The Saint-Sever Beatus: An Illustrated Commentary on the Apocalypse (Part 5)

This is the fifth part of our series on the Saint-Sever Beatus, an illuminated manuscript of the 11th century produced at the abbey of Saint-Sever in southwestern France. The primary text which it illustrates, and for which it is named, is a commentary on the book of the Apocalypse written by Saint Beatus of Liébana, a monk who lived in northern Spain in the 8th century; for further details, see part 1. This article completes the book with the illustrations from the last six chapters of the Apocalypse, 17 to 22. The sixth and final post will give the images from the second text in the book, St Jerome’s commentary on the prophet Daniel.

In the manuscript, this picture of the woman sitting on the scarlet beast (Apocalypse 17, 3) seems to have been displaced from its original location; it is placed between the opening chapter of the book and the letters to the churches in chapters 2-3. The artist has taken great liberty with the beast, whom St John says “seven heads and ten horns.”

Chapter 17, 12: “And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast.”

Chapter 17, 14: “These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, because he is Lord of lords, and King of kings...” In the middle band is the slaying of the false prophet, and in the lower band, of the beast, the devil and the dragon.

Chapter 18, 9-10: “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived in delicacies with her, shall weep, and bewail themselves over (Babylon), when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying, ‘Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.’ ”

Chapter 18, 21: “And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, ‘With such violence as this shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.’ ”

A representation of various kinds of animals, which are mentioned among the wares of Babylon bought by the merchants of the earth in chapter 18, 13.

Chapter 19, 4: “And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living creatures fell down and adored God that sitteth upon the throne, saying, ‘Amen, Alleluia!’ ”

Chapter 19, 11; 19-20: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and with justice doth he judge and fight. ... And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone.”

Chapter 20, 1-2: “And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”

Chapter 20, 4: “And I saw seats, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus (represented here by the birds in the lower part), and for the word of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his image, nor received his character on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Chapter 20, 9-10: “And there came down fire from God out of heaven, and devoured them; and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Chapter 21, 11-12; 14; 23 “... and he shewed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God, and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal. And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. ... And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them, the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ... And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof.”

Chapter 22, 1: “And he shewed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Chapter 22, 8-9: “And after I had heard and seen, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel, who shewed me these things. And he said to me, ‘See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the words of the prophecy of this book.’ ”

A final representation of Babylon...

and of St John writing the book.