When we think of the Middle Ages, most of us picture damp, dreary streets somewhere in Western Europe, gallant knights charging into epic crusades, or maybe even the terrifying Black Plague. In short, the popular image of medieval life is often bleak, brutal, and pretty grim. And while, yes, life in the Middle Ages could be exactly that, what sadly often gets overlooked is the sheer silliness and humour of the time, which unexpectedly came from the monks and scribes who illuminated manuscripts.
Without a doubt, if you Google “mediaeval manuscript,” you’ll come across sumptuously illustrated books featuring grand tales of heroic deeds, reverent religious texts about the life of Mary, or… a rabbit with a crossbow executing an innocent bloke. Yes, people in the Middle Ages came up with killer rabbits long before Monty Python’s Rabbit of Caerbannog. This delightful (and bizarre) example comes from Roman d’Alexandre (MS. Bodl. 264), an elaborate, illustrated manuscript completed in 1344 in Tournai (modern-day Belgium) about the adventures of Alexander the Great.
Don’t get me wrong, the main plot of the story is masterfully depicted in the seriousness you’d expect but the scribes decided, why stop there when there’s so much empty space on the page? In fact, Marginalia was quite a common practice in the thirteenth and fourth centuries. Doodling cartoons in large empty spaces of prayer books and manuscripts (which had no relation to the text they accompanied), scribes were putting them there simply for the giggles. Given the painstaking effort required to create illuminated manuscripts, these whimsical doodles are genuinely impressive, and their absurdity is just the cherry on top.
Some other highlights from this particular manuscript include: a few acrobatic friends pulling off a questionable stunt, a monk giving a nun a piggyback ride, and a rowdy bunch of monkeys getting drunk and dancing. So, if you ever find yourself with a free Friday night and a craving for some mediaeval silliness, I highly recommend flipping through Roman d’Alexandre. Every page is an absolute treat!
“Illuminated Manuscript, Claricia Psalter, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.26, fol.64r” by Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts is marked with CC0 1.0.