Visualizing the Death in the Illuminated Translation of the Manasses’ Chronicle

The paper is intended to offer a different reading on two miniatures from the Bulgarian translation of the Chronicle of Constantine Manasses kept at the Vatican apostolic library (Vat.slav.2). Researchers have largely discussed the link between the Middle Bulgarian medieval manuscript from the 14th c. and the text of the byzantine Chronicle from the 12th c. But the Vatican example presents unique colorful miniatures; two among them are precisely the subject of this paper: one with the funeral scene of the Bulgarian tsar’s son John IV and the other one depicting the entrance of his soul in Paradise. In art history, there are few known burial representations of ordinary person, even less when it comes to the decoration of manuscripts. But these two miniatures offer a very interesting depiction not just of the death, but of the salvation of the soul and the journey to Eden. Apart the problem for the depicted who is the son of the Bulgarian ruler John Alexander (1331–1371), several other questions emerge about these two representations: why is this particular scene represented on the pages of the Chronicle; what is the message in the visual representation of death and salvation of the soul? These problems are discussed in the present paper.