I chanced upon this jewel of a website. The tags link at the top of the page will take you to hundreds more.
This website could keep me occupied for days if I have the time. Thought I'd share it.

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/

Please check out his sister sites as well:

http://effigiesandbrasses.com

and

http://armourinart.com/

Thanks for posting this, Christopher! Holy smokes! Just clicking on 'sword' shows a ton of cool stuff. Neato! Thanks again. :D ........McM

Anyone know what is happening here? Is this a biblical story or something else?

[ Linked Image ]

I think its "the slaughter of the innocents" ordered by Herod the Great.

Does anyone know the significance of the red pommels?

Only the guy top left has a sword without one.

Red is likely indicative of copper alloy or gilt pommels. Note Herod's crown and brooch are also rendered in red. It might also indicate something highly burnished (besides brass), as medieval miniatures of angels who are described as shining "like fire" are often shown in red. Light or brightness in the medieval mind being linked to the color of a wood fire.

An example from the same manuscript (Ingeborg Psalter):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...alter3.jpg

A note on the red:

The compound 'gesso' was frequently used as a base for gilding in medieval calligraphy. I'm not sure if this is a modern thing or if they did it back in the day, but in modern usage at least it is common to add some colouring to the gesso once mixed, frequently red, in order to make the normally white compound stand out from the white page.

It's possible that there were portions of the manuscript that were intended to be gilded but for whatever reason were not, and as such the red gesso was left alone as a substitute for the gilding.

Of course, red could simply have been painted as an alternative for gold, which is the most likely case here. The white pommel is probably simply an artistic 'typo'-- the illuminator was supposed to paint them all red but missed one because he's got 341 other pommels to paint in the next few pages...

Could it be his pommel is still silver as he's yet to harm his victim ?
Still innocent himself, the pommel shadowing leaves me thinking it's not a mistake,jmo :confused:

The material under the gilding on parchment ms is 'bole'. Usually from south and central far eastern Europe, Armenia was a preferred source. Gesso is too hard and not sticky enough whereas bole is basically clay and retains moisture for longer making it sticky to apply the gilding to. Gesso is much harder and is more likely found on panel paintings. Because it stays softer its good for burnishing, gesso would crack and crumble under pressure plus its not flexible enough to be used on parchment.

Its thought that the red colour enriches the overlying gold but I'm not that convinced and modern gilders are split on the subject.