Stories
Illuminators
A manuscript the size of the Geraardsbergen Breviary was seldom illuminated by just one person. The book contains hundreds of letters that had to be decorated, dozens of margins and a large number of historiated scenes, which is to say miniature paintings with figures. These different tasks were often delegated to specialist professionals: decorators for the initials (large decorated letters) and the border decoration, and miniaturists for the historiated illustrations.
De Predio
The four volumes of the Geraardsbergen Breviary were copied out entirely by hand by a scribe or copyist, a craftsman whose specialism was writing. He would employ what was known as textura: dignified, extremely neat and legible, Gothic lettering which was ideally suited to a liturgical work.
Miniatures
Using a breviary requires a great deal of experience. It is a complex book designed to organise the hours of prayer (divine office) by introducing daily variants. And in order to navigate the compact text, the user would need a number of visual markers.
