list of medieval literature with links to read.
i’ll continue to update with more texts, better scans, & different editions. enjoy!
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comfort boob grab
in an astrological-astronomical manuscript, germany, ca. 1445
source: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. germ. fol. 244, fol. 142r
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Typography Tuesday
We return to our facsimile of a 16th-cnetury calligraphic manuscript, Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta, or Model Book of Calligraphy, written in 1561/62 by Georg Bocskay, the Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, and illuminated 30 years later by Flemish painter Joris Hoefnagel for the grandson of Ferdinand I, Emperor Rudolph II. The manuscript was produced by Bocskay in Vienna to demonstrate his technical mastery of the immense range of writing styles known to him. To complement and augment Bocskay's calligraphy, Hoefnagel added fruit, flowers, and insects to nearly every page, composing them so as to enhance the unity and balance of the page’s design. Although the two never met, the manuscript has an uncanny quality of collaboration about it.
Our facsimile was the first facsimile produced from the collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. It was printed in Lausanne, Switzerland by Imprimeries Reunies and published by Christopher Hudson in 1992.
View another post from Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta,
View more Typography Tuesday posts.
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Upcoming Exhibit and Lecture: Illustrating the Renaissance Book: From Illumination to Woodcut
Valerius Maximus (1st c. AD). Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX. Italy. 15th c. Parchment,126 fols. Fol. 5r
Full-page illumination from Carta Executoria de hidalguia de sangre a pedimento de Don Juan de Mansilla como curador de Doña Francisca de Mansilla, hija de Baltasar de Mansilla, vecinos de la villa de Aranda de Duero. Valladolid, 1636 Parchment, 93 fols. Fol. 2r
Full-page woodcut depicting the procession of Priapus, the Greek god of animal and vegetable fertility. Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du songe de Poliphile Ed: Jean Martin Paris: Jean le Blanc for Jacques Kerver, 1561 Fol. 69r. Loan courtesy of William P. Heidrich
Come explore a selection of manuscripts and early printed books from the 15th to the 17th centuries that were illustrated with illuminations and woodcuts! The display will be up in the Hatcher Gallery Exhibit Room from 6 September to 14 December.
And join us on Wednesday 13 September at 4p in the Hatcher Gallery event space or on zoom a for lecture based on the exhibit.
We hope to see you there!
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Folio 7 verso, Les Évangiles de Saint-Médard de Soissons
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My copy from the Book of Kells, illuminated manuscript created in the 9th century in Ireland
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A Short History of the Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts
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Important #PSA for those who may be sharing medieval owl memes for #Superb_Owl Sunday as these owls (especially #1) often show up in them, and unfortunately there are unfunny reasons why they look the way it do. :/
#DYK that some medieval bestiary owls carry antisemitic context that may not be obvious to the casual modern viewer? Sadly, these nocturnal owls were used to symbolize Jews living in darkness and rejecting the light of Christ.
Features to watch for include: anthropomorphized faces with beaks made to resemble hooked noses; owl "horns" drawn like devil horns (and the horned hats some Jews had to wear); and "mobbing" by other birds (a real-life behavior, but also used to symbolize attacking a sinner).
For more info:
1. Miyazaki, Mariko. "Misericord owls and medieval anti-Semitism." In The Mark of the Beast: The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature, pp. 23-43. Routledge, 2013.
2. Greatley-Hirsch, Brett. "From Jew to Puritan: the emblematic owl in early English culture." In ‘This Earthly Stage’: World and Stage in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, pp. 131-172. Brepols, 2010. PDF available online.
Image sources:
British Library, Harley MS 4751 (Harley Bestiary), folio 47r
Westminster Abbey Library MS 22 (Westminster Bestiary), f. 40
Aberdeen University Library, Univ. Lib. MS 24 (Aberdeen Bestiary), f. 50r
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 1951 (Bestiaire d'amour rimé), f. 15v
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'Psalter ('The Luttrell Psalter')', 1325-1340
MS 42130, folio 176v
Source
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Say it with flowers!
This image of an elephant and castle comes from a 12th-century copy of the Roman writer Orosius's History Against the Pagans. It illustrates a passage on King Pyrrhus and his battle elephants. If you look closely, a soldier has popped out the side of the castle to direct the war elephant with some fragrant blooms.
Materials: parchment, ink and pigments
Date: mid-12th century
Origin: an Augustinian priory in Kirkham, Yorkshire
Now British Library, Burney MS 216, f. 33r
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demon being punished by an angel
in the "ottheinrich-bibel", vol. 8, illuminated in 1530 by mathis gerung
source: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 8010(8, fol. 303 verso [detail].
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Manuscript Monday
This Insular manuscript was created by Irish Catholics, who were well known to be stewards of knowledge and artistic ability during the ‘dark ages’ of the 6th-10th centuries CE. In particular, the Insular style consists of flattened, two-dimensional figures of people and animals accompanied by elaborate ornamentation throughout its pages. We often see interlacing designs and Celtic knots within this ornamentation and the proportions and rendering of the figures and architecture seen throughout the manuscript are not always realistic. For example, in the Book of Kells, produced around 800 CE by Irish monks in Scottish west-coast island of Iona, the columns holding up the arches on canon tables are circular and would lack structural integrity in the real world, for obvious reasons. We can see the flattened, strange rendering of figures on folio 32v (shown below), which is a depiction of Christ Enthroned. Christ’s knee is lifted to hold up the codex in his hand, but the placement of his knee is anatomically incorrect. We also see the flatness of the figure and the inclusion of ornamentation throughout the image, and we can see even more of this decoration on carpet pages throughout the manuscript. The Insular style was not only limited to manuscripts but was also used in metal objects like broaches, chalices, sculpture, and architecture which are also said to have been inspiration for Insular style manuscripts.
Our copy of the facsimile of the Book of Kells was published by the Faksimile Verlag of Luzern, Switzerland in 1990 and includes a separate volume with commentary edited by the noted Trinity College librarian Peter Fox. If you have the urge to see the original Book of Kells, it is shown in the Trinity College Library in Dublin. The library shows two folios of the manuscript at a time and changes the pages shown every twelve weeks.
View more Manuscript Monday posts.
– Sarah S., Special Collections Graduate Intern
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An Extraordinary New Acquisition!
We are delighted to announce an important recent acquisition made possible by the generosity of Katharine J. Kilgour: a manuscript containing the texts of a Book of Hours and a Psalter. Written in Latin and French, it was exquisitely illuminated by one of the leading miniaturists working in Paris in the first two decades of the sixteenth century: Jean Coene IV. Read more!
Detail of miniature by Jean Coene IV, "Lamentation over the Dead Christ", in the opening of the Office of our Lady of Compassion, f. 28. Book of Hours & Psalter. Parchment manuscript, 256 folios. Paris, ca. 1505-1515.
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Folio 3 recto, Melisende Psalter
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