The Sarum Master's Bible
Returning to Salisbury Cathedral after 700 years.
Friends of the Nations’ Libraries (FNL) has successfully raised the £90,000 needed to buy a stunning 13th-century Bible, illuminated by the famed Sarum Master, and has donated it to Salisbury Cathedral – returning it home to the cathedral city after more than 700 years.1
The Sarum Master
The Sarum Master was a highly skilled and influential English manuscript illuminator active during the mid-13th century, primarily in Salisbury (known historically as Sarum), England. He is celebrated as one of the greatest artists of his time, renowned for his work on religious manuscripts, particularly Bibles and liturgical texts. His name derives from the Latin term for Salisbury, "Sarum," though his true identity remains unknown, as no definitive documentary evidence identifies him by a personal name.2
The Sarum Master is best known for his illuminated manuscripts, characterized by more than 50 historiated initials—detailed illustrations within large letters depicting biblical scenes or figures—and around 85 foliate initials with elegant, elongated designs. His style features a distinctive blend of linear folds and painterly techniques, with a palette dominated by deep blues, reds, and a characteristic pale blue-green. His figures are elongated, graceful, and imbued with a sense of monumental drama, suggesting possible influences from large-scale art forms like wall painting.
Of the Sarum Master Bible, Christopher de Hamel, an expert on medieval manuscripts, has said:
“The Sarum Master was one of the earliest manuscript artists in England of whom we have a recognisable oeuvre. Salisbury and Oxford had the first professional book illuminators in England, ahead of London. Salisbury had been founded as a new town in the 1220s, and there were artists working on the stained-glass and chapter-house carvings of the new cathedral. Because Salisbury had a book trade (and Oxford did not have a cathedral), Salisbury manuscripts were available for purchase, which no other diocese could match, and thus the local Use of Sarum became standard for all of southern England and, at the Reformation, for the Book of Common Prayer.”3
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, visited by 250,000 people annually, holds the UK’s tallest spire and is home to a vast manuscript collection, including one of four remaining copies of the 1215 Magna Carta and the world’s oldest mechanical clock. Among its treasures, the cathedral library, founded in 1445, ranks as one of England’s earliest purpose-built libraries.4 The Sarum Master Bible was on display from 28 February to 20 March, 2025.
As well as being on public display, there are plans to fully digitize the Bible and offer study days to look more closely at its production and history.5
Return The Sarum Master Bible To Salisbury
13thC Sarum Master Bible returns to Salisbury. Friends of the Nations’ Libraries. December 24, 2024.
A. Hollaender, "The Sarum Illuminator and His School," Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine (Volume 50, pp. 230–262); Morgan, Nigel J. 1982. Early Gothic Manuscripts 1190-1250 : With 330 Illustrations. London, Oxford: H. Miller ; Oxford University Press.
13thC Sarum Master Bible returns to Salisbury. Friends of the Nations’ Libraries. December 24, 2024.
"Sarum" sounds like a wizard-king from Middle Earth. Thanks, Kathleen. I always learn something new here.
This is lovely, delicate work, and it is wonderful to see how well the colours have been preserved.