A LOOK INTO CHRISTOPHER DE HAMELS

A HISOTRY OF ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

Alexandra Kollar

ART 353: Renaissance Art

May 4, 2016
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Humans are visual beings; we crave to experience rich, visual narratives and to look upon

beauty. Though the definition of beauty varies from each individual, it does not change that fact

that we are all drawn to what we describe as aesthetically pleasing. Just as humans search and

cling to beauty, we also seek engrossing narratives. The art of storytelling dates back to the days

of Adam speaking Gods will to the first of mankind, to early indigenous tribes around the world

passing down their folklore to the next generations. The desires to view beauty and understand

stories are two, exclusively human traits that God gifted us. He not only gifted the desire to view

beauty, but the ability to create it. Enter: illuminated manuscripts.

These beautiful works of art were hand made by skilled scribes and illuminators for a

multitude of purposes. From bibles to bestiaries, illuminated manuscripts were, at one point in

history, the only archived sources of recorded knowledge. With such a vast number of

manuscripts created between the early fifth century and the late fifteenth century, it may seem

like a daunting task to unpack such an important part of art history. Among the many historians

who study illuminated manuscripts, there was one who took the challenge head on.

Dr. Christopher De Hamel is the Fellow Librarian of Corpus Christi College in

Cambridge and world-renowned art historian, specializing in medieval manuscripts. He has years

of experience working in both the commercial world of purchasing and selling manuscripts and

scholarly world of examining and interpreting texts. He also holds four doctorates from both

Oxford and Cambridge. In an article released by Les Enluminures announcing Dr. de Hamels

inauguration as Senior Vice-President of the organization, CEO Dr. Hindman is quoted as saying

that de Hamel has made manuscripts accessible, interesting, increasingly valuable and just

plain fun to an ever-widening audience.1 Hindman is refereeing to de Hamels book, A history

1 Charlotte Stovell, Dr. Christopher de Hamel becomes Senior Vice-President at Les

Enluminures, Les Enluminures, (2014). http://www.lesenluminures.com/enlu-
assets/home/christopher-de-hamel-press-release.pdf. Accessed April 2016.
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of Illuminated Manuscripts. This all-encompassing book of manuscripts is organized into

sections explaining the different purposes for why manuscripts were created and how they were

used. This easy-to-follow structure allows readers to understand the dense history of this

beautiful art form.

In the first chapter, de Hamel describes the importance of manuscripts to Christian missionaries.

He even goes so far as to say, Christianity is the religion of the book.2 He describes the event

when Saint Augustine and his fellow missionaries traveled to England to meet with King

Ethelberht of Kent. As they approached the king they held up a decorated, silver cross and the

image of the Saviour painted on a board3 as symbols to the Good News they were sharing. De

Hamel chose to open the chapter with this story to emphasize the importance of images and icons

are to message of Christianity. He continues the chapter by talking about certain, important

manuscripts including Saint Augustines Pastoral Rule, the Text of St. Mildrid, the Codex

Grandior, and the famous Book of Kells, just to name a few.

The Pastoral Rule was a written collection of principles and responsibilities of the clergy written

by Pope Gregory the Great. It depicts King David with his court of musicians. Although we do

not know the specific manuscripts that were brought to England, the monks of Saint Augustines

Abbey believed that Augustine himself owned a copy of this masterpiece and taught its

principles. These principles are what made this book quite valuable to missionaries in their

journey to spread the gospel. The book is very script heavy with an uncial, curved or rounded,

script style. Content wise, it may seem to be a basic manuscript but it is fundamental for the

greater narrative of Christianity.

2 Christopher de Hamel, A history of Illuminated Manuscripts (Boston: David R. Godine, 1986),

11.
3 Ibid.
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In the next chapter, de Hamel talks about books in relation to royalty. He begins with

recounting the legend of Emperor Otto III who was said to have ordered the tomb of

Charlemagne of Aachen, his predecessor, to be opened. According to the book when they opened

the tomb they found the body of Charlemagne almost completely intact and fully decorated with

gold chains and a scepter. As the story goes, they also found a splendid illuminated manuscript

resting on the dead kings lap. Though this legend lacks historical facts to back it up, de Hamel

explains that it is not the story itself that is important, but the fact that a manuscript was among

the symbols of state.4 This offers insight to the historical value of manuscripts to kings and

emperors, not as missionary texts, but as regalia.

The manuscript from Charlemagnes tomb was, in fact, kept and is traditional identified with the

so-called Vienna Coronation Gospels. Unlike the missionary texts, this manuscripts cover and

binding were extravagantly embellished with gold and jewels. Within its gaudy exterior were

hand written, golden words on purple stained vellum, truly an extraordinary masterpiece. De

Hamel explains that wherever Charlemagne traveled he was followed by imperial wagons of

gold, treasure, archives, and manuscripts.5 To men like Charlemagne, these books were a

symbol of economic and political power.

Kings would contract abbeys to create books especially for them, sometimes for their own

enjoyment but also to be used as gifts. One example of this was a little Psalter written out by

the order of Charlemagne himself for a presentation to Pope Hadrian I.6 The book opens with a

dedication written in gold saying that the psalms are the golden words of King David and that

Charlemagne is the his golden successor.7 This was presented to the pope as a gift, however it

4 Ibid.,39.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.,45.
7 Ibid.
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was given to the papacy as a power play by the king in order to manipulate the church into

supporting him.

De Hamel spends the next chapter describing how monks created and organized manuscripts. De

Hamel explains a monastery needed books as part of its essential furniture;8 he goes, as far as

to say that it was not a proper monastery without a fully stocked library. That being said, it was

up to monks to create and recreate these highly demanded books.

Before a scribe could begin his work, he needed an exemplar or another copy of the same text as

a model for the new manuscript. The next step of the process was to prepare the blank leaves of

vellum. Monks would usually acquire animal skins form butchers, but this was not a simple a

task as it sounds. Massive books like the Winchester Bible, required skins from an entire flock of

sheep, roughly 250. In some cases abbeys were given money by wealthy contractors to

purchase the animals necessary.

Once the skins were acquired, they were soaked in limewater to loosen the animals fur

and flesh. After two weeks of soaking, the skin was taken out and scraped clean of the fur. After

two more weeks of soaking, the skin was then taken out, rinsed, stretched tightly, and left to dry

in the sun. Once it was completely dry, and cleaned multiple times, the scribe would then cut off

the excess edges of the leaf and then proceed to fold the vellum into the desired size of the pages.

The scribe then measured out the pages by carefully using a ruler and straight edge to gently

create a grid of lines. Once the pages were all prepped, the scribe would then begin the delicate

and painstaking process of handwriting a new manuscript.

De Hamel explains that it was only after a scribe had finished writing the text did an

illuminator have the opportunity to illustrate the piece. The artist would lightly sketch the design

then use his quill and ink to make the black outline. If a manuscripts design called for gold, the

8 Ibid.,84.
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artist would apply an adhesive to those certain areas and then gently brush on the gold flakes.

Once the gold was set, he would continue with painting the rest of the image.

In the book, before de Hamel describes the illuminating process, he addressed the

question of why manuscripts were decorated at all. It was clearly not just because it was pretty,

de Hamel claims, the twelfth century was an age, which delighted in the classification, and

ordering of knowledge.9 This means that the large, bright initials we so often associate with

manuscripts were strategically created to mark the beginning of books or chapters and acts as a

visual guide to the important parts of the text. These beautiful designs classify and prioritize the

text to make a manuscript easy to use.

The late twelfth century marked the beginning of flourishing, European universities. As the

academic world began to expand, the demand for textbooks spiked and brought about a

revolution in the medieval book trade.10 In many schools of the era the most fundamental

textbook was the Bible, but those manuscripts were made up of several large, separate volumes

that were cumbersome and not designed for private study. All of this changed in the late

twelfth/early thirteenth century when the Bible was collected into a single volume. The book

itself underwent organizational and esthetic changes as well. The order and names of the books

were standardized and the text was meticulously divided up into numbered chapters which are

still in use today.11 Scribes began to use the thinnest vellum to make the pages smaller and

created headings at the top of each page. They used red and blue initials to mark the beginning

and end of each chapter and used black ink in a tiny script in two columns. De Hamel says that

the new Bible was a best seller.

9 Ibid.,98.
10 Ibid.,107.
11 Ibid.,113.
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Never before was there a standardized formula to creating the right kind of book, nor was there

such a demand for so many to be produced. This was perhaps the first time in history we see

massed produced literary works, not in the way that we experience it today, but in a unique way

developed in the latter half of the thirteenth century known as the pecia system.

The pecia system was first developed in Italy and then implemented by the University of

Paris. Booksellers in Paris, known as university stationers, owned many great collections of

university textbook exemplars. These works were kept unbound in loose gatherings, called pecia.

The stationer would hire out these gatherings to scribes or students who could replicate the text.

Since the text was separated into different pieces, the stationers could rent out the text to multiple

people and have them transcribe their individual pieces all at once. De Hamel describes:

The scribe then had to bring back the pecia he had just copied and collect the
next number in the sequence. In the meantime the one he had just returned could
be hired out to another client. Thus a text of 312 leaves (for example) instead of
being lent to one scribe for six months while he copied it out at the rate of twelve
leaves per week (for example), could be used to reproduce up to twenty-six
identical copies during the same time and each would be only one removed from
the original exemplar.12

This pecia process was truly a turning point in the way that books were, not only produced, but

also accessed and thought about. Suddenly books were more accessible for educational purposes.

Besides sharing the good news and providing students with detailed and reliable information,

manuscripts were also created to tell different kinds of stories. De Hamel spends the next section

describing multiple manuscripts filled with fantastical adventures, brave heroes, and Romanic

poetry. We as humans we loved to be entertained, and men and women of the medieval and

Renaissance eras were no different. Famous legends, like those of King Arthur and his knights,

were told through music and poetry, but through manuscripts, could be recorded and visually

represented in a beautiful way.

12 Ibid.,126.
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One of the most popular manuscripts of the thirteenth century was the French romance,

Roman de la Rose. According to de Hamel, it was a poem made up of over 20,000 lines. It tells

the story of a young man who found himself in a garden where he meets, and falls in love with, a

Rose bud (can be interpreted as a beautiful maiden). It is only after elaborate adventures and

debates with the gods is he finally able to win the Roses love. The books popularity is evident,

there are over 200 manuscripts known to still exist today. De Hamel equates the books success

to its beautiful language and story telling, and its mildly erotic nature.

De Hamel equates the fictional manuscripts as mainly enjoyed by those who could spend

the money to acquire them, namely, the aristocracy. But for the ordinary civilian of the time, the

only kind of manuscript they likely would have had, was the Book of Hours. The books were

small and delicately illuminated, quite humble in comparison to the manuscripts mentioned so

far. De Hamel remarks, It was the first time that any kind of book became really popular, even

among people who had never owned books before,13 it could be called the beginning of the

personal library.

One beautiful example of these prayer books is the Boucicaut Hours, or, The Hours of Jean de

Boucicaut. This beautiful and legendary manuscript was created near the very beginning of the

Northern Renaissance and thus stands as an excellent foundation for, and example of, the works

to come. Although this piece is among a number of artfully crafted masterpieces of the early

renaissance, the author remains unnamed. He is known simples as the Boucicaut Master, an

exceptionally brilliant artist who created some of the most beautiful illuminated works. Although

this illuminator was fundamental in launching the art of manuscripts into the next era, Hamel

does not actually focus on the Boucicaut Master. This is one of the few flaws in de Hamels

approach to studying manuscripts. Since he studies these works on a broad spectrum he does not

13 Ibid.,159.
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spend time discussing individual illuminators. This, however, is understandable and forgivable

since his main focus is the history of manuscripts as a whole.

While this book is a conglomeration of the entirety of illuminated manuscript history, de

Hamel, however, claims that the end of the hand-written age was in the late fourteenth and early

fifteenth century when the printing press was invented. With this being the end of his timeline he

chooses to exclude information of the evolution of manuscripts during this transition period in

history. Marcel Thomas is the author of The Golden Age: Manuscript Painting at the Time of

Jean, Duke of Berry and chose to approach his study of manuscripts in a completely different

way. Instead of tackling the entirety of manuscript history, Thomas chose to frame his

exploration by focusing on a single location of book production, namely, Paris. Thomas argues

that Paris was the main hub for creating manuscripts and stood as a crucible of diverse artistic

legacies that formed an alloy14 for all other book producing cities. Thomas continues to keep his

study narrow by presenting individual manuscript pages with short and concise descriptions

beside them. He claims that this way of organizing the book shows the distinguishing

characteristics of each piece while underlining what the illumination in each country owed to

foreign influences.15

One of the most apparent differences between de Hamel and Thomas approach to the same

subject is that Thomas almost immediately emphasizes the importance of the Renaissance to the

art of manuscripts. He claims that the fifteenth century was a boom of artistic appreciation,

writing, the sumptuously decorated manuscript, eagerly leafed through (sometimes more than it

was read) seemed to become one of the essential attributes of nobility and power.16 De Hamel

14 Marcel Thomas, The Golden Age: Manuscript Painting at the Time of Jean, Duke of Berry
(New York: George Braziller, 1979), 8.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.,9.
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claims that this was the end of hand written manuscripts, which historically holds true, but

Thomas states that this was the just beginning of an evolution in the history of manuscripts. He

does not shy away form the new printed form, rather, he choses to showcase it.

After reading through de Hamels book and seeing these topics that he has excluded, I do not feel

a sense of incompletion. His extensive knowledge is quite apparent and allowed me, someone

who had very limited exposure to manuscripts, to grasp a fuller and richer understanding of the

subject matter. That being said, the lack of information of the fifteenth Renaissance truly is a

shame. Though the printing press did end the need for scribes to painstakingly hand write each

and every letter on a sheet of vellum, I must disagree with de Hamel because it also sparked a

new age of creativity and appreciation for the art. It was not the end of manuscripts as he depicts,

it was the beginning of an evolution.

Even as the art of writing and illuminating changed, the importance of manuscripts is not

based solely on their surface level beauty or craftsmanship. That being said, I am not

disregarding the time, patience, incredible skill, and delicate execution it took to create each

page, I will argue, however, that the beauty and importance of manuscripts does not lie solely in

those intricacies. It is the marriage between the stories truths and the intricate, handcrafted

designs on the pages that transformed each book into a powerful visual testimony to the glory of

God; the ultimate artist. Perhaps it is this marriage of arts that modern Christianity has drifted

from, but not completely lost. We may never see the creation of hand written and painted

manuscripts in our lifetime, but the legacy of this tradition live on in a new wave of creative

minds. Humans are visual creatures; we will always desire to understand our world through the

creation and interpretation of art.

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Bibliography

De Hamel, Christopher. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts. Boston: David R. Godine, 1986.

Stovell, Charlotte. Dr. Christopher de Hamel becomes Senior Vice-President at Les

Enluminures. Les Enluminures. 2014, April 2016. http://www.lesenluminures.com/enlu-

assets/home/christopher-de-hamel-press-release.pdf.
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Thomas, Marcel. The Golden Age: Manuscript Painting at the Time of Jean, Duke of Berry. New

York: George Braziller, 1979.

The Pastoral Rule (730)

believed to be owned by Saint

Augustine:
13
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A page from the manuscript from Charlemagnes tomb (late eighth century), believed to be a part

of Vienna Coronation Gospels:

 15

The Boucicaut Hours, late fourteenth/early fifteenth century: