From imago to historia : The initials of the Istanbul Antiphonal

Abstract

The paper is a case-study discussing the role of imago and historia in the Istanbul Antiphonal, a Hungarian 14th-century illuminated manuscript recently discovered and published in a facsimile edition. On the one hand, the two types ipso facto play different roles in the codex: imagines are usually connected to saints (therefore they culminate in the sanctorale part) while historiae are to be found mainly in the temporale. On the other hand, examples of both of the image types can be found in both parts, sometimes mixing the two genres. There is a tendency to give more and more place to the narrative, still, keeping important positions for the imago (e.g. at the beginning and the end of the cycles). Finally, there are cases when both of them are used for the same feast in different size, revealing that (at least in some cases) imago is hierarchically lower than historia.