The Margins of Medieval Manuscripts

Shortly after the mid-thirteenth century, various images began to fill the margins in both religious and secular texts. Many factors influenced the emergence of this type of manuscript decoration, but it has generally been attributed to the revived interest in nature and the Gothic inclination for humorous and anecdotic detail. Aft er highlighting other possible reasons for the occurrence of marginal illumination, this paper introduces two manuscripts from the Archiepiscopal Archives in Ljubljana. The manuscripts show numerous facial drawings affixed to some of the letters. This article addresses how to interpret such drawings and stresses that they do not necessarily function as symbolic images or images with any specific didactic value. Quite the opposite, these drawings seem not to have any meaning and are oft en merely indications of an illuminator's sense of humor. Because of their exaggerated facial expressions, these drawings could be perceived as the true predecessors of modern caricature.