‘This carefully produced
catalogue is an important contribution to the study of illustration Roman de
la Rose manuscripts, and is a most welcome addition to the investigations of
medieval secular iconography.’ (Scriptorium)‘This carefully produced
catalogue is an important contribution to the study of illustration Roman de
la Rose manuscripts, and is a most welcome addition to the investigations of
medieval secular iconography.’ (Scriptorium)
‘ . . . a thoughtful guide . . . provides illuminating insights into late medieval views of gender roles’. (Burlington Magazine)
‘This carefully produced catalogue is an important contribution to the study of illustrated Roman de la Rose manuscripts, and is a most welcome addition to the investigation of medieval secular iconography.’ (Bulletin Codicologique)
The Romance of the Rose, a thirteenth-century allegorical poem about desire, is a central work of medieval culture. It is also among the most regularly illustrated medieval secular texts and has a vast manuscript tradition. The Romance of the Rose Illuminated offers fresh insight into the history and reception of this seminal text by reproducing all the miniatures from the seven unpublished illuminated manuscripts of the Romance collected by Francis Bourdillan and now deposited in the National Library of Wales.
In addition to providing a full commentary on the illuminations, the authors also discuss the practicalities of medieval book illustration, survey previous scholarship on the poem’s iconography and offer comparisons with reproductions from other manuscripts of the Romance. The Romance of the Rose Illuminated will be an essential resource for students and scholars working in many areas of medieval studies, from art history and paleography to literary and cultural studies.
Alcuin Blamires is Reader in English Literature at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His publications include The Case for Women in Medieval Culture (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997) and Woman Defamed and Woman Defended (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992). Gail C. Holian is Professor of English at Georgian Court College in New Jersey. She has edited many texts in medicine, psychology, literature and history.