William de Brailes

He signed two manuscripts, and apparently worked in Oxford, where he is documented from 1238 to 1252, owning property in Catte Street near the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, roughly on the site now occupied by the chapel of All Souls College, where various members of the book trade lived.

He was married, to Celena, but evidently also held minor orders, as at least three self-portraits show him with a clerical tonsure.

[4] William de Brailes illuminated Bibles, psalters, a Book of hours and secular texts, and may also have been a scribe.

The style is characterised by energetic gesticulating figures, though with a limited range of facial expression, and a concern for narrative.

Most of his manuscripts have a page size similar to that of a standard modern paperback,[5] and reflect the trend towards the personal ownership of books by well off but not extravagant members of both clergy and laity.