Beginning with representations of written material—codices, charters, scrolls—in the legend of Theophilus, the jamb figures of Amiens, and the dados of Notre-Dame de Paris, we focus on scenes of actual writing. Authors or scribes appear in the archivolt of the tympanum of the narthex of Vézelay in the context of the evangelical spreading of the Word; in the archivolt of the Virgin Portal of Chartres in the context of the revival of Classical learning; and in the Esther window of the Sainte-Chapelle in the context of state formation. Alongside similar scenes in secular manuscripts, they attest to the generalized renewal of writing in France of the High Middle Ages.
