Our Civilizations class, here at BYU, had the rare opportunity to view a few pieces from the special collections section of the Harold B. Lee Library a couple of weeks ago. The narrator was Maggie Kopp, a curator of rare books at the library, and after the presentation was over I stayed around to talk with her for a bit. She showed me something that she didn’t get to show the rest of the class; a Book of Common Prayer that had a painting on the fore-edge. When you flipped it to the other side, it had another painting. To the left is a picture of one side.
These paintings on the fore-edge of a book were used to draw and catch our attentions, but even more commonplace were the elaborately illuminated initial letters. Yes, these illuminations were used for organizational aspects, such as showing us where the beginning of a chapter or book starts, but they were also to show us important places in a book such as preferred verses of scripture. This example to the left is the beginning chapters of a book in the Bible. The illuminations uses all over the page were not for the beginning of the chapter; they were for the beginning of each verse. Since these inscriptions were so expensive, this example shows us that these verses must have meant a lot to the person paying for them. When books were valued more, before the invention of printing press, they were “treasured as works of art and as symbols of enduring knowledge. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the book becomes an attribute of God” (Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters). This is a little of what Maggie shared with me at the end of our class.
Since not everybody can be talented in the arts, these tasks of making ornate books were given to the monks. Monasteries kept not only sacred texts but also scientific, literary and philosophical works from Roman and Greek authors. The monarchy commissioned these texts and especially gospel centered ones.
Monks and nuns kept many manuscripts of Greek andRoman authors. Many knew Latin, so they were able to read Latin works by the Romans, and Latin translations of Greek authors. Medieval European monks and nuns are credited as being the last places to preserve literary works. As we can see, monks and nuns were writing institutions in themselves. They were perhaps the saving grace for many works of literature and art they we would not have otherwise.
It is interesting to think about how art and literacy go hand in hand. Sometimes we think of pictures as a universal tongue that nearly everyone can understand, but here we see that art and literacy seem to have evolved together.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to see that the arts were only trusted to the monks and nuns. What does the way arts and literacy are controlled say about the system that runs them?
ReplyDeleteI think it says that both the arts and literacy were valued so much that they were only put into the hands, literally, of the people who were trusted.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably also because art and writing are great tools for influencing people. Art and writing can make you feel things like anger, patriotism, love, liking etc. Think of how powerful pornography can be.
ReplyDeleteI agree, with great power comes great responsibility. We all remember Emily's great post on propaganda. Another way to look at it is to think of who had the time to indulge in activities like drawing? Surely there were sheep to tend or potatoes to be dug?
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