A 15th-century encyclopedic manuscript in the Rosenwald Collection contains compositions that are built to generate mental associations. Manuscripts created for personal study assumed use in the active theater of the reader’s mind. Some manuscripts were created to prompt mental rather than physical engagement. Not all medieval manuscripts were created for a ritual context, however. As a consequence, Books of Hours were used at home, at church and even at gravesides. The length of cloth attached to the binding was tied in a knot and often tucked into a belt for easy transport. Intended to be portable, Books of Hours were sometimes fashioned as a girdle book. The program of images and words connected domestic habits to the larger rhythms of the church festival calendar and the cycle of the seasons.

Books of Hours like this one were created to allow laypersons to participate in the cycle of prayers that priests and monastic orders kept. Light dances off the many flecks of gold leaf used in the borders and the miniatures, catching the eye of the reader with even the smallest motion and making the page appear as though it is illumined from within. The nature of the action depends upon the context for which the manuscript was created to function.Īn illuminated prayer book, like the one by the Boucicault Master pictured above, is designed to catch the user’s attention. Rather than simply instructing readers, a manuscript’s compositional program is designed to move viewers to some action. Like a website, a manuscript realizes its purpose in its dynamic engagement with its user. Medieval manuscripts are not static products. Viewing a medieval manuscript without information about its historical context can be a similarly limited experience. The glass would prevent you from interacting with the page as the designer intended.

Imagine that you are viewing a well-designed webpage from behind the glass of a museum case. Like contemporary digital interfaces, medieval manuscripts anticipate an engaged user. It appeared earlier this year in the Library of Congress Magazine. This is a guest post by Marianna Stell, a reference assistant in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Rare Books and Special Collections Division. Detail from the “ Book of Hours.” published in France, circa 1420.

Medieval manuscripts blog