Introduction
In the middle ages, woodcuts from the bible and antiquity were used to record history and were used for education. The woodcuts were posted in churches, town halls, and buildings for all to read.
Leaf from the Great Bible; First Chronicles
The Leaf from the Great Bible, First Chronicles is a woodcut frame. Commissioned by King Henry VIII and published by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop 0f Canterbury, the Great Bible was the first legal English bible. Cranmer chose Miles Coverdale to produce the bible. Coverdale based the version on William Tyndale's translation, filling in the gaps with his own translations. It was called the Great Bible because of its large folio size. It was chained to the main pulpit in churches and open for all to read. Several revisions were published from 1539-1541. The bible was the principal reading and learning text from the middle ages.
Leaf from "Cronecken der Sassen" (The Saxon Chronicles), 1492
Woodcut of Medieval battle hand colored non-contemporary with printed text in Low Middle German. Professional paper restoration to right corner. 10 3/4" x 8" The Saxon Chronicles were written by Conrad Botes (Konrad Bothes), a goldsmith, around 1492. It was a "world " history that began with Noah's flood and progressed to regional local history of Saxony. The woodcuts are masterful and attributed only to Masters H and HR. The printing was done in Mainz by Peter Schöffer, a pupil of Guttenberg. The woodcuts were used to document and record history.
Psalter (Psalms), circa 1400's
The Book of Psalms is an anthology of Hebrew Hymns for the Bible. The Psalms were at the heart of medieval Christian life and thought. Monks chanted them daily in the Divine Office, lay people recited them in the offices of the Virgin Mary and of the Dead, children learned them as the basis of their ABCs, exegetes meditated upon them in commentaries, artists illuminated them in manuscripts, and composers drew upon them for their chants. More than any other book of the Bible, the Psalms provided the language and imagery for speaking about God and his Mother and their relationship to the human soul. In the Psalms were read not only praise, prayer, and confession, but the whole matter of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension of the Word of God.
