Looking At and Through Language: The Visuality of Text in Early Medieval England

Authors

Benjamin C. Tilghman, Washington CollegeFollow

Abstract

This essay examines the ways in which writing was presented as something both to be looked at and read through in tenth- and eleventh-century England. Using the Old English glosses of the Lindisfarne and MacRegol Gospels as reference points, the essay considers the ways in which the medium of writing was interrogated in related and contemporary manuscripts. Scribes and artists were concerned not only to demonstrate fluency and sophistication through their scripts, but also concerned to consider how writing represented orthodoxy and mediated the human relationship with the divine.

Recommended Citation

Tilghman, Benjamin C. (2025) "Looking At and Through Language: The Visuality of Text in Early Medieval England," Studies in Iconography: Vol. 46, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/studies_in_iconography/vol46/iss1/2