Boulogne-sur-Mer Aratea

Boulogne-sur-Mer Aratea

The Aratea from the Bibliothèque municipale in Boulogne-sur-Mer is without question one of the finest astrological manuscripts from the Carolingian period. It seems to descend from the somewhat better known Leiden Aratea and was itself the inspiration for another Aratea manuscript, now kept in the Burgerbibliothek in Bern, which also originated in the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Bertin in northern France, a medieval center of book art. There, the Boulogne-sur-Mer Aratea was created sometime after 905 AD, with characteristics of the script and style of illuminations pointing to the period under Abbot Odbert (986–1008).

An Ancient Classic in the Latin Middle Ages.

The Greek Stoic Aratos of Soloi combined complex astronomical mathematics with vivid mythological stories in his Phainomena, written around 370 BC. This probably explains the popularity the work enjoyed in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages after being rediscovered during the Carolingian Renaissance. Accordingly, the ancient Greek text was translated and adapted several times, for example by Germanicus in the 1st century AD and Avienus in the middle of the 4th century AD. The Boulogne-sur-Mer Aratea contains a special version of the Germanicus translation, into which individual passages by Avienus were integrated. In this manuscript, the astrological treatise follows a calendar and a comprehensive computistical text used to calculate the date of Easter.

Greek Constellations in Splendid Colors and Gold

The Latin translation is accompanied by gorgeous miniatures in bright colors that mainly show constellations and are very close to the original iconography of late antiquity. The respective part of the astrological treatise has been executed in two columns, with the left column occupied by two red-framed constellation miniatures each, whose aesthetics are defined by their monochrome, radiant-blue background. The text in the right column was executed in a neat Capitalis Rustica with red-green initials. Two full-page diagrams provide the frame for this ornate main part of the manuscript, showing the famous planisphere and a planetary diagram. The final part of the treatise has been illuminated with the personifications of Sol, Sun, and Luna, Moon. Thereby subtle and at the same time splendid gold applications pervade all miniatures and make the codex a precious gem of Carolingian art.