Ornament and Status: Three Early Palaeologan Illuminated Manuscripts

Abstract

The ‘Vatican Epithalamion’ (BAV Vat. gr. 1851) was recently dated by Peter Schreiner to 1271 or 1272. In this paper, I present an additional argument for his dating by comparing the Epithalamion’s zoomorphic initial letters with those found in two other codices datable to the reign of Michael VIII Palaeologus: a Gospelbook (Mount Athos, Iviron Monastery, 5) and a Psalter (Jerusalem, Greek Patriarchal Library, Παναγίου Τάφου 51). This comparison suggests also that zoomorphic ornament functioned at the time as a marker of social status.