This class introduces students to the 1000-year history of the illuminated manuscript in Europe and in Mediterranean lands. Illuminated manuscripts are books written, ornamented, and illustrated by hand. They contribute more images to the study of medieval art than any other visual medium. As repositories of acquired and produced knowledge, illuminated manuscripts serve as complex sites of looking, reading, and touching, while also preserving "dead" languages and difficult-to-read scripts. In ritual contexts, their function as objects could sometimes be as important as the texts they contained. Four larger perspectives will help us unlock their complexity and make manuscripts approachable:

1. Production: where and how manuscripts were produced
2. Use: medieval book types and their functions, as well as traces of reception
3. People: patrons and artists of illuminated manuscripts, their status and representation
4. Manuscript aesthetics: the specific interrelations of script and image, layout and content, book bindings and covers.

We will visit the Special Collections Research Center, where we will examine original manuscripts and study first-hand the techniques and strategies that went into medieval book design. Students will will also have an opportunity to try their hand at writing medieval script, deciphering collation code, and collaborating to design an "illuminated" page. This course not only provides a vivid introduction to medieval art and culture, but also the opportunity to study an art form in which — as in most of our mass media today — words and images operate together.

Textbooks/Other Materials: All materials will be provided on Canvas.

Intended Audience: Undergraduates - all welcome.

Class Format: Two 80-minute seminar meetings.

Estimated Cost of Materials: 0-50

HISTART Concentration Distributions: Europe and the US, Medieval