donkeys in medieval illuminated manuscripts

Toward the mid-fourteenth century, the financial patronage available to these great scholars began to dwindle. Contact with the West introduced a range of Latin texts that Greek scholars translated into Greek-from Ovid and Cicero to Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. 1310), for example, rediscovered Ptolemy’s Geography, edited Plutarch, and rewrote the Greek anthology of epigrams. Scholars searched for classical writings and then copied and annotated them. The return of Greek rule under Michael VIII spurred a period of renewed growth in manuscript production. Financial troubles meant that it was much harder to afford the materials and labor necessary to produce manuscripts. During the period between 12, when Constantinople was under Latin rule, book production was limited. Private libraries generally held more than 25 volumes. Monastic libraries contained the largest collections for example, Patmos Monastery possessed 330 books, and Lavra Monastery, located on Mount Athos, held 960 manuscripts. There are 40,000 preserved Byzantine manuscripts-a great number, considering the expense of their production. Texts were also held in special regard in Byzantium, where people rated literacy as a desirable goal. The illustrations of some manuscripts, notable for their quality and originality, were executed by first-rate artists many others, although small, have the monumental elegance of larger works. Important texts were translated from Latin into French and other vernacular languages ( 31.134.8). In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, private persons bought and used books of hours, which contained prayers to be recited throughout the day. The emergence of universities throughout Europe created demand for single-volume Bibles ( 1997.320), books of law ( 1990.217), and other texts copied on pages with wide margins for notes and commentary. Among the most ambitious were the large books that monastic communities used daily for singing ( 2005.273). Princes and emperors commissioned gospel books with many-colored illustrations and lettering in gold and silver ink ( 12.56.3). Multivolume Bibles and huge liturgical books were housed and used in churches. Many bookmakers in the Middle Ages were monks ( 12.56.4), and monasteries kept libraries filled not only with sacred texts but also with literary, scientific, and philosophical works by Greek and Roman authors. The most lavish medieval books were bound in covers set with enamels, jewels, and ivory carvings ( 17.190.134). A scribe copied the text from an established edition, and artists might then embellish it with illustrations, decorated initials, and ornament in the margins. Parchment for the pages had to be made from the dried hides of animals, cut to size and sewn into quires inks had to be mixed, pens prepared, and the pages ruled for lettering. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the book becomes an attribute of God ( 17.190.757).Įvery stage in the creation of a medieval book required intensive labor, sometimes involving the collaboration of entire workshops.

Before the invention of mechanical printing, books were handmade objects, treasured as works of art and as symbols of enduring knowledge.

Donkeys in medieval illuminated manuscripts