NAMED for the famous family in whose collection it remained until the early twentieth century, the so-called “Rothschild Canticles” is a medieval florilegium, a richly-illuminated collection of biblical and spiritual texts intended to facilitate meditation and contemplation, created around the year 1295.¹ The biblical (especially the Song of Songs) and patristic (especially the De Trinitate of Augustine) texts are arranged in a pastiche intended to facilitate meditation and prayer.

Jeffrey Hamburger  has published the most complete study of this florilegium to date (The Rothschild Canticles, Yale Univ. Press, 1990, ISBN 0-300-04308-2). He believes the recipient may have been a nun, and that the texts and illuminations are deliberately arranged to facilitate spiritual progress according to the three traditional mystical levels of:

Barbara Newman has written an article on the llluminations of the Blessed Trinity in the Rothschild manuscript. For examples of text and images in the manuscript:  ILLUMINATIONS

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