Parallel Narratives: Function and Form in the Munich Illustrated Manuscripts of Tristan and Willehalm von Orlens

Parallel Narratives examines several richly illustrated manuscripts as reflections of a transitional moment in the history of the book in medieval Germany. In the thirteenth century the nobility and their emulators had aspirations to own and to read books privately as an alternative to the traditional social experience of listening to recitation or to a reading in a group, large or small. But comfortable reading skills were not yet widespread. One solution was to ‘read' privately an illustr...