Illuminated manuscripts

Illuminated manuscripts are manuscripts that are inscribed with decorative borders, capitals and illustrations. Although the writing itself was not the focus of the work, the detail that was put into the actual page design and illustrations was tremendous. Not only were the manuscripts lavishly decorated, they were decorated with gold or silver. Each of the pages was as remarkably decorated as the last so it took a tremendous amount of time to create a book. Considerable planning was used beforehand to draw the layout of the page long before any paint actually hit the page. Because of the gold or silver material used, only the wealthy were able to purchase an illuminated manuscript. It was mostly churches who owned a manuscript. Although the pages originally started out using just gold and silver, other colors began to show up in the manuscripts. Materials such as lapis lazuli, cinnabar and malachite were used to form the colors. However, sometimes material such as earwax or urine was used as a base for the colors. The term illuminated manuscript usually refers to just the manuscripts just decorated in gold or silver but it is sometimes also used to describe any richly decorated, colorful manuscript whether it has gold, silver or none at all. Because of the cost and time to produce a manuscript, it was eventually given up to a more traditional book that could be more easily reproduced. The newer books were not as lavishly decorated so it took less time to produce. Although illuminated manuscripts were no longer being produced, the pages of existing manuscripts still remain behind for others to enjoy.

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