enluminés

Enluminés is the plural masculine form of enluminé, a French adjective meaning illuminated. In historical and arthistorical contexts, the term describes objects that have been decorated with illumination, notably manuscripts from the medieval and early modern periods. The corresponding professional term is enlumineur, and the art is enluminure. In this tradition, pages were enriched with decorative initials, marginal miniatures, and gold leaf to illuminate the text and to convey symbolic meaning.

Manuscript enluminés are discussed by art historians as expressions of regional and chronological styles. Illumination combined painting, pigment work, and precious metals to enhance readability and to convey prestige. Regional variations emerged across the medieval sphere, with practices differing among French, English, German, Italian, and Flemish scriptoria. The physical support was typically parchment or vellum, and the surviving works span sacred and secular genres, including psalters, Books of Hours, gospel books, and codices of science and literature.

In modern usage, enluminure is studied as a key facet of medieval visual culture and manuscript studies. The adjective enluminé can also be used metaphorically in contemporary French to denote something bright or enlightening, though this figurative sense is distinct from the scholarly category of manuscript illumination. Notable examples of enluminés are preserved in libraries and museums worldwide, reflecting the cross-cultural techniques and materials of medieval artisans.

See also: enluminure, enlumineur, manuscript illumination.