Editing Illuminated manuscript (section)

=== Latin Europe ===
Art historians classify illuminated manuscripts into their historic periods and types, including (but not limited to) [[Late Antique]], [[Insular art|Insular]], [[Carolingian art|Carolingian]], [[Ottonian art|Ottonian]], [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]], [[Gothic art|Gothic]], and [[Renaissance manuscripts]]. There are a few examples from later periods. Books that are heavily and richly illuminated are  sometimes known as "display books" in church contexts, or "luxury manuscripts", especially if secular works.  In the first millennium, these were most likely to be [[Gospel Book]]s, such as the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]] and the [[Book of Kells]]. The Book of Kells is the most widely recognized illuminated manuscript in the [[Anglosphere]], and is famous for its [[Insular art|insular]] designs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Book of Kells |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Book_of_Kells/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> The Romanesque and Gothic periods saw the creation of many large illuminated complete [[bible]]s. The largest surviving example of these is The [[Codex Gigas]] in Sweden; it is so massive that it takes three librarians to lift it.

Other illuminated liturgical books appeared during and after the Romanesque period. These included [[psalter]]s, which usually contained all 150 canonical psalms,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Psalter as Scripture - Response - Seattle Pacific University |url=https://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/new/2013-autumn/bible-theology/the-psalter-as-scripture.asp |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=spu.edu}}</ref> and small, personal devotional books made for lay people known as [[books of hours]] that would separate one's day into eight hours of devotion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stein |first=Authors: Wendy A. |title=The Book of Hours: A Medieval Bestseller {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hour/hd_hour.htm |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |language=en}}</ref> These were often richly illuminated with miniatures, decorated initials and floral borders. They were costly and therefore only owned by wealthy patrons, often women.

As the production of manuscripts shifted from monasteries to the public sector during the [[High Middle Ages]], illuminated books began to reflect secular interests.<ref name="Kauffmann2018"/> These included short stories, legends of the saints, tales of chivalry, mythological stories, and even accounts of criminal, social or miraculous occurrences. Some of these were also freely used by storytellers and itinerant actors to support their plays. One of the most popular secular texts of the time were [[Bestiary|bestiaries]]. These books contained illuminated depictions of various animals, both real and fictional, and often focused on their religious symbolism and significance, as it was a widespread belief in post-classical Europe that animals, and all other organisms on Earth, were manifestations of God. These manuscripts served as both devotional guidance and entertainment for the working class of the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Getty Museum |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/bestiary/inner.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Getty Museum |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Medieval Bestiary |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/flowers/bestiary.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

The Gothic period, which generally saw an increase in the production of illuminated books, also saw more secular works such as [[chronicle]]s and works of literature illuminated. Wealthy people began to build up personal libraries; [[Philip the Bold]] probably had the largest personal library of his time in the mid-15th century, is estimated to have had about 600 illuminated manuscripts, whilst a number of his friends and relations had several dozen.  Wealthy patrons, however, could have personal prayer books made especially for them, usually in the form of richly illuminated "[[book of hours|books of hours]]", which set down prayers appropriate for various times in the [[liturgical day]]. One of the best known examples is the extravagant {{lang|fr|[[Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry]]|italic=no}} for a French prince.

[[File:Books in the monastery museum (5494269533).jpg|275px|thumb|Illuminated manuscripts housed in the 16th-century [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]] of [[Ura Kidane Mehret]], [[Zege Peninsula]], [[Lake Tana]], [[Ethiopia]]]]
Up to the 12th century, most manuscripts were produced in monasteries in order to add to the library or after receiving a [[Commission (art)|commission]] from a wealthy patron. Larger monasteries often contained separate areas for the [[monks]] who specialized in the production of manuscripts called a [[scriptorium]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kauffmann |first=Martin |title=Grove Art Online |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |language=en |chapter=Scriptorium |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t077202 |isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 |chapter-url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:246f3a57-cf61-41d2-bf6e-c067179ffe36}}</ref> Within the walls of a scriptorium were individualized areas where a monk could sit and work on a manuscript without being disturbed by his fellow brethren. If no scriptorium was available, then "separate little rooms were assigned to book copying; they were situated in such a way that each scribe had to himself a window open to the cloister walk."<ref name="Putnam">{{Cite book |last=Putnam |first=George Haven |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000775616 |title=Books and their makers during the Middle Ages: A study of the conditions of the production and distribution of literature from the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of the seventeenth century |date=1897 |publisher=Putnam |location=London}}</ref>

By the 14th century, the [[cloisters]] of monks writing in the scriptorium had almost fully given way to commercial urban scriptoria, especially in Paris, Rome and the Netherlands.<ref name="DeHamel2001"/> While the process of creating an illuminated manuscript did not change, the move from monasteries to commercial settings was a radical step. Demand for manuscripts grew to an extent that monastic libraries began to employ secular scribes and illuminators.<ref name="Kauffmann2018"/> These individuals often lived close to the monastery and, in instances, dressed as monks whenever they entered the monastery, but were allowed to leave at the end of the day. Illuminators were often well known and acclaimed and many of their identities have survived.