Speakers
Conferencistas convidados · Ponentes
Marina Vidas
Brides and the Circulation of Medieval Illuminated Books to and From the Iberian Peninsula In the medieval period a number of foreign noblewomen who married aristocrats living on the Iberian peninsula brought to their new homes illuminated manuscripts. For example, Christina of Norway (1234-1262) was in all likelihood given by Louis IX of France an extraordinary illuminated Parisian Psalter (Copenhagen, Royal Library, GKS 1606 4°) on the occasion of her marriage to Philip of Castile and Leon. Some of these women continued to have ties to educated members of their natal families or friends, who in certain cases sent them books. The ladies and the works in their collections often had an impact on local manuscript production. The impact could be stylistic, hagiographic (e.g., veneration of saints from the bride’s homeland), textual (e.g., introduction of new types of literature), etc. However, the influence was not one-way, for women from the Iberian peninsula and works in their collections also had an impact on book production elsewhere in Europe For example, the palette used in a bible (Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 2554) commissioned by Louis VIII’s queen, Blanche of Castile (1188 – 1252), was likely influenced by her preference for colors used in Iberian illumination and perhaps reflected those employed in a book she owned. My paper will focus on women with connections to the Iberian peninsula and the circulation of medieval books in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. I will discuss the circumstances of the production and export of the manuscripts, as well as their reception and use. In line with transcultural approaches my paper would attempt to shed light on the complex relationship between the circulation of illuminated books and the transmission of styles and ideas in Medieval Europe. |