Intermezzo II: Caines iawbone, that did the firſt murder (part IIII: Visuals 1401–1500)

This is the ending of the Intermezzo II in the Abigor Totschläger review. Other parts:

• Totschläger artwork → https://telegra.ph/Abigor-Totschlaeger-1-05-29
• Intermezzo II, part 1 (Introduction, Shakspeariana, Hebrew tradition) → https://telegra.ph/Cains-jawbone-08-01
• Intermezzo II, part 2 (Written word, manuscripts) → https://telegra.ph/Cains-jawbone-part-II-10-10
• Intermezzo II, part 3: Visuals <1400 → https://telegra.ph/Cains-jawbone-part-iii-10-10
• Current part

The footnotes are explained here → https://telegra.ph/Footnotes-for-Intermezzo-II-10-09

Mandeville’s Travels in Harley MS 3954 (ca. 1401+)

A part of the Harley MS 3954, stored in the British Library.

Created in England ca. 1401–50, written in Norfolk dialect.

The first murder: folio 23r.

Speculum humanæ salvationis (ca. 1401+)

Stored in the British Library as Sloane MS 361.

Created in the fifteenth century in Germany (written in the library record, whatever “Germany” means in the context of the fifteenth century).

The first murder: folio 21r.

Great East Window in York Minster (ca. 1405)

yorkglazierstrust.org: Executed in 1405-08, the window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain, with over 300 glazed panels, and is one of the most ambitious windows ever to have been made in the Middle Ages. (yorkglazierstrust.org)

The first murder: panel 14a.

Spieghel der menscheliker behoudenisse (ca. 1410)

Stored in the British Library as Add MS 11575.

Created ca. 1410 in Bruges. ​

Spieghel der menscheliker behoudenisse is a Middle Dutch verse adaptation of the Speculum humanæ salvationis, written in the dialect of West Flanders.

The first murder: folio 45r.

De aanbidding van het Lam Gods (Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) (ca. 1420+)

Also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, it is in St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent.

Created by Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck in 1420–32.

Additional information can be found in Inside the Ghent Altarpiece on Google Arts and Culture.

The oak choir stalls in Sankt Bendts Kirke (St Bendt’s Church), Ringsted, Denmark (1420)

National Museum says⁶⁵ the choir stalls were created in 1420.

Photo from groenling flickr account.

History Bible, manuscript KB 78 D 38 I (ca. 1430)

Stored in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague.

Created in Utrecht ca. 1430.

The first murder: folio 10v.

The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (ca. 1434–6)

Stored in Groeningemuseum.

Created in 1434–6 by Jan (Johannes) van Eyck.

Shapiro lists this work, but I’m unsure Cain holds a jawbone in it. Still, even though the jawbone is not fully recognisable here, it may be it, as we already know the Ghent Altar painting by van Eyck.

The first murder — on the right arm of the Virgin’s throne.

Niederländische Historienbibel (BSB Cgm 1102) (ca. 1439)

Stored in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in München.

Created in Utrecht, The Netherlands, ca. 1439

The first murder: folio 10v.

Manuscript Add MS 15410 (ca. 1440)

Created ca. 1440, probably in Utrecht, now stored in the British Library.

The first murder: folio 10r.

Polyptych of the Life of the Virgin (ca. 1445)

Stored in Museo del Prado (which calls it a “triptych”).

Created by Dieric (Dirk) Bouts ca. 1445

The first murder: the left painting — Annunciation — in the right part of the archivolt.

Passion triptych, an altarpiece by Dieric (Dirk) Bouts (ca. 1450)

Probably exists in two copies. One is stored in the Sacristy-Museum (Museo de la Capilla Real) in Granada (first photo). The other — in Museo del Patriarca, Real Colegio Seminario del Corpus Christi, Valencia (second photo).

Created by Dieric (Dirk) Bouts ca. 1450–5

The first murder can be found in the central painting — Descent from the Cross — in the right part of the archivolt of which I found only an old black and white photograph, probably a fragment of the Valencia copy. Sadly, it seems no high resolution photos circulate the internet.

Stained glass in St Anietus, the Parish Church of St Neot, Cornwall (1450)

The windows were probably installed ca. 1450–1530 (found no proof of the date).

The first murder: The Genesis Window, bottom row, the first on the left.

Both photos taken from Joel Bybee flickr account.

Du Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes ( De casibus virorum et feminarum illustrium) (ca. 1451+)

Stored in the British Library as Harley 621. (Appears to be not yet digitalised in better quality.)

Created ca. 1451–75 in France. The manuscript is unfinished.

The first murder: folio 1v.

Cain and Abel by Stefano da Verona (ca. 1450)

Stored in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Nativity by Petrus Christus (1452)

This is an early version of Petrus Christus’s Nativity serie. Also known as Adoration of the Christ-Child. Stored in Musea Brugge, Brugge, Belgium.

The first murder: in the very center of the arcade.

Nativity by Petrus Christus (ca. 1450+)

Stored in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

The first murder: to the right of the center of the archivolt.

Auxerre Cathedral

I did not put effort into finding the date of creation of this piece. The cathedral itself was built in thirteenth–sixteenth century, wikipedia says (note: never trust wiki).

The first murder: to the left of the left door on the Western facade, middle of the bottom row.

(First photo from moominmolly flickr account.)

The sculpture is mutilated, and in the scene of the Murder of Abel only the scar of the weapon remains—a curved silhouette, thickened at one end, like the jaw-bone in the English images. In the adjoining panel of the Lord reproaching Cain, where the weapon is better preserved, the form of the jaw-bone is somewhat clearer. (Shapiro)

An “Ynglysche” translation from the Latin version of the Revelations of the Pseudo-Methodius in the Carthusian miscellany of poems, chronicles, and treatises in Northern English, Add MS 37049 (ca. 1460+)

Stored in the British Library

Created ca. 1460-1500 in a Yorkshire or Lincolnshire Carthusian monastery (Axholme, Mountgrace or Kingston-upon-Hull).

The first murder: folio 11r.

The Offering of the Jews (ca. 1460+)

Stored in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Created by Master of The collection of the Manna (name unknown) in the Northern Netherlands.

Woodcut from the Bible of Cologne (1478)

This is a complicated case. Most probably the design was transmitted to many wood blocks which were sold to publishers all around. Thus the woodcut appeared in many bibles in different years and areas. (A detailed comparison has to be done to be 100% sure, but I’m inclined to think my judgements is right.)

Sources may refer⁶⁶ to it as to the woodcut from the 1480 Bible of Cologne, but in fact it is of slightly earlier origin.

The earliest example of this woodcut can be found in the so called Kölner Bibel aka Die Kölner Bibelausgabe in niederrheinisch printed in Cologne by Heinrich Quentel and/or Bartholomäus von Unckel in 1478 (some sources say 1478/79). May appear confusing for attentive researchers, but the fact is that this bible was typeset (at least) twice⁶⁷ in that period, as it exists in two different typesettings and with a different number of woodcuts, although the same first murder scene woodcut is present in both. I’m not sure if one was made earlier than the other, or if they were made simultaneously for different purposes.

The first murder: folio 5v.

Illustrated Vita Christi (late fifteenth century)

Stored in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, as Ms. 101 (2008.3.9). Formerly known as Dyson Perrins collection MS 1 (Shapiro calls it a “Psalter of the late twelfth century”)

Created probably in Norfolk ca. 1480–90, illuminator unknown.

The first murder: folio 9r.

Speculum humanae salvationis in Harley MS 2838 (ca. 1485+)

Stored in the British Library.

Created in ca. 1485–1509 in London.

The first murder: folio 21r.

Lübeck Bible (1494)

This is an incunabula of which many copies survived.⁶⁸

Printed in 1494 by Stephanus Arndes (Stephen Andes). Illuminator unknown (Master of the Lübeck Bible).

The first murder image below is from the Bodleian copy (folio b3r). For more images, including the colored ones, see footnote 66.

Note: Speaking of the Lübeck Bible, Barb points to one printed in 1480, referring to Scheiber. Probably it’s a misprint in Barb, as Scheiber only speaks of the Lübeck Bible printed in 1494, and I could not find a record of any bible printed in Lübeck in 1480.

Sources of Abigor

Finally, the word Totschläger in German means not only the murderer but also the weapon of murder — the club. Having read all the above and now transmitting it to the readers, I dare to make another assumption: the jawbone in Cain’s right hand in the artwork of Abigor Totschlager is a direct link to the Deathlike Silence Productions logo.

Among the options of many origins (the stone or a club being of the Rabbinical origin), Abigor chose the English jawbone. Could that be the reason the band photo was made in England? — No, I won’t even attempt to find that out.

The end.

P. S.

Louis Ginzberg, in his The Legends of the Jews, part I, writes:

The place of offering [of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices to their Creator] which they chose was the spot whereon the altar of the Temple at Jerusalem stood later.

This inevitably reminds us of:

Who don’t get it, will get it.

Ending titles

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