The Largest Bible Ever Made

Because Henry of Blois was Bishop of Winchester, the richest cathedral in England, and because he was known to be a patron of the arts and a donor of many valuable items to Winchester, it is assumed that it was he who ordered the creation of what is called the Winchester Bible. It was made by monks at the Winchester priory of St. Swithin.

The Winchester Bible is an enormous book (see the illustration with hands for scale) of 936 pages whose parchment was made from the hides of approximately 250 calves. The leaves are 23" by 16", making it the largest hand-made Bible. Its size demanded that it be made in two volumes, but it was re-bound in 1820 into three volumes, then again in the 21st century by the Bodleian Library in Oxford into four volumes for easier handling during research.

It contains the entire Vulgate (Old and New Testaments), two versions of Psalms, and the Apocrypha (several books that did not get included in the official Bible due to their doubtful origin and relevance). Perhaps because the book was so large and the materials so expensive, space was saved by starting each book of the Bible immediately following the ending of the previous book, not getting its own starting page as chapters usually do. Space was also saved by the use of many abbreviations and shorter spellings of words.

Many projects of this size and complexity would employ multiple scribes for different sections, and it is possible to detect the different "hand" of different scribes. The style of penmanship of the Winchester, however, is so consistent that the conclusion is that it was the work of a single scribe. If that is the case, it would have taken about four years to write the text.

Although all the text is complete, the illustrations are not. Many illustrations are mere sketches missing their color, or incompletely colored. The illustrations show the work of several different artists. A 20th-century medievalist examined the manuscript and found consistencies among certain illustrations that he claims allowed him to identify the artists. He referred to them as the Master of the Leaping Figures, the Master of the Apocrypha Drawings, the Master of the Genesis Initial, the Master of the Amalekite, the Master of the Morgan Leaf, and the Master of the Gothic Majesty. Some of these employed styles that show Byzantine influence.

Other "foreign influence" comes from the use of the very expensive ultramarine color that could only come from lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. The management clearly spared no expense.

I mentioned the source as the priory of St. Swithin at Winchester. Let's jump back in time a little to learn about Swithun.

Emma of Normandy

Emma of Normandy (c.984 - 6 March 1052) was queen of England, Denmark, and Normandy. As the daughter of Richard the Fearless of Normandy, she was a desirable marriage prospect for King Æthelred to form better relations between England and Normandy. Æthelred hoped the union would help stave off Viking raids on England, which were often staged from Normandy.

Her wedding gift included properties in Devonshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Suffolk, and Winchester, as well as the city of Exeter. Her children by Æthelred were sons Edward the Confessor and Alfred Ætheling, and daughter Goda of England. Upon her husband's death in 1016, she remained prominent in politics.

This made her a valuable prospect for marriage when Cnut of Denmark went looking for a bride. Actually, Cnut was looking to conquer England, and Emma may have had a hand in saving her sons' lives by agreeing to marry Cnut. She became Queen of Denmark and England with Cnut starting in 1018. When Cnut conquered Norway in 1028, she became queen likewise of Norway.

She was not, however, just a pretty face or a way to link kingdoms peacefully through matrimony. As the richest woman in England in her time, she also held significant authority over ecclesiastical offices in the lands she owned. She is also one of the first medieval queens to have her likeness portrayed in documents. Pictured here is a page from the Encomium Emmæ Reginæ, or "Praise for Queen Emma." The title is clearly meant to flatter her, since the three-part history within discusses the conquest of England by Sweyn Forkbeard, the defeat of England by Cnut and his reign, and the events after Cnut's death (which do involve Emma's seizing of the royal treasury to keep it safe from Earl Godwin of Wessex, who disputed the choice of Cnut's successor).

She was buried alongside Cnut in the Old Minster in Winchester, but parliamentary forces during the English Civil War disinterred and scattered the remains. They were eventually recovered; Winchester has a mortuary chest that contains the remains.

Emma's life was eventful and influential, which may have been luck or a trait she got from her mother, Gunnor. We'll take a look at Gunnor next.

Winchester Cathedral Begins

One of the largest cathedrals in England—in fact, one of the longest Gothic cathedrals in Europe—Winchester has been through many changes. The original building (on a site just north of the present cathedral) was founded in 642 and over time came to hold the remains of several Saxon kings.

The very long nave of Winchester

William the Conqueror, wishing to show the strength of his Norman regime after 1066 (or wishing to placate God for any sins William might have committed) began a building campaign, replacing several Saxon churches all over England with great Gothic edifices.

He also needed men to guide the dioceses connected to the new structures. For Winchester, that would be his cousin and personal chaplain, Walkelin, who was consecrated bishop in 1070 for the express purpose of running Winchester. This nepotism benefited Walkelin, who was able to "pay it forward": he made his brother Simeon the prior of Winchester, putting him in charge of the monastery that had started in 971. He later helped Simeon become Abbot of Ely. Walkelin also later advanced his nephew Gerard to become Archbishop of York.

To build the new cathedral would take materials, and since all natural resources in England belonged to the king, it was up to the king to allocate them as he saw fit. William gave Walkelin access to Hempage Wood in Hampshire, granting him as much wood for timbers and scaffolding as carpenters could produce in four days and nights. Walkelin took no chances: he assembled an army of carpenters sufficient to cut down the entirety of Hempage.

The next time William passed through Hampshire, he was at first stunned to see no Hempage Wood, then enraged when he realized what had happened. He summoned Walkelin, who dressed himself in his poorest outfit and knelt at the king's feet, offering to give up his position if only the king and he could remain friends. William relented, saying "I was as much too liberal in my grant as you were too greedy in availing yourself of it."*

The new Winchester was completed in 1093, and a grand and joyous procession of monks carried the relics of saints (especially of St. Swithin, former bishop of Winchester and patron saint of the old church) from the old building to the new.

Under William Rufus, Walkelin supposedly refused to send the king a large sum he was requesting, because Walkelin knew he could not raise the sum with taxing (and oppressing) the poor in his diocese. Instead, the bishop prayed to be delivered from the difficulty he was in. Ten days later he died, on 3 January 1098.

*Annales de Wintonia [Annals of Winton], entry for 1086.