Missionary Texts

So far, the point of discussion has been on ideological and traditional uses of illuminated manuscripts. Another really interesting aspect of illuminated manuscripts is their missionary potential. To talk about this, it’s best to talk about it through the lens of three different manuscripts with completely different objectives. The first is the Echternach Gospels. The Echternach Gospels are from the library of the Echternach monastery. They are an insular manuscript illuminated with an incredible amount of detail and extravagance. They compose a gospel book filled with beautiful illustrations. The folio shown is an example of an evangelist page for Matthew. This page would be placed before the start of the Gospel of Matthew. This elaborately illustrated page made it easy for missionaries to go to non-Christian areas of Britan and convert the locals.

A completely different book that had a missionary purpose was the Speculum Humanae Salvationis. This book was “compiled at the beginning of the fourteenth century for the use of preaching monks and clerics, the Speculum humanæ salvationis was a widely used volume in the late Middle Ages.” [11] Monks used this book with various elaborate illuminations and illustrations as a way to spread their faith while they were traveling. Showing lay people illustrations and preaching to them are great use cases for illuminated manuscripts. 

However, what is even more interesting is the use of illuminated manuscript production as a way to convert other monks from other orders. Bernard's Apologia, seen here, was designed to do just that. It was written with the intent to argue for Cistercian customs and to justify why the Cistercian order was more righteous than the rest.