Medieval manuscripts can be a visual treat. The script, the illuminations, and the folios, all hundreds of years old. Here is a guide to some of the interesting things you can look for in these creations from the Middle Ages.
One of the best books about medieval manuscripts is Erik Kwakkel’s Books before Print. It is a guide to how manuscripts were created, detailing everything from the holes in it bindings to what made for good parchment. We made use of this book to help us explain seven lesser-known visual aspects of medieval manuscripts.
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The Initials
A ‘B’ in Codex Bodmer 127 fol. 102r
Medieval scribes understood that readers needed ways to help them navigate a text. One of the most popular ways to do that was to use the historiated initial – make the first letter in your section much larger than the others, and even fill it up with its own illustration. The earliest example of this dates back to the eighth century, and many medieval manuscripts would have them multiple times. It greatly helped introduce a new chapter or section.
Lots of Shorthand
Much of the writing is in Tironian Notes – Vatican Library, MS Reg. lat. 846, fol. 103v
Even the most experienced manuscript reader will sometimes come across things they do not understand. Often this is a kind of shorthand, the most popular of which is Tironian Notes. Dating back to ancient Rome, and attributed to Tiro, the personal secretary of Cicero, it was a way to write entire words of Latin as abbreviated symbols. The benefit of this system was to make writing quicker and save space on the page.
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Tironian Notes became even more popular during the Early Middle Ages, with more symbols being created. It reached its height of popularity in the ninth century, with over 13,000 different abbreviations being in circulation.
Kwakkel has even found two manuscripts that are entirely written in Tironian Notes, both of which are editions of the Biblical Book of Psalms. He speculates on why that might be:
At first sight, it seems an odd practice to write out an entire book in a code that could only be deciphered by scholars who had enjoyed the same high level of training as the scribe. Perhaps these peculiar books were used to train people in the notation system. Monks knew the Psalms by heart, making them the perfect tool to learn the strange alphabet of Tiro. The Latin titles would prompt a memorized text in the reader’s mind, after which, perhaps, the symbols would fall into place.
Word Art
British Library MS Harley 647, fol. 12r
Medieval scribes found many ways to make their words more than just words. One of these ways was to make the letters and words form into shapes and objects. This can be seen in a ninth-century manuscript of Aratea, a guide to astronomy. In depicting the constellations, the scribe used words to help him draw pictures of the gods and animals each one represented.
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By the tenth century this practice was becoming more widespread, and has been called micrography. Medieval Hebrew manuscripts frequently show this, as do other cultures.
Empty space
British Library MS Harley 3302, fol.10v,
Considering how expensive it was to make manuscripts, a question you might be asking is why are they not completely full of text? Erik Kwakkel notes that it’s quite common for manuscripts to have blank margins that take up half the page (or even more). Part of the reason is that this was the traditional practice – even our earliest manuscripts would have a lot of empty space, and medieval scribes continued to follow this example. Another reason is that having big margins allowed people to write notes and comments. This would have been popular with students.
Pen trials
Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 340 fol. 169v
To make sure that the ink was flowing well from their pens, scribes would test them out on their manuscript. Usually they can be found at the back of the book and consist of a few short words or a swirl. For example, in this 11th-century manuscript, the writer added several lines, including a short poem about birds building a nest.
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Purple corners
Leiden University Library,UBL BPL 2896 – photo by Turning Over A New Leaf / Flickr
A careful eye can also see where manuscripts have experienced damage. Tears, holes and worn-out bindings are often problems that come with use. One of the worst things that can happen to a manuscript is mould caused by leaving it in a damp place. This can clearly be seen in this manuscript from Leiden University. “On nearly every page the top corner shows a purple rash from the mould that once attacked its skin,” Kwakkel explains. “It is currently safe and the mould is gone, but the purple stains show just how dangerously close the book came to destruction; some corners have actually been eaten away.”
Expandable books
Some manuscripts just did not want to be simple folio after folio. There were books where the pages folded outwards giving it an ‘accordion’ look. Then there was a fad in the early 15th century where scribes were creating folding almanacs. This example, found in the Wellcome Library, was originally created in England between 1415 and 1420.
(Wellcome Institute, Archives and Manuscripts, 8932 – English folding almanac in Latin. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection)
Some historians refer to specimens like this as ‘bat books’, in part because the pages stretch out like wings, and also because the user would typically carry them upside down, hanging from their belt. There are several dozen surviving examples of these works, which usually consisted of calendars with diagrams and tables.
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Kwakkel offers some thoughts on why these books would be created:
These bookish objects are especially interesting from a material point of view. During production, folding almanacs looked very much like a regular book: the scribe filled regular pages with text. However, in a completed state, when the binding was added, the pages were folded in a very clever way, giving them an “unbookish” look. The two different states (a small package when closed, irregular dimensions when unfolded) were chosen with care: closed, it was a portable book that could dangle from the owner’s belt, while in its extended state the reader was provided with expansive information at a glance.
Medieval manuscripts can be a visual treat. The script, the illuminations, and the folios, all hundreds of years old. Here is a guide to some of the interesting things you can look for in these creations from the Middle Ages.
One of the best books about medieval manuscripts is Erik Kwakkel’s Books before Print. It is a guide to how manuscripts were created, detailing everything from the holes in it bindings to what made for good parchment. We made use of this book to help us explain seven lesser-known visual aspects of medieval manuscripts.
The Initials
Medieval scribes understood that readers needed ways to help them navigate a text. One of the most popular ways to do that was to use the historiated initial – make the first letter in your section much larger than the others, and even fill it up with its own illustration. The earliest example of this dates back to the eighth century, and many medieval manuscripts would have them multiple times. It greatly helped introduce a new chapter or section.
Lots of Shorthand
Even the most experienced manuscript reader will sometimes come across things they do not understand. Often this is a kind of shorthand, the most popular of which is Tironian Notes. Dating back to ancient Rome, and attributed to Tiro, the personal secretary of Cicero, it was a way to write entire words of Latin as abbreviated symbols. The benefit of this system was to make writing quicker and save space on the page.
Tironian Notes became even more popular during the Early Middle Ages, with more symbols being created. It reached its height of popularity in the ninth century, with over 13,000 different abbreviations being in circulation.
Kwakkel has even found two manuscripts that are entirely written in Tironian Notes, both of which are editions of the Biblical Book of Psalms. He speculates on why that might be:
At first sight, it seems an odd practice to write out an entire book in a code that could only be deciphered by scholars who had enjoyed the same high level of training as the scribe. Perhaps these peculiar books were used to train people in the notation system. Monks knew the Psalms by heart, making them the perfect tool to learn the strange alphabet of Tiro. The Latin titles would prompt a memorized text in the reader’s mind, after which, perhaps, the symbols would fall into place.
Word Art
Medieval scribes found many ways to make their words more than just words. One of these ways was to make the letters and words form into shapes and objects. This can be seen in a ninth-century manuscript of Aratea, a guide to astronomy. In depicting the constellations, the scribe used words to help him draw pictures of the gods and animals each one represented.
By the tenth century this practice was becoming more widespread, and has been called micrography. Medieval Hebrew manuscripts frequently show this, as do other cultures.
Empty space
Considering how expensive it was to make manuscripts, a question you might be asking is why are they not completely full of text? Erik Kwakkel notes that it’s quite common for manuscripts to have blank margins that take up half the page (or even more). Part of the reason is that this was the traditional practice – even our earliest manuscripts would have a lot of empty space, and medieval scribes continued to follow this example. Another reason is that having big margins allowed people to write notes and comments. This would have been popular with students.
Pen trials
To make sure that the ink was flowing well from their pens, scribes would test them out on their manuscript. Usually they can be found at the back of the book and consist of a few short words or a swirl. For example, in this 11th-century manuscript, the writer added several lines, including a short poem about birds building a nest.
Purple corners
A careful eye can also see where manuscripts have experienced damage. Tears, holes and worn-out bindings are often problems that come with use. One of the worst things that can happen to a manuscript is mould caused by leaving it in a damp place. This can clearly be seen in this manuscript from Leiden University. “On nearly every page the top corner shows a purple rash from the mould that once attacked its skin,” Kwakkel explains. “It is currently safe and the mould is gone, but the purple stains show just how dangerously close the book came to destruction; some corners have actually been eaten away.”
Expandable books
Some manuscripts just did not want to be simple folio after folio. There were books where the pages folded outwards giving it an ‘accordion’ look. Then there was a fad in the early 15th century where scribes were creating folding almanacs. This example, found in the Wellcome Library, was originally created in England between 1415 and 1420.
(Wellcome Institute, Archives and Manuscripts, 8932 – English folding almanac in Latin. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection)
Some historians refer to specimens like this as ‘bat books’, in part because the pages stretch out like wings, and also because the user would typically carry them upside down, hanging from their belt. There are several dozen surviving examples of these works, which usually consisted of calendars with diagrams and tables.
Kwakkel offers some thoughts on why these books would be created:
These bookish objects are especially interesting from a material point of view. During production, folding almanacs looked very much like a regular book: the scribe filled regular pages with text. However, in a completed state, when the binding was added, the pages were folded in a very clever way, giving them an “unbookish” look. The two different states (a small package when closed, irregular dimensions when unfolded) were chosen with care: closed, it was a portable book that could dangle from the owner’s belt, while in its extended state the reader was provided with expansive information at a glance.
You can also learn a lot more about medieval manuscripts through Erik Kwakkel’s website.
Top Image: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 14, f. 2r – http://www.e-codices.ch/en/fmb/cb-0014/2r
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