Illumination  is the art of decorating a text, a page or initial letter with gold leaf, ornamental designs, borders and miniatures.   During the Middle Ages many illuminated manuscripts were created by monks in monasteries across Europe. A scribe would write the text and the illuminator would decorate and illuminate around it. Usually done on vellum (animal skin), materials such as gold leaf, silver and natural pigments were used to achieve the intense colours of the decorations. Illuminations normally appeared in one or more sections of the manuscript and initial letters were often embellished with scenes or elaborate designs.

 Manuscript  is a book written out by hand, usually by a scribe or a calligrapher, in contrast to a printed book.

Miniatures  are detailed small paintings that usually occupied a page or were incorporated into the text of a manuscript. Decorative borders were also commonly used to create a frame around a miniature or a text page.

Books of Hours  are small personal prayer books that contained the appropriate prayers and readings for the hours of the day prescribed for worship. They could be decorated in a way that showed the wealth and position of the owner and designed according to the owner’s choice.

Psalter  is a type of illuminated manuscript containing devotional text and often illuminated with full-page miniatures and decorated initials.