Skip to page contents
Europeana home
  • Home
  • Collections
  • Stories
  • Share your collections
  • Log in / Join
Gallery

Illuminated Initials

Many medieval manuscripts are full of decorated capital letters that come in all styles and sizes. But what was their purpose? To learn, read: https://www.europeana.eu/blog/lighting-the-way-how-illuminated-initials-guided-medieval-readers-through-books

Curated by Europeana Published gallery

18 items

St. Stephen I (pope)
A Levite sacrificing
St. Hildegundis
Emperor
Saint Ambroise, bust, in the letter D
Moses holding the Tables of the Law
A male saint (St. Philip?) holding a lance or spear
The Crucifixion, with Mary and St. John
St. Fabian, Bishop of Rome, holding a book and St. Sebastian holding a book
The historiated letter B, with Saint Michael fighting the dragon
Christ calling André and Simon in an initial A
Biblia S. Novi Testamenti Cum Interpretatione S. Hieronymi Nominum Hebraicorum
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 3 : Biblia latina (Vulgata), Part 1: Genesis to Psalms
St. Michael holding a sword and scales
The Nativity: Mary lies in bed, St. Joseph holds the Christ-child
Book of Hours
Breviary, circa 1300
David playing the harp
  • Previous
  • Of 1
  • Next