Happy New Year to all of you.
I wish you good health and glorious days.
The year 2016 was somewhat bumpy. It brought Brexit and Donald Trump. Mr Trump may not be a duly-elected President of the United States because Russian President Vladimir Putin meddled in an American election.
Let us hope Mr Trump does not change what has been put into place radically. He does not have a clear mandate and countries need stability and continuity. Moreover, what happens in the United States affects the entire world.
A New Year is a beginning and I hope 2017 will bring us joy and peace.
I am inserting Mozart’s Laudate Dominum. It is one of the finest compositions ever. (SeeVesperæ sollenes de confessore,K.339, Wikipedia)
The Battle of Agincourt by Enguerrant de Monstrelet[1](Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jeanne d’Arc
Painting, c. 1485. An artist’s interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Although it seems difficult to believe, there was a Jeanne d’Arc (6 January c. 1412 – 30 May 1431). She was born to a peasant family in Domrémy in north-east France, and was directed by the ArchangelMichael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine to fight the English who claimed France as their realm and lead Charles VII the Dauphin,[2] to Reims cathedral where he would be crowned King of France. Kings of France were crowned at Reims cathedral.
Jeanne, or Jehanne, was nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans,” La Pucelle d’Orléans.
The Hundred Years’ War
I have been trying to tell the story of the Hundred Years’ War waged between 1337 and 1453 and must report that it is difficult to fit such a topic in a post.
The Hundred Years’ War opposed the French House of Valois and the English House of Plantagenet, but it was an interrupted war. Basically, it was a war of succession. Eleanor of Aquitaine had married English King Edward II, after her marriage to Louis VII of France was annulled. She had failed to produce a heir to the throne of France. Only males could inherit the crown. She did not lose Aquitaine, so her descendants felt they could claim the throne of France.
That’s how the military conflicts began.
[I have read that during the Hundred Years’ War, it was also proposed that William I, Duke of Normandy having conquered Britain at the Battle of Hastings (1066), Britain could claim the French crown.]
In 1337, English monarch Edward III claimed he was heir to the French crown as the grandson of Philip IV of France. His mother, Isabella of France, was the daughter of King Philip IV. His son, Edward the Black Prince, was the great-grandson of Philip IV of France.
Three battles were fought regarding this claim. Edward III fought the Battle of Sluys, a sea battle, on 24 June 1340. It was an English victory. Six years later, on 26 August 1346, he fought the Battle of Crécy, which was also an English victory. On 19 September 1356, Edward, the Black Prince, Edward III’s son, fought the Battle of Poitiers. It was also an English victory, but the war was not over. It had just begun.
The Black Death
The Battle of Crécy was followed by the Black Death. The Black Death, the plague, was a pandemics that took the life of an estimated 75 to 200 million Europeans. Poland was spared. The Black Death peaked in the years 1346-1353. (See Black Death, Wikipedia.)
There were other battles, which I must leave aside.
Battle of Sluys, 1340
Battle of Crécy, 1346
Edward, the Black Prince
Battle of Sluys, Chroniques de Jean Froissart
Battle of Crécy, Chroniques de Jean Froissart
Edward, the Black Prince (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
During the Caroline War, French King Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422) opposed the Burgundian Dukes. Charles VI of France was 11 years old when his father died (1380). The Dukes of Burgundy therefore ruled France. They were extremely powerful and wanted to reign. In 1388, Charles VI dismissed them all, which was humiliating.
1392
However, in 1392, Charles VI went mad. He nearly killed his brother: Louis I, Duke of Orleans. As of that event, Charles VI the Beloved, le Bien-Aimé, was transformed into King Charles le Fol or le Fou, the Mad. He had long periods of sanity and therefore reigned until his death in 1422, two years after he signed the Treaty of Troyes, discussed below.
1407 – 1435 (Louis d’Orléans is assassinated by a Burgundian = a civil war)
Finally, in 1407, Louis I, Duke of Orleans, a profligate ‘prince of the blood,’ or possible heir to the kingdom of France, was assassinated by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, the event that triggered the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War. The Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War erupted in 1407 and lasted until 1435: 28 years. The Armagnacs were loyal to the House of Valois (Charles VI). When Joan of Arc saved France (1429), the Burgundians fought for England, or the House of Plantagenet, but Scottish troops supported the Armagnacs, the French House of Valois.
the Treaty of Troyes (1420) Charles VII is disinherited
Charles VII, of France (crowned in 1429, because of Joan of Arc)
Joan of Arc was active in 1428 – 1429, during the Lancastrian Wars (1415 – 1453), named after John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford. The war continued to oppose members of the French House of Valois and English House of Plantagenet, but the Siege of Orleans, Jeanne d’Arc’s victory, destroyed the English Kings’ hope to reign over France, but claims did not end. The matter of succession was contentious.
1415
Emboldened by the death, by assassination, of Louis I, Duke of Orleans and by the illness of Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), King Henry V of England attacked the French at Azincourt (Agincourt). Charles VI, pictured below, did not participate in the Battle of Agincourt, nor did his 12 year-old son, the future Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461). The Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415), was a decisive English victory. Charles VI avoided capture. However, Charles Duke of Orleans (24 November 1394 – 5 January 1465), was taken into captivity. He was the son of Louis I, Duke of Orleans, an assassinated prince.
Catherine gave birth to a son, the future King Henry VI of England and France, on 6 December 1421. English King Henry VI never saw his son. He was on a campaign in France and died of dysentery, in 1422. Therefore, when Henry V died, in 1422, Henry VI (b.1421), still an infant, was heir to the throne of France.
Nothing so defies logic as the Treaty of Troyes (1420). French King Charles VI disinherited his son Charles VII, the rightful heir. Henry V, King of England would inherit the French throne and he had a son, Philip VI.
The King of France himself, King Charles VI, gave France to the English in what must have been a moment of delusion. Hence the great pity the Archangel Michael asked Joan of Arc to end. In the eyes of the French, Charles VII was King of France by right of primogeniture, the firstborn, but he had not been crowned and Henry VI of England had been made heir to the kingdom of France. John Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, hence the Lancastrian wars, acted as regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI.
Our story ends with the Siege of Orleans. Given their victory at the Battle of Agincourt and by virtue of the Treaty of Troyes, the British had the upper hand. The Siege began on 12 October 1428 at Orleans, territory belonging to imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans. It was a protracted siege, but it was lifted by 8 May 1429.
Jeanne d’Arc entered the Siege late in the conflict, on 22 March 1429, its sixth month, and there were further delays. At first, French officials would not hear her. She was telling a tale that was difficult to believe. She was divinely-ordained to defeat the English and to take Charles VII to Reims. When, at long last, she was allowed to meet the uncrowned King Charles VII, he put own garments that did not suggest he was the King. Yet, she identified him immediately.
The siege of Orleans was lifted by 8 May 1429 and Charles VII was crowned at Reims, on 17 July 1429. Henry VI of England, was crowned King of England on 6 November 1429 and King of France on 16 December 1431, at Notre-Dame de Paris.
However, the war was lost when French King Charles VII was crowned in Reims and France was again a kingdom. Between 1422 and 1429, it had been two kingdoms.
The House of Plantagenet was not able to claim France as its rightful inheritance. The Hundred Years’ War was, to a large extent, a war of succession, but an uncommon war of succession. As unbelievable as it may seem, King Charles VI of France bequeathed France to the King of England, Philip VI, disinheriting his own son, which was treason.
As for Joan of Arc, would that Charles VII, King of France, had saved her. He may have been a coward.
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.
Livre d’images de madame Marie Hainaut, vers 1285-1290 Paris, BnF, Naf 16251, fol. 22v. La naissance du Christ est annoncée aux bergers, aux humbles. “Et voici qu’un ange du seigneur leur apparut [.]. Ils furent saisis d’une grande frayeur. Mais l’ange leur dit : “Ne craignez point, car je vous annonce une bonne nouvelle [.]” (The Birth of Christ announced to the Shepherds) (Photo credit: the National Library of France [BnF])
—ooo—
Introduction
I am providing you with a list of natural historians. There are other historians than those I have listed. Moreover, some of the authors of Medieval Bestiaries were historians. My sources are the Medieval Bestiary and Wikipedia.
The Contents of Natural Histories
Nature included not only animals, plants, flowers, but “the moon, stars, and the zodiac, the sun, the planets, the seasons and the calendar[.]” (Vincent de Beauvais). I have already noted that our humble calendars were cultural monuments. Jean de France’s Livre d’heures (Book of Hours) is probably the chief example of humanity’s need to chronicle its hours and the labours of the months. Les Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry and the Book of Kells are genuine treasures. The beauty of the Book of Kells never ceases to amaze me. It is always new. As for Jean de France, Duc de Berry’s Livre d’heures, it is also an extremely beautiful book and it features the zodiac, thereby attesting to continuity between “paganism” and Christianity.
The Testimonial of Explorers: Marco Polo
The authors of the Natural Histories relied to a large extent on the testimonial of earlier natural historians, which did not make for accuracy, but was acceptable in the Middle Ages. Predecessors were masters one strove to equal. Marco Polo‘s (15 September, 1254 – 8–9 January, 1324) Book of the Marvels of the World (Le Livre des merveilles du monde), c. 1300,was also a source for natural historians who lived during Marco Polo’s lifetime and afterwards.
Marco Polo, however, did not have a camera and it would appear that few artists accompanied him. His descriptions could therefore be edited. Discovering trade routes, the silk road, was a more important mission for him than cataloging animals. Last September (2014),it was suggested that Marco Polo discovered America. (See The Telegraph.)
The Bestseller of the Middle Ages: The Golden Legend
Although Natural Histories listed mythical animals and much lore, I would not dismiss the accounts of the natural historians of Greece, Rome, early Christianity, and the Christian Middle Ages. Their books reveal various steps in our history. For instance, the bestseller of the Middle Ages was Jacobus de Voragine’s (c. 1230 – 13 or 16 July 1298) Golden Legend,which contained mostly inaccurate hagiographies (lives of saints). Although it was rather fanciful, it served as a mythology and humans need mythologies. They need to trace their roots.
Claudius Alienus’ On the Characteristics of Animals is available in print: Book 1, Book 2. But it may be read online at Internet Archive (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3). So are other books. For my purposes, On the Characteristics of Animals (EN) was extremely useful. It is the natural history I used when I prepared my course on Beast Literature.
Beatus de Saint-Sever. Manuscrit copié à Saint-Sever, XIe siècle, avant 1072 BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 8878 fol. 14 (An “historiated” letter: note the “eternal” knots andRenart standing on its back legs.) (Photo credit: the National Library of France [BnF])
Guillaume de Machaut, Rondeaux. Manuscrit copié à Reims, vers 1373-1377. BnF, Manuscrits, Français 1584 fol. 478 (Renart sits inside an historiated initial.) (Photo credit: BnF)
Hrabanus Maurus (c. 780-856), Archbishop of Mainz, De rerum naturis (On the Nature of Things), or De universo, an encyclopedia in 22 books, written between 842 and 847);
Lambert of Saint-Omer (c. 1061 – 1250), Liber floridus (“book of flowers”), Le Livre fleurissant en fleurs;
Lucan (3 November 39 CE – 20 April 65 CE), Roman, Pharsalia (unfinished);
Jacob van Maerlant (c. 1235 – 1291), greatest Flemish poet of the Middle Ages, Der Naturen Bloeme, a translation in Middle Dutch of Thomas of Cantimpré’s Liber de Natura Rerum;
Konrad von Megenberg (early 14th century), Bavaria, studied in Paris, Das Buch der Natur, his source was Thomas of Cantimpré;
Pliny the Elder (23 CE – 24 or 25 August 79 CE), Naturalis Historia (mentioned below);
Strabo (63/64 BCE – c. 24 CE), Greek, Geographica;
Theophrastus (c. 370 – 285 BCE), Enquiry into Plants (9 books), On the Causes of Plants (six books) (Theophrastus will be discussed separately);
Thomas of Cantimpré (early 13th century, Brussels), Liber de Natura Rerum (19 books in 1228, 20 books in 1244);
Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1190 – 1264?), a French Dominican friar, Speculum [mirror] naturale (His Speculum Maius was the main encyclopedia used in the Middle Ages.).
My list is the Medieval Bestiary‘s list. It can be found by clicking on Bestiary.ca. The following authors are fascinating:
Pliny the Elder (23 CE – 79 CE) wrote a Naturalis Historia, a History of Nature. Pliny died in the eruption of Vesuvius, on 24 August 79 CE. Accounts differ. Pliny the Elder may have been studying the eruption, but he was also trying to rescue friends. Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Elder’s nephew, wrote two letters on the eruption of Vesuvius that he sent to Tacitus. Pliny the Younger was a witness to the eruption of Vesuvius, but survived. (See Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, and Tacitus, Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia.)
Claudius Alienus (c. 175 – c. 235 CE) known as Aelian, is the author of On the Characteristics of Animals. Aelian, however, used written sources, one of which was Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia. Aelian told how beavers castrate themselves to escape hunters. As mentioned above, Aelian’s On the Characteristics of Animals is an Internet Archive publication Book 1, Book 2, Book 3. (See Claudius Alienus, Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia.)
Medieval art is always new. It belongs to a collective childhood eager to chronicle every joyous moment of its journey into the future, despite calamities. The plague ended the golden era of the Provençaltroubadour (langue d’oc), the trouvères(langue d’oïl) of northern France, and the Minnesingers[i] of German-language lands.
The word “trouvère” applies to all three groups. They were finding (“trouver”), or creating, and they were preserving. The Codex Manesse is a comprehensive collection of German-language songs constituting a most precious and informative testimonial. The codex is an anthology of texts with portraits, but many of its folios are illuminated manuscripts that have survived the test of time. It could well be “the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries.” (See Codex Manesse – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Source
collection of Rüdiger II Manesse and his son
Zürich
14th century
The images featured above and below adorn the Codex Manesse, an extensive song book compiled and illumined “between c. 1304 when the main part was completed, and c. 1340.” It is “the most important single source of medieval Minnesang poetry [love poetry].” (See Codex Manesse – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
The Codex Manesse‘s main source was the collection of patrician Rüdiger II Manesse and his son. It was produced in Zürich, and was written in Middle High German. (See Codex Manesse – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Contributors
Emperor (Kaiser)
King (König)
Count (Graf)
Knight
Herr
The lyric poets who contributed songs to the celebrated Codex Manesse are listed on the website of Cod. Pal. germ. 848 and under the Codex’s Wikipedia entry Codex Manesse. Many of its contributors were aristocrats and among these dignitaries are Kaiser [Emperor] Heinrich (fol. 6r), König (King) Konrad der Junge (fol. 7r), König Tyro von Schötten (fol. 8r), König Wenzel von Böhmen (fol. 10r), Herzog Heinrich von Breslau (fol. 11v). Earlier folios feature the more aristocratic lyric poets. (See Codex Manesse.)
Folio 124r is a portrait of the most famous Minnesinger, Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 – c. 1230). Walther’s main theme was love, but he introduced greater realism in his depiction of love and other topics: political, moral, or religious.[ii]
It appears Walther was born in the Tirol, but learned to sing and speak in Austria. “Ze ôsterriche lerntich singen unde sagen [sic].”According to Wikipedia, Walther was probably knighted and “was initially a retainer in a wealthy, noble household and had rooms.” (See Walther von der Vogelweide – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
In about 1224, he settled on the fief given to him by Frederick II, in Würzburg. Walther died on his fief.[iii]
I am forwarding a little more information on the Book of Kells: calligraphy, the influence of the past, its history, the Chi Rho monogram, etc.
The Book of Columba
First, I should indicate that the Book of Kells isalso called The Book of Columba, which presupposes that there was a Columba. Columba means “dove,” and there was a St Columba (7 December 521 – 9 June 597). Although the Book of Kells is Irish, according to Britannica, “[i]t is probable that the illumination was begun in the late 8th century at the Irish monastery on the Scottish island of Iona and that after a Viking raid the book was taken to the monastery of Kells in County Meath.”[i]
the Lindisfarne Gospels(7th or 8th century), presumably the work of one monk, Eadfrith of Lindisfarne. Originally, the Gospels were encased in a fine leather binding covered with jewels and metals made by Billfrith the Anchorite. (London, BL, Cotton MS Nero D. IV);
theEchternach Gospels(8th century) also known as Willibrord Gospels. The manuscript was written by the same scribe who wrote the Durham Gospels. Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF), in Paris (MS Lat. 9389);
the Book of Armagh (9th century), also known as the Cathach of St Columba or Liber Ar(d)machanus, a Gospel Book (Trinity College Library, Dublin, MS 52). A large part of the manuscript is believed to be the work of one monk, a scribe named Ferdomnach of Armagh (died 845 or 846).
Among the above-mentioned books, the Lindisfarne Gospels combine Celtic and Saxon calligraphy. It is, arguably, the finest example of the Hiberno-Saxon style.[ii]
The Book of Kells (a Gospel Book or Evangelion) contains the Chi Rho monogram (folio 34r). In the Wikipedia entry on the Chi Rho, other early Christian symbols are shown.
“The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by some Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters chi and rho (ΧΡ) of the Greek word “ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ” =Christ in such a way to produce the monogram. Although not technically a Christian cross, the Chi-Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ.” (See Chi Rho, Wikipedia.)
Insular Script
The script used by the calligrapher(s) of the Book of Kells is called Insular Script. It developed in Ireland in the 7th century and was spread to England by the Hiberno-Scottish mission. The Insular Script is a Majuscule Script because only upper case letters are used. In the history of calligraphy, the upper case, the majuscule, precedes the use of lower case letters. (See Insular Script, Wikipedia.)
Although the script used in the Book of Kells is called “insular” and was developed in Ireland, it resembles the Uncial Script used from the 3rd to the 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greekscribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek, Latin, and Gothic. The uncial script had been brought to England by Augustine of Canterbury. (See Insular Script, Wikipedia.)
As used above, the word Gothic refers to the Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire. It does not refer to medieval Gothic art and architecture, which followed Romanesque art and architecture and precedes Renaissance art and architecture (middle of the 15th century). There is a Gothic font. (See Gothic, Wikipedia)
(please click on smaller images to enlarge them)
Kells, f 309r, Insular Majuscule
Abstract Art: The Celtic Knot
Also important is the abstract art that characterizes Celtic manuscripts. The main motif is the Celtic knot or Eternal knot. (See Celtic knot, Wikipedia.) However, the Book of Kells features representational art, especially fantasized animals. At the bottom of this post, there is a link to a video showing how a Celtic knot is made.
Book of Kells, Celtic Knot
Representational Art
Animals
Book of Kells, Historiated Initial
Book of Kells, Monster
Conclusion
There is much more to tell about the Book of Kells, but I believe it is best to stop here or we may not see the forest for the trees.
It is also called the Book of Columba;
It features the Chi Rho symbol;
It uses Insular Script, Majuscule;
Images such as the Celtic Knot are abstract, but some are representational and often depict rather fanciful animals.
_________________________
Sources
I have quoted Wikipedia abundantly. Photo credit: Wikipedia (all). For images contained in the Books of Kells, please click on Book of Kells: images Google.
Book of Kells, folio 34r containing theChi Rho monogram
Dear friends,
I am forwarding a blog I wrote on 18 November 2011. It is about the Book ofKells, a Gospel Book. In order to read it you need simply click on the link below. In order to see the entire book, please click on the link that will take you to Trinity College Library, in Dublin. The Book of Kells is also called the Book of Columba, which means the Book of the Dove and is the name of a beatified monk, St Columba. The calligraphy is magnificent. It is one of the great masterpieces of Western art, and Irish.
You are now familiar with illuminated manuscripts. However I have provided more information.
The Panchatantra, an illustration from a Syrian edition dated 1354. The rabbit fools the elephant king by showing him the reflection of the moon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The new age, known as the Middle Ages and, pejoratively, as the “dark ages,” would last until the 15th century CE and was not entirely dark. In Western European countries, it was the golden age of illuminated manuscripts, many of which featured fanciful and even mythical beasts and are called bestiaries.
It would appear that Celtic monks were among the first artists to produce illuminated manuscripts, but the movement spread south and reached a pinnacle in the 15th century, in the current Netherlands, then known as the Franco-Flemish or Burgundian lands.
The Fall of the Byzantine Empire and the invention of the printing press
However, a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire, in 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks and, three years earlier, in 1450, the printing press had been invented. These two events changed the course of history. The fall of the Byzantine Empire brought about a rebirth (Renaissance) in European culture and it so happens that Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1395 – 3 February 1468) invented the printing press as the Greek scholars of the Byzantine Empire fled west, first to Italy, carrying precious Greek manuscripts. So the invasion of the Byzantine Empire, by the Ottoman Turks, the last invasion, ushered in a new age. Europe entered its Renaissance (literally: rebirth) and, as it did, works that had been hand copied mostly by monks in the scriptorium of monasteries would henceforth be printed at a rapid rate, putting an end, however, to the long reign of illuminated manuscripts.
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450. (See Johannes Gutenberg, Wikipedia.) The Pope (1458 – 1464), Pius II (18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464) was delighted because the Bible could be printed quickly and disseminated widely. However, despite the invention of the printing press, illuminated manuscripts had a period of grace. Between 1450 and 1501, books could be printed, but blank spaces were left so the book could be illuminated. Books printed during this fifty-year period are called “incunables.”
The Aberdeen Bestiary
Medieval Beast Literature: two traditions
But the Aberdeen Bestiary, one of several medieval bestiaries, was not an incunable and it belonged to one of at least two traditions in beast literature and visual arts. Medieval beast literature includes allegorical bestiaries, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, beast epics and fables originating, to a greater or lesser extent, in India’s Panchatantra, written in the 3rd century BCE, if not earlier. The Panchatantra could belong to a learned tradition stemming from an oral, i.e. unwritten, tradition.
Aberdeen Bestiary, The Beaver (F11r)
The Aberdeen Bestiary: an Allegory
The Aberdeen Bestiary(Aberdeen University Library, Univ Lib. MS 24) is a 12th-century English illuminated manuscriptbestiary that was first listed in 1542 in the inventory of the Old Royal Library at the Palace of Westminster. Bestiaries[i] are not Gospel books, nor are they Books of Hours. They are allegories, which means that each beast, plant or stone is a symbol. Britannica defines allegories as “a symbolic fictional narrative.”[ii] For instance, in Western literature, the Unicorn, a fantastical animal, represents Christ and the Phœnix, an immortal bird, represents the resurrection of Christ. Each animal is a symbol.
Reynard the Fox & Fables
Worldly Wisdom
However, as bestiaries — allegorical texts — flourished, so did various beast epics and fables. As noted above, this tradition is rooted, to a significant extent, in the Sanskrit Pañcatantra, [iii] attributed to Vishnu Sharma, translated into Pahlavi in 570 CE (AD), by Borzūya, and into Arabic, in 750 CE, by Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa. Ibn al-Muqaffa’s translation is entitled Kalīlah wa Dimnah. A 12th-century version became known as Kalīleh o Demneh and would be the basis of Ḥoseyn Wāʿeẓ-e Kāshefī,[iv] or Kāshefī‘s 15th century the Lights of Canopus and The Fables of Bidpai (The Morall Philosophie of Doni [English, 1570]. (See Panchatantra, Wikipedia.)
Bidpai is the storyteller. Moreover, several Æsopic fables and the many versions of Reynard the Fox(Le Roman de Renart FR) are associated with that tradition, but not completely. Æsop (c. 620–564 BCE), if indeed there was an Æsop, did borrow from Bidpai, but he also drew from several other sources. In his second volume of fables, Jean de La Fontaine retold fables by Bidpai. His source was, in all likelihood, Kāshefī’s Lights of Canopus, translated by Gilbert Gaulmin, a pseudonym, and entitled Le Livre des lumières ou La Conduite des Rois (1644). (See Pañcatantra FR, Wikipedia.)
The Education of the Prince
Interestingly, tales stemming from the five books of the Pañcatantra(pancha: five; tantra: treatises) are, first and foremost, about “the wise conduct of life,” i.e. a nītiśāstra, and, consequently, closer to Machiavelli‘s Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli [3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527]) Princethan to allegorical medieval bestiaries. (See Pañcatantra, Wikipedia.)
Reynard the Fox, first written in the 12th century, is filled with trickster tales and tales pointing to the need to consider the consequences of one’s actions, the moral of countless fables. Fables are moralizing, but in a worldly fashion, as befits stories that will guide a prince. As mentioned above, the Panchatantra, or Pañcatantra, has been linked to Machiavelli’s Prince. Yet, the Pañcatantra is not unethical, nor, for that matter, is The Prince, if one keeps in mind that the world Machiavelli lived in was factious and that his prince would have to live in that very world. Machiavelli had worked for the Medici family who were bloodthirsty and in whose quest for power “the end justifie[d] the means.”
Aberdeen Bestiary, The Yale (F16v)
Animals, Plants and Stones as Symbols
There are, nevertheless, similarities between the allegorical bestiary, where animals are symbols, and beast stories rooted, in part, in the Pañcatantra. In both traditions animals are anthropomorphic. The word anthromorphism is derived from the Greek ánthrōpos, meaning human,and morphē, meaning shape. In other words, literary beast are humans in disguise and, in both traditions, they are also stereotypes. The fox is wily and the phœnix symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.
However, bestiaries differ from Reynard the Fox. In bestiaries, we have zoomorphic animals, or animals that combine human and animal features (satyrs, the Centaur and the Minotaur of Greek mythology) or animals that combine the features of many animals (Pegasus, the winged horse). In other words, our allegorical animals are as fanciful as many of Jacobus de Voragine‘s saints and martyrs. Strictly rather than poetically speaking, there is no St George. Moreover, strictly rather than poetically speaking, there are no unicorns, griffins, or dragons. Yet, fantastic animals, the phœnix, unicorns, griffins, dragons and others, are the denizens of bestiaries and have a reality of their own, a poetical, symbolic reality.
Fanciful or “Fantastic” Animals
Most of the artists who created illuminated bestiaries had never seen the animals they depicted. In fact, historians themselves relied on the reports of travelers, from ancient Greece down to Marco Polo (15 September 1254 – 9 January 1324). The Travels of Marco Polo (Il Milione and Le Livre des merveilles du monde) and the accounts of other travelersno doubt contained descriptions of animals, but a picture is worth a thousand words. There is a Marco Polo sheep, but it could be that a traveler described an animal with one horn, not two. That animal might have been a rhinoceros, a real animal, but, short of a picture, our animal could take on characteristics that transformed it into a unicorn, a mythical, or fantastical, animal.
The Physiologus: A Source
Therefore, our artists based their illuminations mostly on descriptions found in books. Their most important source was a 2nd-century CE Greek book entitled the Physiologus. In the Physiologus, the pelican feeds her young with her own blood, the phœnix rises from its own ashes, etc. They were symbols before entering bestiaries. Authors of bestiaries also borrowed from Isidore of Seville‘s (c. 560 – 4 April 636) Etymologiaeor Origins.Finally, although they may not have been accurate, there were books on animals written by historians. The main ones are listed inFrom Bestiaries to… Harry Potter.
Conclusion
I must close, but we have the backdrop. My next post will be on the Aberdeen Bestiary.
However, if the Duc de Berry’s name still lingers in our memory, it is because he commissioned Books of Hours from the Limbourg brothersor Gebroeders van Limburg: Herman, Pol and Johan (fl. 1385 – 1416), the most famous of which is LesTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. The Limbourg brothers also contributed miniatures to a
Bible moralisée (1402-1404: 184 miniatures and 124 margins) as well as miniatures, to
We will concentrate on the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, commissioned by Jean Ier de France in 1410 and currently housed at the Musée Condé, in Chantilly, France. All three Limbourg brothers, Herman, Pol (Paul) and Johan (Jean), born in Nijmegen, now in Gelderland, in the Netherlands, worked on Jean de France’s famous Très Riches Heures, but all three died in 1416, aged 28 to 31, probably of the plague, which, in all likelihood, also took the life of their patron, the Duc de Berry.
Photo credit: Wikipedia (all images)(Please click on each picture to enlarge it.)
Completing the Manuscript
The Limbourg brothers had nearly completed their assignment before their death, but not quite. Later in the fifteenth century, an anonymous artist worked on the manuscript. It would appear this anonymous artist was Barthélemy d’Eyck, or van Eyck (FR) (c. 1420 – after 1470), called the Master of the Shadows. If indeed Barthélemy d’Eyck, or van Eyck (FR), worked on the Très Riches Heures, he did so after 1444.[i] His extremely generous patron was Renéd’Anjou (16 January 1409 – 10 July 1480).
However, completion of the manuscript is attributed to Jean Colombe (b. Bourges c. 1430; d. c. 1493) who was commissioned to complete Jean de France’s book by Charles Ier, Duc de Savoie. He worked between 1485 and 1489. The Très Riches Heures was imitated by Flemish artists in the 16th century and then disappeared for three centuries until it was found by Spinola of Genoa and later bought, in 1856, by the Condé Museum in Chantilly, France, where it is held.[ii]
The Très Riches Heures: a Calendar
However, Jean de France, duc de Berry’s Très Riches Heures differs from other Books of Hours because of the prominence of its calendar, a lay calendar. Each month of the year is depicted on a full page and these depictions constitute a remarkable record of the monthly labour of men and women, from shearing lamb to cutting wood and the brothers depicted them in minute details and astonishing accuracy. In the background, of each monthly, page we can see one of Jean de France’s many castles and hôtels. For instance, the image inserted at the top of this post shows the Château de Vincennes. In the front, dogs are eating a boar. The Limburg brothers
were among the first illuminators to render specific landscape scenes (such as the environs and appearance of their patron’s castles) with great accuracy and sensitivity.[iii]
The Limbourg Brothers: Biographical notes
The Limbourg brothers were born to artistic parents. Their grandfather had lived in Limburg, hence their name. But he had moved to Nigmegen. His son Arnold (1355-1360 – 1395-1399) was a wood-carver. Their mother, Mchtel Maelwael (Malouel) belonged to a family of heraldic painters. However, the most prominent artist in the brothers’ family was their uncle Jean Malouel, or Jan Maelwael in Dutch, who was court painter for Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. It should be noted that between 1032 and 1477, Burgundy was an enlarged Duchy of Burgundy, also called the Franco-Flemish lands.
As for the brothers themselves, Herman and Johan were sent to Paris to learn the craft of goldsmithing and upon the death of Philip the Bold, in 1604, they were hired by his brother, Jean de France. They worked in a style called International Gothic. As Jean de France, Duc de Berry’s artists, the Limbourg brothers were first assigned a long project, a Book of Hours entitled Belles Heures du Duc de Berry, containing 158 miniatures, currently housed in the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.
Jean de France was obviously very pleased with his Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. He showered the Limbourg brothers with gifts, the most substantial being a very large house for Paul in Bourges, France, where the three brothers resided. Johan seems to have combined a career as goldsmith and painter, at least temporarily, but he was definitely one of the three miniaturists who worked on the miniatures comprised in Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures, commissioned in 1410 or 1411. There have been attempts to attribute certain pages to a particular brother, but uncertainty lingers. I should think that Wikipedia’s list is probably mostly accurate.[iv]
A Wider Symbolism
You will notice that Les Très Riches Heures contains paintings above which there is a semicircle, the folio for each month shows the twelve Zodiac signs, the ecclesiastical lunar calendar as well as heraldic emblems and other relevant elements. Many Books of Hours are also characterized by the mille-fleurs motif borrowed from Oriental rugs brought to Europe by returning Crusaders. In Books of Hours, artists drew from elements preceding Christianity as well as Christian ones, not to mention personal elements. “Their range includes coats of arms, initials, monograms, mottoes, and personal emblems, which are used singly or in all combinations possible.”[v]
Artistic Elements
Painted in gouache on parchment (vellum), the Tr[è]s Riches Heures includes
416 pages, 131 of which have large miniatures, while many more are decorated
with border illustrations or large historiated initials, as well as 300 ornamented capital letters [also called “historiated” letters].”[vi]
As for the colors, fine pigments were used and blended by the brothers themselves into a form of gouache and, at times, they crushed lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone into a “liant,” a binding agent. They also used gold leaf. It was a delicate process done step by step on a relatively small piece of vellum (vélin), the skin of a calf (veau).
Conclusion
The Limburg brothers and Jean de France died before the age of thirty. Yet, their legacy is an exceptional depiction of their life and times. I am certain Jean de France marvelled at the consummate artistry of the Limburg brothers. They worked at a moment in history when perspective had not yet entered their world, except simple linear perspective.[vii] Yet their folios show the degree of dimensionality that could be achieved in the Burgundian 15th century. Therefore, their art has its own finality and it is love for what it is.
I especially like the serenity of the folios constituting the twelve months of the Calendar. The Labours of the Months do not seem an imposition but the natural activity of simple human beings reaping food and comfort from a rich land and hoping in an age were an epidemic could be devastating. Their faces and gestures do not show fear. On the contrary, they show faith. They are working so that months will grow into seasons and seasons into years that will return until they enter peacefully into the timelessness of life eternal.
To view the pages corresponding to each month of the year, click on Très Riches Heures.
N.B. Several illuminations painted for Berry’s Book of Hours inspired some of the backdrops to sets used by Laurence Olivier in his film of Shakespeare’s play Henry V which he made in 1944 on the eve of the Normandy invasion.
A detail from the Macclesfield Psalter, England, East Anglia, c.1330 MS.1-2005 f.193v(Photo credit: Fitzwilliam Museum)
There is more to say on every subject I have discussed regarding feasts and the seasons. For instance, we haven’t looked at the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours, a sixteenth-century masterpiece, preserved at the University of Cambridge. With respect to the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours (Bruges, 1510), the Folio Society has published a limited number of copies of this extraordinary Franco-Flemish manuscript. In fact, a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum site will reveal the existence of other illuminated manuscripts.
The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours is particularly interesting in that it represents, among other topics, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, which, as I have noted elsewhere, albeit tentatively, underlies the concept of keeping hours: we keep Vigil. As well, the narrator mentions the incorporation into Books of Hours of pre-Christian elements. Books of Hours are
an account of the Seasons (the Solstices and the Equinoxes, marked by feasts);
an account of the labours of each months;
a Gregorian calendar showing feasts, dates on which saints are remembered, etc.;
a compendium of psalms, prayers, chants, etc.;
a Zodiac calendar also including mythological references predating Christianity;
etc.
But, perhaps more importantly, Books of Hours also point to oneness in diversity. The degree of darkness and light has been celebrated in most cultures. And if the dragon is menacing to Europeans and friendly in China, it is nevertheless a universal zoomorphic animal. So is the Unicorn.
Moreover, although the degree of darkness and light is a scientific truth and a demonstration of heliocentrism, it is also a cultural marker.
And we have also seen the twofold dimension of time, the vertical and the horizonal: kairos and chronos. To a large extent, our celebrations are a manifestation of the moment (kairos) as opposed to time infinite.
As for the texts we have glimpsed, one of my readers pointed out that they are palimpsests. There is a text underneath the text, and a text underneath the second text, as well as a text underneath the third text. Yet the texts, mostly similar texts, thus unveiled may have originated in one culture.
The story within the story structure reflects a deeper level of intertextualité than can exist between texts. So intertextualité does not happen only between texts, but there are instances of text(s) within texts, or play(s) within the play.
And we also have motifs: the mille-fleurs motif, the Bizantine leaf and grape motif, the Greek key motif, variations on the Celtic eternal or endless knot motif.
In short, there is an abundance of similarities, yet originality and uniqueness remain. Text, graphic art, including anonymous art and decorative art, and music all stem from one mold, the human mind and the human senses, yet there is constant newness and youthfulness to things eternal.
© Micheline Walker
21 February 2013
