Preface

Speculum humanæ salvationis

Spieghel der menscheliker behoudenisse

Spiegel menschlicher Behältnis

Miroir de la Salvation humaine

Mirouer de la Redemption

Miroure of Mans Saluacienne

Under these titles was produced one of the most widely disseminated and influential works of the late Middle Ages. The word speculum means mirror or reflection and it was used in the titles of many medieval writings such as the famous Speculum ecclesiæ of Honorius of Autun, the Speculum majus of Vincent of Beauvais, and the Speculum vitæ humanæ of Rodericus Zamorensis. These works were indeed reflections of the pervasive religious concepts of the time. They inspired other writers as well as artists and craftsmen whose interpretations were found in miniatures, sculptures, tapestries, stained glass, and, by the early fifteenth century, in woodcuts.

The authors undertook the study of the Speculum humanæ salvationis because of its special relationship to their work on the history of the printed book, on the designing of books, and on manuscript models. The extraordinary metamorphosis of the Speculum from manuscripts to blockbooks, and into later incunabula, presents a unique opportunity for the study of the illustrated book of the late medieval period. In addition, there is not only the interesting variety of miniatures but also the fine quality of the woodcuts to encourage investigation. In the following work the focus is on graphic art and printing. References to the Speculum text are limited to elucidating those aspects of the venerable book, and only translations that originated in the Low Countries are described.

The Speculum humanæ salvationis was written anonymously and it is unique in portraying, more fully and dramatically than any other book of the period, the medieval concept of typology, or the thesis that all the events of the New Testament were prefigured by the events recounted in the Old. It was indebted to the earlier Biblia Pauperum or Biblia Picta manuscripts, which were also typological, but they were composed almost entirely of pictures, while the first Speculum humanæ salvationis had an extensive text to explain its miniatures.

From the first quarter of the fourteenth century to the end of the fifteenth, several hundred copies of it were made, nearly all illuminated, which followed the precise numerical pattern of the original manuscript and the subjects and iconography of its miniatures. The Speculum humanæ salvationis , therefore, holds a unique place in the study of medieval miniatures in providing an enormous variety of styles and visual interpretations of the identical sequence of subjects.

In its text and pictures the Speculum contains a vivid account of the religious and artistic forces at work in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the lessons in piety, the allegories, and all of the arts were devoted to instilling in the minds of the people the need for salvation and the dread of eternal damnation. The Speculum is entirely concerned with the Fall and Redemption and with their prefiguration in the Old Testament. It is difficult for the modern mind to project itself into this typological system in which, for example, the drunkenness of Noah and the derision of his sons are associated with the derision of the Son of God. But one can imagine the spiritual power of the concepts within the context of their time, and admire the wealth of ingenuity, thought, and imagination which is expressed in them.

The popularity of the Speculum caused it to be translated not long after it was composed in the early fourteenth century into German and later into French, English, Dutch, and Czech. There exists in Brussels, in the Bibliothèque Royale, an extraordinary manuscript, or minute , as it was titled, on paper, of the first French translation made for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, by Jean Miélot in 1448, entitled Miroir de la Salvation humaine . It was this minute which lured the present writers into the study of the Speculum . Miélot also kept a workbook of his translations, trial pages of fantastic decorated initials, legends, sketches, and labyrinths containing his name. It is a unique record, preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, of preparatory exercises for the making of de luxe codices. In this library is an illuminated copy on vellum of the Miroir translation which was made in the minute . Photographs and diapositives made it possible to compare all the French translations and to relate them to the inventories of the Burgundian library.

The blockbook editions of the Speculum are unique in printing history for they are made up of hand-rubbed woodcuts combined with text printed with movable type in a press. They are still unassigned as to date, place, or printer. Generations of scholars have attempted to solve these riddles, but the anonymity of the artists, block cutters, type printers, and publisher has persisted. The mysteries are part of the fascination of the Speculum . Only through the paper watermarks, those mute beasts and symbolic devices, have new clues been found for the approximate dating of the printing of the books. The woodcuts, with their heritage of medieval iconography and costume, seem to be much earlier.

Manuscript copies of the Speculum were produced through the fifteenth century, and in addition to these and the blockbooks, there were sixteen incunabula, with type and woodcuts printed together, issued by eleven presses. But the changes caused by the Reformation and the Renaissance gradually decreased the interest in typological interpretations of the Bible, and no further editions were printed after the first decade of the sixteenth century.

There has proven to be a vast literature related to the Speculum humanæ salvationis : textual analysis, the art of the miniatures and woodcuts, the iconography, the prototypography of the blockbooks, the paper, and the printing. The questions of localization, dating, and interrelationship with other manuscripts and printing continue to be explored and show no indication of being laid to rest. Our research in the great libraries (and a few private ones) has been a rewarding luxury, and our work has been facilitated by recent scholarly articles, facsimiles, and reprints, as well as by the ease of acquiring photographs, copies, and diapositives from sources all over the world. The encouragement and enthusiasm of scholars and friends has immeasurably helped us to hold up a new mirror to the venerable Speculum humanæ salvationis .