cross of Christ. When this notion was lost, we are able to see that the authenticcharacter of Christian martyrdom was likewise lost, even when the label was stillapplied.

Likewise, the notion of participation in Christ’s own sufferings lends the notion ofChristian martyrdom a categorically different character. That the notion of martyrdomhas been co-opted for different and often very dubious causes within the Christiantradition does not mean that we are unable to discriminate. To note that martyr-narratives are contested does not mean that we cannot seek to judge between them, eventhough we must recognise the limitations of our own perspectives.

While the comparison between the religious perspectives is extremely useful, whatof the secular liberal view? Secular liberalism has its martyrs — Middleton hintsat this when he brings forward the tragic story of Matthew Shepherd, held to be a“gay martyr.” The notion of martyrdom when understood broadly is not thus depend-ent on religion. Why not allow secular liberalism to be part of the comparison ofthought-systems?

MICHAEL JENSEN

Moore College, Sydney

NIGEL MORGAN, ed.: Illuminating the End of Time: The Getty Apocalypse. Los Angeles,CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012; pp. 87. Illus.

This fine book has been produced for Getty publications by the Folio Society, London,which has long been dedicated to the production and promotion of beautiful manu-scripts whose texts and illustrations play an important part in the history of the book.The collaboration between the Folio Society and Getty Publications is particularlyappropriate in this case as the work in question is one of the most splendid copies of agroup of illustrated manuscripts of the Apocalypse that were produced in thirteenth-century England. These survive today as precious treasures in public libraries ormuseums, in this instance in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. This publicationpresents the 87 extant pages of the Getty manuscript in their original size and in highquality colour. Several pages of closely related Apocalypse manuscripts are also repro-duced in black and white as part of the accompanying commentary which is written byNigel Morgan.

The choice of Morgan to write the commentary, which accompanies the readerthrough the beauties and mysteries of both the manuscript’s texts and imagery, isespecially felicitous. Morgan is one of the leading scholars today in medieval art history— especially English and French art history — and among his special areas of knowl-edge and expertise are the English medieval manuscripts of the Apocalypse. His pub-lications in this area include contributions to commentaries accompanying recentfacsimiles and monographs of a number of other medieval Apocalypses, such as: theLambeth Apocalypse (London, Lambeth Palace MS 209) in 1990 with Michelle Brown,the Gulbenkian Apocalypse (Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian MS LA 139) in 2002,with Suzanne Lewis, Michelle Brown and Aires Nascimento, the Douce Apoca-lypse (Oxford, Bodleian, Library MS Douce 180) in 2007, and the Madrid Apocalypse(Apocalypse Yates Thompson), in 2010. He has also written on English Apocalypsemanuscripts in his comprehensive Harvey Millar survey volumes on English medievalbook illumination, and in many articles.

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In his introduction to the Getty Apocalypse, Morgan provides an informed andsuccinct account of the history and context of illustrated Apocalypses in thirteenth-century England, together with a more detailed study of the place of the Getty Apoca-lypse within a specific number of these manuscripts called the Westminister Group. Forthose specialists and scholars interested in pursuing further the physical aspects of themanuscript he provides a lucid codicological analysis of the Getty manuscript whichincludes a helpful listing of all its illustrations. As one has come to expect from Morgan,the scholarly apparatus of footnotes and bibliography are handled with impressiveprecision and thoroughness. At the same time his presentation of this material istempered with a moderation which reflects his awareness of the publication’s relevanceto a wide audience with a variety of interests.

Most importantly, Morgan provides immediately before the facsimile pages a briefdescription of each illustration, together with an English translation of the relevantextracts from the Apocalypse and the commentary of Berengaudus which appearbeneath them, thus enabling readers to find their way with relative ease among thedelights of both the text and illustration of this wondrous book. And indeed the delightsare many. As the Introduction states, the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation “is part ofa visionary and prophetic genre which was characteristic of both Jewish and Christianwritings of the first century ad” (p. 9). It came to be reproduced separately from otherbooks of the Bible a number of times in the course of history, probably as Morgansuggests, because its complex language and imagery called for exegesis and, thus,accompanying commentary. In this particular medieval group the chosen commentatoris Berengaudus, who may have been writing in the eleventh century at the time ofAnselm of Laon. Morgan points out, however, that only extracts from his long com-mentary were selected to accompany summaries of the Apocalypse in thirteenth-century English manuscripts, and by this time they were “but a scissors and pasteinterpretation of his ideas, very probably made by an English Franciscan” (p. 19). In anycase, the illustration of the Getty manuscript would seem to be based primarily on thebiblical text rather than the commentary.

The page layout of the Getty Apocalypse follows a basic pattern characteristic ofa number of the Apocalypses produced in thirteenth-century England. Two columnsof text on each page contain extracts in Latin, first from the biblical text followed bythose from Berengaudus which are also in Latin and are written in red, distinguishingthem from the black ink rendering of the biblical extracts. Above these texts andextending across the width of the text space are framed ink drawings tinted in colourwashes of blue, red, green, and white, modelled in black. Halos and some detailsare gilded and there is also some use of silver. While acknowledging that it isstill difficult to determine the precise origin of the manuscript and its first owner orcommissioner, he confidently associates its delicate illumination and particulardrawing style with two other well-known manuscripts: an Apocalypse in the PierpontMorgan Library, New York (MS M. 524), and a life of St Edward in CambridgeUniversity Library (MS Ee, 3.590). Although each of these manuscripts has its owndistinctive features, Morgan argues that “the likelihood that they were all by the sameartist and that they all probably fall within the five-year period c. 1255–1260 isstrong” (p. 21).

The riches of this publication will, I believe, appeal not only to the specialist and thescholar but also to the more general enquiring reader.

MARGARET MANION

University of Melbourne

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© 2013 The AuthorsJournal of Religious History © 2013 Religious History Association