MANUSCRIPTS

Fig. 333.—Water-Marks on Paper, from the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Century.

At any rate, the most ancient writing on paper made of rags known at the present day is a letter from Joinville to Louis X., dated 1315; we may, moreover, mention with certainty, as written on linen paper, an inventory of goods belonging to a certain Prior Henry, who died in 1340, which is preserved at Canterbury, and many authentic writings, dating back as far as 1335, preserved in the British Museum, London. The first paper-manufactory established in England was, it is said, at Hertford, which dates only from 1588; but important paper-manufactories existed in France from the reign of Philippe de Valois, that is, from the middle of the fourteenth century; particularly at Essonne and at Troyes. The paper which came from these manufactories bore generally, in the paper itself, different marks (Fig. 333) called water-marks, such as a bull’s head, a cross, a serpent, a star, a crown, &c., according to the quality or destination of the paper. Many other countries in Europe had also flourishing paper-manufactories in the fourteenth century. From this period we find, indeed, a large number of documents written on paper made of rags, the use of which thus preceded by about a century the invention of printing.

Fig. 334.—Banner of the Paper-Makers of Paris.

Manuscripts in Olden Times.—Their Form.—Materials of which they were composed.—Their Destruction by the Goths.—Rare at the Beginning of the Middle Ages.—The Catholic Church preserved and multiplied them.—Copyists.—Transcription of Diplomas.—Corporation of Scribes and Booksellers.—Palæography.—Greek Writings.—Uncial and Cursive Manuscripts.—Sclavonic Writings.—Latin Writers.—Tironian Shorthand.—Lombardic Characters.—Diplomatic.—Capetian.—Ludovicinian.—Gothic.—Runic.—Visigothic.—Anglo-Saxon.—Irish.

LET the reader refer to the chapters onParchmentandBinding, and he will find a few remarks on the purely material part of manuscripts; we may, then, here treat this question very summarily; and for that purpose we shall avail ourselves of the remarkable work of J. J. Champollion-Figeac.

When writing was once invented, and had passed into general use in civilised society, the choice of substances suited for its reception, and to fix it in a durable manner, was very diversified, although depending on the nature of the text to be written.

People wrote on stone, on metals, on the bark and leaves of many kinds of trees, on dried or baked clay, on wood, on ivory, wax, linen, the hides of quadrupeds, on parchment, the best of these preparations; on papyrus, which is the inner bark of a reed growing in the Nile; then on paper made of cotton; and lastly, on paper made from hemp and flax, called rag paper. The Roman world had adopted the use of papyrus, which was a very important branch of commerce at Alexandria. We find proof of this in the writers of antiquity: St. Jerome bears witness to it as far as regards the fifth century of our era. The Latin and Greek emperors gave their diplomas on papyrus. Popes traced their most ancient bullsupon it. The charters of the kings of France of the first race were also issued on papyrus. From the eighth century parchment contended with papyrus; a little later cotton paper also became its competitor, and the eleventh century is generally fixed on as the period when papyrus was entirely superseded by the new materials appropriated to the preservation of writing.

For writing on papyrus the brush or reed was employed, with inks of different colours; black ink was, however, most generally used. There grew on the banks of the Nile, at the time when the reed furnished papyrus, another sort of reed, stiffer and also more flexible, and admirably suited for the manufacture of thecalamus, an instrument supplying the place of the pen, which was not adopted before the eighth century.

The size of manuscripts was in no way subject to fixed rules, there were volumes of all dimensions; the most ancient on parchment are, in general, longer than they are broad, or else are square; the writing rests on a line traced with the dry point of thecalamus, and afterwards with black-lead; the parts making up a volume are composed of an indeterminate number of leaves; a word or a figure, placed at the bottom of the last page of each part and at the end of the volume, serves as acatchwordfrom one fasciculus to another.

The emperors of Constantinople used to sign in red ink the acts of their sovereignty; their first secretary was the guardian of the vase containing the cinnabar (vermilion), which the emperor alone might use. Some diplomas of the kings of France of the second race are signed in the same manner. In valuable manuscripts, great use was made of golden ink, especially when the parchment was dyed purple; but red ink was almost always employed for capital letters or for the titles of books, and for a long time after the invention of printing the volumes still had therubrics(ruber, red) painted or beautifully executed with the pen.

The greater number of rich manuscripts, even when they contained the text of some ancient secular author, were destined to be presented to the treasuries of churches and abbeys, and these offerings were not made without great display: the book, whatever its contents might be, was placed on the altar, and a solemn mass was celebrated on the occasion; moreover, an inscription at the end of the work mentioned the homage which had been paid for it to God and to the saints in paradise.

We must not forget that in this time of almost universal ignorance, the Church was the only depository of literature and science; she sought after those heathen authors who could instruct her in eloquence that might be employed in advancing the faith, almost as much as she sought for sacred books; it was not rare even to see Christian zeal exalting itself so far as to find prophets of the Messiah in writers very anterior to the doctrines of Christ. Thus the best Greek and Latin manuscripts of profane authors are the work of monks, as were the Bibles and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. The rules of the most ancient brotherhoods recommended the monks who could write and who wished to please God to re-copy the manuscripts, and those who were illiterate to learn to bind them. “The work of the copyist,” said the learned Alcuin to his contemporaries, “is a meritorious work, which is profitable to the soul, while the work of the ploughman is profitable only to the belly.”

At all periods of history we find mention made of certain celebrated manuscripts. We will not go so far back as the Greek traditions relating to the works of Homer, of which some copies were ornamented with a richness that has, probably, never been surpassed. In the fifth century St. Jerome possessed twenty-five parts of the works of Origen, which Pamphilus the Martyr had copied with his own hand. St. Ambrose, St. Fulgentius, Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, men as learned as they were pious, applied themselves to reproducing with their own hands the best ancient texts. A copyist by profession was calledscriba,scriptor; the place in which they generally worked was calledscriptorium. The capitularies against bad copyists were frequently renewed. “We ordain that no scribe write incorrectly,” we find in the collection of Baluze. We read in the same collection, in 789, “There shall be good Catholic texts in all monasteries, so that prayers shall not be made to God in faulty language.” In 805, “If the Gospels, the Psalter, or the Missal are to be copied, only careful middle-aged men are to be employed; verbal errors may otherwise be introduced into the faith.” There were, moreover,correctorswho rectified the work of the copyists, and attested the work, on the volumes, by the wordscontuli,emendavi(“I have collated, I have revised”). A copy of Origen’s works has been mentioned, corrected by the hand of Charlemagne himself, to whom is also attributed the introduction of full stops and commas.

The same care presided over the preparation of royal charters and diplomas; the referendaries or chancellors drew them up and superintended their despatch; the principal officers of the crown intervened, as guarantors or witnesses to them, and these acts were read publicly before they were signed and sealed. Notaries and witnesses guaranteed the authenticity of private charters.

As long as printing did not exist in France, the corporation of scribes, copyists of charters, and copyists of manuscripts, which counted among them booksellers, was very numerous and very influential, since it was composed of graduates of the university that patronised them and placed them among the number of its indispensable agents. He who desired to become a bookseller had to give proof of his instruction and of his ability; he was obliged to take an oath “not to commit any deception, fraud, or evil thing which might damage or prejudice the university, its scholars and frequenters, nor to rob nor speak ill of them.” Besides which he was compelled to deposit a sum of fifty francs (livres parisis) as caution-money.

The rules imposed on scribes and on booksellers were always very strict, and this severity was only too justly occasioned by the abuses that existed, and by the scandalous disorder of the people who exercised these professions. In the year 1324 the university published this order:—“There will be admitted only people of good conduct and morals, sufficiently acquainted with the book trade, and previously approved by the university. The bookseller may not take a clerk into his service till that clerk has sworn, before the university, to exercise his profession according to the ordinances. The bookseller must give to the university a list of the works which he sells; he must not refuse to let a manuscript to whomsoever may wish to make a copy of it, on payment of the indemnity fixed by the university. He is forbidden to let out books that have not been corrected, and those students who find an incorrect copy are requested to denounce it publicly to the rector, so that the bookseller who has let it out may be punished, and that the copy may be corrected byscholares(learned men or scholars). There shall be every year four commissioners chosen to fix the price of books. One bookseller shall not sell a work to another bookseller before he has exposed the work for sale during four days. In any case the seller is obliged to register the name of the purchaser, to describe him, and to state the price for which the book was sold.”

From century to century this legislation underwent variations, according to the ideas of the times: and when the printing-press came, in the middle of the fifteenth century, to change the face of the world, the corporation ofscribesrose at first against the new art which was to ruin them. “But at last,” says Champollion-Figeac, “they submitted, and temporary measures were recommended to the public authorities for the defence of an ancient order of things which could not long resist the new.”

Now let us go back to the first centuries of the Middle Ages, to resume the question from a palæographic point of view.

The languages and literature of modern Europe are all Greek or Latin, Sclavonic or Gothic; these four great families of peoples and of languages have existed in spite of the vicissitudes of politics. Such is the basis whereon must be found all the researches by which we are to establish the origin and nature of the writing peculiar to each literature.

The Greeks of Constantinople taught writing to the Sclavonic race, and with it the Christian faith. The most ancient Greek writing (we speak of the Christian era only) was thecapitalwriting, regular and well-proportioned; as it became general it was simplified more and more. After this sort of writing, examples of which are found only on stone or bronze, we come to the writing called, although we do not know why,uncial,[53]which, was the first step towards the Greekcursive(flowing).

Uncialwriting was employed, in Greek manuscripts, up to the ninth century; we may observe the transition from theuncialto thehalf-uncial, and from thehalf-uncialto theminuscule.[54]In the tenth century manuscripts in minuscule became very abundant—the tachygrapher’s (ταχὑς, quick, and γρἁφω, I write), or the partisans of quick writing, gained the day; the caligraphers (καλὁς, beautiful, and γρἁφω I write) desired to follow their example. These employed a great deal of time in painting the initials of running letters: the new method, which produced more in the same space of time, easily got into favour; the caligraphers abandoned the uncial and adopted the minuscule characters connected together, which combined goodforms with greater facility of execution. Thenceforward, the uncial was no longer employed except for the titles or headings of books.

Among the fine specimens of this epoch which have been preserved, we may mention, in the Imperial Library of Paris, a Book of the Gospels, called Cardinal Mazarin’s, and the Commentaries of Gregory Nazianzus; at the Laurentinean Library, Florence, are a Plutarch and a Book of the Gospels, written with gold ink in large and massive minuscule cursive characters; and lastly, a book of ecclesiastical offices, belonging also to the Imperial Library in Paris, and which bears this superscription in Greek:—“Pray for Euthymus, a poor monk, priest of the monastery of St. Lazare. This volume was finished in the month of May, Convocation S, in the year 6515,” a date which, according to the computation of the Greek Church, corresponds to the month of May of the year 1007 of the Christian era.

To the twelfth century is assigned the beautiful Greek manuscript which was afterwards given to Louis XIV. by Chrysanthes Noras, Patriarch of Jerusalem; to the thirteenth century belongs another manuscript, in very small cursive letters, ornamented with portraits, presented by the Emperor Palæologos to St. Louis. It was only in the fourteenth century that manuscripts half Latin and half Greek, appeared. Lastly came Ange Végèce, of Corfu, who, towards the middle of the fifteenth century, made for himself, as a Greek caligrapher, such a reputation that he gave, it is said, rise to the proverb, “Écrire comme un ange.”

The Greek alphabet, when it penetrated into the countries of the north with the Christian religion and civilisation, underwent important modifications. On the right bank of the Danube, in ancient Mœsia, Ulphilas, the descendant of a Cappadocian family formerly taken prisoner by the Goths, invented, in the fourth century, the alphabet bearing, on that account, the name ofMœso-Gothic, and which is of Greek origin, with a mixture of Latin characters and other peculiar signs. This writing is heavy, without being elegant; differing, as if by an instinct of nationality, from the types which it imitates. The Mœso-Gothic manuscripts are, however, very rare; only two or three being known.

The Sclavonic writing, which is also a daughter of Greece, has a history nearly similar to that of the Mœso-Gothic. When the people of this family were converted to Christianity, they were brought over to it by Greek Christians, and the Patriarch Cyril, in the ninth century, becametheir teacher; he taught them, how to write (which they never knew till then), and it was the Greek alphabet they adopted, adding to it, however, a few new signs, so that they might be able to express the sounds peculiar to their language. Sclavonic manuscripts are positively numerous in public libraries. We find them in Paris, Bologna, and Rome, but above all in Germany, and in the country under the dominion of the Muscovite. One of the most celebrated is that belonging to the town of Rheims, and which is known by the name of “Texte du Sacre,” because a tradition (an erroneous one, however) asserts that the kings of France, at the time of their coronation at Rheims, took the oaths on this book, which was said to be written by the hand of St. Procopius. The Sclavonic manuscripts in general recommend themselves less by the elegance of their execution than by the richness of their bindings.

The actual Russian alphabet is but an abridgment of the alphabet called theCyrilian, reduced to forty-two signs by the Emperor Peter I.; so that the Sclavonic nations knew twoCyrilianalphabets, the ancient Sclavonic for the liturgical writings, and the modern Sclavonic, or Russian, in general use. Of the first no manuscripts exist earlier than the eleventh century of our era.

The manuscripts of the Latins are, without doubt, more numerous and more varied, because the Latin Church is more extensive, and because Roman civilisation spread itself over a larger number of European provinces. At the head of the manuscripts of the Latin writing is placed a fragment of papyrus, found in Egypt, on which is inscribed an imperial edict for the annulment of a sale of property, agreed upon in consequence of some violence committed by a certain man named Isidore; the date of this document has been fixed as the third century. For the fourth century we have the “Virgil,” with miniatures, which we mention elsewhere (Miniatures of Manuscripts), and a “Terence,” both belonging to the Vatican Library, and both written in capital letters; in the latter, however, they are irregular, and called, on that account,rustic capitals.

To the same period we must refer the “Treatise on the Republic,” by Cicero, which has but lately been found in a volume from which the previous writing had been effaced, as was often the case (seeParchment and Paper), in order to make room for the new writing. For the fifth century we have a second “Virgil,” with miniatures, which passed fromthe library of the Abbey of St. Denis into that of the Vatican. The “Prudence,” which the Imperial Library of Paris still possesses, is a very fine manuscript of the sixth century, written, in rustic capitals, quaint but elegant.

Two other kinds of writing were, at the same period, in use among the Latins; this same rustic capital, ceasing to be rectangular, and rounded in its principal strokes, became the uncial; and for that very reason being much more expeditious, was reserved especially for the copying of works; while the cursive, although sometimes employed for manuscripts, was used chiefly in letter-writing. Of the first of these two writings, the uncial, we have two fine specimens of the sixth century in the “Sermons” of St. Augustine, on papyrus (Fig. 336), and in a Psalter of St. Germain-des-Prés, written in letters of silver on purple vellum, both of which now belong to the Imperial Library, Paris.

In the same century, we find a kind of writing calledhalf-uncial, which became more and more expeditious by the change made in certain of its forms. There was then also a Gallican uncial, the form of which we can see in the manuscript said to be by St. Prosper (Imperial Library, Paris); and an uncial of Italy, among which figure the Bible of Mont-Amiati, at Florence; the palimpsest[55]Homilies of the Vatican, and the admirable Book of the Gospels at Notre-Dame, Paris (Fig. 337).

The most ancient style of cursive writing, employed in charts and diplomas, is to be seen in the deeds known by the name ofcharters of Ravenna, from the name of the town in which they were first discovered. We may consider as analogous to these the writing of the Acts of our early kings, very difficult to read on account of the exaggerated manner in which the thin strokes join the letters together, and by the indefinite forms of the up and down strokes. We give a fragment (Fig. 338) taken from an original chart, on parchment, of Childebert III. We see what the same writing had become in 784 by Fig. 339, copied from an original capitulary of Charlemagne.

To the same period belongs the employment, in ordinary use among chancellors and notaries, of a writing completely tachygraphic; it is composed of ciphers, one of which took the place of a syllable or a word. This writing was calledTironian, because the invention of it is attributed toTiro, Cicero’s freed-man, who made use of it in tachygraphing, or, as we should now say, stenographing (short-hand), the speeches of the illustrious orator. Fig. 340 is taken from a psalter of the eighth century, of which the text is transcribed with the tachygraphic characters of that period.

The name ofVisigothicis given to the writing of manuscripts executed in the south of France and in Spain during the rule of the Goths and the Visigoths; this writing, still rather Roman, is generally round and embellished with fanciful strokes, which render it agreeable to the eye.

We also find in Italy theLombardic, in use for diplomas till the twelfth century.

The beautiful manuscripts on purple vellum are of the time of Charlemagne, when luxury in the arts showed itself in all forms. There is in the Imperial Library, Paris, a magnificent volume, which came from the ancient domain of Soubise, that contains the Epistles and Gospels for all the festivals of the year: the execution of this work is perfect; the gigantic capital letters, of Anglo-Saxon form, are coloured, and rendered still richer by being dotted with gold.

A valuable manuscript of the “Tractus Temporum” of the Venerable Bede, a manuscript posterior by more than two hundred years to the author, who lived in the beginning of the eighth century, affords a specimen of one of the varieties of minuscule writings, which in France was called theLombardic writing of books, because it was in use during the reign of the Lombard kings beyond the Alps; it is more difficult to read than the Roman, though similar in form, because the words are not separated. A beautiful manuscript of “Horace” (Imperial Library, Paris), which presents a mixture of the different kinds of Roman writing of the period, is attributed to the same century. We have in Fig. 341 an elegant ornamental capital, taken from a manuscript, “Commentaries of St. Jerome,” also in the Imperial Library. We find specimens of writing of Anglo-Saxon origin, capital letters, and running text, in many books of the Gospel.

The diplomatic writing of the tenth century is here represented by a charter of the king, Hugh Capet, from which we borrow Fig. 342; it must have been issued between 988 and 996. In this fragment, the first line only is composed of characters very elongated, close together, mixed with some capital letters and some singular forms. It bears witness to the fact that the fine Merovingian writing had then singularly degenerated.

In the eleventh century the minuscule of manuscripts was characterised by its angular forms, which caused it to receive the name ofCapetian. Then the Capetian, exaggerated in its tendency towards its strokes and angles, became theLudovician, which announces the thirteenth century, and characterises the reign of St. Louis.

Fig. 335.—Scribe or Copyist, in his Work-room, surrounded by Open Manuscripts, and Writing at a Desk.(From a Miniature of the Fifteenth Century.)

Fig. 335.—Scribe or Copyist, in his Work-room, surrounded by Open Manuscripts, and Writing at a Desk.

(From a Miniature of the Fifteenth Century.)

However, manuscripts of the thirteenth century abound, and the history of the writing of the period of St. Louis and of the three centuries succeeding it, may be summed up in these words:—“The Capetian writing calledLudovician, when it had come to differ still more from the beautiful forms of the writings of Charlemagne’s time or the renovated Roman, was more and more deformed, and these successive degradations became so complicated that the writing, in the seventeenth century, resulted in being perfectly illegible. Thus can be generalised all the precepts relative to the state of writing, in the manuscripts and the charters in France, for this period of three hundred years” (Fig. 343).

It was, however, the era of the richest manuscripts, that in which was brought to perfection the art of ornamenting them, when the pencil of the miniature-painter and the pen of the caligrapher, conjointly, produced some masterpieces (Fig. 344). This was also the time when the corporation of writers became numerous and powerful (Fig. 335). One ofthe most distinguished members of this society was that Nicholas Flamel, about whom so many fabulous legends have been invented. We give, as a specimen of his magnificent cursive writing (Fig. 345), the fac-simile of one of theex librisinscriptions he placed at the beginning of all the books belonging to Duke Jean de Berry, whose secretary andbooksellerhe was.[56]

In other countries than France, in Germany especially, Gothic writing was easily diffused. German manuscripts differ little from those of France. We observe only that German writing continued to be very fine till the middle of the thirteenth century, at which period it became irregular, angular, and bristling with sharp points.

That which has just been said of Germany in particular is naturally applicable to East and West Flanders, and to the Low Countries. During the fifteenth century, under the impulse given by the Dukes of Burgundy, whose influence we have already mentioned, the most important chronicles, the best histories then extant, were magnificently transcribed in that beautiful Gothic minuscule, thick, massive and angular, which was calledlettre de forme; and we find it again in some ancient editions of the end of the fifteenth century (Fig. 346), and of the beginning of the sixteenth.

In more northern countries theRunicalphabet was made use of, to which for a long while a marvellous origin was attributed, but which the Benedictines justly regarded as an imitation, or rather as a corruption, of the Latin alphabet. There exist in theRuniclanguage inscriptions on stone and on wood, some manuscripts on vellum, and Irish books on parchment and on paper.

In the south, the writing seems constantly to have reflected the lively and frank spirit of its inhabitants, among whom was perpetuated the profound impress of the old Roman civilisation. The minuscule continued as high as it was long, thin, and distinct; even when it was altered by the influence of the Gothic, it was still beautiful, and, above all, legible, as we may be convinced of by examining a fine manuscript entitled “Specchio della Croce” (“Mirror of the Cross”), of the thirteenth century; and a precious manuscript of Dante, of the fourteenth century, both belonging to the Imperial Library, Paris.

We may adopt for Spain the same opinions as for Italy. There was in that country also writing of great merit, handed down from the Romans, which received, as we have already said, the name ofVisigothic. The Visigothic writing of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, of the eleventh especially, is a minuscule of the most graceful kind. But Gothicism, by theCapetianand theLudoviciancoming in as intermediate agents, at last corrupted this elegant and delicate writing, as we see in the collection of Spanish troubadours, formed by order of John II., King of Castile and Leon, about 1440; a celebrated manuscript in the Imperial Library, Paris.

Into England, where the Anglo-Saxon type reigned supreme, the Norman conquest introduced the French writing in charters and manuscripts. And lastly, among the writings called national, we must again mention that of Ireland, of which there are fine examples remaining; but upon examination they prove to be nothing but a variety of the Anglo-Saxon. It is said to have been in use since the sixth century; and we find that in spite of divers conquests it continued to be employed till the fifteenth century. It was even known and employed in France, although it by no means recommends itself by its elegance, as is attested, among other manuscripts, by that of the “Homilies of St. Augustine,” in the Imperial Library, Paris, which is supposed to belong to the eighth century.

Here our summary review of palæographic examples at different periods of the Middle Ages comes to an end. We might follow up our investigations on this point, even after the time when the printing-press was invented, since manuscripts are found of the reign of Louis XIV.; but they were nothing but fanciful inutilities; each century, in order to show itself in its true light, should follow the instincts and the inspirations which belong to it.

FAC-SIMILE OF MANUSCRIPTS.

Fig. 336.—Writing of the Sixth Century, with Capital Letters, from a Manuscript, on Papyrus, of the “Sermons of St. Augustine.”(Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Spes nostra e[st non de isto tempore, neque de mundo est, neque in ea felicita[te....Translation.—Our hope is not of this time, nor is it of the world, nor in that felicity.

Fig. 336.—Writing of the Sixth Century, with Capital Letters, from a Manuscript, on Papyrus, of the “Sermons of St. Augustine.”

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Spes nostra e[st non de isto tempore, neque de mundo est, neque in ea felicita[te....

Translation.—Our hope is not of this time, nor is it of the world, nor in that felicity.

Fig. 337.—Title and Capital Letters of the Seventh Century, from a Book of the Gospels of Notre-Dame, Paris. (Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Incipit præfatio.Translation.—Here begins the Preface.

Fig. 337.—Title and Capital Letters of the Seventh Century, from a Book of the Gospels of Notre-Dame, Paris. (Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Incipit præfatio.

Translation.—Here begins the Preface.

Fig. 338.—Writing of the end of the Seventh Century, after a Diploma of Childebert III., for the Gift of a Villa to the Abbey of St. Denis. (This Fac-simile gives only the half of the length of the lines.)Text.—Childeberthus rexSe oportune beneficia ad loca sanctorum quod pro juvamen servorum....Et hoc nobis ad eterna retributione pertenire confidemus. Ideoque....

Text.—Childeberthus rexSe oportune beneficia ad loca sanctorum quod pro juvamen servorum....Et hoc nobis ad eterna retributione pertenire confidemus. Ideoque....

Fig. 339.—Writing of the Eighth Century, from a Capitulary of Charlemagne, addressed to Pope Adrian I. in 784.(Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Primo Capitulo. Salutant vos dominus noster, filius vester, Carolus rex [et filia vestra domna nostra Fastrada, filii et filæ domini nostri simul, et omnis domus sua.II. Salutant vos cuncti sacerdotes, episcopi et abbates, atque omnis congregatio illorum [in Dei servicio constituta etiam, et universus] populus Franconum.Translation.—I. Our lord, your son, King Charles [and your daughter our Lady Fastrada, salute thee, also the sons and] daughters of our Lord, and all his house.II. All the priests, bishops, and abbots salute thee, as also the whole congregation [of those who are established in the service of God, and the whole] of the French people.

Fig. 339.—Writing of the Eighth Century, from a Capitulary of Charlemagne, addressed to Pope Adrian I. in 784.

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Primo Capitulo. Salutant vos dominus noster, filius vester, Carolus rex [et filia vestra domna nostra Fastrada, filii et filæ domini nostri simul, et omnis domus sua.

II. Salutant vos cuncti sacerdotes, episcopi et abbates, atque omnis congregatio illorum [in Dei servicio constituta etiam, et universus] populus Franconum.

Translation.—I. Our lord, your son, King Charles [and your daughter our Lady Fastrada, salute thee, also the sons and] daughters of our Lord, and all his house.

II. All the priests, bishops, and abbots salute thee, as also the whole congregation [of those who are established in the service of God, and the whole] of the French people.

Fig. 340.—Tironian Writing of the Eighth Century, from a Latin Psalter. (Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Exsurge, Domine, in ira tua et exaltare in finibus inimicorum meorum, et exsurge, Domine Deus meus, in precepto quod mandasti; et sinagoga populorum circomdabit, te, et propter hanc in altum regredere.Translation.—Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.—(Psalm vii. 6, 7.)

Fig. 340.—Tironian Writing of the Eighth Century, from a Latin Psalter. (Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Exsurge, Domine, in ira tua et exaltare in finibus inimicorum meorum, et exsurge, Domine Deus meus, in precepto quod mandasti; et sinagoga populorum circomdabit, te, et propter hanc in altum regredere.

Translation.—Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.

So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.—(Psalm vii. 6, 7.)

Fig. 341.—Writing of the Tenth Century, after a Manuscript of the “Commentaries of St. Jerome.”(Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Qui nolunt inter epistolas Pauli eam recipere quæ ad Filemonem scribitur aiunt non semper apostolum nec omnia Christo in se loquente dixisse. Quia neque...Translation.—Those who are unwilling to receive among the epistles of St. Paul that which is written to Philemon, deny that the Apostles spoke everything and atall times under the inspiration of Christ. Because neither ...

Fig. 341.—Writing of the Tenth Century, after a Manuscript of the “Commentaries of St. Jerome.”

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Qui nolunt inter epistolas Pauli eam recipere quæ ad Filemonem scribitur aiunt non semper apostolum nec omnia Christo in se loquente dixisse. Quia neque...

Translation.—Those who are unwilling to receive among the epistles of St. Paul that which is written to Philemon, deny that the Apostles spoke everything and atall times under the inspiration of Christ. Because neither ...

Fig. 342.—Diplomatic Writing of the Tenth Century, from a Charter of Hugh Capet. (Archives of the Empire.)This Fac-simile gives only half the length of the lines.Text(completely restored.)—In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, Hugo gratia Dei Francorum rex. [Mos et consuetudo regum prædecessorum nostrorum semper exstitit ut ecclesias Dei sublimarent et justis petitioni bus servorum Dei clementer faverent, et oppression[em eorum benigne sublevarent, ut Deum propitium] haberent, eujus amore id fecissent. Hujus rei grati[a, auditis clamoribus venerabilis Abbonis abbatis] monasterii S. Mariæ, S. Petri et S. Benedicti Flori[acensis et monachorum sub eo degentium, nostram] presentiam adeuntium, pro malis consuetudi[nibus et assiduis rapinis...Translation.—In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Hugh, by the grace of God, King of the Francs.The custom and habit of the kings our predecessors has always been to honour the churches of God, and to show themselves mercifully favourable to the just petitions of the servants of God, and to deliver them kindly from oppression, so that God might be propitious to them, for the love of whom they thus acted. For this cause, having heard the complaints of the venerable Abbon, Abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady, St. Peter and St. Benedict, of Fleury-sur-Loire, and those of the monks living under his direction, and who came into our presence, on accountof the bad customs and continual rapines ...

Fig. 342.—Diplomatic Writing of the Tenth Century, from a Charter of Hugh Capet. (Archives of the Empire.)

This Fac-simile gives only half the length of the lines.

Text(completely restored.)—In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, Hugo gratia Dei Francorum rex. [Mos et consuetudo regum prædecessorum nostrorum semper exstitit ut ecclesias Dei sublimarent et justis petitioni bus servorum Dei clementer faverent, et oppression[em eorum benigne sublevarent, ut Deum propitium] haberent, eujus amore id fecissent. Hujus rei grati[a, auditis clamoribus venerabilis Abbonis abbatis] monasterii S. Mariæ, S. Petri et S. Benedicti Flori[acensis et monachorum sub eo degentium, nostram] presentiam adeuntium, pro malis consuetudi[nibus et assiduis rapinis...

Translation.—In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Hugh, by the grace of God, King of the Francs.

The custom and habit of the kings our predecessors has always been to honour the churches of God, and to show themselves mercifully favourable to the just petitions of the servants of God, and to deliver them kindly from oppression, so that God might be propitious to them, for the love of whom they thus acted. For this cause, having heard the complaints of the venerable Abbon, Abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady, St. Peter and St. Benedict, of Fleury-sur-Loire, and those of the monks living under his direction, and who came into our presence, on accountof the bad customs and continual rapines ...

Fig. 343.—Cursive Writing of the Fifteenth Century, after an Original Letter, taken from “Recueil des Lettres de Rois.”(Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Messeigneurs et freres, si tres humblement que faire puis a voz bonnes graces me recommande. Messeigneurs, j’ay receu, voz lettres par le present porteur: ensemble la requeste et arrest de la court par icelle ensuivy. J’ay le tout communiqué a messeigneurs les generaulx de Langue doil et Normandie, et nous avons souuant esté ensemble. Ilz trouuent bien estrange, aussi font daultres, qui zelent le bien et honneur de la chambre ausquelz pareillement...Translation.—My lords and brothers, I commend myself as humbly as possible to your good graces. My lords, I received your letters by the bearer of this, together with the petition and the decree of the court accompanying them. I communicated the whole to my lords the generals of La Langue d’Oil and of Normandy, and we have often conferred together on the matter. They think it very strange, as do others also, who are zealous for the good and thehonour of the chamber, to which equally ...

Fig. 343.—Cursive Writing of the Fifteenth Century, after an Original Letter, taken from “Recueil des Lettres de Rois.”

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Messeigneurs et freres, si tres humblement que faire puis a voz bonnes graces me recommande. Messeigneurs, j’ay receu, voz lettres par le present porteur: ensemble la requeste et arrest de la court par icelle ensuivy. J’ay le tout communiqué a messeigneurs les generaulx de Langue doil et Normandie, et nous avons souuant esté ensemble. Ilz trouuent bien estrange, aussi font daultres, qui zelent le bien et honneur de la chambre ausquelz pareillement...

Translation.—My lords and brothers, I commend myself as humbly as possible to your good graces. My lords, I received your letters by the bearer of this, together with the petition and the decree of the court accompanying them. I communicated the whole to my lords the generals of La Langue d’Oil and of Normandy, and we have often conferred together on the matter. They think it very strange, as do others also, who are zealous for the good and thehonour of the chamber, to which equally ...

Fig. 344.—Writing of the Fourteenth Century, after a Manuscript of “L’Histoire Romaine;” being a paraphrase of the text of Valerius Maximus. (Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Eadem, &c.—Glose.Ceste histoire touche Titus Liuius ou quint liure. Pourquoy il est assauoir que ou temps que les Gals auoient prise Romme et assis le Capitole, si comme il est dit deuant, il y auoit dedens le Capitole un jeune homme qui auoit non Gayus Fabius qui estoit de la lignie des Fabiens. Et pour auoir la congnoissance de ceste lignie est assauoir aussi que il y ot asses pres de Romme jadis une cite qui estoit appelee Gabinia: laquele cite apres moult de inconueniens se rendi a Romme par tel conuenant que il seroient citoiens de Romme.Translation.—Eadem, &c.—Glose.Livy, in his fifth book, touches on this history. We must know that at the time when the Gauls had taken Rome and besieged the Capitol, as was said above, there was in the Capitol a young man named Caius Fabius, and who was of the Fabian race; and to know this race we must also know that there was formerly near Rome a town called Gabinia; which town, after many vicissitudes, surrendered to Rome, on the condition that all its inhabitants should be considered as citizens of Rome.

Fig. 344.—Writing of the Fourteenth Century, after a Manuscript of “L’Histoire Romaine;” being a paraphrase of the text of Valerius Maximus. (Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Eadem, &c.—Glose.Ceste histoire touche Titus Liuius ou quint liure. Pourquoy il est assauoir que ou temps que les Gals auoient prise Romme et assis le Capitole, si comme il est dit deuant, il y auoit dedens le Capitole un jeune homme qui auoit non Gayus Fabius qui estoit de la lignie des Fabiens. Et pour auoir la congnoissance de ceste lignie est assauoir aussi que il y ot asses pres de Romme jadis une cite qui estoit appelee Gabinia: laquele cite apres moult de inconueniens se rendi a Romme par tel conuenant que il seroient citoiens de Romme.

Translation.—Eadem, &c.—Glose.Livy, in his fifth book, touches on this history. We must know that at the time when the Gauls had taken Rome and besieged the Capitol, as was said above, there was in the Capitol a young man named Caius Fabius, and who was of the Fabian race; and to know this race we must also know that there was formerly near Rome a town called Gabinia; which town, after many vicissitudes, surrendered to Rome, on the condition that all its inhabitants should be considered as citizens of Rome.

Fig. 345.—Fac-simile of the InscriptionEx libris, &c., in the beginning of a Manuscript executed by John Flamel, Scribe and Librarian to the Duke de Berry, at the end of the Fourteenth Century.(Imperial Library, Paris.)Text.—Ceste Bible est a Monseigneur le Duc de Berry.Flamel.Translation.—This Bible belongs to Monseigneur the Duke de Berry.Flamel.Note.—The Duke de Berry, John, brother of King Charles V., and uncle to King Charles VI., was a great amateur of fine books. He spent very large sums in having manuscripts copied and illuminated. The Imperial Library, Paris, preserves a large number of the most valuable of them.

Fig. 345.—Fac-simile of the InscriptionEx libris, &c., in the beginning of a Manuscript executed by John Flamel, Scribe and Librarian to the Duke de Berry, at the end of the Fourteenth Century.

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

Text.—Ceste Bible est a Monseigneur le Duc de Berry.

Flamel.

Translation.—This Bible belongs to Monseigneur the Duke de Berry.

Flamel.

Note.—The Duke de Berry, John, brother of King Charles V., and uncle to King Charles VI., was a great amateur of fine books. He spent very large sums in having manuscripts copied and illuminated. The Imperial Library, Paris, preserves a large number of the most valuable of them.

Fig. 346.—Writing of the Fifteenth Century, after the First Page of a Breviary. (Royal Library, Brussels.)Text.—Sabbato in aduentu Domini, ad vesperas, super psalmos antiphona, Benedictus, psalmus, ipsum cum ceteris antiphonis et psalmis. Infra capitulum.Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo Dauid germen.Translation.—On Saturday in Advent, at vespers, before the psalms chanted alternately, (comes) the hymn Benedictus, with the other antiphons and psalms. After the lesson ...“Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I will restore the seed of David.”

Fig. 346.—Writing of the Fifteenth Century, after the First Page of a Breviary. (Royal Library, Brussels.)

Text.—Sabbato in aduentu Domini, ad vesperas, super psalmos antiphona, Benedictus, psalmus, ipsum cum ceteris antiphonis et psalmis. Infra capitulum.

Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo Dauid germen.

Translation.—On Saturday in Advent, at vespers, before the psalms chanted alternately, (comes) the hymn Benedictus, with the other antiphons and psalms. After the lesson ...

“Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I will restore the seed of David.”

Fig. 347.—Design of a Caligraphic Ornament taken from a Charter of the University of Paris.(Fifteenth Century.)

Fig. 347.—Design of a Caligraphic Ornament taken from a Charter of the University of Paris.

(Fifteenth Century.)

Miniatures at the Beginning of the Middle Ages.—The two “Vatican” Virgils.—Painting of Manuscripts under Charlemagne and Louis le Débonnaire.—Tradition of Greek Art in Europe.—Decline of the Miniature in the Tenth Century.—Origin of Gothic Art.—Fine Manuscript of the time of St. Louis.—Clerical and Lay Miniature-Painters.—Caricature and the Grotesque.—Miniatures in Monochrome and in Grisaille.—Illuminators at the Court of France and to the Dukes of Burgundy.—School of John Fouquet.—Italian Miniature-Painters.—Giulo Clovio.—French School under Louis XII.

CONTEMPORANEOUS, almost, with the idea which first caused oral traditions, chronicles, speeches, and poetry to be collected together under the form and name ofbook, is the art of ornamenting manuscripts with miniatures. Our intention is not to go back to the sources—as obscure as they are distant—of that art, but only to point out its principal phases of improvement or of decay during the Middle Ages.

The most ancient known miniatures date from the very commencement of that period which is generally called the Middle Ages; that is to say, from the third and fourth centuries. These paintings, of which there exist but two or three specimens in the libraries of Europe, nevertheless offer, in their correctness and masterly beauty, the great characteristics of ancient Art. The most celebrated are those of the “Virgil,” preserved in the Vatican Library (Fig. 348), a manuscript long celebrated among learned men for the authenticity of its text.Another “Virgil,” of the date of about a century later, and which, before its presentation to the Pope, was one of the most beautiful ornaments of the ancient library of the Abbey of St. Denis, in France, contains paintings not less remarkable in respect of colour, but very inferior as far as drawing and the style of the compositions are concerned. These two incomparable examples are sufficient in themselves to show the state of the painting of manuscripts at the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Fig. 348.—Miniature taken from the “Virgil” in the Library of the Vatican, Rome.(Third or Fourth Century.)

Fig. 348.—Miniature taken from the “Virgil” in the Library of the Vatican, Rome.

(Third or Fourth Century.)

The sixth and seventh centuries have left us no books with miniatures; the utmost we find at that period are some capital letters embellished by caligraphy. In the eighth century, on the contrary, the ornaments weremultiplied, and some rather elegant paintings can be pointed out; the fact is, under the reign of Charlemagne a movement of renovation took place in the Arts as in literature: the Latin writing, which had become illegible, was reformed, and the style of painting manuscripts assumed something of the form of the fine antique examples still extant at that period. (Fig. 350.)

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