Winchester Bible
The Winchester Bible is a large Romanesque illuminated manuscript made in Winchester between about 1150 and 1175. It is the largest surviving English Bible from the 12th century, about 583 by 396 millimeters in size. It was probably ordered by the Bishop of Winchester, Henry of Blois. The book contains 936 pages (468 leaves) of calfskin and was originally in two volumes. It is now bound in four volumes and is on permanent display in Winchester Cathedral’s Kings & Scribes exhibition.
The manuscript is famous for its lavish decorations, though many illuminations are unfinished. Of the 48 major historiated initials that begin each book, most are incomplete; three full-page frontispieces exist for I Samuel, Judith, and Maccabees, but only I Samuel’s is fully completed. The artwork shows the work of about six artists with different styles, reflecting both English and continental influences. This mix makes it hard to date precisely.
The text is the Latin Vulgate Bible, including the Old and New Testaments, two versions of the Psalms, and the Apocrypha. It uses many abbreviations to save space, and the books often start on the same page as the last page of the previous book. The scribe is believed to have been a monk from Winchester’s Priory of St Swithun, writing with a goose feather quill, and the work likely took about four years. After the text was written, a monk checked it and color was added to important words.
Six named artists worked on the illuminations between 1150 and 1175. In 1945, Walter Oakeshott named them 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 artists trained in France or Normandy, while others were English; their styles mix Byzantine and early English Gothic influences. Often several artists collaborated on a single page, starting with a dry-point drawing, then gilding, then painting. Pigments came from plants, animals, and minerals, with ultramarine blue from lapis lazuli being especially expensive.
One notable leaf is the Morgan Leaf, a full-page illustration that was detached during the 1820 rebinding and later sold to John Pierpont Morgan in 1912. Its connection to the Winchester Bible was first recognized in 1926. The leaf’s author is linked to the Winchester Bible through underdrawings by the Master of the Apocrypha Drawings.
Today the Winchester Bible remains a monumental example of medieval bookmaking and art, offering insight into how large religious texts were produced and decorated in the 12th century.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:11 (CET).