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The kind of bible known as Bible moralisée originated at the French royal court during the first thirty years of the 13th century. These bibles used interrelated medallions or rondels (eight per page) as well as marginal texts to interpret bible passages.
While usually written in Latin, the copy in Vienna is in French. It shows on its first page (folio 1v) God the Father bending down to measure the world with a pair of compasses. Holding the cosmic orb in his left hand, he uses his other hand to place one arm of the instrument into the orb's centre in order to draw a circle.
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