MS 35 Getty Mus illuminations

 Salvete Omnes, 

a quick entry this Thursday  - the Iran-Us& Israel war uncertainty persists, now the ceasefire is to expire on Sunday. Hope peace prevails. I have no hopes on any quick ending of the Ukraine war. 

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 two very interesting illuminations done in a Byzantine style but way to the west,  in the late 1200s early 1300s Sicilian Kingdom  milieu. 

The Kingdom became the part of the House of Aragon realms as the Reino de Trinacria, starting with the Italian Vespers of 1282AD and the war that followed between Pedro III de Aragon, and then his sons Alfonso III de Aragon, Jaime II de Aragon & Federico II de Sicilia  and Charles I d'Anjou, his successors Charles of Naples & Roberto il Saggio and their allies, the French kings Philip the Bold & Philip the Fair, Papal forces (the Pope even proclaimed the crusade against the Aragonese) etc. The war  took away the  Christian forces from aiding the last defenders of the Crusader Kingdom in the Holy Land. 

The two miniatures from the illuminated manuscript Book of Old Testament Prophets  held at the Getty Museum. 

Museum description 

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Death of Sennacherib, king of Assyria Museum description 

Interesting article on the power of the barons within the XIV century Sicily.

Some of the royal protagonists of the war in Sicily and Spain - 

The peace of Caltabellotta, ending the war, also left unemployed Roger de Flor and the  mercenary soldiers of the Catalan Companies aka Almogavars, and this very successful mercenary commander took his  6,500 Almogavars into the war in Anatolia and Greece, where the  Byzantine Empire fought against the growing power of the Ottoman Turks. But that is another story.

Valete

Ulrich von Liechtenstein and chivalry - Codex Manesse

 Salvete Omnes,

on the Valentine's Day perhaps it could be good and proper to see some chivalry, medieval romance &courtly love and who could be better that the XIII century German knight and poet Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Sir Ullrich, scion of the ministrialis * class family and himself a minnesinger or troubadour, authored the famous collection of poems titled Frauendienst ( Service of Ladies), which was translated into English by J.W. Thomas in 1969. You can borrow the 2004 edition from Archive Library. There are articles on sir Ulrich and his poetry on Academia.

there is humor in Ulrich's poetry - eg  the lady trick a suitor by suspending him in the air

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and my most favorite plate of the Codex Manesse - our Piast prince Henryk Probus, where his horse's caparison bear letters that make a word - AMOR  which mean Love. 

ps * ministrialis class in Polish medieval society was represented by the włodyka   class (scartabellat). Below the wlodyka class there were the panosza (panozi or domicelli). They were absorbed into the naoblity (szlachta) or pushed into the peasantry etc during the closing up of the noble class in the XV century. 

Valete

Taymouth Hours - British Museum

 Salvete Omnes,

Guy of Warwick

Illuminated beauties from AD 1320s Book of Hours  known as Taymouth Hours of British Library. In the link you can view the scanned pages in their full glory on the BL search page (with more detailed description).

Nota bene, the first four illuminations are on  the theme of Guy of Warwick  - Anglo-Norman romance of Giu de Warewic (one of the medieval Matter of England heroes )

and other illuminations

Amoras and his wife

Amoras & Virgin Mary

Virgin Mary saving a woman fallen from a horse from a devil

enjoy 

Valete

Falconry and hunting in Codex Manesse

 Salvete Omnes,

Leuthold von Seven - famous minnesanger of the XIII century

 

Easter came and Easter went, so back to bloggin' -
    today I am going for a little entry - horses, riders, damsels, hawks, hounds, deer and boars in Codex Manesse  - beautiful manuscript from Medieval Holy Roman Empire aka Medieval Germanies. Today the manuscript is held presently at the Heidelberg University Library.

Falconry in Northern Germany - 600AD-1100AD - Academia article . 

Falconry by emperor Frederick II - a short .pdf from American Falconry.

Valete

Missale et horae ad usum Fratrum Minorum - Passion of Christ - Gallica

 Salvete Omnes,

in the spirit of the incoming Easter holiday  - and do pray for peace in Ukraine and to stop to the killing of Slavic Christians there..

Ad rem,
here we have another  great example of medieval manuscript illumination with exquisitely painted Passion of Christ - Missale et horae ad usum Fratrum Minorum -  from French National Library digital collections.

The Roman missal here  is a work of  Italian painter (perhaps authored  three manuscripts at Gallica)  and scribe/s who delivered this XIV century luxurious missal  - 

 

and two horse & rider details

Valete