Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance are four significant eras in the development of manuscript illumination. While general manuscript illumination consisted of religious pictures, figurative and decorative border styles were created to give the manuscript a richer finish by the use of different styles to enhance the pages. The artists who created the border work and secondary miniatures were known as limners and flourishers. The term "illumination" refers to the use of gold and silver leaf within the artistic picture as well as the border work.
The different styles of border work are: inhabited, text decoration, scrollwork, filigree work, trellis work border, sprynget (spray work) and occasionally, grisaille, which is used more in English 15th-century illustration. The inhabited style is the use of letters and spray leaf-and-flower design in the borders but also refers to the use of small animal or human pictures.
Text decoration was often used to enlarge the first capitalized letter on a written page but could also refer to colored ruling and line-end enhancements. Scrollwork was the use of curved lines scrolling in and out of the border lines and in areas where enhancement was needed for a section of text. Filigree work, similar to scrollwork, made use of delicate designs, curving vines, leaves and branches to fill out areas of the borders.
Trellis work borders made use of leaves, vines and flowers to denote the border around the text of an illuminated manuscript. Grisaille, found in late medieval illuminated manuscripts, used decorative or illustrated pictures in muted gray and brown with the slight addition of color and occasionally gold. Once the printing press was developed and implemented in the 15th century, illumination was replaced by printed illustrations, which were easier to reproduce.