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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1430

St. Paul

c. 1430

A decorated page from a c. 1430 Middle Dutch manuscript showing Paul inside an illuminated initial.

This medieval manuscript illumination shows Paul with his traditional symbols of book and sword.

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Page of a handwritten Middle Dutch manuscript in black and red ink, with a large blue and red decorated initial. Inside a gold-framed initial, a bearded man in a blue robe holds a red book, with a sword-like shape beside him. Sprigs of foliage decorate the margins.
St. Paul, manuscript illumination, c. 1430. KB, National Library of the Netherlands.

About this source

What it is

This is a page from a handwritten manuscript in Middle Dutch, made around 1430. Inside a large decorated gold-framed initial, a bearded man in a blue robe holds a red book, with a sword-like shape beside him. It is held by the KB, National Library of the Netherlands.

Why it matters

Manuscript illuminations like this were created by medieval scribes and artists to decorate religious texts and to help readers recognize important figures. This image shows how Paul was pictured in medieval Europe, continuing the tradition of showing him with a book and sword.

Look closer

  • What details inside the decorated letter tell you this is meant to represent Paul?
  • Why do you think artists repeated certain symbols, like the book and sword, across centuries?
  • What does the care put into decorating this page tell you about how important the text was considered?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Paul on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Colored 1879 map titled 'Map Illustrating the Travels of St. Paul' by H.H. Hardesty, showing the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Egypt and the Holy Land with routes marked in lines and numbered journeys.Document

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