Death of the Levite's Wife
The Morgan bible f. 16v depicts the events of Judges 19. In the previous folio, not included in this exhibition, the unnamed Levite returns home to discover his wife had been raped and killed by members of the tribe of Benjamin. The upper register of F. 16v portrays the Levite transporting his wife's body on an ass. The figures walk towards the right, where the Levite and his assistants are shown dismembering the body into twelve pieces to be sent to the tribes of Israel as messages of outrage. In the grisly scene, the wife's limbs have been removed, falling beneath the table, while the Levite finished the process of chopping her body through the lower torso as a mass of entrails fall out onto the table. On the far right, two figures carry away the wife's head and one of her arms. The bottom register depicts the tribes' response to the atrocity. According to the book of Judges, 400,000 Israelites rally against the tribe of Benjamin. Throughout the register, the Benjamines are on the receiving end of gruesome blows from swords, lances, and battle axes. The Israelites, atop their horses, charge in from the left, leading to chaos on the right where the Benjamines futilely flee towards their city.
The version of the story found in the Psalter is also divided into two folios, but the illuminations highlight different aspects of the biblical passage. F. 63v shows the Benjamines attacking the Levite's wife; on the left, one figure holds her wrists while another grasps her around the waist. The left half of the folio depicts the Levite discovering her body at his door when he subsequently divides her body for the tribes of Israel. The Psalter scene is much less graphic than that in the Morgan bible. Only the wife's arm has been removed which did not produce any blood. F. 64r also depicts the Israelite's vengence against the tribe of Benjamin, but instead of overtly emphasising the battle, the folio equally emphasises Israelite piety and Israelite military strength. On the left, the soldiers knee before the tent of the Lord, praying for victory over their foes. This aspect of the narrative does not appear in the Morgan bible. God blesses the soldiers who go on to attack the Benjamines on the right of the folio. Again, no blood appears despite the battle context, in which an enemy fighter receives a stab to the eye by an Israelite sword.