January, Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year ♥

Illuminated Manuscripts

Illuminated manuscripts are the ancestors of our illustrated books. Famous examples are the Book of Kells, Les Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry, and Medieval Bestiaries.

During the Middle Ages, le livre d’images (the picture book) was very popular. If one couldn’t read, the image must have been a delight. The most popular book of the Middle Ages was the Légende dorée (The Golden Legend), by Jacobus de Voragine. It was a hagiography, lives of saints and martyrs, but it outsold the Bible. The first printed Bible is the Gutenberg Bible, which I have not discussed yet.

• The Book of Kells: Details (20 March 2013)
• The Book of Kells Revisited (17 March 2013)
• Books of Hours, a Rich Legacy (20 February 2013)
• Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Revisited (21 December 2012)
• Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (21 December 2012)
• The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours: Comments, Palimpsests (20 November 2011)
• The Book of Kells (11 November 2011)

—ooo—

• Natural Histories (3 October 2014)
• The Ashmole Bestiary (1 March 2013)
• The Aberdeen Bestiary: a Medieval Bestiary (27 February 2013)
• The Medieval Bestiary: the Background (22 February 2013)

—ooo—

• Allegorical Illuminated Manuscripts (20 February 2013)
• The Golden Legend Revisited (12 February 2013)
• Other Illuminated Manuscripts (9 February 2013)
• Jacques de Voragine & The Golden Legend (6 February 2012)

Sources and Resources

1. Bestiary.ca
2. Labours of the Month
3. The Walters Art Museum
   

Muhammad ibn Mustafa Izmiri, Illuminated Double-Page Incipit [first words] (Courtesy Walters Art Museum)

Historiated Letter, Book of Kells  Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
1 January 2016
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