French culture in the period ca. 1260-1320 is marked by a surge in demand for fine illustrated books of all kinds--science, medicine, law, philosophy and literature in verse and prose, as well as books for private devotion and liturgical celebration. Some patrons were well-known rulers, court figures, or members of the clergy, but others were less significant players on the political or ecclesiastical scene, many of them unimportant in rank or unknown by name. The so-called 'courtly style' emerges at the beginning of this period, yet books made in provincial centers manifest a vital independence and originality due to fruitful interaction with neighboring cultures--the linguistic, literary, and artistic traditions of England, the Iberian kingdoms, the Empire. Ecclesiastical structures offered different and complementary cultural networks. By the end of this period French art had assimilated this rich variety of regional works and styles, and patterns to be played out in the following centuries were in place.
