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Medieval Manuscripts Science: Herbals and Bestiary
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Medieval Manuscripts Science:
Herbals and Bestiary
The Herbal
An introduction
Medieval Herbal treatises are manuscripts that contain names, descriptions, and illustrations of plants. These are usually focused on the plants’ medicinal uses. The actual information contained is unique to the scroll or codex. Some have detailed descriptions of the plants or focus more on the uses of the plants. Then there are some herbals that are no more than identification guides with only the plant labels written. These different kinds of herbals all have special use to the owners.
Herbals used in upper class Medieval residences, physicians and apothecaries of high status and literate monks would have more comprehensive herbals. Literacy rates in the Middle Ages were low and reserved to the upper class and the Church. Those that are more guidebooks might be important to individuals and communities were oral learning traditions and not necessarily schooled in reading. Some believe that these herbals are mere picture books enjoyed for their artistic value.
In the early and middle medieval period, herbals were traditionally created in Monastic scriptorium or in the ruler’s residence. During the late medieval period and into the early renaissance, commercial artists and scribes were hired by the rich to create manuscripts. When printing presses became common manuscript herbals were all but replaced with printed ones.
The Bestiary
The
Beastiary
The bestiary manuscript is the medieval zoology study of animals; real and legendary. Bestiary were used as a study of the animals but also as moral lessons. A volucrary is a specific kind of bestiary that is with only birds. The Treatise of the Birds in the example manuscripts from the Anicia Juliana Codex is this special kind of bestiary.
It was believed that all animals were created by God for a reason and that all living things had their own relationship meaning with God and other spiritual representations. People were assigned symbolic animals such as St. Luke was represented by a winged ox. The lives of animals had religious meaning. Families would adopt beasts with meaning that they thought represented their families and use them in their heraldry or coats of arms.
Anicia Juliana Codex
The Vienna Dioscorides, also called the Anicia Juliana Codex, is an illuminated Herbal from the Byzantine Empire. It was created around 515 AD and commissioned by the Byzantine princess Aninia Julia. The information within is a recreation of the more ancient Herbal De Materia Medica by the Greek Pedanius Dioscorides. It was said to have been luxury created, however, it was in daily use by the royal medical staff. Many copies of the codex were recreated and given as royal gifts.
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Arabic and Hebrew plant names were added by the new owners. It was brought to Austria and is now their national library. The codex has three parts: several frontispieces of full page dedication miniatures, manuscripts folio with plant illustrations and written information, and a treatise on birds.
See a great article about the Codex here
Portrait of the Author
Frontispieces
These are examples of frontispiece illuminated miniatures; both are different portraits of the original Greek author of the Herbal, Pedanius Dioscorides. These frontispieces tell story of how the Herbal was constructed, with divine help and earthly strength of mind. The left one is of a seated Dioscorides with the nymph Heuresis. Heuresis is the personification of discovery and inspiration. Heuresis is holding a mandrake and pointing to a dead brown hound. Dioscorides' chair looks to be made out of wood or reeds and has a woven pattern on its back and his feet are resting on a footstool with a rectangular pattern on the ends. He is wearing a long white tunic, while Heuresis is wearing a white peplos dress with a red shawl or himation. The marginal colors are interesting ombre designs.
The second example is of Dioscorides sitting with a codex on his lap. An artist is seated in front of Dioscorides and is drawing a mandrake that is being held by the personification of thought and design, Epinoia. Behind Epinoia is a decorative niche flanked on both sides by colonnades. The pillars have the acanthus leaves motif. The sky is a dark blue and has some black writing or design that is unclear. The marginal border had a vine design with a red background and has detailed corner designs
The Herbal
Herbal
The herbal section is a large encyclopedia of illuminated plants and their medical use. Many of the illustrations are natural depictions of the plants, however, some are more abstract depictions of the plants. This leads us to believe that the illustrators had not seen the plant themselves and were giving a description of the plant to draw to the best of their ability. It's also believed that even some of the natural illustrations were copied from earlier herbals, as there are plants included from all over the Greek territory and long distance travel was not that common in ancient Greece.
The Treatise of Birds
The third section is called The Treatise of Birds by Dionysiu.
It is the medieval zoological study of birds. A bestiary that only focus is on birds is called a voluntary. These illustrations have been copied into the Anicia Juliana Codex as a visual guide to the different birds of Greece.