Try Amazon Fresh


Try Amazon Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks

The Admont Bible, Salzburg, 12th century

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien. Cod. ser. nov. 2701
Battle of Mount Gilboa

Israelites and Philistines fight.

Death of Saul and Jonathan. f. 124r

Cod. Ser. n. 2701 - Bibel (Admonter Riesenbibel)
1140-1150
Source: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

---

1 Samuel 31
The Death of Saul and His Sons
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and many fell on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. ³ The battle pressed hard upon Saul; the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by them. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and thrust me through, and make sport of me.’ But his armour-bearer was unwilling; for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together on the same day.
(1 Samuel 31:1-6)

---

Referenced on p.313, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350, Western Europe and the Crusader States by David Nicolle

835 Gebhard Bible, Hungary or Germany, mid-12th century (Church of St Petrus, Csatar; after Gerevich)
A - Israelites; B-D - Philistines; E - King Saul; F-H - Israelites. The Gebhard Bible seems to reflect a small degree of Byzantine influence. This is most apparent in the archaized armour of some Philistines (C and D), which seems to include splinted upper-arm defences. These might be dismissed as fanciful were they not to appear again in a later and generally more reliable Hungarian manuscript (fig.888 [Hungarian National Chronicle, c.1360 (National Széchényi Library, Ms. Clmae 404, Budapest Hungary)]). The Gebhard Bible otherwise shows standard European equipment of conical helmets with nasals (B, F and G), long-sleeved hauberk (A, B, E, G and H), kite-shaped shields with or without large decorative bosses (B, D, E and H), straight, barely tapering swords with straight quillons (C, D, G and H), and a couched lance with a gonfanon (A). The only slightly unusual features are a number of helmets, both conical and round, which appear to be of two-piece construction joined along a comb with broad rim band (A, D and H). Such helmets are, of course, also known elsewhere in 12th century Western Europe.