Starting in the late 12th century, pictorial representations of the seven-branched candelabrum occur frequently in manuscripts. Found almost exclusively together with Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae in genealogiae Christi, a diagrammatic rendering of salvation history, the Menorah appears as a full-page, iconic image. A short explanatory text interprets the candelabrum’s three levels of branches as three degrees of merit exemplified by three biblical figures. In this allegory, Noah stands for the preachers, Daniel for the continent, and Job for the righteous married (based on Ezekiel 14:12–23). The allegorised candelabrum, in presenting the tres gradus fidelium in ecclesia fuerunt (“three grades of the faithful that existed within Church”), provides a visual model of Christian society. Examining the phenomenon of the candelabrum in its context together with the Compendium historiae, this chapter addresses the history of an image, its aesthetics between the diagrammatic and the pictorial, and its implications for the visualisation of history.

Eleanor Goerss and Andrea Worm. 2025. "tres gradus fidelium in ecclesia: The Seven-branched Candelabrum as an Allegory of Social Order in Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae". In: The Menorah and the Seven-branched Candelabrum: Jewish and Christian Manifestations in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, eds. A. Worm and M. Streicher, pp. 169-215. DOI:10.1515/9783111165219-007.

In questo contributo si presenta e descrive il progetto dedicato all’edizione scientifica digitale del “Compendium historie in genealogia Christi” di Pietro di Poitiers (XII-XIII sec.), un’opera inedita che pone molteplici questioni intorno alla sua rappresentazione. Si introducono inoltre i criteri di edizione delle componenti testuali.

Franz Fischer and Agnese Macchiarelli. 2024. “Rappresentare la Storia Sacra: un’impresa ieri, una sfida oggi. Proposta di edizione scientifica digitale del ‘Compendium’ di Pietro di Poitiers”. In Me.Te. Digitali. Mediterraneo in rete tra testi e contesti. Proceedings del XIII Convegno Annuale AIUCD2024 (Quaderni di Umanistica Digitale), pp- 221–225. DOI:10.6092/unibo/amsacta/7927.

Eton College ms. 96 contains a diagram that charts history from the creation of Adam to the middle of the thirteenth century. It was probably made at Glastonbury c. 1250. Among the rulers represented in roundels connected by lines are the dukes of Normandy. Much of the text for the dukes is derived from Robert of Torigni’s chronicle (compiled at Le Bec), demonstrating not only the importance of the dukes of Normandy for the history of the English monarchy, but also providing evidence for the reception of Torigni’s chronicle in the west of England. In addition, the compiler of the Eton manuscript used stories only recorded in the vernacular history written by Wace. But while the latter suggests an interest in some of the colourful stories associated with the dukes, the rubrics identifying the earliest dukes seem to have been mistakenly applied to images in the line of the Byzantine emperors. This draws attention to the challenges of creating or copying such diagrams, but also suggests that two hundred years after the Norman conquest, the Norman ancestors of the English kings were not figures treated with particular care.

Laura Cleaver. 2022. “The Dukes of Normandy in Eton College ms.96 and the Réception of Norman History in Thirteenth-century England”. In: Maîtriser le temps et façonner l'histoire. Les historiens normands au Moyen Age, ed. F. Paquet, pp. 163–182. DOI:10.4000/books.puc.30542.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung behandelt graphische Modelle von Zeit und Raum in Universalchroniken, die als genealogische, linear strukturierte Synopsen angelegt und häufig durch kartographische Darstellungen ergänzt sind. Solche konzeptionell innovativen und künstlerisch oft anspruchsvoll gestalteten Geschichtswerke waren im lateinischen Westen seit dem 12. Jahrhundert auf Rollen, in Codices und seit dem 15. Jahrhundert auch in gedruckten Büchern weit verbreitet. Erstmals werden hier aus der Perspektive der bildwissenschaftlich orientierten Kunstgeschichte die Entstehung und Entwicklung eines historiographischen Genres analysiert, deren gattungsmäßige Eigenständigkeit und diagrammatischer Charakter in der Bezeichnung als Historiogramme Ausdruck finden sollen. Die vorgestellten Werke bringen ein Weltbild zur Anschauung, das Welt und Zeit als von Gott erschaffen und geordnet vorstellt: In diesem Sinne ist ihre graphische Systematik zugleich ästhetisch wirksam und semantisch bedeutsam, denn in ihrer reduktiven Prägnanz legen sie die der menschlichen Vernunft zugängliche Ordnung von Welt und Geschichte offen. In ihnen wurden neue Darstellungsweisen historischer Verläufe (wie die Zeitleiste) und chronologische Systeme (wie die Datierung vor Christus) entwickelt und verbreitet. So trugen Historiogramme maßgeblich zur Dissemination historischen Wissens bei und prägten die Vorstellung von Geschichte bis in die Gegenwart.

Andrea Worm. 2021. “Geschichte und Weltordnung. Bildliche Modelle von Zeit und Raum in Universalchroniken vor 1500”, S. 42–125.

“The power and authority of the papacy became a subject of acute political and social importance in England in the early thirteenth century. In 1208 Pope Innocent III placed the kingdom under interdict, following King John's refusal to accept the election of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest office in the English Church. The interdict involved the entire population, as the clergy were forbidden from providing any sacraments except the baptism of infants and the confession of the dying Roger of Wendover, writing at St Albans, claimed the dead were buried at crossroads and in ditches, like dogs, without prayers or the ministrations of priests. Tue dispute between Innocent and John escalated, and in 1209 the pope excommunicated the king. In 1213 John finally admitted defeat and submitted himself and his kingdom to the pope, becoming the pope's tributary. According to Roger of Wendover’s successor, Matthew Paris, the subsequent lifting of the interdict came as a relief, prompting great rejoicing throughout the kingdom.“

Laura Cleaver. 2020. “The Place of the Papacy in Four Illuminated Histories from Thirteenth-Century England”. In: Authority and Power in the Medieval Church, c. 1000–c. 1500, ed. T. W. Smith, pp. 109–131. DOI: 10.1484/M.ES-EB.5.118959.

„[…] Im Folgenden soll untersucht werden, inwieweit die medialen Eigenheiten von Rolle und Codex Auswirkungen auf die Präsentation der Inhalte haben und welche Gründe – Kontext, Funktion, Adressatenkreis – für die Wahl des jeweiligen Mediums ausschlaggebend gewesen sein könnten. Meine Überlegungen konzentrieren sich dabei auf das Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi. Diese Übersicht zur biblischen Geschichte in Gestalt einer linearen Synopse wurde um 1180 von dem Pariser Theologen Petrus von Poitiers konzipiert. Für eine Fallstudie bietet sich das Compendium historiae deshalb an, weil es – ungewöhnlicherweise – gleichermaßen auf Rollen und in Codices überliefert ist und damit einen direkten intermedialen Vergleich ermöglicht. […]“

Andrea Worm. 2018. “Medium und Materialität: Petrus von Poitiers’ Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi in Rolle und Codex“. In: Codes und Materialität, eds. P Carmassi and G. Toussaint, pp. 39–64 (Wolfenbütteler Mittelalter-Studien 34). URL: https://www.academia.edu/40717478/Medium_und_Materialität_Petrus_von_Poitierss_Compendium_historiae_in_genealogia_Christi_in_Rolle_und_Codex.

“This article is devoted to a little known early thirteenth-century manuscript copy of a work that was of preeminent importance in the development of visual models, Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi. Conceived in the last quarter of the twelfth century, the Compendium historiae originally functioned as a linear survey of biblical history, yet it did not take long before its lines were extended, and the work was thus transformed into a universal chronicle. The first copy of the Compendium historiae in which such an expansion can be observed was written and illuminated around the second decade of the thirteenth century in England (London, British Library, Cotton MS Faustina B VII).”

Worm, A. 2018b. “England’s Place Within Salvation History in a Thirteenth-Century Copy of Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae (London, British Library, Ms. Cotton Faustina B VII).” In Writing History in the Anglo-Norman World: Manuscripts, Makers and Readers, c. 1066–c. 1250, eds. L. Cleaver and A. Worm, pp. 29–52. DOI:10.1017/9781787442894.

“In the majority of cases, the process of transmission for texts found in both rolls and codices in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries seems, logically, to have moved from roll to codex. Material recorded first on rolls that could be easily expanded through the addition of sheets of parchment might then be copied into sturdier books. Yet occasionally the process was reversed, with texts that were widely available in book form being copied into rolls. Part of the explanation for this must lie in the visual appearance of the resulting rolls, which contributed to shaping the experience of the user […]”

Laura Cleaver. 2014. “From Codex to Roll: Illustrating History in the Anglo-Norman World in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.”. In: Anglo-Norman Studies 36, pp. 69¬90. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt5vj7bq.10.

“This article is devoted to a little known early thirteenth-century manuscript copy of a work that was of preeminent importance in the development of visual models, Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi. Conceived in the last quarter of the twelfth century, the Compendium historiae originally functioned as a linear survey of biblical history, yet it did not take long before its lines were extended, and the work was thus transformed into a universal chronicle. The first copy of the Compendium historiae in which such an expansion can be observed was written and illuminated around the second decade of the thirteenth century in England (London, British Library, Cotton MS Faustina B VII).”

Laura Cleaver. 2013. “Past, Present and Future for Thirteenth-Century Wales: Two Diagrams in British Library, Cotton Roll XIV.12.”. In: Electronic British Library Journal, article 13. DOI: 10.23636/1003.

The 12th century saw an unparalleled systematization of knowledge, characterized by an increasing use of visual concepts. The rise of a ‘diagrammatic mode’ for the visualization of complex information also affected the way in which history and chronology were laid out. Of particular importance in this regard are two Parisian scholars, Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096–1141) and Peter of Poitiers (c. 1130–1205). Both of them explored visual strategies to structure and display historical and chronological information. Hugh of Saint Victor employed tables and lists in his Chronicon, while in his Libellus de formatione arche he used a complex visual matrix in order to describe the cosmos and the history of salvation. Peter of Poitiers conceived his Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi as a genealogical diagram. This work, the first historical synopsis with a linear structure, became the model for numerous other genealogical chronicles and, eventually, also for modern synoptic tables. In this article, I will explore how historical data and information were organized on the page, and how the past was interpreted by presenting history in a visually ordered format.

Andrea Worm. 2013. “Visualising the Order of History: Hugh of Saint Victor’s Chronicon and Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae.”. In: Romanesque and the Past: Retrospection in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque Europe, eds. R. Plant and J. McNeill, pp. 243–264.

Structural variation in the genealogical graphs of the Compendium Historiae merits closer examination. This case study analyzes the depiction of Adam, Eve, and their children, focusing on the visualization of genealogical relationships across different manuscript witnesses. Although the basic constellation—Adam and Eve with five children—remains stable, the diagrams exhibit significant differences in layout, connective logic, and framing. By abstracting these features and systematically documenting their variation across multiple diagrammatic dimensions, the study serves as both a methodological experiment and a proof of concept for the comparative analysis of structural variance in the genealogical graph across the manuscript groups previously defined in the project.

This case study presents some stemmatological investigations into the development and transmission of the Compendium Historiae through an exemplary study of the Tribes Diagram. This stemmatological approach is based on formalized descriptions of visual and structural features that are analyzed using phylogenetic methods. Moving beyond text-centered stemmatology, the approach models codicological, structural, and iconographic features as binary data for algorithmic analysis. A feature matrix comprising these diagrammatic characteristics was constructed for more than 150 manuscripts and subsequently analyzed using phylogenetic algorithms originally developed in bioinformatics.

Preliminary results were presented at the DHd’25 conference. The original dataset can be found on Zenodo. A full journal article detailing the methodology and findings is forthcoming in 2026.

Cugliana, Elisa; Mertgens, Andreas; Sahle, Patrick; Ioannu, Johannes; Rouxel, Lennart; Goerss, Eleanor: Phylogenetische Überlieferungsanalyse mit Feature-Matrizen zur Bild- bzw. Diagrammbeschreibung. Ein Versuch an den Handschriften des 'Compendium Historiae' (12. Jh.ff). DOI 10.5281/zenodo.14943153 In: DHd 2025 - Book of Abstracts. Ed. by Nils Reiter et al. Zenodo 2025. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.14887460. Additional: Presentation Slides

Mertgens, Andreas; Rouxel, Lennart; Ioannu, Johannes. 2024. Datenset zur phylogenetischen Analyse des Stämme-Diagramms im 'Compendium Historiae'. Zenodo. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.12780158

Cugliana, Elisa; Mertgens, Andreas; Sahle, Patrick; Ioannu, Johannes; Rouxel, Lennart; Goerss, Eleanor. [forthcoming 2026]. "Towards a Multimodal Stemmatology: Visual Genealogies through a Feature Matrix for Diagrammatic Variation in the Compendium historiae". ZfdG (Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften).