Illuminated Manuscripts

Society and Art: A Closer

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Vocabulary

Medieval Manuscript

A prayer book intended for use in private or family devotions (prayers)

Usually contain a collection of prayers and devotions dedicated to the Virgin Mary and recited or sung at the

canonical "hours" (eight set times during the day).

Also added other elements such as a calendar, penitential psalms, litanies, suffrages, etc.

Elaborate versions contain a full cycle of miniatures as well as involved marginal decorations.

Books of hours form the most popular and abundant of all surviving medieval manuscripts.

Book of Hours

Another term for all handwritten books (manuscripts) on individual leaves of vellum that can be turned and read in succession.

Became popular after the scroll

Codex

grotesque. Animal and human hybrids

that inhabit the initials and foliate (leafy) borders of Gothic manuscript leaves.

Drollery

An enlarged initial containing individual figures or groups that interact; they often form narrative scenes that illustrate or refer to the text they introduce.

Historiated Initial

Decorated with paintings and drawings, usually ornamented with gold, silver, and brilliant colors.

Illuminated

decorator or painter of a vellum codex

Illuminator

An emphasized letter at the beginning of a text; used in medieval manuscripts to form breaks within a text and to prioritize the components of the text by drawing the attention of the reader

a purely medieval invention and often lavishly decorated.

See also historiated initial

Initial

A picture, frequently narrative, used as illustration in a manuscript (from Latin minium, a red

pigment used in manuscript painting).

Miniature

The skin of animals (cattle, sheep, or goats) used as manuscript leaves, prepared by soaking and stretching.

Also called vellum, with which it is often used interchangeably.

Parchment

Art in Medieval times reflected their societal values

What did they value the most? (Think back to our notes!)

RELIGION

This can even be seen in their manuscripts, or handwritten texts.

Medieval Art

More medieval books survive from the Middle Ages than any other type of art

Hand-made books are known as manuscriptsBooks that contain artistic decoration are

known as illuminated manuscriptsUsually religious texts

Mostly ChristianSome Jewish and Muslim texts survive

Medieval Manuscripts

Medieval manuscript is a codexA book of pages bound between two boardsPages protected by covers, so more survived

throughout the agesAncient scribes wrote on scrolls that were

stored in boxesRolls stored in boxes- Fragile-vulnerable to breaking down, so only fragments remain

Codex vs Scroll

As a reflection of society, most Medieval texts are religious in nature.

The works of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle

The original manuscripts of these works have not survived. They are only known today thanks to Medieval

scribes who copied them into codices.

What’s in the books?

The printing press did not exist in the Middle AgesHow did they record and spread

information, then?

All books were copied BY hand (usually by monks) and most were kept in monastery librairies

Monks traveled to distant monasteries to view and copy books to bring back to their own monasteries.

Many Medieval texts were destroyed in monastery fires, so not all texts survived the Middle Ages

A slow process

Illustrated manuscripts are known as illuminated manuscripts.

Illustrations were decorative and functionalMarked the beginning of sectionsSometimes told a story (remember- MOST

people could not read)

Illustrations

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During the Middles Ages, most people could not read. Only very wealthy or scholarly people owned books, which were hand-written and illustrated. While many books were for religious use, there were also books of  music, literature, and legends.

Book manufacture involved a number of steps. Pages were made from parchment, a sturdy material produced from treated and cleaned animal skin. Lines were lightly drawn as guides to keep the writing neat. A quill from a large bird would be used for large text, while a quill from a sparrow might be used for fine writings. Areas were reserved for the illuminations, or illustrations. These might include a border decoration (marginalia), enlargement of the first letter of the text decorated with a scene relating to the topic (historiated initial), or a miniature painting filling either a quarter, half, or a full page.

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