Cambrai Apocalypse Facsimile Edition

The Cambrai Apocalypse is an illuminated manuscript of Saint John the Divine's description of his vision of events leading to the end of time, which forms the last book of the Christian Latin Bible. Made in northeastern France and dating from around 900, it is an important early witness to the medieval interest in the End Times. Every page of the biblical text has a painted frame, and the manuscript boasts forty-six full-page miniatures that illustrate John's vision.

The manuscript is incomplete. It preserves less than two-thirds of the original. Saint John is a frequent but not a constant presence in the miniatures. He appears as many as three times in a single miniature.

Saint John: Witness, Author, and Participant

Saint John is shown as a witness, an author, and—more rarely—an active participant in his vision. As a witness, he is shown directing his gaze to the characters of his vision and gesturing or pointing to them (as on fols. 19r and 39r).

John is also depicted as the author of the text. He is seated, with his stylus poised above a roll (e.g., on fols. 6v, 33r, and 40r). He interacts with the "great angel" in two miniatures: receiving an open book and being given a rod with which to measure the temple and the altar (fols. 22r and 23r).

A Lamb with Seven Eyes

Although some of the depicted scenes are difficult to identify with a specific passage in the biblical text, the illuminators at times carefully followed the descriptions. For example, Jezebel is pictured in an elaborate bed, illustrating the proclamation of the Son of God that he will "cast her into a bed" (fol. 5v). The lamb described as having seven eyes and seven horns is also faithfully represented (fol. 12v).

A Dragon with Seven Heads

The woman clothed in the sun is depicted, as described, with the sun and moon under her feet. In the same miniature, a dragon, described as having seven heads and ten horns, is pictured thus (fol. 27r). This miniature is remarkable for the very dark blue of the sky, a rendition of the implication of the dragon's tail having thrown a third of the stars to the earth.

A Rare Early Illustrated Apocalypse

The Cambrai Apocalypse is one of only four surviving Carolingian illuminated Apocalypses. Its paintings share a number of features with the miniatures in the oldest of the group, the Trier Apocalypse. The others are the Apocalypse of Valenciennes and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 1132.

A Clear and Spacious Script

The text is written in long lines (a single column) in Caroline Minuscule, with as few as three and as many as nine biblical verses on each of its pages. Every text page has a painted frame of blue, orange, or red, the corners marked by circles of contrasting color. They are systematically less elaborate than the painted frames of the miniatures, which feature multicolored geometric and foliate patterns.

From the Cathedral Library

The manuscript is recorded in the library of the cathedral of Cambrai already in the tenth century. It was among the manuscripts confiscated in 1803 at the time of the formation of the Bibliothèque municipale (later Médiathèque d’Agglomération and now Le Labo) of Cambrai.