Description
This can be a book for readers who are interested in the art and the social history of the Middle Ages. Illuminated manuscripts of that period are a primary source of information about the way in which women and men went about the on a regular basis business of living–working at the land, engaging in trade and commerce, devoting themselves to crafts and manufactures, or carrying at the range of activities that we now regard as the professions.
Many of the scenes reproduced on this superbly illustrated account are simply artistic endeavors in their own right; others are taken from manuscripts that are famous for the very top quality of their illumination. Patricia Basing provides a wealthy observation, full of interesting observations, that relates every picture its historical context, explores the connections between the illustrations and text, and gives an account of the general background of manuscript production in medieval times.