We want to hear what you think about this article. This post appears courtesy of Brain Pickings, an Atlantic partner site. This gem comes from the Spring 2012 issue of Lapham's Quarterly, entitled Means of Communication, which previously delighted us with the first usages of famous words and to which you can and should subscribe immediately. "This is sad! O little book! A day will come in truth when someone over your page will say, 'The hand that wrote it is no more.' "As the harbor is welcome to the sailor, so is the last line to the scribe. It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and your sides." Joining the ranks of history's most appalling and amusing complaints, like this Victorian list of "don'ts" for female cyclists or young Isaac Newton's self-professed sins, is an absolute treat for lovers of marginalia such as myself-a collection of complaints monks scribbled in the pages of illuminated manuscripts. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses (annotations), critiques. The history of bookmaking hasn't been without its challenges, but never was its craft as painstaking as during the era of illuminated manuscripts. Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margins of a book or other document. Manuscript illustrators increasingly emphasized the interrelatedness of primary and marginal scenes, adding narrative complexity.Evidently, spending years laying out a single gold-leafed page isn't all it's cracked up to be. Painting in late medieval and Renaissance manuscripts demonstrates artists' interest in capturing visual experience and representations of the natural world. They differed, however, by integrating marginalia into elaborate borders strewn with naturalistic foliage and abstract patterns, such as the ornate example (at right). Illuminators of the 1400s and 1500s used many of the marginal motifs known from earlier manuscripts. Marginalia: Late Medieval and Renaissance Secular subjects in the margins of religious books set a precedent for scenes of everyday life.Ĭhrist in Majesty Initial A: A Man Lifting His Soul to God (detail) from a missal, Master of the Brussels Initials, 1389–1404ĭiscover amusing characters, like a cute devil, lurking amid foliage. In other cases, the relationship is less obvious. There’s the historical manuscript made for a late medieval Anglo-Irish family with its margin notes about the treachery of their colonial subjects and the late medieval translations of the. In some cases, marginal scenes simply expanded or supplemented a topic introduced by the page's text or illustration. Doodle in the lower margin of a medieval page (Carpentras, Bibliothèque municipale, 368 (15th century). Artists expressed the full range of human interaction through animated gestures and poses. In general, there are two main comment types that we can use in combination to direct our students toward more effective writing. Gothic illumination, which flourished in northern Europe from about 1200 to 1350, is distinguished by an interest in naturalism. Initial C: A Priest Celebrating Mass (detail), Spanish, about 1290–1310Ĭlerics and a jester drinking ale can coexist on the same page. Later illustrators would free them from the initials to embellish the margins of pages. The delightful treatment of vines, as if they were real plants with a three-dimensional presence, influenced the design of late medieval borders. For most scholars, a gloss explains a particular word through synonyms or a brief definition, whereas a scholium. During the Romanesque period, about 1050 to 1200, intertwined figures and plant forms created rhythmic compositions, as you can see in the inhabited Q (at right). Both designate marginal or interlinear notes. The Inhabited Initial: Ottonian and RomanesqueĪrtists of the Ottonian dynasty, between 9, enlivened initial letters with whimsical figures. Learn why a peacock's tail could have so much meaning. Medieval manuscript, likely 13th century Italy, five leaves of extensive, tiny gothic text from Peter Lombards Sententiae, with marginal commentary copied. Inhabited Initial Q (detail) from a breviary, Italian, 1153 This exhibition covers the sweep of marginalia's history in three stages of development: beginning in the early Middle Ages with Ottonian and Romanesque art, reaching its zenith with Gothic illumination, and working its way into the borders of late medieval manuscripts. As often as they expand on the narrative, they also poke fun at the lofty themes and, more broadly, at human foibles. Scenes in the margins of a page often comment on the paintings illustrating the text in the center. Just outside the blocks of Latin text and larger illustrations, the pages of medieval books often teem with tiny characters, creatures, and fantastic plants-collectively called "marginalia."Įxplore the imaginative world of marginalia on select pages of two late medieval manuscripts. 1932 (University Archives) In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month (May), we’re highlighting unique materials relating to the history of the Jews in the Americas.
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