![]() ![]() ![]() It offers supplementary material for an earlier article, « The Oldest Manuscripts of St. Augustine's De Genesi ad litteram that will be published in Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, a project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. * This study was written during the completion of the critical edition of St. Severin was financed by a certain Barbaria who may have been the mother of Romulus Augustulus (8). According to Eugippius, the new monastery of St. In the late Roman Empire, castellum Lucullanum had been transformed into a military fortification and Romulus Augustu- lus was confined there in 476. Severin was within castellum Lucullanum which was originally the villa of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the famous epicure and consul of 74 B.C. Severin to Italy and finally to Naples where a monastery was founded in memory of St. Along with the saint's other disciples, Eugippius followed the body of St. Severin in Noricum for a few years before the death of St. Severin, Eugippius (460 ?-536 ?) seems to have been with St. Well-known as the author of The Life of St. Augustine's principal works which he kept in the library of the monastery of St. To prepare the Excerpta, Eugippius collected manuscripts of all St. Augustine's De Genesi ad litteram which has come down to us (2). In presenting some examples here, I hope to show how the study of marginalia can complement our understanding of a manuscript tradition and the analysis of textualĮugippius, the Augustinian scholar who compiled the Excerpta ex operibus sancti Augustini in Naples in the first years of the sixth century, created the first recensio, or « edition », of St. ![]() De Genesi ad litteram are a valid indication, the chapter Lowe spoke of is certainly worth writing, since they provide fascinating evidence for the reading habits of early medieval scholars. If the comments which appear in the margins in the oldest manuscripts of St. Lowe once observed, « The whole subject of marginalia deserves a chapter by (*). Manuscript illustrators increasingly emphasized the interrelatedness of primary and marginal scenes, adding narrative complexity.MARGINALIA IN THE OLDEST MANUSCRIPTS OF ST. Painting in late medieval and Renaissance manuscripts demonstrates artists' interest in capturing visual experience and representations of the natural world. They differed, however, by integrating marginalia into elaborate borders strewn with naturalistic foliage and abstract patterns, such as the ornate example (at right). Illuminators of the 1400s and 1500s used many of the marginal motifs known from earlier manuscripts. Marginalia: Late Medieval and Renaissance Secular subjects in the margins of religious books set a precedent for scenes of everyday life.Ĭhrist in Majesty Initial A: A Man Lifting His Soul to God (detail) from a missal, Master of the Brussels Initials, 1389–1404ĭiscover amusing characters, like a cute devil, lurking amid foliage. In other cases, the relationship is less obvious. In some cases, marginal scenes simply expanded or supplemented a topic introduced by the page's text or illustration. Artists expressed the full range of human interaction through animated gestures and poses. Gothic illumination, which flourished in northern Europe from about 1200 to 1350, is distinguished by an interest in naturalism. ![]() Initial C: A Priest Celebrating Mass (detail), Spanish, about 1290–1310Ĭlerics and a jester drinking ale can coexist on the same page. Later illustrators would free them from the initials to embellish the margins of pages. The delightful treatment of vines, as if they were real plants with a three-dimensional presence, influenced the design of late medieval borders. During the Romanesque period, about 1050 to 1200, intertwined figures and plant forms created rhythmic compositions, as you can see in the inhabited Q (at right). The Inhabited Initial: Ottonian and RomanesqueĪrtists of the Ottonian dynasty, between 9, enlivened initial letters with whimsical figures. Learn why a peacock's tail could have so much meaning. Inhabited Initial Q (detail) from a breviary, Italian, 1153 This exhibition covers the sweep of marginalia's history in three stages of development: beginning in the early Middle Ages with Ottonian and Romanesque art, reaching its zenith with Gothic illumination, and working its way into the borders of late medieval manuscripts. As often as they expand on the narrative, they also poke fun at the lofty themes and, more broadly, at human foibles. Scenes in the margins of a page often comment on the paintings illustrating the text in the center. Just outside the blocks of Latin text and larger illustrations, the pages of medieval books often teem with tiny characters, creatures, and fantastic plants-collectively called "marginalia."Įxplore the imaginative world of marginalia on select pages of two late medieval manuscripts. ![]()
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