Fig. 1. Saint Jerome before Pope Desiderius, perhaps represented as Henry of Blois, Winchester Bible, fol. 3. Photograph by Charles T. Little
Deluxe giant Bibles were prestige works for major ecclesiastical institutions, but there is no record, written or otherwise, that clearly identifies the patron of the Winchester Bible. We assume that the bishop of Winchester, Henry of Blois (about 1098–1171) patronized its creation since he was of privileged background and the younger brother of King Stephen of England (r. 1135–54) and grandson of William the Conqueror. As a child oblate dedicated to become a monk at the great Burgundian abbey of Cluny, he quickly rose in the ranks of the Church to become abbot of Glastonbury in 1126, the richest abbey in Norman England, and in 1129 the bishop of Winchester, the richest cathedral in the land.
Henry's immense wealth, including many posthumous donations of gold and silver objects, was given largely to Winchester Cathedral. Around 1160, Henry had two bays of the south transept aisles walled off to form a treasury for his donations. He traveled widely and was known to have collected antique statues in Rome and brought them back to Winchester. In the second initial of the Winchester Bible (Fig. 1), Saint Jerome stands before Pope Desiderius, who is represented as a medieval bishop holding a book, perhaps alluding to Bishop Henry himself.
Fig. 2. Mosan artist (present-day Belgium) working in England. Henry of Blois as Donor, ca. 1150. Champlevé enamel on copper gilt. British Museum, MLA.52, 3-27,1
The British Museum has two semicircular enamel plaques, one showing Henry holding a rectangular object, perhaps an altar (Fig. 2). These were made for Henry around 1150 by an artist from the Meuse Valley in Belgium who was likely working for him in England. Around the image of Henry is a Latin inscription that reveals much about his exalted position within the Church and state; it has been translated by Neil Stratford as:
Art comes before gold and gems, the creator before everything.
Henry, alive in bronze, gives gifts to God.
Henry, whose reputation makes him acceptable to
mankind, whose character renders him acceptable to the
heavens, a man equal in mind to the Muses and in eloquence
higher than Cicero.
Among Henry's gifts to Winchester was a great precious cross that could have been of enamel and possibly incorporated these plaques, but the rectangular object he holds suggests an altar or a portable altar.
Aside from his construction campaign on the cathedral, Henry also was the first to use English Purbeck marble in the creation of his palace, Wolvesey Castle at Winchester, now destroyed. Of the eight Tournai marble fonts surviving in England, four are in Henry's diocese of Hampshire, and the three not in Winchester Cathedral are all in churches under Henry's supervision at the time. Nearby, he founded the Hospital of St. Cross (1135–60), a gem of an English Romanesque church that is essentially intact and is said to be England's oldest charitable institution (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. St. Cross Church and Hospital, ca. 1135–60. Image courtesy of the Hospital of St. Cross
When Henry died in 1171, he was buried in a simple black marble tomb in the center of the choir of his beloved cathedral (Fig. 4). In light of his many ecclesiastical and administrative accomplishments, Henry of Blois was equally a great patron of the building of the cathedral, its rich adornments, and, most likely, its celebrated illuminated Bible.
Fig. 4. Tomb of Henry of Blois in the choir of Winchester Cathedral. Image courtesy of Images of Medieval Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh. © MAS