The Secular Scribes and Illuminators.
| Growth of Guilds. |
Growth of Guilds.Towards the latter part of the thirteenth and throughout the fourteenth century, secular artisans in all varieties of arts and crafts were gradually throwing off the bonds of the old feudal serfdom under which they had for long been bound. The growth in number and importance of the Trade-Guilds, which in England developed so rapidly under Henry III., was one of the chief signs of the growing importance of the artisans of the chief towns of this and other European countries.
| Importance of the Trade-Guilds. |
Importance of the Trade-Guilds.At the end of the thirteenth century, in London, in Florence, and in many other cities no man could possess the rights of a citizen and a share in the municipal government without becoming a member of one of the established Trade-Guilds. Edward I., Edward III. and others of the English Kings set the example of enrolling themselves as members of one of the London Guilds[[224]]; and in Florence it was necessary for Dante to become a member of a Guild[[225]] before he could serve the Republic as one of the Priori.
At first the scribes and illuminators (librorum scriptores et illuminatores[[226]]) were members of one general Guild including craftsmen in all the decorative arts and their subsidiary processes, such as leather-tanning, vellum-making, and even saddlery[[227]].
| Guilds in the XVth century. |
Guilds in the XVth century.By degrees the Guilds became more numerous and more specialized in character, till their fullest development was reached in the first half or middle of the fifteenth century. Much interesting information about the miniaturists' Guild in Bruges during the second half of the century has been published by Mr Weale[[228]].
This was the Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke; and every painter, miniaturist, illuminator, rubricator, copyist, maker of vellum, binder or seller of books who lived and worked in Bruges was obliged to belong to this Guild. This rule, which existed in Ghent, Antwerp and most artistic centres, had a double use; on the one hand it protected the individual illuminator from wrong and oppression of any kind; and, on the other hand, it tended to keep up a good standard of excellence in the work which was executed by the Guild-members.
| Rules of the Guilds. |
Rules of the Guilds.No miniaturist could be admitted till he had laid before the Dean of the Guild a sufficiently good sample of his skill, and all members were liable to be fined if they used inferior materials of any kind, such as impure gold, adulterated ultramarine or vermilion and the like. In this way the officers of the Guild acted as moderators between the artisan and his patrons, securing reasonable pay for the artist, and, in return for that, reasonably good workmanship for his employer or customer. The Guilds also prevented anything like commercial slave-driving by limiting very strictly the number of apprentices or workmen that each master might employ.
| Decadence of MS. art. |
Decadence of MS. art.Thus it happened that, though fine manuscripts were still written and illuminated in many of the principal monasteries of Europe, a large class of secular illuminators grew up, especially in Paris and the chief towns of Flanders and northern Germany. In this way the production of manuscripts, especially illuminated Books of Hours, became a regular commercial process, with the inevitable result that a great deal of work of a very inferior character was turned out to meet the rapidly growing demand for cheap and showy books.
An immense number of these cheap manuscript Horae were produced after a few fixed patterns, with some mechanical dulness of repetition in every border and miniature with which they were decorated.
| Costly Horae. |
Costly Horae.At the same time manuscripts were still produced, mostly at the special order of some royal patron or wealthy merchant, which, in elaborate beauty and in unsparing labour of execution, are hardly surpassed by the work of the earlier monastic scribes[[229]]. Examples of this are mentioned above at pages [135] and [169].
The Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, towards the close of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century, numbered many illuminators among their regular paid adherents. In some cases the artist was permanently engaged, and passed his whole life in the service of one Prince; while in other cases famous illuminators were hired for a few months or years, when the patron wanted a specially magnificent manuscript either for his own use, or as a royal gift on the occasion of a marriage, a coronation or other great event.
| Women artists. |
Women artists.In some cases, we find that women learnt to be manuscript illuminators of great skill and artistic taste. For example Cornelia, the wife of Gérard David of Bruges[[230]], was, like her husband, both an illuminator of manuscripts and a painter of altar retables. A fine triptych painted by Cornelia, in the possession of Mr H. Willett of Brighton, is a work of great beauty and refinement, which it would be difficult to distinguish from a painting by Gérard David himself.
| Costly gifts. |
Costly gifts.In the fifteenth century the commercial value of sumptuously illuminated manuscripts rose to the highest point. No object was thought more suited for a magnificent wedding present to a royal personage than a costly manuscript[[231]]. And large sums were often advanced by money-lenders or pawnbrokers on the security of a fine illuminated manuscript.
Fig. 55. Picture by Quentin Matsys of Antwerp, showing a lady selling or pawning an illuminated manuscript.
| Painting by Matsys. |
Painting by Matsys.Fig. [55] shows a lady of the Bourgeois class negociating for the sale or pawn of a Book of Hours or some such manuscript, illuminated with a full-page miniature of the Virgin and Child. The money-lender appears to be weighing out to her the money. This beautiful painting which is commonly called the "Money-changer and his wife" is signed and dated 1514 by Quentin Massys or Matsys of Antwerp. It is now in the Louvre.
In the sixteenth century, especially in Italy, during the last decadence of the illuminator's art, very magnificent and costly manuscripts were produced by professional miniaturists, but these are merely monuments of wasted labour. Some account is given at page [202] of Giulio Clovio, the most skilful though tasteless miniaturist of his age.
| Accounts of St George's, Windsor. |
Accounts of St George's, Windsor.Mr J. W. Clark, the Registrary of the University of Cambridge, has procured and kindly allows me to print the following very interesting record of the cost of writing and illuminating certain manuscripts during the fourteenth century. The extract is taken from the manuscript records of the expenses of the Collegiate Church of St George at Windsor. The date is approximately given by the fact that John Prust was a Canon of Windsor from 1379 to 1385.
"Compotus Johannis Prust de diuersis libris per eum factis videlicet j Antiphonarium, j Textus Evangelij, j Martilogium, iij Processionalia.
| In primis onerat se de x li. vj s. viij d. receptis de Ricardo Shawe per Indenturam. | |
| Item onerat se de xx s. receptis de corpore prebende Edmundi Clouille. | |
| Item onerat se de l s. receptis de dicto Edmundo pro officio suo videlicet Precentoris. | |
| Summa totalis receptorum xiij li. xvj s. viij d. | |
| In xix quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro libro Euangelij precio quaternionis viij d. | xij s. viij d. |
| Item solutum pro uno botello ad imponendum Incaustum | x d. |
| Item solutum pro incausto | xiiij d. |
| Item pro vermulione | ix d. |
| Item pro communibus scriptoris pro xviijo. septimanis solutum per septimanam x d. | xv s. |
| Item pro stipendio dicti scriptoris per idem tempus | xiij s. iiij d. |
| Item solutum Ade Acton ad notandum "Liber generacionis" et "Passion[es]" in dicto libro[[232]] | viij d. |
| Item pro examinacione et ad faciendum literas capitales gloucas [for glaucas] | iij s. |
| Item pro illuminacione dicti libri | iij s. iiij d. |
Item pro ligacione dicti libri | iij s. iiij d. |
| Item auri fabro pro operacione sua | xx s. |
| Item in uno equo conducto pro Petro Jon per ij vices London pro dicto libro portando et querendo | viij d. |
| Item pro expensis dicti Petri per ij vices | xj d. |
| Summa lxxv s. viij d. | |
| Item in vij quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro libro Martilogij precio quaternionis viij d. | iiij s. viij d. |
| et non plures quia staur[o]. | |
| Item pro scriptura xij quaternionum precio quaternionis xv d. | xv s. |
| Item pro illuminacione dicti libri | v s. x d. |
| Item pro ligacione dicti libri | ij s. ij d. |
| Item ad faciendum literas capitales gloucas | viij d. |
| Summa xxviij s. iiij d. | |
| Item in xxxiiij quaternionibus pergamenti vituli emptis pro vno Anthiphonario precio quaternionis xv d. | xlij s. vj d. |
| Item xij quaterniones de stauro | |
| Item pro scriptura xl. quaternionum pro nota precio quaternionis xv d. | l s. |
| Item pro scriptura vj quaternionum de phalterio[[233]] precio quaternionis ij s. ij d. | xiij s. |
| Item ad notandum antiphonas in phalterio | vj d. |
| Item ad notandum xl. quaterniones pro antiphonis precio vj d. | xx s. |
| Item ad faciendum literas capitales gloucas | xij d. |
| Item pro illuminacione | xv s. xj d. |
| Item pro ligacione | v s. |
| Summa vij li. vij s. xj d. | |
| Item in xlvj quaternionibus pergamenti multonis emptis pro iij libris processionalium precio quaternionis ij d. ob. | ix s. vij d. |
| Item pro scriptura dictarum xlvj quaternionum | xv s. |
| Item ad notandum dictas quaterniones | vij s. vj d. |
| Item pro illuminacione | ij s. ix d. |
| Item pro ligacione | ij s. vj d. |
| Summa xxxvij s. iiij d. | |
Summa Totalis Expensarum xiiij li. ix s. iij d. Et sic debentur computanter xij s. vij d. probatur per auditores quos r[ecepit] de Ricardo Shawe tunc precentore. Et sic equatur." | |
From these accounts we learn that six manuscripts were written, illuminated and bound, one of them with gold or silver clasps or bosses, at a total cost of £14. 9s. 3d., more than £150 in modern value.
The books were a Textus or Evangeliarium, a Martyrologium, an Antiphonale and three Processionals.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| The Evangeliarium was written on 19 quaternions (quires)[[234]] of vellum, costing 8d. each, total | 12 | 8 | |
| Black ink | 1 | 2 | |
| A bottle to hold the ink | 10 | ||
| Vermilion | 9 | ||
| The scribe's "commons" (food) for eighteen weeks | 15 | 0 | |
| Payment to the scribe | 13 | 4 | |
| Corrections and adding coloured initials | 3 | 0 | |
| Illumination | 3 | 4 | |
| Binding | 3 | 4 | |
| Goldsmith's work (on the binding) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Two journeys to London and other smaller items, making a total of £3. 15s. 8d. | |||
| The Martyrologium was partly written on 7 quaternions of vellum[[235]], costing 8d. each quaternion | 4 | 8 | |
| Payment to the scribe | 15 | 0 | |
| Illumination | 5 | 10 | |
| Binding | 2 | 2 | |
| Coloured initials | 8 | ||
| Total | 1 | 8 | 4 |
| The Antiphonale was written on 34 quaternions of larger and more expensive sheets of vellum, costing 15d. a quaternion[[236]] | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Payments to the scribe | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Adding the musical notation | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Coloured initials | 1 | 0 | |
| Illumination | 15 | 11 | |
| Binding | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | 11 |
The three Processionals only cost £1. 17s. 4d., being written on 46 quaternions of cheap parchment made of sheep-skin which cost only 2½d. the quaternion.
| Accounts of St Ewen's, Bristol. |
Accounts of St Ewen's, Bristol.The following extracts from the Parish accounts of the Church of St Ewen, in Bristol[[237]], give some details as to the cost of writing, illuminating and binding a manuscript Lectionary during the years 1469 and 1470. The total expense is £3. 4s. 1d., quite equal to £20 in modern value.
| 1468-9. | |
| "Item, for j dossen and v quayers of vellom to perform the legend [i.e. to write the lectionary on] | xs vjd |
| Item, for wrytyng of the same | xxvs |
| Item, for ix skynnys and j quayer of velom to the same legend | vs vjd |
| Item, for wrytyng of the forseyd legend | iiijs ijd |
| 1470-1471. | |
| Item for a red Skynne to kever the legent | vd |
| Also for the binding and correcting of the seid Boke | vs |
| Also for the lumining of the seid legent | xiijs vjd |