Illuminated Manuscripts
In an illuminated manuscript text is supplemented by the addition of decorated initials,
borders (marginalia), and miniature illustrations.
Page from the Book of Hours, ca. 1400
The book of hours, a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages, is the most
common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript.

The major varieties and historic periods
of illuminated manuscripts include Late
Antique, Insular, Carolingian
manuscripts, Ottonian manuscripts,
Romanesque manuscripts, Gothic
manuscripts, and Renaissance

manuscripts.
The earliest surviving illuminated
manuscripts were produced in Italy and
the Eastern Roman Empire ca. 400 600.

Illuminated manuscripts increased
during the Gothic Period, including many secular works of literature and
educational texts.

Early illuminated manuscripts were produced by masterful monks working in
solitude; as demand increased, secular scribes were increasingly employed for
this task.

Illuminated Manuscripts became obsolete with the advent of printing.
Illuminated Manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the
addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders (marginalia), and miniature
illustrations. In the most strict definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only
refers to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, but in both common usage and
Source URL: https://www.boundless.com/art-history/gothic-art/english-gothic-art/illuminated-manuscripts/
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/arth401#3.1.2
Attributed to: Boundless
www.saylor.org
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modern scholarship, the term is now used to refer to any decorated or illustrated
manuscript from the Western traditions.
Vellum
A type of parchment paper made from the skin of a lamb, baby goat, or calf.
Scriptorium
A room in a monastery set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts
and records.
Source URL: https://www.boundless.com/art-history/gothic-art/english-gothic-art/illuminated-manuscripts/
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/arth401#3.1.2
Attributed to: Boundless
www.saylor.org
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