Gothic Manuscripts, 1260-1320

This is Part II of the The Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France, a definitive multi-part reference work covering the output of French manuscript illumination from the 7th to the 16th century. French culture in the period c. 1260-1320 is marked by a surge in demand for fine illustrated books of all kinds - science, medicine, law, philosophy, literature in verse and prose, alongside books for private devotion and liturgical celebration. Some patrons were well-known rulers, court figures, or members of the clergy, but others were less significant players on the political or ecclesiastical scene, many of them unimportant in rank or unknown by name. The so-called 'courtly style' emerges at the beginning of this period, yet books made in provincial centres manifest a vital independence and originality due to fruitful interaction with neighbouring cultures - the linguistic, literary, and artistic traditions of England, the Iberian kingdoms, the Empire. Ecclesiastical structures offered different and complementary cultural networks. By the end of this period French art had assimilated this rich variety of regional works and styles, and patterns to be played out in the following centuries were in place.