THE KRUMLOV LIBER DEPICTUS. ON ITS CREATION AND DEPICTION OF JEWS
THE KRUMLOV LIBER DEPICTUS. ON ITS CREATION AND DEPICTION OF JEWS

Summary/Abstract: The Krumlov Picture Codex – also known as Liber depictus due to a 15th –century inscription on the title page – has been kept in the Austrian National Library (under call number Cod. 370) for more than two centuries. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous medieval manuscripts of Czech origin, as testified by, among other things, the large amount of studies that have been written about this codicological work. Despite the large number of academic papers on this book, however, full use has not been made of the considerable wealth of iconographic material on the 172 parchment folios of the codex, which also significantly touches upon Jewish topics. Even so, there also remains a lot of uncertainties regarding the most basic question as to when and for whom this pictorial book was produced.The link associating the book with Èeský Krumlov is also not entirely clear. For a long time, an incomplete and partly scraped-out owner’s note from the 18th century – “Conventus Beatae Virginis Cru…” – was the only indicator. A clearer light was cast on the provenance of the manuscript by Marta Hradilová who, on the basis of 18th -century inventories, confirmed the earlier assumption that the mysterious Liber depictus actually came from the Franciscan double monastery in Èeský Krumlov.

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