An illuminated manuscript is a handwritten book whose decoration has been painted in gold, silver or rich colours that make the page shimmer. The historiated initial is an enlarged letter at the beginning of a paragraph or other section of text, that contains a picture, and these became very elaborate in luxury illuminated manuscripts first seen in the Insular art of the early 8th century. The size and decoration of the initial give’s clues to both its importance and location. Letters that began a new section of a text or a particularly noteworthy section might receive more flourishes and space. They would also provide a visual point of reference, "marking the division of the text into books, chapters, paragraphs and sometimes even verses" since, due to the price of parchment, new sections did not necessarily begin on a new page.