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The Lipnice Bible online

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2022

Abstract

The Bible codex, finished in May 1421 in Lipnice (most probably at the castle of Lipnice nad Sázavou, ca. 100 km south-east of Prague), is a precious witness to a restless period of Czech history marked by religious disputes and wars. Thus it exemplifies the profound impact of the Hussite revolution on the established book trade.

The contents are noteworthy, too: the codex is not a mere Bible but contains a number of added texts, some linked to the dispute. It also features 46 pointing hands (maniculae) that emphasize passages useful in the religious polemics of the time.

There is a unique colophon calling the bible scutum fidei, quo pugnant filii dei, oculus iustorum, scandalum incredulorum - "the shield of faith, with which the sons of God are fighting; the eye of the just ones, outrage to the unfaithful". Today, this exquisite volume is kept in the Museum of the Bible in the USA as MS 486.

Thanks to the kind permission of the Museum, the team of specialist have developed an internet presentation of the manuscript in a freely accessible, browsable format with annotations. The paper presented the compilation of the internet presentation, its obstacles and challenges as well as introduce the features of the application, its usability as a framework for other manuscript presentation and introduced the conference participants to the project Lindat/Clariah-CZ.