Wenceslas Bible

Wenceslas Bible
Vienna, Austrian National Library (Cod. 2759–64)
Initial of the book of Genesis – 7 days of creation.
Type	Bible
Date	1390s
Place of origin	Prague Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire
Language(s)	German
Illuminated by	Frána Kuthner and others
Patron	Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia
Material	Parchment
Size	1,214 leaves
Format	530 x 365 mm
Contents	Old Testament (Daniel, Minor Prophets and Maccabees missing)
Illumination(s)	654 miniatures

The Wenceslas Bible (German: Wenzelsbibel) or the Bible of Wenceslaus IV (Czech: Bible Václava IV.) is a multi-volume illuminated biblical manuscript written in the German language. The manuscript was commissioned by the King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (that time also the King of the Romans) and made in Prague in the 1390s. The Wenceslas Bible is unique and very precious not only because of its text, which is one of the earliest German translations of the Bible, but also because of its splendid illuminations. This oldest German deluxe Bible manuscript remained uncompleted.

The Wenceslas Bible contains the text of one of the earliest Bible translations into German. The translation from Latin Vulgata was commissioned by the wealthy burgher of Prague Martin Rotlev about 1375–1380.

Although Wenceslas' father Emperor Charles IV forbade Bible translations from Latin into vernacular languages as heresy in 1369, king Wenceslas with his second wife Sophia disrespected father's order by their patronage of this spectacular edition of the new German Bible translation. Their own patronage confirms an inscription in the manuscript. It indicates the close relationship between the Bohemian royal court and the nascent Bohemian Reformation.

The Wenceslas Bible was never completed. The book of Daniel, the Minor Prophets and the books of Maccabees are lacking from the Old Testament and the New Testament was not even begun. The Bible contains 654 miniatures and initials, some were only scatched, the scribe left free spaces for more than 900 other illustrations. If the Bible were completed, it would have comprised about 1,800 leaves with circa 2,000 illuminations and would accordingly have surpassed all other medieval manuscripts in length, dimensions and wealth of artistic ornament.