The Bible Historiale was the predominant medieval translation of the Bible into French. It translates from the Latin Vulgate significant portions from the Bible accompanied by selections from the Historia Scholastica by Peter Comestor (d. c. 1178), a literal-historical commentary that summarizes and interprets episodes from the historical books of the Bible and situates them chronologically with respect to events from pagan history and mythology. It is part of the wider phenomenon of . Authorship The composite work is organized into parts labeled "text", i.e. from the Bible; "gloss", offering interpretations based on the Historia Scholastica, other authoritative commentaries or the translator's own opinion; "incidents", which insert parallel histories from pagan history and mythology; and "histories", passages directly translated from Comestor's work. It was composed between 1291 and 1295 (1294 old system) by priest and canon Guyart des Moulins, who added a prologue in 1297 announcing his recent election as dean of his canonical chapter at the collegial church of Saint Pierre d'Aire-sur-la-Lys. Describing his own role as translating and "ordering" the text, Guyart censored or omitted portions of the Bible that "should not, according to reason, be translated", rearranged materials "so that the laity might find them better ordered" and, on occasion, added further commentaries of his own or from other sources to produce the work known as the Bible Historiale in accordance with prevailing norms and expectations of Bible translation. Later scribes and compilers further revised and modified the work according to the changing priorities of readers, patrons, and the church. Copies The work was copied in many manuscripts, of which more than a hundred survive, most of them richly illuminated, some with more than 300 miniatures. Genesis is typically especially heavily illustrated. In this respect, it is similar to other vernacular medieval redactions of the Bible such as the Bible moralisée, Biblia pauperum and Speculum Humanae Salvationis; it differed from these, however, in containing extended direct translations from the Bible. The French name is usually used in English, at least partly because scholars differ as to whether "Historiale" should be translated as "historical" or "historiated" (illustrated). Contents vary tremendously among manuscript copies. Guyart des Moulins did not translate the entire Bible; he seems to have only treated the historical books of the Bible, abridged versions of Job and Proverbs and the combined Gospels, based on Peter Comestor's Historia Evangelica. As early as 1317, however, Paris book shops