Pages of wondrous beauty
The author in front of the Manes Code book in Český Krumlov Castle, 2017
- I studied ... in the monastery of Cheti-Minei people and something else ... I know grammar and prosody, I studied little ...
– That's okay! And I so "Bov Korolevich" member. There is Polkan the bogatyr, then she read a book, translated from Fryazhsky, like Bova, - in that book a lot is written about the polkans, that they abducted their wives, and how they were all killed later, only in Fryazhsky the polkans are called centaurs ... Both of these books - Bova and about the centaurs - the holy one saw and threw it into the oven, into the fire, and he gave me honor "Color Triode".
"People Walking", Chapygin Alexey Pavlovich
History and culture of the Middle Ages. Today we will not talk about knights, but about medieval manuscripts, the earliest and perhaps the most beautiful of everything that has ever been written or drawn in books. Such manuscripts are called illuminated, and they are medieval colorful handmade books, and the text in them can be written in gold and silver ink or paints based on natural pigments. The pages of such manuscripts are usually decorated with silver and gold ornaments, and very often with bright colored miniatures, the colors of which have not yet faded. The earliest manuscripts are limited in their content to the texts of their Holy Scriptures, divine hymns, and religious calendars. So in terms of informing the historian, they give quite little: and the most interesting thing about them is the place and time of their writing.
There are manuscripts that were dedicated to ancient authors such as Virgil, Homer and others. They contain more information, since the ancient manuscripts themselves have practically not come down to us. But for an art historian there is no greater joy than to look at these manuscripts, and all because they are simply decorated with amazing ornaments. These manuscripts, according to historians, often to order, were created in the countries of Western Europe between 500 and 1600 by monks in monasteries (nuns also took part in this, but later), church parishes, and since they required a lot of work, they cost a lot. expensive. It should be noted that the creation of some of them took a year, and even up to several decades! Of course, only very wealthy people could order such a handwritten masterpiece. Nevertheless, the demand for illuminated manuscripts was so great that many of them have come down to us. For example, Froissart's "Chronicles" have come down to us in 86 lists, which are in the libraries of London, Paris, New York and Bruges.
As soon as the printing press of Johannes Gutenberg appeared (and this happened in the 1440s), the era of handwritten books began to gradually come to an end. But among the elite of society, it was handwritten books that were most valued. Medieval collectors, and there were already then, despised books printed with a manual printing press, and, as before, ordered handwritten manuscripts from monks. Very few of the most interesting books that are genuine works of art have come down to us.
Carpet page "Books from Durrow". Stored at Trinity College Dublin Library
First of all, it is the "Book from Durrow" (650-700). It is believed to be the oldest illuminated manuscript in Europe. And this is the oldest evangelical text that has come down to our days. Where it was created is not exactly known. They call both the island of Iona and Lindisfarne Abbey.
The Man from The Book of Durrow
On the pages of the book you can find twelve intertwined initials (the first letter in the text, in Rus' such letters were called drop caps), and they are so large that they occupy most of the page and represent completely unique examples of illumination from a time so far from us. There are also five miniatures depicting the four Evangelists and John the Baptist, the size of a full page, and six more so-called "carpet" pages, entirely from ornaments alone.
Another "carpet page"...
The "carpet" pages are covered with a complex Celtic ornament, made with amazing craftsmanship. I just can’t believe how you can draw all this so neatly and clearly with simple hands and hair brushes. Both gold and silver inks are widely used, and this is the first time they have been used to design an illuminated gospel. Why is this book so important? Here's what: it's the basic text that shaped the Roman Catholic Church and has used it for over 1000 years. And it remains the basis of the Bible for today's Christian church.
"Scribe skribas!" - The scribe writes. "Code Amiatinus" in the Medici Laurenzian Library. Photo by Roberta Ahmanson
The Codex Amiatinus or Codex Amiatinus (late 30th - early 35th century) is considered the oldest manuscript Bible in Latin. And it was created by the monks of the abbey of Monquirmouth-Jarrow in the kingdom of Northumbria, after which it was sent as a gift to the pope. It's funny that this book weighs like a good bag of cement: 1040-1029 kg and contains XNUMX sheets of parchment, of which XNUMX have come down to us.
The text begins with a full color image of the scribe Ezra working in his office.
Created at the end of the XNUMXth - beginning of the XNUMXth century, this manuscript is kept in the Laurenzian Library, Florence. The illustrations are bright and colorful. There is a preface written in gold ink on purple paper, a luxury reserved only for the most important texts, usually for emperors. There are charts of the Testaments based on the writings of St. Jerome and St. Augustine.
The "Gospel of Lindisfarne" (c. 700-715) was born on the "holy island" of Lindisfarne within the walls of the monastery of St. Cuthbert and contains the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. And it also has "carpet" pages with Celtic crosses, framed by fantastic birds, bird and animal body ornaments, and bright half-page initials with red dot borders. Located in the British Library in London.
Page 27 of the Lindisfarne Gospel, introduction to the Gospel of Matthew. On the left is the "carpet page". The main text contains the first sentence of the Gospel of Matthew: "Liber Generationis Iesu Christi filii David filii Abraham" ("The Book of the Birth of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham")
Another Carpet Page from the Lindisfarne Gospel
Next in time is the Book of Kells. The following is known about it: when in 793 the Vikings attacked the monastery of St. Cuthbert, this book miraculously survived, and it was transported away “from sin” to the city of Durham, in the north-east of England. That is, in 793 it was already written. It is the Book of Kells that can be considered the most illuminated manuscript of the early Middle Ages. It was made by the labors of many monks from the monastery of St. Columba on the island of Iona, but then, due to the constant threat from the Vikings, they transported it to the Monastery of Kells in Ireland.
Sheet 34 of the Book of Kells, containing the monogram Chi-Rho (χρ), the first letters of the name Christos in Greek. Trinity College Library, Dublin
Sheet 291 of the Book of Kells, containing a portrait of the Evangelist John. Trinity College Library, Dublin
The book is very richly illuminated, that is, decorated with illustrations, as well as colorful ornaments and colored miniatures. And what is interesting and yet inexplicable: on the pages of this manuscript there are decorative elements that can only be seen with a magnifying glass that has a tenfold increase. In particular, such ornamental elements can be seen on initial letters and in some illustrations. But at that time there were no lenses with such magnification. So how was it all drawn? If we ignore the aliens, the descendants of the Atlanteans and the "antediluvian civilization", then there is only one acceptable option: the artist who designed it was simply short-sighted. Here he worked in such a microscopic technique, because he simply could not work in another!
Interestingly, the adventures of the Book of Kells are reflected even in ... animation! In 2009, directed by Tomm Moore, a full-length color cartoon The Secret of Kells was shot - the plot of which is the story of the rescue and completion of the Book of Kells at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
To be continued ...
Information