Biblia pauperum

The Biblia pauperum ("Paupers' Bible") was a tradition of picture Bibles beginning in the later Middle Ages. They sought to portray the historical books of the Bible visually. Unlike a simple "illustrated Bible", where the pictures are subordinated to the text, these Bibles placed the illustration in the centre, with only a brief text or sometimes no text at all. Words spoken by the figures in the miniatures could be written on scrolls coming out of their mouths. To this extent one might see parallels with modern cartoon strips.

Originally these took the form of colourful hand-painted vellum manuscripts, though in early modern times printed examples with line-drawn woodcuts also appeared. Despite the name, Bibliae pauperum were clearly not intended for the poor - these manuscripts were typically opulent and often phenomenally expensive.