Our new digital publication explores how nature was conceptualized in medieval thought and how it was depicted in manuscript illumination.

Living with Nature

Publications
11th February, 2026
by Ina Nettekoven and Sara Öberg Strådal

The World and its Marvels

The ‘Firmin Didot Augustine’

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An early codex with an impressive illustration showing the enthroned church father Augustine

France
1000 - 1100
Theology

Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, Books I-XX

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The most important encyclopedic treatise of the Middle Ages

Northern France
France
900 - 1000
1000 - 1100
1100 - 1200
Scholarship
Science

The Physiologus

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The last surviving medieval Physiologus manuscript remaining in private hands

Germany
1100 - 1200
Scholarship
Theology

The Psalter of Count Ludwig the Younger of Oettingen

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A new addition to the corpus of Southern German illuminated manuscripts

Swabia
Germany
1400 - 1500
Liturgy

Franciscan Psalter

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From the lifetime of St Francis: A beautiful witness of Flemish manuscript production spurred by the new zeal of the Franciscan order settling in Bruges

Flanders
1200 - 1300
Liturgy

The Secret Life of Plants

The Liechtenstein Tacuinum Sanitatis

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A kaleidoscope of daily life in 15th century Padua

Italy
1400 - 1500
Medicine

Leaf from De Materia Medica

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Fragment from the earliest manuscript witness to the Latin Dioscorides

Western France
France
700 - 800
Medicine
Scholarship

Herbal

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An illustrated manual for alchemical recipes

Northern Italy
Italy
1400 - 1500
Botany

Botanical Herbal

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A unique herbal with almost 400 drawings of plants

Italy
1500 - 1600
Botany

The Catherine Hours

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An exquisite Book of Hours with erotic decoration

France
1400 - 1500
Books of Hours

Nature's Calendar

Flemish Psalter

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A beautifully decorated Psalter from the Southern Netherlands

Northern Netherlands
Netherlands
1200 - 1300
Liturgy

Book of Hours by the Master of Jean Rolin

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A rediscovered Book of Hours by the Master of Jean Rolin

France
1400 - 1500
Books of Hours

Dominican Hours

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A richly illuminated manuscript revised by the Spanish Inquisition

Flanders
1500 - 1600
Books of Hours

The Croÿ-Arenberg Hours

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An outstanding achievement of Flemish illumination

Flanders
1500 - 1600
Books of Hours

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