Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th C

Alfonso X, El Sabio was King of Castile and Leon in the second half of the thirteenth century. The moniker arises from his progressive attitude towards education, law and particularly to the fostering of scientific knowledge. He established a translation school at Toledo which helped circulate knowledge from the Arab world about the Ptolemeic cosmogony and the philosophy of the ancients

His greatest direct legacy comes from the commissioning (and part authorship) of the 425 poems with accompanying musical script that constitutes the largest body of solo (monophonic) songs from medieval times. Written in the Castilian lyrical language of Galacian-Portuguese the hymns, which include some chanting, are extremely diverse in metrical composition and all of them either mention or directly praise the Virgin Mary.

Today the work is spread between four codex that were written and illuminated in the 14th and 15th centuries. Information about this great body of work is spread haphazardly around the internet and reflects a dearth of scholarship about the three areas of its excellence, art, music and literature, despite being popular with medievalist musicians and many recordings having been made. In fact, it was recently reported that Oxford University have established a centre devoted to studying the Cantigas.

All but one of the images here come from a Japanese website which appears to have the largest number of illustrations (from the E codex).

If you have even a passing interest in world +/- medieval music, I would recommend listening to some samples.

This amazon page has a few examples with a Moroccan orchestra, though I don't suppose that is the main reason one senses influence from the Arab world. All of the tunes (and all the lyrics) are available in midi format from this French website - but the samples sound like they were made with an electronic synthesizer.

• The best site to see the illuminations, despite there not being high resolution images available.
• Further illuminations (and copies) in colour and black and white with higher resolution format (although I don't think they are better) and their homepage.
• This other French site has quite a few low quality images but they have what I presume is a scan of an actual manuscript page.
• A couple of images from another codex.
• English translation of some verses - Washington University.
• A fine general review of the Cantigas from the Minstrels' Guild of Drachenwald.
• Wikipedia: Cantigas de Santa Maria & Alfonso X.

Military ABC Book, 19th C

'Armée Française : Nouvel Alphabet Militaire'

Text by Pierre Léon Vanier

Illustrations by Henri de Sta

This 1880s book - obviously aimed at young people - offers satirical portrayals of various branches and uniforms of the French military and each chromolithograph is accompanied by a page of descriptive text.

A is for Artillery

B is for Brigadier

C is for Cuirassier

D is for Dragoon

-...let the images grow at this time as the scroll passed my links on right hand side :)

G is for Gendarme

J is for Justice and Order

K is for Képi

O is for Officer

Q is for Quartier Maitre (A marine)

R is for Reservist

V is for Vaguemestre (Military Postmaster)

X is for X. Polytechnicien 

[graduate of École polytechnique (aka: X), a higher ed facility near Paris]

Y is for (?) Commander of supply lines (road or rail trains)

Z is for Zouave

French illustrator Henri de Sta was born in Versailles as Arsène Henri Saint-Alary. He began his career around 1882 with La Vie Artistique and the publishing house of Léon Vanier. Coming from a family of militaries, garrison life became a regular theme in his career. De Sta worked as a humorous illustrator for Le Chat Noir since 1892. He was also present in Le Paris Bouffon (1885), Le Rire (1897) and Le Charivari (1900). He composed military alphabets, illustrated songs and produced comics for La Chronique Amusante from 1896, and for Les Contes Moraux et Merveilleux of the printing firm Pellerin d'Epinal."

• 'Armée Française : Nouvel Alphabet Militaire' 1883 is available among les Abécédaires de Gallica.
• Henri de Sta Wikipedia
• H de Sta at nouvellesuzette
• Vanier, Léon (bio) (F)
• Nouvel alphabet militaire par Léon Vanier et H. De Sta. Remarquable! (F)
• via Marine Planche (F)

The Telleriano-Remensis codex, 17th C

The Codex Telleriano-Remensis, produced in sixteenth century Mexico and printed on European paper, is one of the finest surviving examples of Aztec manuscript painting. Its Latinized name comes from Charles-Maurice Le Tellier, archbishop of Reims, who had possession of the manuscript in the late 17th century. 

The Codex Telleriano-Remensis is divided into three sections. The first section, spanning the first seven pages, describes the 365-day solar calendar, called the xiuhpohualli. (link provided to the aztec calendar, well explained BUT in spanish)

 

The second section, spanning pages 8 to 24, is a tonalamatl, ("the art of counting days") describing the 260-day tonalpohualli calendar. 

The third section is a history, itself divided into two sections which differ stylistically. Pages 25 to 28 are an account of migrations during the 12th and 13th centuries, while the remaining pages of the codex record historical events, such as the ascensions and deaths of rulers, battles, earthquakes, and eclipses, from the 14th century to the 16th century, including events of early Colonial Mexico.