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Pilgrimage and parchment
published: 12.11.2009
author: Hanneke van Asperen
The author of the Dutch publication 'Pilgrimage and Parchment' (Pelgrimstekens op Perkament) focuses on the question: why do late-medieval books often show traces of pilgrims' badges? On the basis of a hundred medieval manuscripts, largely unpublished material, the publication offers a new perspective on the role of pilgrims' badges and devotional manuscripts in daily life.
Books are places of safekeeping for many items, also in the Middle Ages. Lay people sewed pilgrims' badges to the parchment of religious books. Illuminators painted badges in the borders as if they were sewn to the parchment. The medieval books can be admired for their beauty, but they also had a practical value as instruments that served the mental and spiritual wellfare of its owner. Books with traces of badges show how the owners used their books, which texts they preferred and who collected the badges. The painted badges that were especially reserved for richly illuminated books complement the knowledge of the original badges. First and foremost, the marginal illuminations served decorative and structuralizing purposes. When the illuminator had met the formal demands of marginal decoration, he could add further meaning that the reader was able to understand. Original or painted, the badges were not arbitrarily added to the book. The publication 'Pilgrimage and Parchment' discusses the significance of the badges and the manuscripts where they appear. - Hanneke van Asperen, Pelgrimstekens op Perkament. Originele en nageschilderde bedevaartssouvenirs in religieuze boeken (ca. 1450 - ca. 1530).
Nijmegen, Stichting Nijmeegse Kunsthistorische Studies en Edam, Orange House.
ISBN 978 94 90128 18 0, 624 pp., full-color, 69,50 euro.
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