Text and Image

This chapter explores combinations of text and imagery in histories produced in England between 1066 and 1272. It focuses on case studies of the Worcester chronicle, and the works of Henry of Huntingdon, Gerald of Wales, Ralph Diceto, and Matthew Paris. Through an examination of page design and the content and location of imagery, it argues that decoration could be used to attract and engage readers, and to add nuance to text. Imagery was used to draw attention to elements of the narrative, prompt a reader to connect chronologically distant events, and impose interpretative frameworks onto the past. This chapter argues that the imagery in many of these histories was intended to help a reader connect the past and present, but that this, together with the complexity of such page designs, often led to images being omitted when text was subsequently copied.