University of Virginia Library

MODULAR AREA DIVISION: AN INTRINSIC
FEATURE IN THE LAYOUT AND DESIGN
OF ILLUMINATED PAGES IN HIBERNO-SAXON
AND CAROLINGIAN MANUSCRIPTS

The modular bay division that governed the construction
of the Germanic house from the first millennium B.C.
onward was not the only source for the appearance of
modular relationships in Carolingian church architecture. It
may, in fact, take second place when weighed against
another influence, which reflects an attitude of mind more
than a constructional necessity. An organization based on
modules is one of the distinguishing features of the layout
of the illuminated pages of Hiberno-Saxon and Carolingian
manuscripts.

Figures 179.A and 179.B show how the artist of the Lindisfarne
Gospels set out to decorate the large cruciform page
that forms the frontispiece (fol. 2v) to this remarkable book
(fig. 178).[304] The principal motif is a square-headed cross
framed by a narrow band and decorated internally with a
key pattern. In the field between the arms of the cross and
the outer frame of the page, there are four panels with step
patterns, two square ones on the top, two of oblong shape
at the bottom. The background is filled with an intricate
design of interlace. The page is framed by a strip of interlaced
birds, held in by narrow bands which terminate at
each of the four corners in an ornamental knot.

An analysis of the construction method used in setting
out the design of this page shows that all the basic divisions
are multiples of the width of the framing bands. The basic
values are 5 · 6 · 7 · 12 (fig. 179.A). The squares of the cross
measure 12 · 12; the panels in the fields above and beneath
the arms of the cross are 10 · 10 and 10 · 25. I feel certain
that a system of linear coordinates, such as is shown in
figures 179.A and B, was laid out on the page, by means of
either lines or prickings before the artist entered the
decorative details. In certain places where the design was
very intricate, such as the panels above and under the arms
of the cross with their complicated step patterns (fig. 180.A),
the illuminator actually drew out the lines with the point
of a fine stylus. This is visible on the opposite side of the
sheet (fol. 2r) as a grid of delicately protruding ridges (fig.
180.B).[305]

I have shown in figures 180.C and D how this system was
worked out. First, the illuminator divided the square
internally into sixteen subordinate squares by the method
of continuous halving. Then he divided each subordinate
square into nine base squares through internal tri-section.
This furnished him with all the desired linear co-ordinates
for the lozenge, cross, and step patterns with which these
squares are decorated (fig. 180.A). The same or similar

[ILLUSTRATION]

184.A St. Luke

The Ada Gospel portraits of the four evangelists framed by arcades
(fols. 15v, 59v, 85v, 127v) depend stylistically on a Late Antique
manuscript tradition combining the sculptural corporeality of Roman
figure style with touches of Byzantine mannerism.

Revived in the art of the Frankish illuminators of the Court School,
this tradition merged with the northern concept of organization of
space. This first encounter of the two traditions is not reflected in the
portrayal of the Ada evangelists, but visibly controls the layout of
the surface in which their images are placed. Later, in a synthesis of
southern corporeality and northern abstraction that parallels the
same development in architecture, these concepts will produce a
figure style that, despite strong dependance on classical prototypes, is
distinctly medieval (see fig. 185).

[ILLUSTRATION]

184.B ADA GOSPELS (EARLY 9TH CENT.)

DIAGRAM SHOWING USE OF SQUARE GRID IN CONSTRUCTION
OF ARCH FRAMING

TRIER. Municipal Library. MS XXII, fol. 59v

methods were used in all other ornamental pages of the
manuscript, and also in the layout of the canon tables (fol.
10r-fol. 17r).

Figures 182.A, B, and C give an analysis of the design
of the great cruciform page on fol. 138v that precedes the
Gospel of St. Luke (fig. 181).[306] This page has as its main
motif a cross with T-shaped arms, filled in with a background
of interlaced patterns; the spaces around the cross
are filled with an animal interlace. The entire decoration of
this page is laid out on a system of squares, each side of
which is four times the width of the framing band. The
page measures thirteen units across and seventeen units up
and down. The transverse axis of the cross is laid out in
the sequence:

the vertical axis in the sequence:

The protruding knots at the corners and in the prolongation
of the two intersecting axes of the page are inscribed
into a marginal area seven units wide.

These principles of modular book design so typical of
Hiberno-Saxon art were inherited by the continental
Carolingian illuminators. Figures 183.C and D are a design
analysis of two of the canon tables of the Ada Gospels, fol.
6v and fol. 8v (figs. 183.A and B).[307] The layout of these
tables varies. Some have four arcades, others have three.
As in the Lindisfarne Gospels all the internal subdivisions of
these pages are calculated as multiples of the width of the
framing bands. In both tables the design is suspended in a
square grid composed of 4 × 4 base units.

On fol. 6v (figs. 183.A and C) the bases of the columns
and their interstices are calculated in the sequence:

the column shafts and their interstices in the sequence:

The columns are inscribed into a grid of 16 × 19 squares,
the arches into a 9 × 19-square grid.

The canon arch on fol. 8v (figs. 183.B and D) has only
three columns. It is based on the same grid pattern. The
bases of the columns are calculated in the sequence:

the column shafts and their interstices in the sequence:

Figures 184.A and B show that the same method of construction
is used in the layout of the arch which frames the
figure of St. Mark on fol. 59v of the Ada Gospels. The basic

[ILLUSTRATION]

185. CODEX AUREUS OF ECHTERNACH

MADRID, Escorial, Cod. Vitr. 17, fol. 2v

[by courtesy of the Patrimonio Nacional]

Emperor Konrad and Empress Gisela prostrate themselves before
Christ in Majesty. School of Echternach, 1043-1046. The Gospel
book was presented to Speyer between 1043 and 1046 by Henry III
(1038-1056) who (folio 3v) is portrayed with Agnes, his consort, in
the act of transmitting the manuscript to Mary, patron saint of the
cathedral. Both illuminations are high points in the synthesis of a
figurative style rooted in Antiquity, with a medieval propensity for
planimetric order and linear simplicity pervading both figurative and
geometric components of each picture (rectangle, lozenge, circles,
semicircles). Byzantinizing mannerisms (cf. fig. 184) are dropped;
the figures have acquired the magnificent blocklike stance that
characterizes much of the contemporary sculpture.

unit is a square, three times the width of the framing bands.
The columnar section is a square, 20 × 20 units; the arch
section, an oblong of 9 × 20 units.

The square grid affects the layout of the page, but not the
design of the figure of the Evangelist. This latter is clearly
patterned after a Byzantine model. The conflict between
the corporeal emphasis of the classical design, and the
tendency of the northern medieval illuminator to subject
the borrowed image to linearism and geometricity provoked
a developmental dialectic in which the ability to absorb
classical influences with increasing strength, in successive
stages, is preconditioned by a partial rejection and successful
transformation of those absorbed in a preceding phase.
In the period of the Romanesque, as a consequence of this
dialectic, solutions are obtained in which southern corporeality
and northern abstraction enter into a state of
balance (fig. 185). In like manner in the field of architecture,
southern masonry tradition fuses with northern frame
construction in a marriage in which the two component
traditions are matched with consummate perfection (fig.
186).

The square schematism is the primary organizing agent
in this development. It helps to disassemble the large
corporeal spaces of the Early Christian basilica, and to
arrange its parts in modular sequences that could be
vaulted. It determines the take-off points for the rising
shafts and arches that were needed to carry the vaults.