At the end of the eleventh century Byzantine art, practised in its original home, had reached the lowest possible level. Thus, for example, a manuscript of some of the works of St Chrysostom (Paris, _Bibl. Nat. Coislin._, 79) contains miniatures the figures in which are mere sack-like bundles with little or no suggestion of the human form. The whole skill of the artist has been expended on the painting of the elaborate patterns on the dresses; drawing and composition he has not even attempted. Fig. 9 shows a miniature from this manuscript, representing the Greek Emperor enthroned between four courtiers, and two allegorical figures of _Truth_ and _Justice_. The Emperor is Nicephoros Botaniates, who reigned from 1078 to 1081. An equally striking example of the degradation of Byzantine art in Germany is illustrated on page 78. [Illustration: Fig. 9. Miniature from a Byzantine manuscript of the eleventh century; a remarkable example of artistic decadence.] _Want of life in Byzantine Art._ After this period of decay during the tenth and eleventh centuries, Byzantine art began to revive, largely under the influence of the West; the original life and spirit had, however, passed away, and the subsequent history of Byzantine art is one of dull monotony and growing feebleness, the inevitable result of a continuing copying and recopying of older models. It is rather as a modifying influence on the art of the West that Byzantine painting continued to possess real importance. As a distinct and isolated school, Constantinople fell into the background at the time of the iconoclasts and never again came to the front as an artistic centre of real importance[46]. CHAPTER V. MANUSCRIPTS OF THE CAROLINGIAN PERIOD. _The Age of Charles the Great._ _The age of Charles the Great and his successors._ Charles the Great, who was elected King of the Franks in 768, and in the year 800 became Emperor of the West, did much to foster all branches of art--architecture, bronze-founding, goldsmith's work, and more especially the art of writing and illuminating manuscripts. The Imperial Capital, Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), became a busy centre for arts and crafts of all kinds, and various monasteries throughout the Frankish kingdom became schools of manuscript illumination of a very high order of excellence. [Illustration: Fig. 10. An initial P. of the Celtic-Carolingian type, of the school of Alcuin of York.] _Alcuin of York._ _The Gospels of Alcuin._ _Northumbrian influence._