A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

intertextuality in hildegard’s works 159
The production of this Bible approximately 85 km from Disibodenberg
demonstrates that this association of the prophetic Et with Ezekiel in particular
was familiar in Hildegard’s cultural world.
The late 12th-century Bible of Souvigny, which was produced at the
monastery of Cluny, includes a historiated initial depicting the prophet
sleeping beneath the four signs of the evangelists: the angel, lion, bull,
and eagle.113 The four evangelical signs are situated around a depiction of
Christ himself, and each of them gazes up at Christ in heaven. Beneath
this scene, the prophet Ezekiel sleeps next to the river Chobar. However,
the biblical text (Ezek. 1:10) does not specify that Ezekiel was sleeping
when he received his vision. Nonetheless, the basic elements of the
Souvigny Bible’s historiated initial at the beginning of the book, including
the sleeping prophet on the bottom half of the initial beneath the four
signs of the evangelists, appear in other Bibles of the period, including
the 12th-century Bourges Bible.114 The illustrator(s) of the Souvigny Bible
fol. 107v; London, British Library, Burney 3, fol. 90; and London, British Library, Harley
4772, fol. 99. http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=878
9&CollID=18&NStart=3 (accessed 25 August 2013).
113 Moulins, Bibliothèque Municipale 1, fol. 170, late 12th century. http://www.culture
.gouv.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/BM/moulins_001-01.htm (accessed 25 August 2013).
114 Bourges, Bibliothèque Municipale 3, fol. 216v, last quarter of the 12th century.
Numerous other examples from the 13th century do not include the fijigure of Christ but
otherwise follow after the model of the Souvigny Bible, Moulins, Médiathèque de Moulins,
Bibliothèque Municipale classée, Ms. 1, fol. 136; Alençon, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 54,
fol. 256, c.1240–1250; Arles, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 1, fol. 357v, third quarter of the
13th century; Autun, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 146 A, fol. 339, c.1270–1280; Beaune,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 23, fol. 275v, c.1270–1280; Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 4, fol. 349, mid 13th century; Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 7, fol. 82v,
mid 13th century or third quarter of the 13th century; Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 26, fol. 219v, last third of the 13th century; Bourges, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 7,
fol. 110, late 13th century; Chambéry, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 6, fol. 352v, mid 13th
century; Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 21, fol. 360, 13th century; Dijon,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 4, fol. 263v, c.1230–40; Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 7, fol. 402v, mid 13th century; Dole, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 17, fol. 327, 13th century;
Le Mans, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 262, t. III, fol. 169, third quarter of the 13th
century; Melun, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 3, fol. 349, third quarter of the 13th century;
Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 7, fol. 423v, second third of the 13th century; Toulouse,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 5, fol. 279, second half of the 13th century; Toulouse,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 8, fol. 324, 13th century; Toulouse, Bibliothèque Municipale,
Ms. 9, fol. 487, mid 13th century; Toulouse, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 11, fol. 331, mid
13th century; Vendôme, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 1, fol. 270v, third quarter of the
13th century. For similar depictions, with the prophet reclined on a bed but awake, see
Toulouse, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 1, fol. 247, second half of the 13th century; Troyes,
Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 577, fol. 212v, between 1220 and 1226. The illustrator(s) of
the Souvigny Bible also chose to represent Isaiah as sleeping, in this case beneath the
hand of God, which gestures to him in blessing. http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/
documentation/enlumine/fr/index3.html (accessed 25 August 2013).