Author: A Scholarly Skater
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The Roman de the Rose – Day 15
Read about the illustrations in a medieval French romance poem that was the subject of so many illuminated manuscripts.
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Bindings – Day 14
Medieval manuscript bindings are often overlooked and rarely preserved, but they could be spectacularly elaborate works of art in themselves.
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October in the Calendar Pages – Day 13
Calendar pages appear in Books of Hours and feature scenes for each month. Find out how October was traditionally depicted.
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Herbals – Day 12
Herbals – books about herbs and medicine – were useful texts with plenty of opportunity to illustrate all the different plants they discussed.
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Marginalia (Marginal Illustration) – Day 11
Marginalia – illustrations and other markings in manuscripts’ margins – is one of the most interesting and debated aspects of manuscript studies.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of the Temple of Nike in Sicily
These lion gargoyles come from the Temple of Nike (Victory) at Himera, Sicily. The ancient temple was probably built to commemorate a military victory of the Syracusans (rulers of Sicily) over the Carthaginians c. 480 BCE, though it was destroyed around 408 BCE in another battle that resulted in victory for the Carthaginians. Ruins of…
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The Luttrell Psalter – Day 10
The Luttrell Psalter is a beautiful book that’s celebrated for its animal marginalia and idealized scenes of everyday medieval life.
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Worksop Bestiary – Day 9
Bestiaries – books about animals and their qualities – are my favorite kind of medieval illuminated manuscript because of their great imagery.
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Medieval University Students’ Textbooks – Day 8
Just as they are today, university students were big consumers of books in the Middle Ages. Learn about illuminated textbooks in law, medicine, and more.
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The Manuscript Collection of Jean de Berry – Day 7
Instead of focusing on a manuscript or a component of one, I’ve chosen to write today about medieval history’s most prolific manuscript collector.
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Initials and Capital Letters – Day 6
Initials – capital letters within manuscripts’ texts – are key venues for decoration, aides in navigating the text, and veritable works of art.
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The Black Hours – Day 5
Today’s post is about a truly stunning manuscript that demonstrates the relatively rare but wonderful phenomenon of manuscripts on colored parchment.
