ABSTRACT
The English Sacramentary now in Rouen and generally called ‘the Missal of Robert of Jumièges’ is one the most magnificent examples of late Anglo-Saxon painting and calligraphy. The aims of this paper are to clarify its date and place of origin and link it with four splendid illuminated gospel books written at least in part by the same scribe (the Copenhagen, ‘Cnut’, Kederminster and Trinity College Gospels). There were several illuminators engaged in the decoration of these manuscripts, but their work shares characteristics which support the view that they were all part of a ‘school’. I suggest that this was based at Peterborough and that the scribe and illuminator of Robert’s Sacramentary was in charge of manuscript production there at the time. Throughout the discussion of the imagery it will be apparent that the artists had access to a range of sources. These shed retrospective light on the development of art in England from around 970 and particularly the material available in the Fenland and how it was repurposed.
