Text, context, illustration in manuscripts of the Late Middle Ages. The case of Elizabeth, Countess of Nassau-Saarbrucken († 1456)

Late medieval manuscripts often present very differentiating relations between text and illustration. In the case of the prose novels of Elizabeth, translated from French chansons de geste, the pictural strategy does not concentrate on the plot of the scenario, but embeds the main motif in a fuller context often not described explicitly in the textual narration. As principles of the pictural narration we can find out: contextualization of the scenario, establishing a sequential order of similar illustrations, repetition and variation of pictural formulas. This strategy of illustration reflects a culture with focus on ambience and details producing narrative sense by refering back to collective social semantics.