Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Psalter-Hours
France, probably Thérouanne, ca. 1265
MS M.97 fol. 14v

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Innocents: Massacre -- With devil at ear, Herod the Great, crowned, wearing gloves, sits with legs crossed on cushioned bench and raises right hand toward one of two soldiers wearing helmets and chain mail. The soldier holds sword in raised right hand and head of decapitated infant in left hand, and steps on headless body of infant on ground. The other holds sword in raised right hand and with left hand seizes infant from mother, wearing draped headgear, who pushes the soldier's face with her raised right hand and holds onto the infant with her left hand.
Scene against gold background within Gothic architectural frame decorated with abstract ornament.