One of the old and illustrious families of Germany, the Mansfeld family took its name from Mansfeld in Saxony where it was seated from the 11th through the 18th century. Albert, Count of Mansfeld (1480-1560) was a close friend of Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther (1483-1546) and an early supporter of the Reformation movement. The Mansfeld family line officially ended with the death of the last remaining male heir, Josef Wenzel Nepomuk, Prince of Fondi in Italy, in 1780, with the family's lands then divided between Saxony and Prussia.

Derived from the Latin words "manus" (hand) and "scriptus" (writing) the term manuscript refers to those text written by hand. The term illumination, taken from the Latin "illuminare" (lighted up), referred to decoration of manuscript text with gold leaf, or sometimes silver, giving the impression that the page had been literally illuminated. Throughout the early medieval period illuminated manuscripts were written and illuminated solely by monks and mainly centered on the creation of Latin texts used in Christian worship. By the start of the thirteenth century, the growth of literacy and universities as centers of learning led to an increased demand for books of all kinds, turning the creation of illuminated manuscripts into a city-based business, in which professional scribes and illuminators were hired to complete the work. Traditional illuminated manuscripts were written on vellum (calf skin) or parchment (sheep or goat skin), with the writing often completed before the illuminator took over to add the gold or silver gilding.