The Codex Evangeliorum Melitensis and related late medieval illuminated manuscripts produced in Sicily

Abstract

This thesis aims at describing in detail the original elements of, and the later interventions on, the Codex Evangeliorum Melitensis. It also aims at analysing the manuscript in the light of the other illuminated Latin manuscripts of the Norman Sicilian production. In so doing it hopes to give a comprehensive treatment of Malta's oldest known and most treasured illuminated manuscript. This study is intended to reassess the attribution for the Codex Evangeliorum Melitensis in terms of date and place of production. It is also the purpose of this study to re-evaluate the attributions of other illuminated Latin manuscripts of the Norman Sicilian production, to analyse and establish relationships between the various manuscripts of the production in terms of the nature of the decorative elements present in their illuminations, and to provide a chronology for their execution. Some of the characteristics of the scriptorium in which the manuscripts were produced will be treated and the question of its localisation shall be answered. The aspect of when the Codex Evangeliorum Melitensis came to Malta shall be discussed in the light of evidence the manuscript itself provides, together with existing documentation. The results shall be treated in relation to Malta's late medieval political, ecclesiastical and cultural history. Available secondary sources were consulted, as was archival material related to the history of the Codex Evangeliorum Melitensis. Secondary sources discussing the Norman Sicilian production were also referred to. However, most of the manuscripts were treated as major primary sources in order to to enable a fresh interpretation of their style. Surviving contemporary works of art in Palermo, Monreale and Cefalu, executed in different media such as mosaics, enamels, sculpture were seen to obtain a better understanding of the context in which the illuminated Latin manuscripts of Norman Sicily were produced.