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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 603: Illuminating the Laity: Illustrated Vernacular Manuscripts in the Late Middle Ages

Tuesday 8 July 2014, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:School of History, Queen Mary, University of London
Organiser:Federico Botana, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Kathryn Gerry, Department of Art History, University of Kansas
Paper 603-aThe Illustrations of the Fior di Virtù
(Language: English)
Federico Botana, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London
Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - Italian, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 603-bEvolving Authorities: The Roman de la Rose
(Language: English)
Jennifer Elizabeth Lyle Owen, Department of History of Art, University of Edinburgh
Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 603-cBraided Literacies: Learning and Devotion in La somme le roi
(Language: English)
Alexa Sand, Department of Art History, Utah State University
Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

This session explores the functions of illustrations in manuscripts of vernacular didactic texts produced in France and Italy in the late Middle Ages. Vernacular texts and visual imagery played fundamental roles in the education of the laity. Didactic poems, moral treatises, fables, and lives of saints were enlivened by ingenious visual programmes which made their contents accessible to readers. Illustrative cycles acted as visual glosses, helping readers to grasp and memorise moral and religious precepts.