Skip to main content

Primary sourcePaintingc. 1411

Toggenburg Bible

Dietrich of Lichtensteig · c. 1411

An illuminated Swiss manuscript from 1411 containing one of the earliest known images of a couple marked with plague buboes.

Contains one of the earliest known images showing plague buboes on the body, made during the era of recurring plague outbreaks.

Ask The Black Death about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
An open large manuscript book on a dark surface showing two pages: the left page has columns of gothic black and red text with illuminated initials; the right page has a painted miniature of a pink castle with red roofs, and a woman in a yellow gown with a red mantle gesturing toward a man in armor.
Dietrich of Lichtensteig, Toggenburg Bible, c. 1411. Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.

About this source

What it is

This illuminated manuscript, known as the Toggenburg Bible or Toggenburg Chronicle, was created around 1411 for Count Frederick VII of Toggenburg and his wife Countess Elisabeth von Matsch. It was produced by a chaplain, Dietrich of Lichtensteig, based on an earlier world chronicle. It is now held in the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.

The book contains 267 parchment sheets with 149 painted miniatures, telling a world history from Creation onward, mixed with other stories such as the Trojan War.

Why it matters

Among its miniatures is one of the earliest surviving images showing plague symptoms directly on the human body — figures covered in buboes. This makes the manuscript a rare visual record of how people of the time saw and depicted the disease that devastated Europe.

Look closer

  • Why might an artist choose to show the physical marks of plague on the body?
  • What does the care taken in making this manuscript tell you about who it was made for?
  • What other historical events does the chronicle include alongside biblical history?

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

More The Black Death sources

Meet the AI The Black Death →
Book

Secondary source

The Decameron

Giovanni Boccaccio · 1351

Document

Primary source

Statute of Labourers 1351

1351

Illuminated manuscript page with a gold-background miniature showing barefoot penitents in white robes and dark hats, hands clasped, processing past a figure carrying a crucifix and a banner. Below, two columns of Latin text in black ink with red initials.Painting

Primary source

Depiction of the Flagellant Processions

Pierart dou Tielt · c. 1350

Medieval illuminated manuscript page with a painted scene of men with helmets and a figure holding a flag near a tower, while figures are burned at a stake among flames on the right. Latin text in columns surrounds the image.Painting

Primary source

Execution of Jews

c. 1350

A nearly black book cover with an embossed decorative pattern of scrolls, leaves, and flowers in a symmetrical design. The image is very dark, with faint highlights on the raised ornaments.Book

Primary source

The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn

John Clyn · 1348-1349

Ready when you are

Start chatting with The Black Death now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions