illumination etc

The Ulm Münster Book-Covers (1506)

Silver and silver-gilt; relief, engraving, burnishing, applied elements, and openwork.

The British Museum, London

Pair of liturgical book covers attributed to a goldsmith working in the circle of Daniel Mauch (1477–1540).

Made for the Gospel Book and the Epistle Book of Ulm Minster.

Decorated with high-relief figures, Gothic architectural canopies, openwork tracery, angels, heraldic shields, and engraved architectural motifs.

The Gospel cover depicts the Virgin and Child, St John the Almoner, St Helena, and the Four Church Fathers: Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.

The Epistle cover depicts St Vincent of Valencia, St Anthony the Hermit, and the symbols of the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Both covers include gilded details and silver-gilt applied elements.

Recorded in the treasury inventories of Ulm Minster from 1525 onward.

The original heraldic devices may have been altered during the sixteenth century.

this guy who is painting his own letter

2. brother vitulus, whose name means calf, who represents himself as a calf

3. this guy who is really angry at the rat that keeps stealing his food

4. mr william the brailes, who represents himself being saved from hell while all the other damned look absolutely done with him

5. mr ferro, whose name means iron, who embellishes the writing everytime iron is mentioned in a sentence

6. william the brailes again, very happy getting caressed by the hand of god :)

I just LOVE digitized manuscripts! Old stuff for everyone to behold! 🥳 Here’s more info:

Or just jump straight to the fun:

decorated text pages

from the stammheim missal, a richly illuminated liturgical manuscript produced at st michael's abbey in hildesheim, lower saxony, c. 1160-80

A couple of weird little guys are chilling out in the bottom margin of Ms. Codex 724 f. 326v, a 13th century illuminated Bible.

🔗:

Pendant for Horse Trappings (Portugese, 15th century).

Copper alloy, enamel, gold.

Leaf from Ghistelles book of hours : manuscript, circa 1299-1300.

MS Lat 446

Bible : manuscript, [12--]

MS Typ 119

Not too many of our books are held together with iron bars and nails, but this hefty hymnal needs the support for its massive wooden boards.

Privately printed in 1646, for the Monastery of Santa Maria della Pace by Giovanni Agostino Casoni della Spezia in Genoa, no expense was spared for this weighty wonder, including commissioning a giant unique typeface and initials that were used exclusively for this work.  (Do you see how big that “I” is?  It is as big as my hand!).  In addition, each of the 103 pages is a full sheet printed as a broadside.

Bookmarks before browsers

These four medieval bookmarks are 500-700 years old, yet they are smarter than what we use for our modern books - or even in our web browsers. Some just help you find your way back to a certain page, but others do so much more: they mark text column and line, in addition to the page. The lower one, for example, is like a computer that you program. Sliding it up and down, and turning its disk, means you will find your way back to a very specific place: the very line where you left off the day before.

More information on these rare devices and how they work in this blog I wrote about them.

Grumpy faces

In medieval times it was common to add decoration to the first letter of the text and to those found in the top line. Both locations were positioned next to a lot of vacant space - the margins - which invited the decorator to add exuberant lines. This manuscript is special because the added decoration shares a common theme: faces - of kings, teachers, monks and women - that look around in a displeased, almost grumpy manner. One is even sticking out his tongue to us, in a particularly defiant way. It concerns a book of law, which fits the bill as these books are known for having faces embedded in their decoration. Although they are not usually this displeased with the world around them.

Christine de Pizan: Literary Trailblazer

Climbing the social ladder or making a career was a bit more difficult in Medieval Europe than is the case nowadays – especially for women. The Church had a large influence on the position of women: due to the Bible, it was believed that women had to pay for mankind’s expulsion from paradise. Therefore, women had to obey their father and husband, were kept out of public office, and were, with few exceptions, disallowed from wielding authority.

sweeping up the alphabet

border illustrations from the hours of marguerite d'orléans, france, 15th c.

musicians

from the margins of an antiphonary manuscript, bohemia, c. 1499

turning the tables

marginalia from the pontifical-lectionary of abbot peter eichhorn, wettingen abbey, 1557