THE WRITERS OF ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS.
_The beauty of MSS._
_The Monastic Scribes._ It may be interesting to consider what were the
causes that made the illuminated manuscripts of the mediaeval period among
the most perfect and beautiful works of art that the world has ever
produced. No one can examine the manuscripts of any of the chief European
countries down to the fourteenth century without a feeling of amazement at
their almost unvarying perfection of execution, the immense fertility of
fancy in their design, and the utterly unsparing labour that was lavished
on their production. Moreover the manuscripts of this earlier period,
before their production became a commercial art in the hand of secular
scribes, are especially remarkable for their uniform excellence of
workmanship, and their complete freedom from any signs of haste or
weariness on the part of their scribes and illuminators.
_Conditions of life._
_Absence of hurry._
Now the fact is that the countless illuminated manuscripts which were
produced in so many of the Benedictine and other monastic Houses of Europe
were executed under very exceptionally favourable circumstances[207]. In
the first place the monastic scribe lived in a haven of safety and rest in
the middle of a tumultuous and war-harassed world. While at work in the
_scriptorium_ he was troubled with no thoughts of any necessity to complete
his task within a limited time in order to earn his daily bread. Food and
clothing of a simple though sufficient kind were secured to him, whether he
finished his manuscript in a year or in twenty years. He worked for no
payment, but for the glory of God and the honour of his monastic
foundation, and last, but not least, for the intense pleasure which the
varying processes of his work gave him.
_Pleasant work._
No one who examines a fine mediaeval manuscript can help seeing in it the
strongest marks of the delight which the illuminator had in his work; and
this sort of retrospective sympathy with the pleasure of the workman in his
work is an important element in the beauty of ancient works of art of many
different kinds and dates, from the simple but beautiful wheel-turned vase
of the Greek potter, down to the carved foliage in a Gothic church, or the
complicated ornamentation of an illuminated initial.
_Relief from monotony._
Again, it should be remembered that the life of a mediaeval monk was a very
uneventful and monotonous one, and even the most pious soul must at times
have felt a weariness in the oft-repeated and lengthy _Offices_ which made
him spend so large a proportion of each day within the Choir of his
monastic church. Thus it was that his work as an illuminator of manuscripts
provided the one great relief from his otherwise grey and monotonous life,
from which he turned to revel in every variety of fanciful shape and of
varied arrangement of gleaming gold and brilliant pigments. Here at least
was no monotony, but the fullest scope for imaginative fancy and the love
of variety which is inborn in the human mind.
_Scope for humour._
_Grotesque figures._
In the illumination of his manuscript the monastic scribe, even when
decorating a sacred book, could lay aside for a moment the solemn religious
thoughts to which his vows had bound him; he could sport with every variety
of grotesque monster and of Pagan imagery, and could find vent for his
repressed sense of fun and humour by the introduction of caricatures and
pictorial jokes of all kinds among the foliage of his borders and initials
without any fear of reproof on the part of his superiors[208]. Fig. 52 from
a French fourteenth century manuscript shows a characteristic example of an
illuminators humorous fancy, a grotesque Bishop, with a mitre made out of a
pair of bellows.
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Grotesque figure from a French manuscript of the
fourteenth century.]
Very frequently the jealousy which existed between the Regular and the
Secular Clergy is expressed in the pictorial sarcasms of the monastic
illuminators. This feeling, on the Secular side, is vividly set forth in
the amusing Latin Poems of Walter Map[209], who, toward the close of the
twelfth century, was the Parish Priest of a little church in the Forest of
Dean[210]. Walter Map's satire is mainly directed against the Cistercian
order of monks, with whom he was specially brought into contact owing to
his parish being situated near the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley.
_Humorous scene._
Fig. 53. from a German manuscript of the end of the twelfth century, now in
the Chapter library of Prague Cathedral, gives an interesting example of
the introduction of a humorous scene into a grave work, Saint Augustine's
_De civitate Dei_. The illuminator, who was named Hildebert, has been
worried by a mouse, which stole his food; and here on the last leaf of the
manuscript he represents himself interrupted in his work and throwing
something at the mouse which is nibbling at his food. These explanatory
words are written on the open page of his book,
_A wicked mouse._
Pessime mus, sepius me probocas ad iram, ut te deus perdat.
"You wicked mouse, too often you provoke me to anger, may God destroy
you."
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Miniature of a comic subject from a German
manuscript of the twelfth century, representing a monastic scribe worried
by a mouse.]
_Portrait of the scribe._
At the feet of the scribe a lad named Everwinus, possibly a monastic
novice, is seated on a low stool, drawing a piece of ornamental
scroll-work. The Monk Hildebert's desk is in the form of a lectern
supported by a carved lion; in it are holes to hold the black and red
inkhorns, and two pens or brushes. In his left hand the scribe holds the
usual penknife, and another pen is stuck behind his ear.
_Short hours of labour._
There is yet another of the conditions under which the monastic scribe
worked which was not without important effect on the unvarying excellence
of his work, and that was that he could never remain long enough at work,
at any one time, for his hand or eye to get wearied. Owing to the
constantly recurring Choir services, the _Seven Hours_, which he had to
attend, the monastic scribe could probably never continue labouring at his
illumination for more than about two hours at a time.
_No weariness._
The importance of this fact is very clearly seen when we compare one of the
earlier monastic manuscripts with one of the fifteenth century French or
Flemish _Books of Hours_, executed by a professional secular scribe. Thus
in the older manuscripts the firmness of line and delicate, crisp touch
never relaxes, and the artist's evident sense of power and the joy in his
manual dexterity lasts without diminution from the first to the last page
of his book.
_Variety of labour._
Additional beauty is given to the mediaeval manuscripts by the fact that
each scribe commonly did much important work in the preparation of his inks
and pigments; in some cases even to the beating out of the gold leaf he was
about to use in his miniatures and borders[211]. No colours bought of a
dealer in a commercial age could ever equal in beauty or in durability the
pigments that an illuminator made or at least prepared for his own use. And
his command over the materials of his art would greatly enhance his
pleasure in using them, to say nothing of the relief given by the variety
of his labours.
_Varied schemes of ornament._
All these influences, combined with others which it might be wearisome to
dwell upon, combined to make the manuscripts of the pre-commercial period
works of the most unvarying perfection of technique, unspeakably rich in
the varied wealth of fancy shown in their decorative schemes, as well as in
the minute detail of each part. The illuminated ornament in one place is
concentrated into a gem-like miniature within the narrow limit of a small
initial letter. At another place it spreads out into the splendour of a
full-page picture, which swallows up most of the text, and covers the whole
page with one mass of burnished gold and brilliant colour. Or again,
springing from its roots in an illuminated capital, it grows over the
margin and frames the text with a mass of richly designed and exquisitely
graceful foliage.
Every possible scheme of decoration is to be found in these manuscripts;
but in all cases the illuminator is careful to make his painted ornament
grow out of and form, as it were, an integral part of the written text,
which thus becomes not merely a book ornamented with pictures, but is a
close combination of writing and illumination, forming one harmonious whole
in a united scheme of decorative beauty[212].
_Monastic Scriptoria._
_The Scriptoria of Monasteries._ As I have previously mentioned, it was
more especially the Benedictine monasteries[213] that were the centres for
the production of mediaeval manuscripts[214]. I will therefore describe the
usual arrangements of the _Scriptorium_ in a Benedictine House.
In early times, in the eighth and ninth centuries for example, the
Scriptorium and library appear usually to have been a separate room, near
or over the Sacristy, and adjoining the Choir of the church[215].
_Scriptoria in cloisters._
During most of the mediaeval period, however, and in England down to the
suppression of the Abbeys by Henry VIII., the system was to devote one
whole walk or alley of the cloister, that nearest to the church, to the
double purpose of a Scriptorium and library. This was naturally the warmest
and dryest portion of the cloister, at least in most cases when the usual
arrangement was followed of placing the cloister on the south side of the
nave of the Abbey church[216].
_Monastic library._
This north walk (as it commonly was) of the cloister faced south and so
received plenty of sun; at each end of it a screen was placed to shut it
off from the rest of the cloister, which formed a sort of common
living-room for the monks[217]. Along one side of this alley of the
cloister were fixed, against the wall of the church, oak cupboards
(_armaria_), with strong locks and hinges, to receive the manuscripts which
formed the library of the monastery[218]. At Westminster and in other
Benedictine monasteries the marks showing where these _armaria_ were fixed
are visible on the cloister wall or rather along the wall of the church,
which forms one side of this walk of the cloister.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. View of the scriptorium alley of the cloisters at
Gloucester, showing the recesses to hold the wooden _carrels_ for the
scribes or readers of manuscripts.]
_Scribes' carrels._
Down the middle of the alley a clear passage was left, and the other side
of the passage, that opposite the bookcases, was occupied, at least in the
fourteenth century, and probably much earlier, by a row of little wooden
box-like rooms called _carrels_[219], each of which was devoted to the use
of one scribe. As a rule there were either two or three of these carrels to
each bay or compartment of the cloister. They were commonly made of
wainscot oak, about six by eight feet in plan or even less; just big enough
to hold the seated scribe and his large desk, on which rested the
manuscript he was copying, and the one he was writing, with some extra
shelf space for his black and red inkhorns, his colours and other
implements; see fig. 53 on p. 209.
These little rooms were provided with wooden floors and ceilings, so as to
be warm and dry; they were set close against the traceried windows, which
in most cloisters ran all along the internal sides of the four alleys.
_Cloister at Gloucester._
The cloister of Gloucester Abbey[220] has a slightly different arrangement.
Here a series of stone recesses, each intended to hold a carrel, extends
all along the side of this walk[221] of the cloister. There are two of
these recesses to each bay, and the lower part of the outer wall, instead
of consisting of open tracery, is of solid masonry, pierced only by a small
glazed window to give light to the scribe; above the carrel recess there is
the usual large arch filled in with tracery; see fig. 54[222].
When provided with these and other wooden fittings, the cloister of a
Benedictine Abbey would not have been either in appearance or fact as cold
and comfortless as such places usually look now. With a small portable
brazier the monastic scribe in his little wooden cell was safe from damp
and probably fairly warm even in cold weather.
_Cloister at Durham._
_The Rites and Monuments of Durham_[223] (Cap. XLI.) give the following
very interesting description of the _carrels_ with which the Durham
cloister was fitted up;
"In the northe syde of the Cloister, from the corner over againste the
Church dour to the corner over againste the Dorter (dormitory) dour, was
all fynely glased, from the hight to the sole (sill) within a little of
the ground into the Cloister garth. And in every windowe iij PEWES or
CARRELLS, where every one of the old Monks had his carrell, severall by
himselfe, that, when they had dyned, they did resorte to that place of
Cloister and there studyed upon there books, every one in his carrell,
all the afternonne, unto evensong tyme. This was there exercise every
daie. All there pewes or carrells was all fynely wainscotted (with oak)
and verie close, all but the forepart which had carved wourke that gave
light in at ther carrell doures of wainscott. And in every carrell was a
deske to lye there bookes on. And the carrells was no greater then from
one stanchell (mullion) of the windowe to another.
_The Durham armaria._
And over againste the carrells against the church wall did stande
certaine great almeries (_armaria_ or cupboards) of wainscott all full of
BOOKES, with great store of ancient manuscripts to help them in their
study, wherein did lye as well the old auncyent written Doctors of the
Church as other prophane authors, with dyverse other holie men's wourkes,
so that every one dyd studye what Doctor pleased them best, havinge the
Librarie at all tymes to goe studie in besydes there carrells."
In the sixteenth century, owing to the introduction of printed works, the
books in the Benedictine monastery of Durham had become too numerous for
the row of _almeries_ along the north walk of the cloister to hold them;
and so a separate room was provided as a second library. The present
library at Durham is the old Dormitory or _Dorter_ of the Monks with all
its "cubicles" or _sleeping-carrels_ removed.
_Other monastic Scriptoria._
In the Houses of other religious foundations the arrangements for the
writing of manuscripts were different from those of the Benedictines. In a
Convent of Dominican Friars, for example, each friar worked in his own cell
where he slept, and in a Carthusian monastery each monk had a complete
little house and garden with a small study and oratory and a larger room,
where his labours, literary or mechanical, were carried on.
The Dominican House of San Marco in Florence, of which Fra Beato Angelico
was a member, throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was famous
for the magnificent manuscripts that were illuminated there; see above, p.
190. And various other Convents of Dominican Friars in Italy were important
centres of manuscript illumination. Some of the Regular Canons were also
famous as illuminators, especially the Austin Canons.
THE SECULAR SCRIBES AND ILLUMINATORS.
_Growth of Guilds._
Towards the latter part of the thirteenth and throughout the fourteenth
century, secular artisans in all varieties of arts and crafts were
gradually throwing off the bonds of the old feudal serfdom under which they
had for long been bound. The growth in number and importance of the
Trade-Guilds, which in England developed so rapidly under Henry III., was
one of the chief signs of the growing importance of the artisans of the
chief towns of this and other European countries.
_Importance of the Trade-Guilds._
At the end of the thirteenth century, in London, in Florence, and in many
other cities no man could possess the rights of a citizen and a share in
the municipal government without becoming a member of one of the
established Trade-Guilds. Edward I., Edward III. and others of the English
Kings set the example of enrolling themselves as members of one of the
London Guilds[224]; and in Florence it was necessary for Dante to become a
member of a Guild[225] before he could serve the Republic as one of the
_Priori_.
At first the scribes and illuminators (_librorum scriptores et
illuminatores_[226]) were members of one general Guild including craftsmen
in all the decorative arts and their subsidiary processes, such as
leather-tanning, vellum-making, and even saddlery[227].
_Guilds in the XVth century._
By degrees the Guilds became more numerous and more specialized in
character, till their fullest development was reached in the first half or
middle of the fifteenth century. Much interesting information about the
miniaturists' Guild in Bruges during the second half of the century has
been published by Mr Weale[228].
This was the Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke; and every painter,
miniaturist, illuminator, rubricator, copyist, maker of vellum, binder or
seller of books who lived and worked in Bruges was obliged to belong to
this Guild. This rule, which existed in Ghent, Antwerp and most artistic
centres, had a double use; on the one hand it protected the individual
illuminator from wrong and oppression of any kind; and, on the other hand,
it tended to keep up a good standard of excellence in the work which was
executed by the Guild-members.
_Rules of the Guilds._
No miniaturist could be admitted till he had laid before the Dean of the
Guild a sufficiently good sample of his skill, and all members were liable
to be fined if they used inferior materials of any kind, such as impure
gold, adulterated ultramarine or vermilion and the like. In this way the
officers of the Guild acted as moderators between the artisan and his
patrons, securing reasonable pay for the artist, and, in return for that,
reasonably good workmanship for his employer or customer. The Guilds also
prevented anything like commercial slave-driving by limiting very strictly
the number of apprentices or workmen that each master might employ.
_Decadence of MS. art._
Thus it happened that, though fine manuscripts were still written and
illuminated in many of the principal monasteries of Europe, a large class
of secular illuminators grew up, especially in Paris and the chief towns of
Flanders and northern Germany. In this way the production of manuscripts,
especially illuminated _Books of Hours_, became a regular commercial
process, with the inevitable result that a great deal of work of a very
inferior character was turned out to meet the rapidly growing demand for
cheap and showy books.
An immense number of these cheap manuscript _Horae_ were produced after a
few fixed patterns, with some mechanical dulness of repetition in every
border and miniature with which they were decorated.
_Costly Horae._
At the same time manuscripts were still produced, mostly at the special
order of some royal patron or wealthy merchant, which, in elaborate beauty
and in unsparing labour of execution, are hardly surpassed by the work of
the earlier monastic scribes[229]. Examples of this are mentioned above at
pages 135 and 169.
The Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, towards the close of the
fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century, numbered many
illuminators among their regular paid adherents. In some cases the artist
was permanently engaged, and passed his whole life in the service of one
Prince; while in other cases famous illuminators were hired for a few
months or years, when the patron wanted a specially magnificent manuscript
either for his own use, or as a royal gift on the occasion of a marriage, a
coronation or other great event.
_Women artists._
In some cases, we find that women learnt to be manuscript illuminators of
great skill and artistic taste. For example Cornelia, the wife of Gérard
David of Bruges[230], was, like her husband, both an illuminator of
manuscripts and a painter of altar retables. A fine triptych painted by
Cornelia, in the possession of Mr H. Willett of Brighton, is a work of
great beauty and refinement, which it would be difficult to distinguish
from a painting by Gérard David himself.
_Costly gifts._
In the fifteenth century the commercial value of sumptuously illuminated
manuscripts rose to the highest point. No object was thought more suited
for a magnificent wedding present to a royal personage than a costly
manuscript[231]. And large sums were often advanced by money-lenders or
pawnbrokers on the security of a fine illuminated manuscript.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Picture by Quentin Matsys of Antwerp, showing a
lady selling or pawning an illuminated manuscript.]
_Painting by Matsys._
Fig. 55 shows a lady of the Bourgeois class negociating for the sale or
pawn of a _Book of Hours_ or some such manuscript, illuminated with a
full-page miniature of the Virgin and Child. The money-lender appears to be
weighing out to her the money. This beautiful painting which is commonly
called the "Money-changer and his wife" is signed and dated 1514 by Quentin
Massys or Matsys of Antwerp. It is now in the Louvre.
In the sixteenth century, especially in Italy, during the last decadence of
the illuminator's art, very magnificent and costly manuscripts were
produced by professional miniaturists, but these are merely monuments of
wasted labour. Some account is given at page 202 of Giulio Clovio, the most
skilful though tasteless miniaturist of his age.
_Accounts of St George's, Windsor._
Mr J. W. Clark, the Registrary of the University of Cambridge, has procured
and kindly allows me to print the following very interesting record of the
cost of writing and illuminating certain manuscripts during the fourteenth
century. The extract is taken from the manuscript records of the expenses
of the Collegiate Church of St George at Windsor. The date is approximately
given by the fact that John Prust was a Canon of Windsor from 1379 to 1385.
"Compotus Johannis Prust de diuersis libris per eum factis videlicet j
Antiphonarium, j Textus Evangelij, j Martilogium, iij Processionalia.
In primis onerat se de x li. vj s. viij d. receptis de Ricardo
Shawe per Indenturam.
Item onerat se de xx s. receptis de corpore prebende Edmundi
Clouille.
Item onerat se de l s. receptis de dicto Edmundo pro officio
suo videlicet Precentoris.
Summa totalis receptorum xiij li. xvj s. viij d.
In xix quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro libro
Euangelij precio quaternionis viij d. xij s. viij d.
Item solutum pro uno botello ad imponendum Incaustum x d.
Item solutum pro incausto xiiij d.
Item pro vermulione ix d.
Item pro communibus scriptoris pro xviij^o. septimanis solutum
per septimanam x d. xv s.
Item pro stipendio dicti scriptoris per idem tempus xiij s. iiij d.
Item solutum Ade Acton ad notandum "Liber generacionis"
et "Passion[es]" in dicto libro[232] viij d.
Item pro examinacione et ad faciendum literas capitales
gloucas [for glaucas] iij s.
Item pro illuminacione dicti libri iij s. iiij d.
Item pro ligacione dicti libri iij s. iiij d.
Item auri fabro pro operacione sua xx s.
Item in uno equo conducto pro Petro Jon per ij vices London
pro dicto libro portando et querendo viij d.
Item pro expensis dicti Petri per ij vices xj d.
Summa lxxv s. viij d.
Item in vij quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro libro
Martilogij precio quaternionis viij d. iiij s. viij d.
et non plures quia staur[o].
Item pro scriptura xij quaternionum precio quaternionis
xv d. xv s.
Item pro illuminacione dicti libri v s. x d.
Item pro ligacione dicti libri ij s. ij d.
Item ad faciendum literas capitales gloucas viij d.
Summa xxviij s. iiij d.
Item in xxxiiij quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro
vno Anthiphonario precio quaternionis xv d. xlij s. vj d.
Item xij quaterniones de stauro
Item pro scriptura xl. quaternionum pro nota precio quaternionis
xv d. l s.
Item pro scriptura vj quaternionum de phalterio[233] precio quaternionis
ij s. ij d. xiij s.
Item ad notandum antiphonas in phalterio vj d.
Item ad notandum xl. quaterniones pro antiphonis precio
vj d. xx s.
Item ad faciendum literas capitales gloucas xij d.
Item pro illuminacione xv s. xj d.
Item pro ligacione v s.
Summa vij li. vij s. xj d.
Item in xlvj quaternionibus pergamenti multonis emptis pro
iij libris processionalium precio quaternionis ij d. ob.
ix s. vij d.
Item pro scriptura dictarum xlvj quaternionum xv s.
Item ad notandum dictas quaterniones vij s. vj d.
Item pro illuminacione ij s. ix d.
Item pro ligacione ij s. vj d.
Summa xxxvij s. iiij d.
Summa Totalis Expensarum xiiij li. ix s. iij d.
Et sic debentur computanter xij s. vij d.
probatur per auditores quos r[ecepit] de
Ricardo Shawe tunc precentore. Et sic
equatur."
From these accounts we learn that six manuscripts were written, illuminated
and bound, one of them with gold or silver clasps or bosses, at a total
cost of £14. 9_s._ 3_d._, more than £150 in modern value.
The books were a _Textus_ or _Evangeliarium_, a _Martyrologium_, an
_Antiphonale_ and three _Processionals_.
£ s. d.
The _Evangeliarium_ was written on 19 _quaternions_
(quires)[234] of vellum, costing 8_d._ each, total 12 8
Black ink 1 2
A bottle to hold the ink 10
Vermilion 9
The scribe's "commons" (food) for eighteen
weeks 15 0
Payment to the scribe 13 4
Corrections and adding coloured initials 3 0
Illumination 3 4
Binding 3 4
Goldsmith's work (on the binding) 1 0 0
Two journeys to London and other smaller
items, making a total of £3. 15_s._ 8_d._
The _Martyrologium_ was partly written on 7
quaternions of vellum[235], costing 8_d._ each quaternion 4 8
Payment to the scribe 15 0
Illumination 5 10
Binding 2 2
Coloured initials 8
-----------
Total 1 8 4
The _Antiphonale_ was written on 34 quaternions
of larger and more expensive sheets of
vellum, costing 15_d._ a quaternion[236] 2 2 6
Payments to the scribe 3 3 0
Adding the musical notation 1 0 6
Coloured initials 1 0
Illumination 15 11
Binding 5 0
-----------
Total 7 7 11
The three _Processionals_ only cost £1. 17_s._ 4_d._, being written on 46
quaternions of cheap parchment made of sheep-skin which cost only 2½_d._
the quaternion.
_Accounts of St Ewen's, Bristol._
The following extracts from the Parish accounts of the Church of St Ewen,
in Bristol[237], give some details as to the cost of writing, illuminating
and binding a manuscript _Lectionary_ during the years 1469 and 1470. The
total expense is £3. 4_s._ 1_d._, quite equal to £20 in modern value.
1468-9.
"Item, for j dossen and v quayers of vellom to perform
the legend [i.e. to write the lectionary on] x^s vj^d
Item, for wrytyng of the same xxv^s
Item, for ix skynnys and j quayer of velom to the same
legend v^s vj^d
Item, for wrytyng of the forseyd legend iiij^s ij^d
1470-1471.
Item for a red Skynne to kever the legent v^d
Also for the binding and correcting of the
seid Boke v^s
Also for the lumining of the seid legent xiij^s vj^d