Click2History - Illuminated Manuscripts, Illustrated Laws - Chapter 7

<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 7 - ILLUSTRATED LAWS</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">Today, non-lawyers (and even some professionals) who research the law are quickly bored by endless pages of uninterrupted text. Rarely are pictures, or illustrations of any kind, found in law books. Such was <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/scriptorium/DSImages/heh/150/002149.jpg" target="_blank"><b>not always</b></a> the case. Even a <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/scriptorium/DSImages/heh/75/002142.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Register of Writs</b></a> (from 15th century England) contains some color and marginal imagery.</p> <p>The following samples present additional legal texts, and books of statutes, which employ more than words to make their points.</p><ul> <li>Charles IV issued a constitution (called the Golden Bull of 1356) to codify the rights of German princes. His son, Emperor Wenceslas, commissioned a manuscript <a target="_blank" href="images/depicting.jpg"><b>depicting</b></a> the opening of an official copy of that law. Centuries later, historian Lord Bryce noted that the Golden Bull "<a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/goldenbull.html" target="_blank"><b>codified anarchy</b></a> and called it a constitution." (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna)</li><br><br> <li>An illustration from <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Scriptorium/hehweb/HM1343.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Grand Coutumier de Normandie</b></i></a> (1480) <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/guide/images/eu049001.jpg" target="_blank"><b>portrays</b></a> a court bailiff and several knights visiting a sick room - likely checking out whether the defendant was really too ill to appear in court!</li><br><br> <li>Also from the second half of the 15th century, we see <a href="http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/jpegs/fr/c/1000/05000802.jpg" target="_blank"><b>a page</b></a> (in French with Latin titles) of an English <i>Nova Statuta</i> (New Statute) reflecting the end of 9 Henry V and the start of 1 Henry VI. (Bodleian Library, Oxford)</li><br><br> <li>Unlike the unadorned <a target="_blank" href="images/draft.jpg"><b>draft</b></a>, and <a target="_blank" href="images/final.version.jpg"><b>final version</b></a>, of Americas <a target="_blank" href="images/declaration.independence.jpg"><b><i>Declaration of Independence</i></b></a>, Great Britains <a href="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/magna-carta.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Magna Carta</i></b></a> (the Great Charter) of 1215 is a <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/guide/images/eu011001.jpg" target="_blank"><b>work of art</b></a> as well as a grantor of <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/history/magna_carta/magna_carta_ch1.htm" target="_blank"><b>rights</b></a>. Even when this fundamental law <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/scriptorium/DSImages/heh/150/002161.jpg" target="_blank"><b>appears</b></a> in medieval books of <a target="_blank" href="images/english.statutes.jpg"><b>English Statutes</b></a>, it (like <a href="http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/scriptorium/DSImages/heh/75/002163.jpg" target="_blank"><b>other pages</b></a>) is decorated.</li><br><br> <li>On the other hand, Frances <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004834.jpg" target="_blank"><b><i>Declaration of the Rights of Man</i></b></a> follows more closely the presentation of the American <i>Declaration of Independence</i> and George Masons <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004908.jpg" target="_blank"><b><i>Virginia</b></a> <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004909.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Declaration</b></a> of <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004911.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Rights</b></i></a> after which it was patterned.</li></ul> <p>This virtual trip back in time, to view miniatures, illuminations, and other magnificent treasures created in the Middle Ages, prompts a question. When future generations examine the books and ponder the archives we have created, what will our endless pages of typewritten (or computer-printed) text tell them about us? What will our lack of printed (let alone handmade) drawings and illuminations in books convey about how people learned in the 20th/21st centuries?</p> <p>What written treasures, in short, are <b>we</b> creating for future generations to study and admire?</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="illuminated_manuscripts_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>