Liturgy and Narrative in the Earliest Illustrated Lives of the Saints: Hanover Niedersachsische Landesbibliothek MS 189

The origins and nature of the earliest illustrated saints' lives have not been adequately characterized in art historical literature. Wormald's short essay in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library presented the problem but left many pressing questions unanswered. The more obvious of these questions include: Why were such illustrated lives in manuscripts produced in abundance from the tenth to eleventh centuries? Why were these lives supplied with ever more lengthy cycles of illustrations? And, how might one characterize the intent, concerns, and accomplishment of the artists of these cycles? Hanover Niedersachsische Landesbibliothek Ms. 189 served as an excellent focus for this study. It is the earliest of the libelli of saints' lives, that is, a small manuscript dedicated to the life of only one, or as in this case, two saints. The lives included in the luxury manuscript, those of Kilian and Margaret, supply examples of two different types; the former, a bishop (and martyr), the latter a virgin and martyr. Iconographic studies of the illustration of their lives show the artist's concerns for highlighting the special qualities of each type. The artist also thoroughly reinterpreted the lives for their possible liturgical significance. He carefully constructed cycles of illustration which re-represented the sanctity of Margaret and Kilian. The sort of narrative he creates is unique to hagiographic texts and illustrations. Although the Hanover manuscript is itself a product of the Fulda scriptorium c. 975, it supplies clear indications of an interest in saints and hagiographic art which can be shown to have originated in the Carolingian period and even earlier. Historical developments in the cult of the saints explain the ninth-century efflorescence of hagiographic concerns. The Hanover manuscript itself was intended to be read by women and may have been produced for a women's foundation. Two other saints' life libelli of the tenth century may signal a development in the patronage of such manuscripts. This thesis is intended as much more than a study of a single manuscript. It is to be hoped that art historians of any period may find in it valuable insights on methods with which to approach the artistic representations of saints and their deeds.