It was very early in the Middle Ages, in the 5th century, that the book (then called a "volumen" or "codex") was invented to replace the rolled scroll used in antiquity. Later, still in the Middle Ages, there emerged the idea of combining the text with images, thus creating the illustrated book that still exists today.
The appearance of drawings in the margins, today called marginalia, coincided with the great heyday of the miniature around 1250 and continued until the 15th century. Margins were covered with intricate lines linking plant, animal and human motifs, sometimes in simple association, other times mingled together, suggesting an infinite variety of possible combinations.
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