Merovingian illumination

The Merovingian dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaulish Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breaking up of the empire of Theodoric the Great. The dynastic name, medieval Latin or ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to the attested Old English Merewīowing, with the final -ing being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from King Merovech, whom many legends surround. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there evidence that they were regarded as sacred. The Merovingians' long hair distinguished them among the Franks, who commonly cut their hair short. Contemporaries sometimes referred to them as the "long-haired kings" (Latin reges criniti). A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule, and a rival could be removed from the succession by being tonsured and sent to a monastery. The Merovingians also used a distinct name stock. One of their names, Clovis, evolved into Louis and remained common among French royalty down to the 19th century. The first known Merovingian king was Childeric I (died 481). His son Clovis I (died 511) converted to Christianity, united the Franks and conquered most of Gaul. The Merovingians treated their kingdom as single yet divisible. Clovis's four sons divided the kingdom among themselves and it remained divided—with the exception of four short periods (558–61, 613–23, 629–34, 673–75)—down to 679. After that it was only divided again once (717–18). The main divisions of the kingdom were Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitaine. During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. Actual power was increasingly in the hands of the mayor of the palace, the highest-ranking official under the king. In 656, the mayor Grimoald I tried to place his son Childebert on the throne in Austrasia. Grimoald was arrested and executed, but his son ruled until 662, when the Merovingian dynasty was restored. When King Theuderic IV died in 737, the mayor Charles Martel continued to rule the kingdoms without a king until his death in 741. The dynasty was restored again in 743, but in 751 Charles's son, Pepin the Short, deposed the last king, Childeric III, and had himself crowned, inaugurating the Carolingian dynasty. == Types ==

The manuscripts produced at this time are essentially intended for the practice of worship within monasteries and not for the evangelization of the population. Gospel books are therefore rarer than missals, sacramentaries, lectionaries, etc., at least among illuminated manuscripts. The books of the Church Fathers were also of great privilege, such as the writings of Augustine or Gregory. ==Characteristics==

Ornaments The style of Merovingian illuminations is largely ornamental, and representations of the human figure are extremely rare and only occur at the end of the Merovingian period. Several typical types of ornament are found in Merovingian manuscripts. The manuscripts do not contain large initials occupying a full page, but the text generally begins with an integrated initial or a decorated title, accompanied by arches framing the text. The Gelasian sacramentary contains at the beginning of each part of the missal a large portico framing the text. The almost ubiquitous Christian motif is the cross. It sometimes covers a full page, sometimes integrated into a carpet page, as in Irish manuscripts. First instance of human depiction Human depictions appeared towards the end of this period, they are not strictly speaking historiated illuminations, that is to say representing a scene taken from the Bible or a historical scene. The first surviving manuscript to include human representations is the Sacramentary of Gellone. With portraits of evangelists found for the first time in the Gospel of Gundohinus. Several centers were also influenced by Insular illumination. Several abbeys, founded by abbots from Ireland or Northumbria, were places of production of manuscripts mixing the two styles and sometimes artists from the islands and the continent. This is particularly the case at the Abbey of Echternach, where the Trier Gospel Book was produced around 700–750. The style that developed there is sometimes referred to as Franco-Saxon. ==Centers of production==

With a few exceptions, the precise localization of the place of production of the Merovingian manuscripts is not guaranteed and is sometimes called into question. Laon This episcopal see, founded by Remigius at the beginning of the sixth century, is a notable exception among others to the cultural decline of the cities. Always dominated by its bishops, Laon remained, during the Merovingian and Carolingian period, a living artistic and intellectual center, and in particular the Colombian abbey of Saint-Vincent. Main manuscripts: • Quaestiones in Heptateuchon of Saint Augustine (National Library of France). • Codices 137 and 423 (Library of Laon). Luxeuil Monastery In 590, Columbanus founded the monastery of Luxeuil in the Vosges. The scriptorium of this abbey acquired a high reputation for Its quality a few decades later. Plundered and ravaged by the Saracens, who massacred all the monks, in 731 or 732, the abbey was relieved by Charlemagne who entrusted it to the Benedictines. The abbey gave its name to a particular script, without it being possible to say with certainty that it could have been created in its scriptorium. It is found in several manuscripts whose place of production remains controversial: • In Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos tractatus decem, Augustine of Hippo, dated around 669, Pierpont Morgan Library (M.334). • The so-called Luxeuil Lectionary, National French Library, Lat. 9427. • Missale Gothicum, sacramentary produced around 700. • Vatican, Reg. Lat. 317. Codex Ragyntrudis, texts of the Church Fathers, Library of the Cathedral of Fulda (Hesse, Germany). • Works of Saint Augustine, circa 730, currently at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel (Lower Saxony (Weissenburg 99), Germany). Corbie Abbey Located in the Somme, near Amiens, the abbey was founded by Balthild of Chelles. Manuscripts produced on site use less zoomorphic motifs but more ornaments such as the "bull's eye" (a circle with a dot in the middle). From the middle of the 8th century, we find more and more interlacing. Main manuscripts: • Commentary on Ezekiel by Saint Gregory (2nd quarter of the 7th century. Saint Petersburg Library (Q.V.I.14). • Rule of Saint Basil, around 700. Book preserved in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. • Hexaemeron said of Ambrose, 2nd half of the 8th century, National Library of France. • A manuscript of The Mystical Exposition on the Song of Songs by Justus of Urgell, circa 700, Vallicelliane Library, Rome (B.62). Chelles Chelles, in Seine-et-Marne, was the seat of a Merovingian palace. In 584, Chilperic I was assassinated there on the orders of the mayor of the palace, Landric, lover of Fredegund, the king's own wife. A first abbey of nuns was founded by Clotilde in the sixth century. It was rebuilt in the 7th century by Bathild, wife of Clovis II. The historian Bernhard Bischoff has shown that nine nuns of this abbey, whose names are known, copied and illuminated at the end of the Merovingian era, three manuscripts for the archchaplain of Charlemagne, Bishop Hildebold of Cologne. These are Ms. 63, 65, 67, late 8th century, now in the library of Cologne Cathedral. Saint-Denis Abbey The scriptorium of the abbey of Saint-Denis, protected by Charles Martel and Pepin the Short, is, according to some historians, perhaps the place of production of one of the most famous Merovingian illuminated manuscripts: the Gelasian Sacramentary which keeps track transformations of the liturgy due to Gelasius. Vatican, Apostolic Library, Reg. Lat. 316. == Examples ==