Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
s of the Carolingian period which are recognised in art historical scholarship as works of particular artistic significance (especially those included in general overviews).
The first work to be considered Carolingian is the Godescalc Evangelistary, which was created for
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
between 781 and 783. Until this point,
Merovingian
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
and Insular illumination had continued without a breach. The developers of Carolingian illumination were the so-called "court school of Charlemagne" at the
Palace of Aachen
The Palace of Aachen was a group of buildings with residential, political and religious purposes chosen by Charlemagne to be the centre of power of the Carolingian Empire. The palace was located at the north of the current city of Aachen, today in ...
, which created the manuscripts of the "." Contemporary was the "Palace School" which was probably based in the same place, but whose artists were from
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
or Byzantine Italy. The codices of this school are also known as the "group of the Vienna Coronation Gospels" after their most outstanding examples. After the death of Charlemagne, the centre of illumination shifted to Rheims,
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
and
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
. Since the Court School dominated in the time of Charlemagne, it was more influential in later times than the works of the Palace School. The high point of Carolingian illumination came to an end in the late ninth century. In late Carolingian times a developed which incorporated forms from insular illumination, before a new epoch began at the end of the tenth century with the development of
List of manuscripts
References
Bibliography
* Florentine Mütherich, Joachim E. Gaehde: ''Karolingische Buchmalerei''. Prestel, München 1979.
*
Hermann Fillitz
Hermann Fillitz (20 April 1924 – 14 June 2022) was an Austrian art historian.n illumination pp. 241–255* Christoph Stiegemann, Matthias Wemhoff: ''799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit.'' Katalog der Ausstellung Paderborn 1999, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1999.
* Kunibert Bering: ''Kunst des frühen Mittelalters'' (Kunst–Epochen, Vol. 2). Reclam, Stuttgart 2002.
* Ingo F. Walther, Norbert Wolf: ''Meisterwerke der Buchmalerei.'' Taschen, Köln. 2005,
* Peter van den Brink, Sarvenaz Ayooghi (Hrsg.): ''Karl der Große – Charlemagne. Karls Kunst.'' Katalog der Sonderausstellung ''Karls Kunst'' vom 20. Juni bis 21. September 2014 im '' Centre Charlemagne'', Aachen. Sandstein, Dresden 2014, (on illumination ''passim'').
{{DEFAULTSORT:illumination, Carolingian
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