Visigothic, Script and Miniature

VISIGOTHIC, SCRIPT AND MINIATURE - The Latin script used in Spain from the 7th-8th century to the 12th century is generally classified as V.: such a definition must however be further clarified in the sense of attributing the name of V. to the minuscule scripts (cursive and round) of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula at that stage of their development in which the local characteristics that will be summarily indicated further on can be distinguished in them.

The origin of the script was explained by Schiaparelli as a derivation of the minuscule cursive, which subsequently passed also into book use through a calligraphic process that accentuated its peculiar elements. Mallon, however, has recently brought to light how many examples - especially the oldest - of V. cursive, classified under this name only because they were produced in Spain, reveal no characteristics other than the general ones of minuscule cursive and are therefore not to be assigned to this category. The formation of V. minuscule as an evolution in a calligraphic sense of the cursive thus remains doubtful, nor can it be established to what extent Arabic script, which is often found used alongside the Latin in the same codex and by the same copyist, influenced the strokes. While awaiting a comprehensive study of V., still lacking, to clarify these uncertainties, the current positions can be summarized in these three points: 1) the properly Visigothic characteristics are recognizable essentially in the minuscule form; 2) one can speak of V. cursive only when the script has such elements of differentiation from the common minuscule cursive as clearly recall the peculiarities (and not just one) of V. minuscule; 3) there are examples of semi-cursive in which the characteristics of V. are accompanied by that generic tendency proper to the pre-Caroline scripts of fusing the rapidity of ductus of the cursives with the formal elegance of the set scripts; perhaps it is precisely in this sector that the origin of a V. script with a well-defined physiognomy is to be identified.

Before briefly mentioning the characteristics, it will be appropriate to note how the name of V., given to this script by Mabillon and by now consecrated by usage, is absolutely improper: when it arose, the Visigothic domination in Spain was by then nearing its twilight, perhaps indeed had already been overwhelmed by the Arab invasion (711). In the late Middle Ages it is found designated as littera mozarabica or littera Toletana: Toledo was in fact the most famous of all the writing centers, almost exclusively limited to the northern provinces, Catalonia, Castile and Galicia. In Catalonia, where Charlemagne established the Marca Hispanica, it was replaced already in the 9th century by the Caroline script, while in the other regions it survived until the 12th century. The prohibition that would have been made of it for liturgical texts toward the end of the 11th century, in a Council of León (Rodrigo of Toledo, De rebus Hispanica, VI, ch. 29, in Patrum Toletanorum quotquot extant opera, III, Madrid 1793, p. 143), is controversial.

The following may be considered characteristic letters: the a, open as in the minuscule cursive and in other scripts directly derived from it (Merovingian, certain pre-Caroline scripts) but with a more accentuated separation of the stems in the upper part so as to resemble the u greatly, from which it is distinguished only by the termination with a curved stroke toward the right that, in the body of the word, serves as a ligature with the following letter; in the cursive it is often found in a position raised with respect to the line and arranged along an oblique axis; the g of majuscule form and with a tail that descends far below the line; the t with a closed loop on the left, which opens the stroke of the letter and is drawn from top to bottom in a counterclockwise direction (in ligature, however, it assumes different forms). In the cursive the nexus um at the end of a word is also characteristic. Also noteworthy, but not exclusive to V., are the double form of the d (uncial and minuscule); the e similar to an e, sometimes even with a closed upper loop and which in ligature rises above the other letters; the i of tall or short form depending on whether it is at the beginning of a word or not, or whether it has a semivocalic or vocalic sound (this rule, however, is not always observed); in ligature with a preceding t, between the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th the rule comes to be established of prolonging the i below the line in the sibilant sound; the u, especially intervocalic, sometimes of reduced dimensions and written above. V. also has its own majuscule alphabet of capital derivation, in which the Arab influence is particularly recognizable; it is used in titles and more rarely in initials. Characteristics of the manuscripts of the Iberian Peninsula, rather than of the V. script, must be considered the particular nexus of K, P and T, for caput, at the beginning of chapters and the special use of certain abbreviations (frequency of the omission of vowels in contraction, the compendia of «per» and of «qui» expressed with a sign that intersects respectively the letters p and q in a manner similar to that used in other scripts for the compendia of «pro» and «quod», etc.).

The criteria of dating, formulated in a rather generic manner by Loew, are purely indicative: the period of perfection would be in the 10th and 11th centuries.

Miniature. - V. miniature, or rather the miniature of Spanish manuscripts from the 7th to the 11th century, can be divided into two periods. The first reaches the end of the 9th century, and is characterized by rather scanty ornamental motifs, limited to titles and initials (the exception of the Ashburnham codex of the Pentateuch, today at the National Library of Paris, which dates back to the 7th century and presents very rich illustrations, must be considered separately, inasmuch as it goes back to a classical model). In the second period the ornamentation becomes progressively more copious and more refined, passing from still simple decorative elements, monochrome or bichrome, sometimes however embellished by a very fine pen arabesque (second half of the 9th century), to the use of polychrome borders and initials, complicated by rather crude interlace (10th century) and finally to a more elaborate development of the same interlace with floral and zoomorphic motifs (11th century).

In the compositional scenes a strong contrast is noted between the skillful distribution of the figures and the crude execution of the drawing: above all the human figure is treated with evident awkwardness; in the architectures the Arab influence is recognizable. The juxtaposition of colors is always violent: yellow predominates over green, blue and red. In Catalan codices, moreover, the influence of the French schools modifies these characteristics already in the 9th century. Besides those reproduced here cf. the illustrations in vol. III, col. 1605 (V. minuscule); vol. V, col. 463 (V. cursive); vol. VII, col. 1240 (V. minuscule); vol. VIII, pl. C (V. minuscule). - See pl. CXLIX.

from the Mozarabic manuscript of Santo Domingo de Silos in the British Museum, New York 1904; I. Dominguez Bordona, La miniatura española, I. Florence and Barcelona 1930; W. Neuss, Die Apokalypse des hl. Johannes in der altspanis. und altchristl. Bibel-Illustrationen, Münster in W. 1931; G. Battelli, op. cit., pp. 152-54.

Alessandro Pratesi