MINIATURIST, Flemish
(active 1450-1475 in Mons)

Nicholas of Lyra: Postilla literalis

1450-75
Manuscript
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

Nicholas of Lyra (Latin Nicolaus Lyranus, c. 1270-1349) was the author of the first printed commentary on the Bible and one of the foremost Franciscan theologians and influential exegetes (biblical interpreters) of the Middle Ages.

His chief work is his monumental 50-volume Postillae perpetuae in universam S. Scripturam ("Commentary Notes to the Universal Holy Scripture"), a commentary on the whole Bible that became a leading manual of exegesis. The importance of the Postillae lies in its emphasis on a literal, rather than a mystical or an allegorical, interpretation of Scriptures.

This illumination showing the Ascension of Christ is from the manuscript containing one of the volumes of Nicholas of Lyra's Postillae.