Rothschild Canticles

Rothschild Canticles

This small-format florilegium is literally an enchanting bouquet of individually arranged texts and splendid illuminations that served a late medieval nun, canoness or pious lady for private meditation. A florilegium (from flos, engl. flower, and legere, engl. to collect) was understood to be a collection of valued and meaningful excerpts from various texts. The material in this unique copy is drawn from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, in particular the Song of Songs, De trinitate by the church father Augustine, the Elucidarius by Honorius Augustodunensis, and other sources.

Medieval Mysticism and Piety

The numerous selected passages have been compiled here into two texts of roughly equal length. While the first accompanies the reader in her spiritual contemplation and provides her with texts on paradise, the Song of Songs, the Virgin Mary and the Trinity, the second part brings together wisdom on vices and virtues, the meaning of monstrous creatures, theology and the biblical books of wisdom as well as exempla, moralizing short stories and anecdotes. This fascinating gem gives us a wonderful insight into the mystical experience of faith and the way of thinking of an educated woman in the late Middle Ages.

A Unique Picture Program

The total of 229 miniatures and 42 historiated initials not only shine in rich colors and precious gold, but also feature a well thought-out and innovative picture program. The first part of the manuscript in particular shows an extremely creative approach to long-established iconography and new pictorial subjects. The often mystical depictions, together with the sometimes enigmatic texts, result in a compositional masterpiece.
The first and second parts of the manuscript are visually differentiated by different layouts. In the first part, the illumination is dominated by magnificent full-page miniatures, with new sections introduced by smaller scholar images integrated into the text. In the second part, small miniatures and historiated initials alternate, while charming drôleries swarm in the margins.

Artistic Additions

Shortly after the original completion of the manuscript, 23 full-page demi-grisaille miniatures were added to it, which are characterized by a subtle use of green and thus contrast with the red-blue colour palette of the rest of the illumination. The content of the leaves, which recur throughout the manuscript, is supplemented by narrative depictions of the stories of the Desert Fathers.

A Monastic Work of Art

The codex was commissioned by a nun, canoness or noble lady and created in the Flemish abbey of Saint-Winoc. The current ruins are located on the coast of the English Channel in the French municipality of Bergues and once housed a Benedictine monastery. Here, a well-read and highly learned monk compiled the Florilegium individually. A total of three scribes were involved in the written text in Gothic textualis, while the original illuminations appear to have been made by a single hand.