Part I: The Social Order
Medieval society was generally classed into three social orders—Oratores, bellatores, laboratores—as expressed in the words of Gerard of Cambrai: “from the beginning, mankind has been divided into three parts, among men of prayer, farmers, and men of war . . .” Added to this organization is the concept of society divided into two parts: the aristocracy—which included the ruler, nobles, and the higher clergy—and peasantry, which constituted everybody else.
These manuscripts demonstrate how artists physically characterized and differentiated the separate orders. Nobility and rulership are conveyed by luxurious clothing, opulent jewels, a regal bearing, and sometimes a larger size with relation to other figures in a composition. The clergy are mainly identified by the vestments of their rank, but can often be arranged in hierarchical order, with the most important rank placed at the top. The fighters—soldiers and knights—can be distinguished by weapons and armor. A soldier-king rode at the head of battle, wearing a crown on his head, with glorious banners and colorful horse trappings proclaiming his exalted status. Tournament knights faced off against each other wearing the colors and heraldic emblems of their family. Peasants, however, are usually visually classified as coarse and uncouth, depicted barefooted and barelegged, often with brutish facial features, dressed in simple garments, and performing menial tasks.
In this section :
1) The Gospel Book of Otto III
2) The Emperor's Album
3a)The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry
3b)The Hours of Henry VIII
4) The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry
5) The Flower of Battle: Fencing, Hand-to-Hand Combat, and Mounted Mêlée
6) The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
7) The Psalter of Saint Louis
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1) The Gospel Book of Otto III
Produced at Reichenau Abbey, Germany, ca. 998–1001
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 4453, fols. 23v–24r
The Emperor
In these dedication pages of his Gospel book the young emperor Otto III—who died in the year 1002 at age twenty-one—is portrayed at right in imperial splendor, holding the orb and scepter that symbolize his authority and power. Posed frontally on a faldstool throne before a cloth of honor, Otto draws the viewer’s attention with his steady gaze. His larger size and slight elevation demonstrate his higher rank over the churchmen and weapon bearers that flank him. In the left hand miniature personifications of Rome and Provinces of the Empire approach the emperor bearing gifts, their heads and bodies slightly inclined to show their homage.
Facsimile: Das Evangeliar Ottos III. : Clm 4453 der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München, ed. Florentine Mütherich and Karl Dachs (Munich: Prestell, 2001)
Detail of fol. 23v, depicting personifications of Rome and the Provinces of Sclavinia, Germania, and Gallia offering gifts to the Emperor.
Detail of fol. 24r, depicting Emperor Otto III on his throne.
2) The Emperor’s Album
Commissioned by Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir, fourth Mughal emperor of Hindustan in Northern India, ca. 1620 (fol. 1r) and 1615 (fol. 2v)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MS 55.121.10, fols. 1r, 2v
Courtiers:
These two courtiers were awarded prestigious titles for their valor and military success in the Mughal army. They are garbed in sumptuous clothing, as though standing at court in front of the emperor. On the left, Sundar Das received the title Raja Bikramajit, “which among the Hindus is the highest;” he offers a gemstone between thumb and forefinger to curry the emperor’s favor. Maharaja Bhim Kunwar stands at right, equally well dressed: his richly embroidered pants and sash were gifts from the emperor, seeking to keep him in service.
Facsimile: The Emperor’s Album (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987)
Detail of fol. 1r, depicting Sundar Das.
Detail of fol. 2v, depicting Maharaja Bhim Kunwar.
3a) The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry
Produced in Bourges, France, ca. 1413–1416; illuminated by the Limbourg brothers
Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65, fol. 2v
Workers: Keeping Warm in Winter
Books of Hours open with calendars, and the most luxurious copies may picture the sign of the zodiac and the type of labor associated with each month.
This famous miniature illustrates the month of February, with the zodiac sign Pisces in the upper section. Below, to represent the labor of keeping warm in this coldest month of the year, a group of peasants sit before the fire and raise their garments to allow the heat to reach their bodies. This social class was considered uneducated and uncouth: a mark of this perception is that the illuminators have pictured them naked beneath their clothes, displaying their genitals to the viewer.
Facsimile: The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry: Musée Condé, Chantilly (New York: George Braziller, 1969)
Detail of fol. 2v.
3b) The Hours of Henry VIII
Tours, France, ca. 1500; illuminated by Jean Poyet
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, MS H.8, fol. 4r
Workers: Reaping
This Book of Hours, elegantly illustrated by one of the most favored illuminators of the French court, may have been owned at one time by Henry VIII of England. The calendar page represented here is for the month of July, one of whose labors is the reaping of wheat. Here a group of peasants harvests the grain with sickles and places the stalks in bundles on the ground. Once more, they are portrayed exposing a great deal more skin than would be seemly for a person of more noble birth: most have bare legs and have rucked up their short tunics to keep cool.
Facsimile: The Hours of Henry VIII: A Renaissance Masterpiece by Jean Poyet (New York: George Braziller and The Pierpont Morgan Library, 2000)
Detail of fol. 4r.
4) The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry
Produced in Bourges, France, ca. 1413–1416; illuminated by the Limbourg brothers
Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65, fols. 71v–72r
The Clergy
For the opening of the Litanies of the Saints in this most beautiful of all the Duke of Berry’s Books of Hours, the illuminators portrayed the Procession of Saint Gregory. According to the Golden Legend, in 590 Pope Gregory the Great ordered a procession to march around Rome and pray to the heavens for protection against the plague that was ravaging the city.
Represented in this double page miniature is a wide range of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The procession passes before the city walls, led at far right by deacons in white robes bearing banners and followed by colorful priests carrying liturgical objects. Behind them the pope in his tiara entreats heaven with raised arms, trailed by cardinals in their red robes and hats and monks in gray habits, one of whom has succumbed to the plague.
Facsimile: The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry: Musée Condé, Chantilly (New York: George Braziller, 1969)
Detail of fol. 71v, depicting Pope Gregory the Great praying for an end to the plague.
Detail of fol. 71v, depicting two monks, one of whom is dying of the plague. A child who has died can be seen behind them.
Detail of fol. 71v, depicting St. Michael the Archangel watching the procession and listening to the prayers of the people.
5) The Flower of Battle: Fencing, Hand-to-Hand Combat, and Mounted Mêlée
Italy, the Veneto, between 1410 and 1420
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 13, fols. 13r, 13v
Fighters
Footwork, body holds, knife work, and mounted conflict are comprehensively demonstrated in this manual on the art of battle. There are three surviving manuscripts of this type, all datable to the same period of time and produced in northern Italy. Books on the martial arts were especially popular among members of the Italian nobility, who were frequently at war with each other.
Individual combat moves are described in a short text, and illustrated below. The protagonists wear form-fitting garments, which clearly display the interaction of attack and defense. Arms entwine; knives are repelled; bodies curve and twist in the effort to unbalance the opponent.
Facsimile: Massimo Malipiero, Il Fior di battaglia di Fiore dei Liberi da Cividale: Il Codice Ludwig XV 13 del J. Paul Getty Museum (Udine? and Los Angeles: Ribis and J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006)
Detail of fol. 13v, illustrating part of a technique for an unarmed man defending against an assailant with a dagger.
6) The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Produced in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), probably Prague, early 15th century
London, British Library, Add. MS 24189, fol. 15v
Fighters
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, written in 1356/7, became a very popular text, surpassing even the exploits of Marco Polo. The Travels described a journey to Constantinople, Palestine, and Egypt and further routes to Asia Minor, ending at the Great Khan of China.
Pictured here is a knightly tournament held in Constantinople. Tournaments were chivalrous competitions based on the mêlée, a general combat where knights formed two competing sides and charged at each other. In the foreground we see a joust, a single contest between two knights. They are clothed in full armor and bearing weapons and shields. The competitor on the left is trying to unseat his opponent with his lance.
Facsimile: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: A Manuscript in the British Library, introduction and commentary by Josef Krása, trans. Peter Kussi (New York: George Braziller, 1983)
Detail of fol. 15v, depicting two knights jousting.
7) The Psalter of Saint Louis
Written and illuminated in France, Paris, ca. 1260–70
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 10525, fols. 5v–6r
Fighters
This lavishly illuminated Psalter was owned by Louis IX, King of France (d. 1270). The Psalter text is prefaced by 78 full-page miniatures portraying scenes from the Old Testament. At this opening we see Abraham’s attack and defeat of the four kings Amraphel, Arioch, Chodorlahomor, and Thadal on the left; and on the right, Abraham presents his prisoners and battle spoils to Melchisedech, king and priest. In typical French Gothic style the soldiers’ bodies are elongated, sinuous, and graceful. Their heads and limbs are wound about with the chain mail that renders them indistinguishable and anonymous. Only attributes—a large weapon, a crown, or a mitre—identify the main characters.
Facsimile: Der Psalter Ludwigs des Heiligen: Wiedergabe der 78 ganzseitigen Miniaturen des manuscrit latin 10525 aus der Bibliothèque nationale (Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1985)
Detail of fol. 5v, depicting Abraham's victory over the four kings. (Genesis 14:14-16)
Detail of fol. 6r, depicting Abraham and Melchisedech after the battle. (Genesis 14:18-20)
