The art of writing and illumination

The Middle Ages is the period of illuminated books on parchment. In Europe, monasteries housed copyist workshops where ancient books (from Antiquity) were recopied by hand : these are what are called manuscripts. They were written in Caroline, beautiful round writing developed under Charlemagne, and later in Gothic characters. They were decorated with illuminations, also called miniatures. These were painted images to illustrate texts. Depending on their content, the books were decorated with religious, chivalric, courtly or everyday scenes of city or country life, etc.



While Europe was still in the manuscript period, from the 9th century China used xylography (engraving on wood) to reproduce numerous copies of Buddhist texts. Calligraphy (from the Greek kalligraphia : beautiful writing), meanwhile, became a completely separate art. The art of miniatures was also very popular with the Persians in Iran, who would influence Indian art.