Illuminated Manuscripts

Yesterday board member and dad Steve Perkins visited Vita Nova to talk with our first and third grade students about illuminated manuscripts. After looking at pictures of some of these Medieval masterpieces, the students got a chance to try their hand at some calligraphy. Steve modeled for the students a type of writing called Carolingian Minuscule, which was popular from the 8th to the 12th centuries and is connected with the reign of Charlemagne. Interestingly, the pre-K students were were learning to read a book titled Pepin The N0t-Big, which is about King Pepin the Short, who was Charlemagne's father.

Carolingian Minuscule is a simple style of writing that looks like this:




The students did an amazing job copying simple biblical texts using dip pens and ink, then "illuminating" their pages with pictures that acccompanied the texts. While they worked, these would-be scribes listened to the soft sounds of Gregorian chant in the background.