En biografi om en bok : Codex Upsaliensis B 68 från 1430

(A biography of a book: Codex Upsaliensis B 68 from 1430.) A large proportion of European medieval art consists of illuminated manuscripts. In Sweden, the bulk of preserved images are mural paintings in churches, but the realm is not void of illustrated manuscripts. While Continental illuminated manuscripts are mainly religious, the Swedish are generally law codes.

In the present volume, one such law code, Uppsala University Library B 68, written in 1430, is examined from a wide variety of aspects. The text with its marginalia is presented. An analysis of the parchment reveals that the skin used is exclusively from calf. Through paleographic analysis, in combination with examination of the images, the commissioner of the book and the scribe are identified. Elin Bengtsdotter, who commissioned the book, belonged to the highest nobility, and Hans Kyle, who copied the text, was a clerk who had worked for King Eric of Pomerania (r. 1412-1439). The artist who made the images remains unknown, however.

The seventeen full-page illustrations are given due treatment. The enigmatic second image, showing Christ on the Cross, has been erased at some period. The post-medieval history of the manuscript is unravelled, but the person who effaced the image cannot be identified with any certainty. Other images describe life in Sweden before the great rebellion that eventually dethroned King Eric, and the images give hints about the ideological climate in Sweden at the time. One chapter is devoted to scornful and eccentric marginalia in this and other medieval manuscripts.