The Good Shepherd

Continuing with the discussion of Medieval Manuscripts and their ‘Initials’ today we speak of the ‘Historiated’ Initial.

A Historiated Initial is an initial (enlarged letter that starts the first word of a passage) containing a scene from the work. It could be an episode from the subject, a portrait of the author, or landscape from the text.

In this scene (to the right) we have a manuscript from Dante showing a scene, found in the story, of a sailing ship.

And below we have King David playing his harp, above, and, as a young man, facing Goliath (lower register)


 

I can’t resist putting in one of my favorite Historiated Initials.  Well…if it is a book on wine-making, or the evils of drink…

‘Grisaille’ is the term for scenes in illuminated manuscripts where the scenes are executed in shades of gray (‘gris’ in French) or brown.  The backgrounds are often brightly colored or gilded.  The effect is almost the same as looking at a statue or a carved frieze.

While this technique has been found in some English manuscripts, most of this style of painting is found in manuscripts from the continent.


How did It come about?  Who thought of it?  It seems to me, looking at the calm, almost monumental, scenes executed in this fashion, that the artist-scribes had to be thinking of the shimmer of light over  polished marble.  The touches of color, like the golden ray descending in the painting to the left, and the heavenly blue sky, lend a richness to the images.

The jewel-like decorations bordering the illustration of John the Baptist, right, would be lovely sandwiched between clear sheets of rock crystal, framed in gold, and hung from a chain.  (Notice that he is wearing animal skins…)

Flyting is a sort of contest involving an exchange of insults.  In Germanic tales, it usually occurred between two warriors, each of whom is trying to show that he is bigger and braver and knows more words.

Here are some instances from literature:

(from Troilus and Cressida, by Shakespeare)
Ajax: Thou bitch-wolf’s son, canst thou not hear? Feel then.
Thersites: The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel beef-witted lord!

But soft!  I have here a reenactment of such an exchange:

Does it sound like Rap?  Flyting is thought to be one of the origins of Rap.  If I had more time, I would expand on this.  Instead, here is a Flyting session staged between a Scot and Margaret Thatcher (if you suspend your disbelief…)

Today I am speaking of epithets.  Years ago I had thought it a word synonymous with ‘insult’.  In fact, you read in books of people ‘hurling epithets’.  But the definition is a short nickname, often using an adjective or descriptive phrase, which is attached to the person’s name.  (Read on regarding the insult issue)


You will often see this in poetry when the poet needs a few more syllables to make his lines scan properly.  Let’s say he is short four syllables while writing about one or another of the Erics that you might encounter while dealing with Vikings.  Eric wore glasses (obviously a warrior ahead of his time) so the poet could tack on ‘The Short-Sighted’ and fill the necessary syllables.   

Hector

 

Edward Longshanks

The Prince of Whales

In history we have Ethelred the Unready, Berthe aux Grands Pieds (Big-foot Bertha), Pepin the Short, Louis (XIV) the Sun-King, The Grandmother of Europe (Queen Victoria).  My favorite of all of them, however, is the nickname for the Prince Regent, the man who became George IV: “The Prince of Whales”.

If, like me, you enjoy looking at illuminated manuscripts, you have probably noticed that the first letter of a passage is often (a) larger than the rest of the text, (b) decorated in some way, and (c) truly beautiful.

The word for this first, larger letter is ‘Initial’.  Initials come in three types:

Decorated (the most basic type), Inhabited (incorporating a picture) or Historiated, which has a scene from the story or subject of the text, incorporated in it.

The design or embellishment of a Decorated Initial generally has nothing to do with the subject of the text and is, as they say, ‘just for pretty.’

The scribe appears to have liked Morning Glories…

CIRCUMLOCUTION: 

elaborate, roundabout, or indirect speech or writing. 

Also known as Periphrasis.

He was dispatched to his Final Reward somehow sounds nicer than The Feds shot him away. (this is also known as a euphemism)

The fact that we are taking a muscular stance does not require that we must ride that horse to the bitter end and go down with it. (I did a blog post on this one, uttered in a meeting, which had me so delighted, I had to write it down before I forgot it.  It would have been better if he had said, “We have taken this stand, but we don’t have to die for it.”)
 

Circumlocution is often used in order to avoid saying outright something that might be painful.  “My cat crossed the Rainbow Bridge“ seems somehow less tear-making than “I had to have my cat euthanized.”  

Damon Runyon’s stories about the seamier side of New York City involved a lot of circumlocution:

If I have all the tears that are shed on Broadway by guys in love, I will have enough salt water to start an opposition ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific, with enough left over to run the Great Salt Lake out of business. But I wish to say I never shed any of these tears personally, because I am never in love, and furthermore, barring a bad break, I never expect to be in love, for the way I look at it love is strictly the old phedinkus, and I tell the little guy as much.