Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

Though daily life in the Middle Ages can seem at first like a distant and inaccessible historical realm, this impressive collection of 11,000 manuscript illuminations proves otherwise. These miniatures, initials, and border decorations are drawn from close to 400 manuscripts, primarily late medieval manuscripts from France and the Low Countries dating from the 8th through 16th centuries.

“Highlights” is a good place to begin for users unfamiliar with these rich sources. Here, themes in the collection emerge, such as church and society, Christian holidays, the Bible, and topics like “fabulous animals” or “devils and demons.” “Browse by Subject” is especially useful for charting change over time, as evidenced in the differences between a 14th-century Majestas Domini image from Amiens and one from an early 10th-century set of gospels from Tournai. Daily life in the Middle Ages can be glimpsed by browsing “eating and drinking,” which yields images depicting the marriage feast at Cana and Esau’s sale of his birthright in return for a bowl of lentils. All images are high-quality, enlargeable, and accompanied by keyword searchable descriptive information, rending the collection useable for students and scholars alike.

Read a more in-depth review written by Jonathan Rotondo-McCord of Xavier University at http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysource. Or explore additional website reviews at World History Sources—Finding World History and History Matters Website Reviews.