The most solemn representation of the legitimacy of Joanna’s succession is represented in the so-called Anjou Bible (Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit, Maurits Sabbe Library, cod. 1). It is one of the most lavishly decorated of the illuminated manuscripts produced on the patronage of the court of Naples. The manuscript has been attributed to the commission of Robert of Anjou in the late 1330s, or of the royal counselor and chancellor Niccolò Alunno d’Alife around 1343 (active 1328–1367) and has been considered a present for Andrew of Hungary
[10] (pp. 404–405)
[17] (pp. 21, 117) or a wedding present for both Joanna and Andrew
[5] (p. 179), or an homage for queen Sancia of Maiorca (
[16], pp. 107–108). It was for the most part realized by the scribe
Iannucius de Matrice and the illuminator Cristoforo Orimina but completed after Andrew’s death: in this last decoration campaign, Andrew’s connection with the book was expunged by overpainting the numerous Hungarian dynastic symbols with Niccolo’s coats of arms. The manuscript contains a celebrated full-page decoration with the representation of the Angevin genealogy in the frontispiece (fol. 4r). The famous miniature (
Figure 3) represents the unfolding of the dynastic line through the solemn designation of each sovereign by his predecessor, with an emphasis on the role of the queens that reinforce the image of a female royal tradition
[18] (p. 522)
[13] (pp. 1–4). In the first row, Charles I, seated on a sumptuous throne next to his wife Beatrice of Provence, crowns his son Charles II in the presence of armed warriors, who seem to evoke the climate of strong political and military tensions of the first years after the conquest of the Kingdom (1266). In the second row Charles II, seated next to Mary of Hungary, indicates among his children, Charles Martel, Louis and Robert, the third son as his successor on the throne of Naples. Finally, Robert receives the homage of Andrea of Hungary, while Joanna kneels before Sancia in the company of her sister Mary, both introduced by their father Charles of Calabria. The queen is represented many other times in the manuscript miniatures, both in public and private contexts, for example sitting on a throne and flanked by jousting knights (fol. 231v), with Andrew caressing her (fol. 249r), playing chess with King Robert (fol. 257r), falcon hunting with Andrew (fol. 278r). On fol. 309r, three images show King Robert or Niccolò d’Alife commissioning the manuscript, the same character while reading it with Joanna and offering it to another person, probably Andrew (
[16], pp. 104–105).