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The Bedford Hours (British Library MS Additional 18850) has been called one of “the very finest examples of French art of the earlier half of the fifteenth century….” Its lavish use of gold and bright colors, its beautifully conceived calendar pages and large miniatures, its connection with the marriage of John of Lancaster, the duke of Bedford, to Anne of Burgundy, and its fascinating history as a manuscript have received much attention. Scholars, however, have virtually ignored the almost 1,250 marginal illustrations that decorate the manuscript's 289 folios. These tiny pictures are generally woven into the ivy-leaf border, painted within roundels of approximately one inch in diameter. Thematically related, they are usually placed two to a folio side, one within the left or right border, and one within the lower border. The roundels, furthermore, are accompanied by one-line Old French texts. These are always placed together below the lower border and are arranged so that the first text, written in blue, identifies the roundel within the side border, whereas the second text, written in gold, explains the roundel painted within the lower border.

The comparison, as we shall see, is rich in significance and typical of much of the biblical language of the poem, especially of its apocalyptic imagery and allusions. In fact the net cast by apocalyptic imagery and allusions in the Roman is wide enough to deserve careful analysis, because it provides insight into the fundamental questions that arise in any interpretation of the poem and that are still very much in dispute. Astenance Contrainte is compared to the pale and deathlike horse that, according to Revelation 6.8, arises from hell at the opening of the fourth seal: "Et ecce equus pallidus, et qui sedebat super eum: nomen illi mors, et infernus sequebatur eum."2 Jean de Meun interpreted the Fourth Horseman as a symbol of the hypocrisy that characterized the evil deceivers, and it is a symbol particularly suitable for the false beguine and her lover, Faus Semblant. The probable source of the allusion is the polemical writing of Guillaume de Saint

Luca Signorelli's frescoes portraying the last days and the end of the world which decorate the Cappella di San Brizio in Orvieto Cathedral are often described as reflecting Dante'sCommediaor as having a Dantesque quality. Commissioned in 1500 to complete the decoration of the cathedral begun by Fra Angelico half a century before, Signorelli painted — along with such scenes traditionally associated with the Last Judgment as the Resurrection of the Dead, the Damned in Hell, and the Saved in Paradise — two frescoes which portray the deeds of Antichrist and the signs of the end. Together with his illustrations from Dante'sPurgatorio, also at Orvieto, these frescoes depict the key events of Christian eschatology. The entire cycle reflects, in other words, the artist's awareness of eschatology as encompassing not only the fortune of the soul after death, but also the events which occur in the last days of the earth's history, a view of eschatology which is both personal and cosmic. It is certainly appropriate to see Dante's influence upon the artist's representation of such scenes as the ‘anti-Inferno’ and the suffering of the damned in hell. Although the subject matter need not have been drawn exclusively from Dante, a knowledge of theCommediahelps one to understand these frescoes better. Both Dante and Signorelli reflect a concern with the last events which is typical of their times, and along with other artists and poets, they share a common background in Christian eschatology. In some respects, therefore, their individual achievements are analogous, so that an understanding of the frescoes can also help us to understand theCommedia, even though the painter worked a century and a half after the poet. Particularly, Signorelli's ‘Fatti dell’ Anticristo,’ a portrayal both of the traditional Christian beliefs concerning the great deceiver of the last days and of late medieval apocalypticism, provides insights into Dante's description of the contemporary church inInferno19 (Fig. 1). The artist and the poet each draw upon long-established Christian iconography and symbolism to infuse their work with an apocalyptic expectancy which, by placing contemporary scenes in a cosmic perspective, underscores its religious significance and ultimate consequence.

These pages conclude the Census and Bibliography of Medieval Manuscripts Containing Apocalypse Illustrations begun in Traditio 40 (1984) 337–379 and continued in Traditio 41 (1985) 367–409. They contain the descriptions of nine groups of manuscripts. Three of these groups comprise illustrated Apocalypses: Alexander Minorita Apocalypses (nos. 118–122), Later German Apocalypses (nos. 123–132), and Miscellaneous Apocalypses (133–137). The remaining six groups comprise manuscripts that, although not illustrated Apocalypses, contain five or more illustrations of the Apocalypse: Miscellaneous Bibles (nos. 138–145), Liber Floridus manuscripts (nos. 146–152), Moralized Bibles (nos. 153–158), Historiated Bibles (nos. 159–167), Books of Hours (nos. 168–170), and Miscellaneous Manuscripts (nos. 171–172) R. Emmerson would like to thank Peter Klein for his helpful suggestions. Recognizing that, despite our best efforts, this Census and Bibliography may include some errors and omissions, the authors would be grateful to receive corrections and additions for a future edition.