Códices Iluminados
Item
Country
PT
Name of institution (English)
National Library of Portugal
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
por
Contact information: postal address
Campo Grande, 83, 1749-081 Lisbon
Contact information: phone number
00351 217982000
Contact information: web address
http://www.bnportugal.gov.pt/
Contact information: email
bn@bnportugal.gov.pt
Reference number
IL.
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Illuminated Codices
Title (official language of the state)
Códices Iluminados
Language of title
por
Creator / accumulator
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal
Date(s)
1176/1897
Language(s)
heb
lat
por
Extent
239 books
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
This collection is part of the Manuscritos (Manuscripts) sub-fonds of the Reservados (Restricted) fonds of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. It includes 239 illuminated books from the 12th century to the 19th century and covers a broad range of types of items, such as bibles, royal charters, by-laws of religious orders and brotherhoods, liturgical works and books of theology, patristics, history, law or literature.
One of its highlights is the 13th-century Hebrew Bible known as the Bíblia de Cervera (Cervera Bible), an illuminated parchment codex with 451 folios. It is considered an ex-libris of the Hebrew illumination because of the quality and variety of its ornaments, with vegetal, animal, geographical and heraldic motifs, representations of daily life and zoomorphic letters. The codex was illuminated by Joseph HaSarfati, a French Jew resident in Castile, and copied by Samuel ben Abraham ibn Nathan in Cervera (Catalonia) from July 30, 1299, to May 19, 1300. Thérèse Metzger (1990) identified the author of the massorah as being the micrographer Josué/Joshua ben Abraham ibn Gaon. At the beginning, end and in the middle of the codex, grammatical treatises by David Kimhi (c. 1160?-1235?) were inserted, among them, a part of the Sefer Haniqud. Manuscript notes in the end sheets of the codex reveal that it was in the hands of a Jewish family, the Mardoqueu, in La Coruña, Galiza, between 1375 and 1439 at least. The bible might have been carried by its owners to Constantinople after the expulsion from Spain (see Ramos, Afonso and Moita, 2015).
The Codices Iluminados collection includes another Hebrew illuminated manuscript: Tikun Leil Tet Be’Av (Liturgy to the night of Av 9) (IL. 3). It is an apocryphal manuscript dated from the 15th century, which collects 96 poetical compositions by Portuguese Jewish authors from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The last elegy, written by the rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092 or 1093 – 1167), was identified by Samuel Schwartz (1952) as reporting to the conquest of Lisbon by the crusaders in 1147. Later, Gerard Nahon (1990) suggested that the elegy rather referred to Lucena (Spain) instead of Lisbon.
The collection also includes a Portuguese anti-Jewish polemical treatise composed in the 14th century: Tratado Teológico em que se prova a verdade da religião de Jesus Cristo, a falsidade da lei dos Judeus e a vinda do Messias (Theological Treatise in which is proved the truth of the religion of Jesus Christ, the falsehood of the Jewish law and the coming of the Messiah) (IL. 47).
On these items and other Jewish-related manuscripts and printed books from Biblioteca Nacional’s collections, see Mucznik (2014).
One of its highlights is the 13th-century Hebrew Bible known as the Bíblia de Cervera (Cervera Bible), an illuminated parchment codex with 451 folios. It is considered an ex-libris of the Hebrew illumination because of the quality and variety of its ornaments, with vegetal, animal, geographical and heraldic motifs, representations of daily life and zoomorphic letters. The codex was illuminated by Joseph HaSarfati, a French Jew resident in Castile, and copied by Samuel ben Abraham ibn Nathan in Cervera (Catalonia) from July 30, 1299, to May 19, 1300. Thérèse Metzger (1990) identified the author of the massorah as being the micrographer Josué/Joshua ben Abraham ibn Gaon. At the beginning, end and in the middle of the codex, grammatical treatises by David Kimhi (c. 1160?-1235?) were inserted, among them, a part of the Sefer Haniqud. Manuscript notes in the end sheets of the codex reveal that it was in the hands of a Jewish family, the Mardoqueu, in La Coruña, Galiza, between 1375 and 1439 at least. The bible might have been carried by its owners to Constantinople after the expulsion from Spain (see Ramos, Afonso and Moita, 2015).
The Codices Iluminados collection includes another Hebrew illuminated manuscript: Tikun Leil Tet Be’Av (Liturgy to the night of Av 9) (IL. 3). It is an apocryphal manuscript dated from the 15th century, which collects 96 poetical compositions by Portuguese Jewish authors from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The last elegy, written by the rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092 or 1093 – 1167), was identified by Samuel Schwartz (1952) as reporting to the conquest of Lisbon by the crusaders in 1147. Later, Gerard Nahon (1990) suggested that the elegy rather referred to Lucena (Spain) instead of Lisbon.
The collection also includes a Portuguese anti-Jewish polemical treatise composed in the 14th century: Tratado Teológico em que se prova a verdade da religião de Jesus Cristo, a falsidade da lei dos Judeus e a vinda do Messias (Theological Treatise in which is proved the truth of the religion of Jesus Christ, the falsehood of the Jewish law and the coming of the Messiah) (IL. 47).
On these items and other Jewish-related manuscripts and printed books from Biblioteca Nacional’s collections, see Mucznik (2014).
Archival history
The collection comprises codices from several origins, such as libraries of convents closed down after the decree of dissolution of religious orders in 1834 or private collections donated or acquired by the Library. The Bíblia de Cervera was acquired in 1804 by Francisco Maria de Brito (1760-1825), the secretary of the Portuguese legation to The Hague, following the recommendation of António Ribeiro Santos (1745-1818), the first chief librarian of the Real Biblioteca Pública (Royal Public Library), the predecessor of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (see Administrative/Biographical history).
Administrative / Biographical history
The royal charter of February 29, 1796, founded the Real Biblioteca Pública da Corte (Royal Public Library of the Court), which integrated the collection of the Library of the Real Mesa Censória (Royal Board of Censorship). Its facilities were located in the Torreão Ocidental of the Praça do Comércio.
Since the issue of the first law of legal deposit in 1805, the Real Biblioteca began to receive copies of all the works printed in Portugal. After the Liberal Revolution and the extinction of the religious orders (1834), it was renamed Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa (National Library of Lisbon) and incorporated whole or part of libraries of several monasteries and convents. The increase in its collection led to the change of its facilities to the Convent of S. Francisco in Chiado.
Following the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (1910), the National Library incorporated libraries of religious congregations then extinct. Again, the growing collection and the need to provide it with appropriate conservation conditions forced a new change of facilities. From 1958 to 1969, a new building was constructed in the Campo Grande, Lisbon, according to a project of the architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro. This still is the headquarters of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal at present.
In the 1980s, the Library's computerisation process began, which resulted in the National Bibliographic Database – PORBASE. At the beginning of the 21st century, the National Library created the Biblioteca Nacional Digital (BND), which provides digital copies of several items in its collections. The BND is in constant growth, in articulation with other European institutions.
Since the issue of the first law of legal deposit in 1805, the Real Biblioteca began to receive copies of all the works printed in Portugal. After the Liberal Revolution and the extinction of the religious orders (1834), it was renamed Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa (National Library of Lisbon) and incorporated whole or part of libraries of several monasteries and convents. The increase in its collection led to the change of its facilities to the Convent of S. Francisco in Chiado.
Following the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (1910), the National Library incorporated libraries of religious congregations then extinct. Again, the growing collection and the need to provide it with appropriate conservation conditions forced a new change of facilities. From 1958 to 1969, a new building was constructed in the Campo Grande, Lisbon, according to a project of the architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro. This still is the headquarters of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal at present.
In the 1980s, the Library's computerisation process began, which resulted in the National Bibliographic Database – PORBASE. At the beginning of the 21st century, the National Library created the Biblioteca Nacional Digital (BND), which provides digital copies of several items in its collections. The BND is in constant growth, in articulation with other European institutions.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Records are arranged sequentially.
Access, restrictions
Part of the collection is available online.
Finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2021.
Bibliography
Published primary sources
Linked resources
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| כתיב (Ktiv) | Existence and location of originals |