Ebook: Illustrating Antichrist and the Day of Judgment in the Eighty-Nine Miniatures of Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 579

This thesis investigates the suite of eighty-nine miniatures contained in the manuscript Besançon 579, which illustrates the play, Jour du Jugement or Antichrist and the Day of Judgment. The images along with the text provide the only record of this play that although it culminates in the Last Judgment presents an extended life of Antichrist, which spans the majority of the play. Although I specifically address the miniatures, I also consider the multifaceted relationships between the images and the written, dramatic, and performative texts. I argue that the miniatures reveal a conscious engagement with traditional Antichrist sources, both literary and visual, such as the Libellus de Antichristo by Abbot Adso of Montier-en-Der and the Book of Revelation. Additionally, I suggest the incorporation of nontraditional iconography visually extrapolates the legend of Antichrist and the Last Judgment into a secular drama. I argue that the miniatures reveal an adaptation of tradition along side an integration of iconography unconnected to that of Antichrist or Judgment, but drawn from contemporary romance, in particular Robert de Boron’s Merlin and the Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, to present a fully developed visual narrative and the impression of a staged performance. Additionally, the illumination mise-en-page of secular manuscripts supplied the vehicle that articulated the performative quality of the play, bringing the dramatic text to life through the suite of miniatures. Besançon 579 is a unique manuscript exhibiting integrated image and word components that preserve the story and its performance qualities in a sustained visual narrative. As a commemorative object, the manuscript provided a well-crafted and intricately designed theater from which the owner could read, see, or remember the performance of this play.