ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

‘Manuscript’ originates from the Latin meaning ‘handwritten’. Before printing existed, all books had to be written out by hand which was a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, taking months or even years. Before paper was used the customary material they used for writing was parchment, made from treated animal skins. Some manuscripts were made even more valuable by embellishing them by using bright colours and gold or silver to initial letters or to portray entire scenes or used borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations thus the term ‘illumination’. This term comes from the Latin word ‘illuminare’ which means to ‘lit up’ where the impression was that the pages had been illuminated. They did this to mark important passages, or to enhance or comment on the meaning of the text.

Folio 4 verso of the Aberdeen Bestiary. The illumination shows the Christ in Majesty.

Illuminated Manuscripts were generally written in ink on parchment or vellum. Vellum was the best quality of parchment and was traditionally made of whole calf skin. The text was first written by a scribe and then the gilding, or the application of gold leaf, formed the first stage in the painting process of illumination by the illuminator. The application of colour was then added following a planned design. Illustration of books was functional as well as decorative. Illuminated initials and painted miniatures marked the beginnings of important sections in the text and allowed readers to navigate the book. In these illuminated manuscripts, words and images worked together to inform the medieval reader and occasionally these readers left their own mark making them highly interactive. Nearly all medieval manuscripts provide ample space in the margins for readers' notes and comments. In this way, illuminated manuscripts are different from other types of media in that they provided spaces for readers to record their reactions to image and text.

Heures de Maréchal de Boucicaut (Stundenbuch), Szene: Dame während der Messe 1410-1415

These ‘illuminated manuscripts’ date back from the 5th century, though it was not until about 1100 that the production of manuscripts began to increase especially when new monasteries were founded as most of these manuscripts were done for the religious institutions as early in the 12th Century. Two hundred years after the death of Christ, Christian art and religious iconography began, where the earliest surviving illuminated manuscript is dated 400AD. These manuscripts are divided into different periods including the Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance periods.

These Illuminators were usually modest craftsmen who ‘belonged’ to either the painter’s guild or another guild involved in the book trade. Most of these artists’ work remained anonymous and only after the late Middle Ages they had started to sign their art by small illustrative representations of themselves.

Due to the extensive time and expense to create these books, only wealthy customers could afford such work of art. Thus, with the advent of book printing on paper in the late Middle Ages, this “golden age” of manuscript illumination gradually disappeared in the course of the sixteenth century. Handmade books increasingly gave way to printed editions with the advent of moveable type from the 1450s, although manuscripts continued to be produced, particularly for wealthy patrons.

Tyniec Sacramentary: Initial "V"

References:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/medieval-manuscripts.html
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntro5.asp
http://www.illuminatedpage.com/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript