The Golden Canon Tables were painted around the time that Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540–604) famously chastised the bishop of Marseilles for destroying images of saints in his church. Indeed, St Gregory actively encouraged the use of images, equating pictures with books for the illiterate to ‘read’. Perhaps this argument could be used to explain the illustrated manuscripts made for patrons who may not have been entirely comfortable in Latin, such as the Harley Bible moralisée, with its hundreds of images. When justifying the incorporation of images in Bibles, biblical commentaries and devotional and liturgical works, St Gregory further elucidated the distinction between ‘adoring a picture and learning from its story what is to be adored’.

It is not often that I am able to recommend a book that has nothing to do with embroidery or textiles, but for those who enjoy embroidering letters, this book is a must.The illuminated books and manuscripts were most often created for and given to wealthy royal people. They were literate. Most of the common everyday people were not literate, but they wouldn’t have seen these books. So I am unclear about the subtitle explaining the book. The illustrations give plenty of scope for imaginative interpretation on how to convert them for embroidery and incorporate them into your designs.

Illuminated manuscripts offer some of the best evidence for our understanding of Christian artistic interpretations of the Bible. Through them we can begin to appreciate the value placed on such art. Only significant investment of resources – hours of labour and significant expenditure – made such works possible. Each manuscript, by definition, was made by hand (Latin manu scriptus: ‘written by hand’), and each illumination required the dedicated work of a highly skilled person, or persons. Each incurred significant cost in materials and the time spent on its production. No wonder, then, that so many illuminated manuscripts of the Bible were treasured in their day for more than their material value, and gained the status of gifts worthy of saints and kings.I read stories about how and why the illuminated manuscripts were created, who they were passed down to, and how they survived to our current time. is reviewed between 08.30 to 16.30 Monday to Friday. We're experiencing a high volume of enquiries so it may take us

The iconoclasts are represented in a marginal illustration in the Theodore Psalter. Theodore of Caesarea, Theodore Psalter, 1066, Constantinople, parchment, 23 x 22 cm ( The British Library)

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An extensively illustrated compendium of 45 expertly selected illuminated bibles that transport the reader through 1,000 years of history and across the Christian world.