Everything about Speculum Humanae Salvationis totally explained
The
Speculum Humanae Salvationis or
Mirror of Human Salvation was a bestselling anonymous illustrated work of popular theology in the late
Middle Ages, part of the genre of encyclopedic
speculum literature, in this case concentrating on the medieval theory of
typology, whereby the events of the
Old Testament prefigured, or foretold, the events of the
New Testament. The original version is in rhyming Latin verse, and contains a series of New Testament events each with three Old Testament ones that prefigure it. It is one of the most common books found as an
illuminated manuscript, and also in early printing in both
blockbook and
incunabulum forms.
Contents
After a short Prologue (two pages) and Prohemium (four), both unillustrated, the first two chapters deal with the Creation, the Fall of
Satan, the story of
Adam and Eve and the
Deluge in four pages. Then follow forty more double-page chapters where a
New Testament event is compared with three from the
Old Testament, with four pictures each above a column of text. Usually each chapter occupies one two page opening. The last three chapters cover the Seven
Stations of the Cross, and the
Seven Joys and
Sorrows of
Mary, at double this length. In all a complete standard version has fifty-two leaves, or 104 pages, and 192 illustrations (including a blank page at the beginning and end). The blockbook editions were much shorter, with 116 pictures, two to a woodblock.
The writing of the text follows an exact scheme: twenty-five lines per column, with two columns per page, one under each miniature, so a hundred lines per standard chapter. Sometimes there are captions over the pictures as well, of varying content. Many copies reduced the original text, often by omitting the non-standard chapters at the beginning or end, whilst others boosted the content with calendars and commentaries, or extra illustrations.
Dating and manuscript copies
The work originated between 1309, as a reference to the Pope at being at
Avignon indicates, and 1324, the date on two copies. A preface, probably from the original manuscript, says the author doesn't give his name out of humility, though numerous suggestions have been made. He (or she) was almost certainly a cleric, and there's evidence he was a
Dominican.
Ludolph of Saxony is a leading candidate for authorship, and
Vincent of Beauvais has also been suggested.
The first versions are naturally in
illuminated manuscript form, and in Latin. Many copies were made, and several hundred still survive (over 350 in Latin alone), often in translations into different vernacular languages; at least four different translations into French were made, and at least two into English. There were also translations into German, Dutch, Spanish and Czech.
Manuscript versions covered the whole range of the manuscript market: some are lavishly and expensively decorated, for a de luxe market, whilst in many the illustrations are simple, and without colour. In particular, superb Flemish editions were produced in the 15th century for
Philip the Good and other wealthy bibliophiles. The
Speculum is probably the most popular title in this particular market of illustrated popular theology, competing especially with the
Biblia pauperum and the
Ars moriendi for the accolade.
Printed editions
In the 15th century, with the advent of
printing, the work then appeared in four
blockbook editions, two Latin and two in Dutch, and then in sixteen
incunabulum editions by 1500. The blockbooks present unique questions as only editions of this work combine hand-rubbed
woodcut pages with text pages printed in
movable type. Further eccentricities include a run of twenty pages in one edition which are text cut as a woodcut, based on tracings of pages from another edition printed with movable type. Though the circumstances of production of these editions are unknown, two of the editions are in Dutch and the Netherlands was probably the centre of production, as with most blockbooks. Hind places them in Holland, from about 1470-75. It appears the
Prohemium may have been sold separately as a pamphlet, as one version speaks of the usefulness of it for "poor preachers who can't afford the entire book".
The incunabulum editions, from eleven different presses, mostly, but not all, printed their
woodcut illustrations in the
printing press with the text. Some seem to have been printed in two sessions for texts and images.
Günther Zainer of
Augsburg, a specialist in popular illustrated works, produced the first one in 1473, in Latin and German, and with a metrical summary newly added for each chapter; this is considered an especially beautiful edition. Further incunabulum editions include Latin, German, French, Spanish and Dutch versions, and it was the first illustrated book printed in both Switzerland, at
Basel, and France, at
Lyon, which used the Basel picture blocks, later also used in Spain. A
Speyer edition has woodcuts whose design has been attributed to the
Master of the Housebook. In addition, the first of the somewhat legendary editions supposedly produced by
Laurens Janszoon Coster, working earlier than
Johannes Gutenberg, was a
Speculum. Even if the Coster story is ignored, the work seems to have been the first printed in the Netherlands, probably in the early 1470s. Editions continued to be printed until the
Reformation, which changed the nature of religious devotion on both sides of the Catholic/Protestant divide, and made the
Speculum seem outdated.
Iconographic influence
The images in the
Speculum were treated in many different styles and media over the course of the two centuries of its popularity, but generally the essentials of the compositions remained fairly stable, partly because most images had to retain their correspondence with their opposite number, and often the figures were posed to highlight these correspondences. Many works of art in other media can be seen to be derived from the illustrations; it was for example, the evident source for depictions for the
Vision of Augustus in
Rogier van der Weyden's
Bladelin Altarpiece and other
Early Netherlandish works. In particular the work was used as a pattern-book for
stained glass, but also for
tapestries and
sculpture.
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