Summary
Illuminated manuscripts comprise hand-written books that contain painted decoration that includes precious metals like gold and silver. The monasteries produced the manuscripts between 1100 and 1600 using the pages from animal skin like goats, sheep, and calves. The illuminated book served as the primary art form during the Carolingian period. Society stressed the importance of these manuscripts and invested a lot of time and resources due to their significance in conveying ideas and relevance in liturgical and ceremonial purposes.
Why the Society Invests in Illuminated Books
Societies capitalize on illuminated manuscripts as a strategy to facilitate the transmission of ideas across regions and on different timelines. Commonly used in Christianity, the community spend a lot of time and resources to illustrate these books to make them decorative and functional. Indeed, the painted miniatures and initials marked the beginning of essential sections within the texts. The silver and gold illuminations enlightened the test and the subsequent illustrations, which earned them some expositions. By using the artistic decoration, the public enhanced the information value and preservation at a time marked by high illiteracy levels. Thus, the artists were willing to invest in prefatory image cycles to prepare the reader’s mind to engage with the text.
Besides, the society backed the production of illuminated manuscripts due to ceremonial and liturgical use. These manuscripts serve as visual tools for church services or support the laypeople, monks, and nuns’ daily devotions. The people were more committed to creating illustrated manuscripts as a reliable strategy to inspire daily prayer and liturgical purposes. Indeed, the liturgical use motivated the development of some of the most remarkable illuminated manuscripts. Therefore, the world had an innate desire to create illuminated scripts for religious ceremonies and daily devotions.