Joannes Richter

Genesis – Weaving the Words in Red & Blue

Fig 1: Initials for the Kremser Bible (1333)

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 Joannes Richter

Genesis
Weaving the Words in Red and in Blue

Published by Lulu

-2009-

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© 2009 by Joannes Richter
Published by Lulu
www.lulu.com
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: xxx-x-xxxx-xxxx-x

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Contents
1 Introduction............................................................................7
Hochdorf.............................................................................8
The divine image in the early Middle Age........................10
2 Genesis – weaving the words...............................................13
In the beginning.................................................................14
A second day.....................................................................15
A third day.........................................................................16
A fourth day.......................................................................17
A fifth day..........................................................................18
A sixth day.........................................................................19
A seventh day....................................................................21
3 Overview of purple coloured text........................................23

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List of Figures and Photographs
Fig 1: Initials for the Kremser Bible (1333)..............................1
Fig 2: Initials in a medieval Codex, 14th ccentury....................7
Fig 3: Dead body found wrapped in red and blue towels..........8
Fig 4: Reconstructed red and blue weaving..............................9
Fig 5: God as a man in the sky (Wiener Codex - sixth Cent.). 10
Fig 6: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)...........11
Fig 7: Initials - Kremser Bible (1333)......................................12
Fig 8: Initials in the Kremser Bible (1333)..............................14
Fig 9: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)...........15
Fig 10: Headerline in the Kremser Bible.................................16
Fig 11: Numbering lines in the Neapolitan Bible (1360).........16
Fig 12: La Divina Commedia..................................................17
Fig 13: Utrecht Bible (1460)....................................................18
Fig 14: Genesis-line in the Korczek-Bible (1400)...................19
Fig 15: Initial line for the Kremser Bible (1333).....................20
Fig 16: Book “Jonas” in Ulrich Schreier Bible (1472)............20
Fig 17: Red & Blue in Goslar Evangelium, ca. 1240 AD........21
Fig 18: Trinity God in purple, blue, red and white..................22
Fig 19: Headerline Korczek-Bible (Prag- around 1410)..........23
Fig 20: Headerline Korczek-Bible (Prag- around 1410)..........23

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1 Introduction
According to the basic principles of androgynous religion as
published in The Sky-God Dyæus most medieval Bibles preferred
the colours red and blue as religious symbols for ornaments.

Fig 2: Initials in a medieval Codex, 14th ccentury.

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the
light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. This is the first symbolic division in
which the colour red symbolizes the daylight and the sun,
whereas blue symbolizes the moon and the twilight. The
evening correlating to Eve may be corresponding to the female
element and the daylight to the male symbol of creation.

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The following layout for the Book Genesis explains the basic
idea of weaving words like human beings symbolized by male
and female persons as married couples.
Initially man had started as a couple of two individuals
coloured red and blue, which had to multiply. The individuals
grew to a large number of human beings which intermixed to
purple coloured masses.
The words have been written in alternating colours red and
blue suggesting a growth of the population by decreasing the
letter size from 36 to 4 points. The last lines will not be printed
in alternating red and blue, but in plain purple colours.
Some original pictures from medieval Bibles illustrate the idea
as a medieval concept for coding the basic symbolism the the
ancient manuscripts.

Hochdorf

Fig 3: Dead body found wrapped in red and

blue towels

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 Fig 4: Reconstructed red and blue
weaving

The weaving of words corresponds to the high density weaving

of the burial garments in blue & red for the sovereign at
Hochdorf, which from a distance will also be seen as a purple
garment.

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The divine image in the early Middle Age

Early biblical symbolism describes God as a man hidden in the

sky, inside the sun or in a cloud. The following image found in
the Vienna Bible from the sixth century symbolizes God as a
red-coloured man sending yellow-golden sun-rays to Joseph,
lying on his bed. The moon does contain a blue-coloured
woman with cow-horns like an Egyptian deity. The stars have
been painted like asterisks in an Egyptian grave.

Fig 5: God as a man in the sky (Wiener Codex - sixth Cent.)

In early Middle Age some medieval people obviously believed

in a male God located in the sky, in the sun or inside a cloud,
accompanied by a woman.

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Another painting in the Vienna-codex symbolizes God as a red-
coloured hand from the sky reaching to a rainbow and sending
a signal to Noah and his relatives.

Fig 6: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)

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Fig 7: Initials - Kremser Bible (1333)

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2 Genesis – weaving the words

Six divine creation phases seem to correlate to splitting phases,

which may correlate to symbolic colours. The created objects
may be listed in the correct sequence of occurrence. Except for
the fishes the birds and man all red coloured symbols seem to
occur in the first place. Traditionally male and female persons
have been symbolized by different colours, but the correct
definition has been blurred in the course of time.
Day first mentioned last mentioned
1 light - Day darkness - Night
2 waters under the expanse waters above the expanse
(sea – salt water) (rain – sweet water)
3 Earth Seas
4 greater light (sun-day) lesser light (moon-night)
5 waters (fishes) earth (birds)
6 man (male) man (female)
man (male) man (female)
Table 1: Creation phases in Book Genesis
Let's check the different phases in detail. The keywords and a
few lines of text will be highlighted in the medieval symbolic
colours red and blue.

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In the beginning
In the beginning God1 created the heavens and the earth. Now
the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface
of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the
waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God
saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light
from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness
he called Night. There was evening and there was morning,
one day.

Fig 8: Initials in the

Kremser Bible (1333)

Traditionally the Egyptians painted the greater light (the sun)

red and the the lesser light (the moon) blue.
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1:1 After “God,” the Hebrew has the two letters “Aleph Tav” (the first and
last letters of the Hebrew alphabet) as a grammatical marker.

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A second day
God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the
expanse, and divided the waters which were under the
expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it
was so. God called the expanse sky. There was evening and
there was morning, a second day.

Fig 9: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)

Standard colours in this section may only be understood if the

expanse may be understood as a rainbow, which reveals blue
colour at the upper border and red colours at the lower border.
The main rainbow has been a divine symbol to the ancient
people. As a remarkable fact the Bible never refers to the
second minor rainbow, which displays a reversed sequence of
colours.

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A third day

Fig 10: Headerline in the Kremser Bible

God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to
one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. God
called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the
waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good. God said,
“Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit
trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the
earth,” and it was so. The earth brought forth grass, herbs
yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its
seed in it, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. There
was evening and there was morning, one day, a third day.

Fig 11: Numbering lines in the Neapolitan Bible

(1360)

There hardly can be any doubt in defining the earth red and the
seas blue.

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A fourth day
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide
the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in
the expanse of sky to give light on the earth,” and it was so.
God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the
light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was
evening and there was morning, one day, a fourth day.

Fig 12: La Divina

Commedia

Traditionally the Egyptians painted the greater light (the sun)

red and the the lesser light (the moon) blue. As a remarkable
fact the night is not dark, but lighted by the lesser light (moon).

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A fifth day
God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living
creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse
of sky.” God created the large sea creatures, and every living
creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their
kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was
good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply,
and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Fig 13: Utrecht Bible

(1460)

There hardly can be any doubt in defining the earth red and the
seas blue.

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A sixth day
God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their
kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their
kind,” and it was so. God made the animals of the earth after
their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that
creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Fig 14: Genesis-line in the Korczek-

Bible (1400)

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created

him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God
said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the
sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The overview of the sixth day reveals only a singular splitting

phase at this sixth day: the separation of the first human being
man into a male and female person, which is to be described in
Genesis later.

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God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed,
which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which
bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal
of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that
creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every
green herb for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that
he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening
and there was morning, the sixth day.

Fig 15: Initial line for the Kremser Bible (1333)

Fig 16: Book “Jonas” in Ulrich Schreier Bible

(1472)

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A seventh day
The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. On the seventh day God finished his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work
which he had made. God blessed the seventh day, and made it
holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had
created and made.

Fig 17: Red & Blue in Goslar Evangelium, ca. 1240 AD

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Fig 18: Trinity God in purple, blue, red and white

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3 Overview of purple coloured text
The following example applies a 4-point sized Genesis text in
Old English Text MT over a dozen of lines at a A5-sized page
to demonstrate the illusion of a purple coloured text, enclosed
inside two header-lines of the Korczek-Bible (Prague - around
1410). These header-lines symbolize the general application of
alternating red and blue letters in most medieval codices
(including the Divina Comedia).

Fig 19: Headerline Korczek-Bible (Prag- around 1410)

In the beginning God2 created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the
waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he
called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.
God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the
waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he
called Seas. God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth,” and it was so.
The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was
morning, one day, a third day. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let
them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth,” and it was so.

Fig 20: Headerline Korczek-Bible (Prag- around 1410)

2:
1:1 After “God,” the Hebrew has the two letters “Aleph Tav” (the first and
last letters of the Hebrew alphabet) as a grammatical marker.

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