Bible of Federico da Montefeltro (Bibbia Urbinate, Urb. lat. 1–2)
Catalogue updated 2026-06-08
In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. Terra autem erat inanis et vacua.
Our renderingIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty.
What it is
The monumental illuminated Vulgate Bible commissioned by Federico III da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, from a Florentine workshop under Vespasiano da Bisticci between 1476 and 1478. Comprising two volumes (Urb. lat. 1–2, now Vatican Apostolic Library), it measured 596 × 442 mm and was bound in gold brocade with silver locks — the preeminent manuscript in Federico's library of some 900 codices. Federico's biographer Vespasiano da Bisticci testified that the duke was 'very religious and observant of divine precepts,' rose early for prayer, and considered the Bible the 'chief of all writings.' The manuscript was produced not merely as a scholarly or status object but as the spiritual foundation of the humanist prince's library and personal devotion.
Why it still matters
The Vulgate text used by Federico remains accessible in bilingual editions and online; his practice of beginning the day with Scripture before study models a lectio divina approach that any Christian can adopt.
Oratio starter guide
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere
Kept alongside
Thomas à Kempis: De Imitatione Christi (The Imitation of Christ)
Perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work after the Bible, the Imitation of Christ counsels interior piety, Eucharistic devotion, and detachment from worldly ambition — values promoted at both the Wittelsbach Counter-Reformation court and in Erasmian Lutheran circles in Saxony. The Jesuits recommended it throughout their German mission work, making it a standard text in the Bavarian court milieu under Albert V and William V; Luther himself was formed in the Devotio Moderna tradition from which it springs. No single Wettin or Wittelsbach ownership record has been located, and the dual-house listing reflects the near-universal presence of the text in every German Catholic and Erasmian Protestant court of the period rather than documented patronage.
Trilingual Psalter of Federico da Montefeltro (Psalterium trilingue, Urb. lat.)
A parallel-text Psalter in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro after he acquired a sizeable collection of Hebrew manuscripts for the Urbino library. The illuminated initial letters reflect the three textual traditions — Western, Byzantine, and Jewish artistic styles respectively — making it a unique monument of Renaissance humanist and devotional scholarship. Documented in the Vatican Library's Humanist Prince thematic exhibition, the Psalter embodied Federico's programme of learning the languages of Scripture as an act of princely piety and intellectual formation, and almost certainly was used in the tutoring of his heir Guidobaldo.
The Imitation of Christ
De Imitatione Christi
Written by Thomas à Kempis in the Netherlands in the circle of the Brethren of the Common Life — the same Devotio Moderna movement that directly shaped Margaret of York's documented devotional practice and the piety of Isabella of Portugal at the Burgundian court — the Imitation became the most copied vernacular religious text in 15th-century Europe, circulating in thousands of manuscripts and hundreds of early printed editions. Its four books move from the vanity of worldly learning through conformity to Christ, inward consolation, and finally the sacrament of the Eucharist, forming a complete program of interior conversion. No specific ducal inventory copy has been identified linking this text to Valois-Burgundy by name, but its presence in court circles of this era and region is established through movement history rather than document. It remains the second most widely read Christian book after the Bible.