THE GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION The Gothic spirit--A "zeitgeist" not the invention of a single artist nor of a single country--The thirteenth century the beginning of the new style--Contrast between North and South, between East and West, marked in the character of artistic leaf-work--Gradual development of Gothic foliage--The bud of the thirteenth century, the leaf of the fourteenth, and the flower of the fifteenth--The Freemasons--Illumination transferred from the monastery to the lay workshop--The Psalter of St. Louis--Characteristics of French Gothic illumination--Rise of the miniature as a distinct feature--Guilds--Lay artists. CHAPTER II RISE OF NATIONAL STYLES The fourteenth century the true Golden Age of Gothic illumination--France the cradle of other national styles--Netherlandish, Italian, German, etc.--Distinction of schools--Difficulty of assigning the _provenance_ of MSS.--The reason for it--MS. in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge--The Padua Missal--Artists' names--Whence obtained. CHAPTER III FRENCH ILLUMINATION FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY TO THE RENAISSANCE Ivy-leaf and chequered backgrounds--Occasional introduction of plain burnished gold--Reign of Charles VI. of France--The Dukes of Orleans, Berry, and Burgundy; their prodigality and fine taste for MSS.--Christine de Pisan and her works--Description of her "Mutation of Fortune" in the Paris Library--The "Roman de la Rose" and "Cité des Dames"--Details of the French style of illumination--Burgundian MSS., Harl. 4431--Roy. 15 E. 6--The Talbot Romances--Gradual approach to Flemish on the one hand and Italian on the other. CHAPTER IV ENGLISH ILLUMINATION FROM THE TENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Organisation of the monastic _scriptoria_--Professional outsiders: lay artists--The whole sometimes the work of the same practitioner--The Winchester Abbeys of St. Swithun's and Hyde--Their vicissitudes--St. Alban's--Westminster--Royal MS. 2 A 22--Description of style--The Tenison Psalter--Features of this period--The Arundel Psalter--Hunting and shooting scenes, and games--Characteristic pictures, grotesques, and caricatures--Queen Mary's Psalter--Rapid changes under Richard II.--Royal MS. 2 E. 9--Their cause. CHAPTER V THE SOURCES OF ENGLISH FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ILLUMINATION Attributed to the Netherlands--Not altogether French--The home of Anne of Bohemia, Richard II.'s Queen--Court of Charles IV. at Prag--Bohemian Art--John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia--The Golden Bull of Charles IV.--Marriage of Richard II.--The transformation of English work owing to this marriage and the arrival of Bohemian artists in England--Influence of Queen Anne on English Art and Literature--Depression caused by her death--Examination of Roy. MS. 1 E. 9 and 2 A. 18--The Grandison Hours--Other MSS.--Introduction of Flemish work by Edward IV. CHAPTER VI ITALIAN ILLUMINATION