one of Israel"; justice and righteousness are the qualities that mark the essence of God, and Israel has offended God through unrighteousness. Isaiah speaks out for

7345-481: The development of the image of the Tree of Jesse, which was used to counter renewed tendencies to deny the humanity of Mary, which culminated in Catharism . However, as Bernard of Clairvaux, strongly hostile to imagery, increased in influence in the order, their use of imagery ceased. The Lambeth Bible is dated between 1140 and 1150. The Jesse Tree illustration comes at the start of Isaiah and differs greatly from

7458-413: The earlier one, having much more the form that is familiar from both manuscript and stained glass versions. In it, Jesse lies at the border of the page with the tree springing from his side. The branches of the tree are depicted as highly formalised circular tendrils which enclose six pairs or trios of figures. At the centre, tall and highly stylised in the same manner as 12th-century columnar statues, stands

7571-425: The entire book of Isaiah. The composition history of Isaiah reflects a major difference in the way authorship was regarded in ancient Israel and in modern societies; the ancients did not regard it as inappropriate to supplement an existing work while remaining anonymous. While the authors are anonymous, it is plausible that all of them were priests, and the book may thus reflect Priestly concerns, in opposition to

7684-482: The entire book, or even most of it, to one person, the book's essential unity has become a focus in more recent research. The book can be read as an extended meditation on the destiny of Jerusalem into and after the Exile. The Deutero-Isaian part of the book describes how God will make Jerusalem the centre of his worldwide rule through a royal saviour (a messiah ) who will destroy the oppressor ( Babylon ); this messiah

7797-520: The figure of Jesse, with the tree rising from his middle. In each of the seven sections it branches out into a regular pattern of scrolling branches, each bearing a bunch of leaves that take on the heraldic form of the Fleur de Lys , very common in French stained glass. Central to each panel is a figure:- David , Solomon , two more crowned figures, Mary (mother of Jesus) and, surrounded by the doves bearing

7910-423: The figure of Jesus (or, in the Gothic period, show a Virgin and Child), emphasising that she was the means by which the shoot of Jesse was born. See for example, Sermon 24 of St Leo the Great : "In which rod, no doubt the blessed Virgin Mary is predicted, who sprung from the stock of Jesse and David and fecundated by the Holy Ghost, brought forth a new flower of human flesh, becoming a virgin-mother". Saint Joseph

8023-472: The following: Isaiah was one of the most popular works in the period between the foundation of the Second Temple c. 515 BCE and its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. Isaiah's "shoot [which] will come up from the stump of Jesse" is alluded to or cited in the Psalms of Solomon and various apocalyptic works including the Similitudes of Enoch , 2 Baruch , 4 Ezra , and the third of the Sibylline oracles , all of which understood it to refer to a/the messiah and

8136-465: The foolishness of the carpenter who worships the idol that he himself has carved. While Yahweh had shown his superiority to other gods before, in Second Isaiah he becomes the sole God of the world. This model of monotheism became the defining characteristic of post-Exilic Judaism and provided the basis for Christianity and for Islam . A central theme in Second Isaiah is that of a new Exodus –

8249-553: The formation of the book. Deutero-Isaiah addresses himself to the Jews in exile, offering them the hope of return. This was the period of the meteoric rise of Persia under its king Cyrus the Great – in 559 BCE he succeeded his father as ruler of a small vassal kingdom in modern eastern Iran, by 540 he ruled an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to Central Asia, and in 539 he conquered Babylon. Deutero-Isaiah's predictions of

8362-457: The general consensus still holds, this perception of Isaiah as made up of three rather distinct sections underwent a radical challenge in the last quarter of the 20th century. The newer approach looks at the book in terms of its literary and formal characteristics, rather than authors, and sees in it a two-part structure divided between chapters 33 and 34: Seeing Isaiah as a two-part book (chapters 1–33 and 34–66) with an overarching theme leads to

8475-556: The gifts of the Spirit, a majestic figure of Christ , larger than the rest. In each of the narrower panels, edged by richly patterned borders, are the figures of fourteen prophets bearing scrolls. Apart from the theological importance the design is one of the few subjects that works very well as a unified composition for one of the tall vertical spaces of the windows of Romanesque and Gothic churches; most other tall windows were divided into separate scenes. Saint-Denis and Chartres provided

8588-410: The iconoclasm of the 17th-century and the losses of World War II. The window is located high up in the eastern end of the choir. The colours of this window are red, yellow, green, white and brown, with very little blue. The window is wide for its height, having seven lights, and being topped by tracery. Consequently, the tendrils of the Tree spread out sideways and the central panel has only three figures:

8701-586: The illuminations of one page of a manuscript: The illumination and decoration was normally planned at the inception of the work, and space reserved for it. However, the text was usually written before illumination began. In the Early Medieval period the text and illumination were often done by the same people, normally monks, but by the High Middle Ages the roles were typically separated, except for routine initials and flourishes, and by at least

8814-537: The imminent fall of Babylon and his glorification of Cyrus as the deliverer of Israel date his prophecies to 550–539 BCE, and probably towards the end of this period. The Persians ended the Jewish exile, and by 515 BCE the exiles, or at least some of them, had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. The return, however, was not without problems: the returnees found themselves in conflict with those who had remained in

8927-540: The increasingly successful reform movement of the Deuteronomists . The historic Isaiah ben Amoz lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of four kings from the mid to late 8th-century BCE. During this period, Assyria was expanding westward from its origins in modern-day northern Iraq towards the Mediterranean, destroying first Aram (modern Syria) in 734–732 BCE, then the Kingdom of Israel in 722–721, and finally subjugating Judah in 701. Proto-Isaiah

9040-478: The initial B at the top of the page contains the anointing of King David . Some continental manuscripts give the scene a whole page with no initial. "Various selections" of the elements appear, and prophets and sometimes even the Cumaean Sybil (Ingeburg Psalter c. 1210) stand in the corners or to the side. A Lectionary of before 1164 from Cologne unusually shows Jesse dead in a tomb or coffin, from which

9153-452: The margins (known as marginalia ) would also allow scribes to add their own notes, diagrams, translations, and even comic flourishes. The introduction of printing rapidly led to the decline of illumination. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century but in much smaller numbers, mostly for the very wealthy. They are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages; many thousands survive. They are also

9266-597: The messianic age. Isaiah 6, in which Isaiah describes his vision of God enthroned in the Temple, influenced the visions of God in works such as the "Book of the Watchers" section of the Book of Enoch , the Book of Daniel and others, often combined with the similar vision from the Book of Ezekiel . A very influential portion of Isaiah was the four so-called Songs of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah 42, 49, 50 and 52, in which God calls upon his servant to lead

9379-535: The messianic interpretation of Enoch, interpreted Isaiah 52:13–53:12, the fourth of the songs, as a prophecy of the death and exaltation of Jesus , a role which Jesus himself accepted according to Luke 4:17–21. The Book of Isaiah has been immensely influential in the formation of Christianity, from the devotion to the Virgin Mary to anti-Jewish polemic, medieval passion iconography, and modern Christian feminism and liberation theology . The regard in which Isaiah

9492-406: The most popular included mixing the gold with stag's glue and then "pour it into water and dissolve it with your finger." Once the gold was soft and malleable in the water, it was ready to be applied to the page. Illuminators had to be very careful when applying gold leaf to the manuscript because gold leaf is able to "adhere to any pigment which had already been laid, ruining the design, and secondly

9605-422: The most popular secular texts of the time were bestiaries . These books contained illuminated depictions of various animals, both real and fictional, and often focused on their religious symbolism and significance, as it was a widespread belief in post-classical Europe that animals, and all other organisms on Earth, were manifestations of God. These manuscripts served as both devotional guidance and entertainment for

9718-640: The move from monasteries to commercial settings was a radical step. Demand for manuscripts grew to an extent that monastic libraries began to employ secular scribes and illuminators. These individuals often lived close to the monastery and, in instances, dressed as monks whenever they entered the monastery, but were allowed to leave at the end of the day. Illuminators were often well known and acclaimed and many of their identities have survived. The Byzantine world produced manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. With their traditions of literacy uninterrupted by

9831-606: The nations (the servant is horribly abused, sacrifices himself in accepting the punishment due others, and is finally rewarded). Some Second Temple texts, including the Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Daniel identified the Servant as a group – "the wise" who "will lead many to righteousness" (Daniel 12:3) – but others, notably the Similitudes of Enoch , understood it in messianic terms. The earliest Christians, building on

9944-729: The original glass remains and is dated between 1327 and 1353. Other examples are at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1247), the Cathedral of Le Mans (13th century) and Evreux Cathedral in Normandy (15th century). Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester, Oxfordshire The north window in the sanctuary is unique as it combines tracery and sculpture with stained glass in a single theme. It shows the ascent of Christ from Jesse . The tree with five undulating branches carved in foliage rises from

10057-657: The past. While particularly popular in the Medieval era , there were also many depictions of the Jesse Tree in Gothic Revival art of the 19th century. The 20th century has also produced a number of fine examples. The earliest known representation of the Jesse Tree can be firmly dated to 1086 and is in the Vyšehrad Codex , the Coronation Gospels of Vratislav II , the first king of Bohemia , which

10170-587: The patronage of the arts. During the Medieval era the symbol of the tree as an expression of lineage was adopted by the nobility and has passed into common usage initially in the form of the family tree and later as a mode of expressing any line of descent. The form is widely used as a table in such disciplines as biology . It is also used to show lines of responsibility in personnel structures such as government departments. The Jesse Tree has been depicted in almost every medium of Christian art. In particular, it

10283-476: The period, many of the painters were women, especially painting the elaborate border, and perhaps especially in Paris. The type of script depended on local customs and tastes. In England, for example, Textura was widely used from the 12th to 16th centuries, while a cursive hand known as Anglicana emerged around 1260 for business documents. In the Frankish Empire, Carolingian minuscule emerged under

10396-421: The poor and the oppressed and against corrupt princes and judges, but unlike the prophets Amos and Micah he roots righteousness not in Israel's covenant with God but in God's holiness. Isaiah 44:6 contains the first clear statement of Yahwist monotheism : "I am the first and I am the last; beside me there is no God". In Isaiah 44:09–20, this develops into a satire on the making and worship of idols, mocking

10509-424: The production of manuscripts shifted from monasteries to the public sector during the High Middle Ages , illuminated books began to reflect secular interests. These included short stories, legends of the saints, tales of chivalry, mythological stories, and even accounts of criminal, social or miraculous occurrences. Some of these were also freely used by storytellers and itinerant actors to support their plays. One of

10622-551: The reclining Jesse at the bottom; the Blessed Virgin holding the Christ Child in her arms and above, the crucified Christ. There are fourteen more figures in the window, identifiable in some cases by their attributes, such as David's harp and Solomon's model of the Temple of Jerusalem. As well as the tendrils, the figures are framed by typical 14th-century canopies and bases displaying the name of each person. The window

10735-407: The return of the exiled people Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem. The author imagines a ritualistic return to Zion (Judah), led by Yahweh. The importance of this theme is indicated by its placement at the beginning and end of Second Isaiah (40:3–5, 55:12–13). This new Exodus is repeatedly linked with Israel's Exodus from Egypt to Canaan under divine guidance, but with new elements. These links include

10848-414: The royal ancestors richly dressed in fashionable garments, rising from large flower-pods. Jesse has a splendid four-poster bed. In the tracery, the central section has the form of a Sacred Heart and contains the Virgin and Christ Child rising from a lily and surrounded by radiant light. Cathedral Notre-Dame, Moulins , Central France Tree of Jesse window above Jesse can be seen a king on horseback from

10961-656: The sacred mysteries of the Old Covenant's relationship with the genealogy of Christ in the New Covenant. Among the famous stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral in Northern France is the Jesse Tree window, of 1140–50, the far right of three windows above the Royal Portal and beneath the western rose window . It derives from the oldest known (and almost certainly the original) complex form of

11074-460: The sculptured recumbent form of Jesse. Much of the 14th-century glass is fragmentary, but still in its original tracery. The figures of Christ and the Virgin and Child with other figures are intact. The glass contains figures from a Tree of Jesse and additional figures are carved on stone mullions. St. Leonard's Church, Leverington , Cambridgeshire A 15th-century restored Tree of Jesse window in

11187-462: The tree grows. Romanesque depictions usually show Jesse asleep on open ground or on a simple couch - all that can be told from the Bible about his circumstances is that he had sheep, which David herded. By the Gothic period small Trees are found in many types of manuscript, and Jesse is often more comfortably accommodated in a large bed. Stained glass was a popular medium used in many eras to illuminate

11300-412: The vast educational program of Charlemagne . The first step was to send the manuscript to a rubricator , "who added (in red or other colors) the titles, headlines , the initials of chapters and sections, the notes and so on; and then – if the book was to be illustrated – it was sent to the illuminator". These letters and notes would be applied using an ink-pot and either a sharpened quill feather or

11413-538: The words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah , or "the Book of Consolation", ( chapters 40 – 55 ), the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah ( chapters 56 – 66 ), composed after the return from Exile. Isaiah 1– 33 promises judgment and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34 –66 presume that judgment has been pronounced and restoration follows soon. While few scholars today attribute

11526-486: The working class of the Middle Ages. The Gothic period, which generally saw an increase in the production of illuminated books, also saw more secular works such as chronicles and works of literature illuminated. Wealthy people began to build up personal libraries; Philip the Bold probably had the largest personal library of his time in the mid-15th century, is estimated to have had about 600 illuminated manuscripts, whilst

11639-484: Was [the son] of God.". ( Luke 3:23–38 ) Matthew's Gospel opens with the words: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." ( Matthew 1:1 ) With this beginning, Matthew shows the Abrahamic and royal descent, passing through David , but then through Solomon . See Genealogy of Jesus for more explanation of the differences, but both lineages permit the interpretation that Jesus

11752-430: Was available, then "separate little rooms were assigned to book copying; they were situated in such a way that each scribe had to himself a window open to the cloister walk." By the 14th century, the cloisters of monks writing in the scriptorium had almost fully given way to commercial urban scriptoria, especially in Paris, Rome and the Netherlands. While the process of creating an illuminated manuscript did not change,

11865-563: Was believed to be the author of the Psalms , it has been suggested that the tradition of using a Jesse Tree here arose largely because it was an imposing design that worked well filling a large B shape. An early example is the late 12th-century Huntingfield Psalter , and an especially splendid one from the early 14th century is the Gorleston Psalter in the British Library . In these and most other examples Jesse lies at

11978-427: Was brushed with gold specks. Gold leaf was from the 12th century usually polished, a process known as burnishing . The inclusion of gold alludes to many different possibilities for the text. If the text is of religious nature, lettering in gold is a sign of exalting the text. In the early centuries of Christianity, Gospel manuscripts were sometimes written entirely in gold. The gold ground style, with all or most of

12091-483: Was considered a fashionable color and was often found in clothing depictions of aristocrats and in filigree detail work. It also was used to color illuminated manuscript depictions of walls and lakes. Mineral-based colors, including: Green was often associated with visuals related to the Garden of Eden and symbolized rebirth. Verdigris Green was a specific shade almost exclusively used in cross imagery, and Green Earth

12204-412: Was deeply influenced by Isaiah. Thus many of the Isaiah passages that are familiar to Christians gained their popularity not directly from Isaiah but from the use of them by Jesus and the early Christian authors – this is especially true of the Book of Revelation , which depends heavily on Isaiah for its language and imagery. Translations Illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript

12317-484: Was held was so high that the book was frequently called "the Fifth Gospel": the prophet who spoke more clearly of Christ and the Church than any others. Its influence extends beyond the Church and Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as "swords into ploughshares" and "voice in the wilderness". Isaiah provides 27 of

12430-402: Was made in 1533. The window depicts Jesse asleep in a walled garden, from him springs a many branched family tree, in which can be seen the ancestor kings of christ. The figures resemble 'court' playing cards, which took their form at about the time the window was made. Saint-Étienne church, Beauvais , France A magnificent Renaissance three-light window by Engrand Le Prince (1522–1524), with

12543-506: Was previously a dukedom. In a paper analysing this image, J.A. Hayes Williams points out that the iconography employed is very different from that usually found in such images, which she argues relates to an assertion of the rightful kingship of the royal patron. The page showing the Jesse Tree is accompanied by a number of other illuminated pages of which four depict the Ancestors of Christ . The Jesse Tree has not been used to support

12656-399: Was required to have profuse and accurate representations with the text. The origins of the pictorial tradition of Arabic illustrated manuscripts are uncertain. The first known decorated manuscripts are some Qur'ans from the 9th century. They were not illustrated, but were "illuminated" with decorations of the frontispieces or headings. The tradition of illustrated manuscripts started with

12769-557: Was used under other pigments in order to create depth to skin tones. Chemical- and mineral-based colors, including: Blue, especially the pigment ultramarine, was a valuable and rare color and was commonly used in depictions of the Virgin Mary. It was also commonly used for initials, lettering, and borders. On the strictest definition, a manuscript is not considered "illuminated" unless one or many illuminations contained metal, normally gold leaf or shell gold paint, or at least

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