The Jerusalem Miniatures in Maerlant’s Rijmbijbel 10 B 21 and in the Hornby Book of Hours. Questions of Context and Meaning

Abstract

AbstractFrom the late thirteenth century onwards, the depictions of the Siege of Jerusalem and the eventual annihilation of the city and its inhabitants are generally full of horrifying details, which visualise the final vengeance of the Lord against His own people. The Hornby Hours exaggerate the negative side of the Jews’ fate, whereas the opening miniature in Maerlant’s Wrake, Museum Meermanno 10 B 21, is a factual account, based entirely upon the most positive interpretation of Jacob van Maerlant’s poem Wrake van Jerusalem.