Illuminated Manuscripts - Parchment Sellers scrubbing & stretching the parchment 15th century Bologna, University Library. Cod. Bonon. 963, f. 4.
Manuscripts were hand-written & illustrated during the medieval era (A.D. 500-1500), before the invention of printing presses. They were time-consuming & expensive to make; but obviously, the method was quicker & much more portable than carving language symbols in stone or wood.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Scribe buying parchment Copenhagen, Royal Library. Ms. 4, 2o f. 183v.
Manuscripts were usually written parchment or vellum made from the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. Parchment & vellum are often used interchangeably, although sometimes vellum refers to a finer quality of writing material. Parchment was eventually replaced by paper. Some manuscripts were written on paper made from linen rags. Sometimes lines were ruled on the pages of manuscripts to guide the script writer.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Santa Catalina de Bolonia
Some manuscripts were written on papyrus, a fragile Egyptian reed material, which continued to be used for manuscripts until the 7-8th-centuries. Papyrus plantations came to Sicily during the papacy of Gregory I (590-604) & so loved that papyrus was used for papal correspondence until the 11th century.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Matthew ruling parchment 12th cent Dinant Gospels Manchester, John Rylands University Library. Rylands Latin Ms. 11, f. 14.
Manuscripts were usually written parchment or vellum made from the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. Parchment & vellum are often used interchangeably, although sometimes vellum refers to a finer quality of writing material. Parchment was eventually replaced by paper. Some manuscripts were written on paper made from linen rags. Sometimes lines were ruled on the pages of manuscripts to guide the script writer.
Some manuscripts were written on papyrus, a fragile Egyptian reed material, which continued to be used for manuscripts until the 7-8th-centuries. Papyrus plantations came to Sicily during the papacy of Gregory I (590-604) & so loved that papyrus was used for papal correspondence until the 11th century.
In the Early Middle Ages, the majority of manuscripts produced served as the liturgical books used by priests & monks in churches & monasteries.
As the church expanded & new monesteries were built, more liturgical books were needed. At new venues, the abbot or the monks initially came from an already established monastic community, which provided the most urgent books for the new site. Immediately the monks began to copy necessary books for themselves.
Medieval copyist monks, often called scribes, were responsible for copying the existing works of authors by hand.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (d. 1472) scribe for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449-1467. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms. Fr. 9198, f. 19.
As early as the 1100s, books began to be produced for wealthy individuals as well as religious institutions. There began to be a growing secular, well-to-do reading public demanding an increase in manuscript production.
Because manuscripts were very expensive to make, they often served as status symbols for the upper classes. Most families who owned manuscripts held privileged positions in society.
The major themes of manuscripts became more diversified as the secular readership grew and included the traditional religious (particularly Christianity) books plus new art & how-to-do subjects such as courtly activities, the hunt, decorative & medicinal gardening, & literature.
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