History and Literature: Sacred and Secular
At the Fitzwilliam Museum
Latin was the dominant language of church and state throughout
the Middle Ages, but it co-existed with an ever-growing number of
vernacular texts. This section of the exhibition illustrates the
porous boundaries of medieval literature, intended to satisfy the
needs of increasingly literate and diverse audiences.
Sacred and secular themes, history and legend, poetry and courtly
ethics, rhetoric and pastoral instruction were often found within
the same volume and even within the same text. They enjoyed equal
popularity in the courts of princes, the households of archbishops,
and the town houses of civic dignitaries. These texts challenged
artists to create some of the most novel and imaginative programmes
of illustration.
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