"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned."
Recto: 24 lines of text in Latin written on vellum in two columns in two sizes of a gothic bookhand. Ruled in red and rubrics in red. Five illuminated initials in burnished gold on grounds of green, blue and red outlined in black and finished with fine white penwork. The style of the initials is most unusual and points to Italy rather than France.
Hair follicles of the animal used for the vellum are clearly visible, particularly on Verso.
Verso: As Recto, with a further three similarly illuminated initials.
Source: Probably Northern Italy.
Date: c.1475
Content: The text is heavily abbreviated to make the best use of the expensive vellum.
The text on Recto begins partway through a reading from Luke Chapter 6 and continues to the end of Verse 42. (See Appendix for the Latin and English).
Then the illuminated 'B' begins a section of Luke 6:35: Benignus est super ingratos et malo. (for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil.)
Below the illuminated 'Q in the right column is a section of Luke 6:37: Nolite iudicare et non iudicabimini nolite condemnare et non condemnabimini . (Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned.
Verso includes a passage from the Catena Aurea* by the Venerable Bede beginning at the illuminated 'S': Stagnum Genezareth idem dicunt esse quod mare Galilaeae, vel mare Tiberiadis; sed mare Galilaeae ab adiacente provincia dicitur; mare autem Tiberiadis a proxima civitate. (The lake of Gennesaret is said to be the same as the sea of Galilee or the sea of Tiberias; but it is called the sea of Galilee from the adjacent province, the sea of Tiberias from a neighboring city.)
Condition: The leaf is in very good/excellent condition with the only proviso that some initials on Recto have a slight loss of the blue pigment and minor rubbing to the gilding.
Size: Leaf: 200x160 mm. Please note that shipping is invoiced separately.
Notes: * The Catena Aurea (Golden Chain) is a famous medieval compilation by Thomas Aquinas of excerpts from some eighty Greek and Latin biblical commentators on the Four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Appendix: Recto
[Date, et dabitur vobis: mensuram] bonam, et confertam, et coagitatam, et supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum. Eadem quippe mensura, qua mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis. Dicebat autem illis et similitudinem: Numquid potest caecus caecum ducere? nonne ambo in foveam cadunt? Non est discipulus super magistrum: perfectus autem omnis erit, si sit sicut magister ejus.
Quid autem vides festucam in oculo fratris tui, trabem autem, quae in oculo tuo est, non consideras? aut quomodo potes dicere fratri tuo: Frater, sine ejiciam festucam de oculo tuo: ipse in oculo tuo trabem non videns? Hypocrita, ejice primum trabem de oculo tuo: et tunc perspicies ut educas festucam de oculo fratris tui.
[Give: and it shall be given to you:] good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? Do they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one shall be perfect, if he be as his master.
And why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye.
Item No. MOT101
