Michelle Brown is a prolific author having written many books, but, having read most of them, I can say that every single book she produced is well worth reading. She is able to share her knowledge in the most user-friendly way, and her latest book ‘Illumin: a History of Mediæval Britain in Twelve Manuscripts’ is a case in point. It is slightly a misnomer though because it suggests that the book is about only those twelve manuscripts when in fact it covers so much more. It is a whirlwind tour of the history of Britain during that period including what was going on socially, the battles and wars, kings and queens, and all providing a backdrop and an introduction to not only the selected twelve manuscripts but so many more. I marked pages that I wanted to go back to look at and study again with coloured stickers – it is clear from the photograph how fascinating I found the book!
The books are: the Lindisfarne Gospels (as here), the Book of Cerne, Lives of St Cuthbert, Queen Emma’s Enconium, the St Albans Psalter, Topographia Hibernia, Chronica Majora, the Holkham Bible, the Luttrell Psalter, the Sherborne Missal, the Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers, and the Psalter of Henry VIII.
A number of these books have been studied before by Michelle with excellent publications as a result, but here each one is approached within the context of the events surrounding its production. As an example the chapter on the St Albans Psalter, shown here, picks up the death of Henry I’s son and heir with the ensuing civil war, Henry II’s quarrel with Thomas Becket and the latter’s murder, the Crusades, the influence of Arabic knowledge on the West, learning and teaching in Paris, glossed and the huge twelfth-century bibles, the Psalter itself and the life of Christina of Markyate, the Bury Bible and Master Hugo, sagas, romances and the Arthurian legend, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marie of France, and even more. If this list suggests just that, a list, a name check of the long twelfth century then you would be much mistaken, the text is presented in not only an informative but also the most readable way, and it really is a page turner.
The last chapter on the King’s Psalter, the psalter for Henry VIII not only focuses on the manuscript itself, shown here, and Henry’s own handwriting in it, but emphasises the importance of this book and the significance with which Henry regarded it both in terms of his own behaviour as king and him regarding himself as being similar in many ways to King David in the Psalms, but also his relationship to Anne Boleyn.
The book ends with the first exhibition of manuscripts at the Burlington Arts Club in London, arranged by Sir Sydney Cockerell (his wife, Florence Kate Kingsford had trained with the great calligrapher Edward Johnston), and is brought up to date with a consideration of the ways in which manuscripts have inspired calligrapher, illuminators, letter designers and even how they have influenced modern technology in tablet design.
I do have one criticism, however, which is that the illustrations in the review copy I was sent are in black and white only. With over 100 of them, it is not surprising that costs had to be kept down, but one of the most important joys of manuscripts is their glorious colours and brilliant gold. This should not, though, detract from a wonderful book, very highly recommended.
