![]() The lively illuminated portraits of this social hierarchy of medieval characters came from the hand of a lay artist named Alan Strayler, who waived his illuminators fee from Walsingham in return for a place in the renowned book as a benefactor.īeyond the portraits Walsingham’s fascinating list of gifts – ranging from land, property and money, to jewellery, vestments, bells and books – offers yet another valuable insight into the social history of medieval England. Illuminated manuscripts are hand-written books with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver. Rather like a Who’s Who of medieval England, the book lists everyone from Kings and Queens through Popes, Abbots and Monks, right down to stone masons and millers who each made a contribution to the Abbey. Paris’s fascinating work is joined by the second name most associated with the Abbey chronicles, Thomas Walsingham.Ī monk with a fine and lively writing style and a determination to bring about another golden age of chronicle-writing and illustration at the Abbey in the wake of Paris, Walsingham compiled The Golden Book of St Albans, on display in the exhibition, which lists many of the benefactors who had donated to the Abbey. The book includes a map of Britain, lives of the first 23 abbots of St Albans, and copies of original documents. There is also a chance to see Paris’s Liber Additamentorum, or “Book of Additions”, composed in the 12th or 13th century as his collection of original literary treatises and historical documents assembled to support his research for Chronica Majora. 800 Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France are now available online. The use of metallic materials like gold and silver is what gives these texts their name ‘illuminated’, as they reflect the light. Local donors to the monastery presenting charters to lands or tenements © The British Library An online catalog of illuminated manuscripts in the collections of the Royal Library and the Museum Meermanno in The Hague, Netherlands. by Kelly Macquire published on 11 January 2022 Illuminated manuscripts are handwritten books that are highly decorated in precious materials like gold or silver.
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