Did you know that the shape of books today is due to medieval illuminated manuscripts?
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia! My name is Kelly and
today's video is all about the handmade medieval illuminated manuscripts.
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Illuminated manuscripts are hand-written books that are highly decorated in precious
materials like gold or silver. The use of metallic materials like gold and silver is what gives these
texts their name 'illuminated', as they reflect the light. They were created between circa 500
and 1600 CE, and their production declined with the invention of the European printing press in
circa 1440 CE by Johannes Gutenberg. Although at first people were sceptical about printed books
and preferred the old way of handmade works, eventually they became the more popular and
cheaper option, which marked the end of the handmade book and illuminated manuscripts
specifically. These handmade books were often on Christian scripture, but some early examples
have survived such as the works of ancient writers like the Roman poet, Virgil. Muslim artisans also
created books using the same technique to ornately decorate their books. But the term 'illuminated
manuscripts' usually only refers to works produced in Europe on Christian themes. Illuminated
manuscripts were expensive to purchase, which means only those with plenty of money could afford
them. Illuminated manuscripts were initially only created by monks in abbeys, but as the
demand increased and they became more popular, the production of them became commercialised.
"The book of Hours", a Christian devotional of prayers, was the most popular type of book, given
that more "Book of Hours" texts have survived than any other works produced during the time.
What did they write on? Well, although paper was invented in China during the Han Dynasty
in circa 105 CE and introduced to the Arab world in the 7th century by Chinese merchants, Europeans
wouldn't accept it until the 11th century because they associated it with non-Christian peoples.
Before the use of paper, the people of Asia Minor created writing surfaces out of animal hides.
The hides of animals like sheep and goats were soaked in water, the hair was scraped off,
it was stretched on a wooden frame to dry and then bleached in lime. The finished product of
the detailed process was parchment. Parchment made out of calf skin is called 'vellum' and
became popular since it was a high-quality surface for writing on than any others.
Monks in the abbeys favoured vellum and it became the standard material for their works. Because
papyrus and paper was used by pagan writers in the past and the so-called heathens in the east,
the use of these materials was discouraged and was considered 'unchristian' by the medieval church.
As books became more popular, their production expanded from the abbeys to secular merchants,
and they were sold in stalls and stores. Between the 5th and the 13th centuries,
books were only produced by monasteries. In the 6th century CE, Saint Benedict made it a
requirement that every Benedictine monastery had to have a library, and these books sometimes were
brought with the monks who came to live there, but most would have been produced on-site.
The monks who made books were known as scriptores and the room in which they made the books was a
scriptorium. The scriptorium was a large room with wooden chairs and tables that angled up
so they would hold the manuscript pages, and the monks didn't just write the
books but were a part of every step - from processing the vellum, to copying the text,
to the final touches of illustration and illumination. There would be a supervisor
in the room who would distribute the pages at the beginning of the day. Monks only worked on
the manuscripts during the day because it was a bit risky to have fire so close in the evening,
and the supervisor would maintain the rule of silence for the entirety of the day.
Often, a monk wouldn't work on one page until it was done but swap with others in the room.
The modern shape of books being longer than they are wide began with the monks in medieval Europe
who cut their vellum pages to that shape. After cutting their pages, they would rule
lines for writing and leave blank spaces for illustrations, then the text would be written
in between the ruled lines, often in black ink, then another monk would proofread it for errors,
then perhaps a third monk would add in titles with red or blue ink, and then it would be
passed on to the illuminator who would add the colour, the images and the gold illumination.
They wrote with quill pens and ink colours were produced by grinding and boiling natural chemicals
and plants. If this room of silence doesn't sound very fun, well you wouldn't be the first person
to think that. A scriptore or monk was expected to turn up rain, hail or shine, no matter their
state of health or whether they were interested in the particular project. In fact, there are
many comments and remarks written on various pages that made clear some of the monks weren't exactly
thrilled with their job with some in the margins, including: "This page was not copied slowly".
"I don't feel well today". "This parchment is certainly hairy" and "Three fingers write, but
the entire body toils. Just as the sailor yearns for port, the writer longs for the last line."
The earliest European work to have coloured illustrations and decorated capital letters at
the beginning of each page is the seven pages of the fourth century CE text "Vergilius Augusteus."
Although it doesn't have any illumination, the decorative capital letters and illustrations
both became practices that define an illuminated manuscript, so it deserves a special mention.
Moving to the next century, we have an illuminated edition of Homer's work of the "Iliad",
titled the "Ambrosian Iliad", which was most likely completed in Constantinople.
The sixth century illuminated manuscript titled the "Saint Augustine Gospels",
shows many similarities to the "Ambrosian Iliad" and seems to have been influenced by it. One of
the most impressive early illuminated manuscripts dates to the 6th century,
has purple-dyed vellum pages and is both written and illustrated in silver and gold ink. This
is the "Codex Argenteus" or "Silver Book" which is a gothic translation of the Bible,
and is commonly understood to have been produced for the Gothic King Theodoric the Great in Italy.
It was between the 7th and the 16th centuries that the greatest examples of illuminated manuscripts
were created, since by then, the basics of illustration and decoration had been perfected.
The best known and probably the quintessential illuminated manuscript dates from circa 800 and
is known as the "Book of Kells". The "Book of Kells" was produced by the monks of Saint
Columba's order of Iona in Scotland somewhere, but a precise location isn't known, although there are
many theories about its composition, which place its creation in places like the island of Iona,
Kells in Ireland or Lindisfarne in Britain. What is quite probable is that it was made in Iona and
then brought to Kells to keep it safe from Viking raiders who struck Iona in 795, not long after
their raid of the Lindisfarne Priory. In 806, 68 monks were killed in a Viking raid in Iona,
and the survivors abandoned the abbey and moved to Kells, and it's at this time that
the "Book of Kells" probably travelled with them and was then completed in Ireland. The
"Book of Kells" is an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels of the Christian New Testament
and is highly praised for its grandeur, intricacy, detail and high quality illustrations.
Literacy in Europe had greatly improved by the 13th century
and the higher demand for books meant the introduction of professional bookmakers.
Since the 9th century in Britain and France, literature produced in the vernacular
was encouraged, and this greater demand for books meant a greater demand for scribes. Since girls
weren't taught Latin as often as boys - Latin was the traditional language illuminated manuscripts
were written in - women started to become scribes and they wrote their books in the vernacular.
Nunneries began to produce books. Notations were left by women in the margins and one manuscript
ended with a request that the reader pray for the scribe with the feminine pronoun used.
In circa 1440 CE, Johannes Gutenberg invented the European printing press, and the first Bible - a
Latin Bible, was printed in 1456 and is known as the Gutenberg Bible. A book comprising 400 pages,
rather than taking at least six months to produce, could now be printed in less than a week.
People fearing new things, of course, rejected the printing press and opted for "real books". People
didn't want cheap imitations of manuscripts, and so, printers went to great lengths to make
printed books look more like the handmade ones with leather binding and gold gild on the covers.
Illustrators were even hired to provide images. These measures helped make the European people
more receptive to the new books, and although illuminated manuscripts were still commissioned
through the early years of the 1600s, the quantity and quality was inferior to the works produced
before the printing press. Eventually, the skill of illuminating was forgotten as the printed book
became popular and the illuminated manuscript, which was eventually produced as a valuable
item only for the very wealthy, became even more scarce and eventually were no longer produced.
Have you ever seen an illuminated manuscript like the "Book of Kells"? Let us know what you thought
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