Click2History - Illuminated Manuscripts, Royalty's Illuminations - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 3 - ROYALTY'S ILLUMINATIONS</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Queen Ingeborg, wife of <a target="_blank" href="images/philip.augustus.gif"><b>Philip Augustus</b></a> of <a target="_blank" href="images/france.jpg"><b>France</b></a>, owned a devotional book known generally as a "psalter." At the time (before 1210) and later, psalters were filled with beautiful illustrations (this <a target="_blank" href="images/picture.parchment.jpg"><b>picture on parchment</b></a> represents <a href="http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Pentecost" target="_blank"><b>Pentecost</b></a>) and were very expensive. Today this book is known as the <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a17595-1.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Ingeborg Psalter</i></b></a>. (<a target="_blank" href="images/musee.jpg"><b>Musée Condé</b></a>, Chantilly)</p> <p>Other richly illustrated psalters from the 13th century still exist. The following are a few examples:</p><ul> <li>In about 1200, it is believed that London's <a target="_blank" href="images/Westminster_Abbey.jpg"><b>Westminster Abbey</b></a> commissioned a psalter for use at <a target="_blank" href="images/church.jpg"><b>the church</b></a>. Today it is unknown who painted "<a target="_blank" href="images/christ.glory.jpg"><b>Christ in Glory</b></a>" in the <a href="http://prodigi.bl.uk/illcat/record.asp?MSID=6542&CollID=16&NStart=20122" target="_blank"><b><i>Westminster Psalter</i></b></a>. (<a target="_blank" href="images/british.museum.jpg"><b>British Museum</b></a>, London)</li><br><br> <li>According to tradition, Blanche of Castile (the mother of Louis IX) owned a psalter filled with illustrations <a target="_blank" href="images/resembling.jpg"><b>resembling</b></a> stained glass windows. <i>Psalter of Blanche of Castile</i>, dated 1235, is maintained at the <a target="_blank" href="images/Bibliothèque.jpg"><b>Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal</b></a> in Paris.</li><br><br> <li>Louis IX of France (also known as St. Louis) commissioned a magnificent psalter (the <i><a href="http://www.artnet.com/library/07/0751/T075133.ASP" target="_blank"><b>Psalter of St. Louis</b></a></i>) which <a target="_blank" href="images/illustrates.jpg"><b>illustrates</b></a> many Old Testament stories. One of the most popular, during the Middle Ages, was about Balaam and <a target="_blank" href="images/his.donkey.jpg"><b>his donkey</b></a>. (<a target="_blank" href="images/Bibliothèque_Nationale.jpg"><b>Bibliothèque Nationale</b></a> de France, Paris)</li></ul> <p>There was a time when Kings gave each other Bibles. St. Louis, of France, gave a three-volume <a target="_blank" href="images/illustrated.set.jpg"><b>illustrated set</b></a> (created between 1252-1270) to <a target="_blank" href="images/ferdinand.iii"><b>Ferdinand III</b></a>, of Spain. (<a target="_blank" href="images/cathedral.jpg"><b>Cathedral</b></a> Museum, <a target="_blank" href="images/toledo.titan1597.jpg"><b>Toledo</b></a>)</p> <p>The frontispiece of King Charles Vs Bible <a target="_blank" href="images/portrays.monarch.jpg"><b>portrays the monarch</b></a> receiving his Bible from Jean de Vaudetar. (<a href="http://www.meermanno.nl/" target="_blank"><b>Museum Meermanno</b></a>, The Hague)</p> <p>Sophie, Princess of Bavaria, originally owned the <i>Book of Prayers of St. Elizabeth of Hungary</i>. Elizabeth gave the book to the <a target="_blank" href="images/cividale.jpg"><b>Cividale</b></a> <a target="_blank" href="images/church.jpg"><b>Church</b></a> in 1220. One of its <a target="_blank" href="images/illustrations.jpg"><b>illustrations</b></a> combines New Testament (the announcement and birth of Jesus) with Old Testament (the prophets Amos and Isaiah) subjects. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Cividale)</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>