Parchment And Paper: Manuscript Culture 1100-1500

Manuscript culture was used widely during the medieval millennium from 500 to 1500. Many writing survived from the years after 1100. The reason why so many writing survived compared to the preceding period is because more writing was being done. Writing held a very important purpose for many people such as secular government, commerce, and religion. Many monks used to be scribes, but by 1200 they became professionals in the field of writing. The production of books boomed by 1400 because books became something that many people desired to have to be knowledge.

As the production of manuscripts grew, so did critics of its new technologies. The abbot of Sponheim criticizes printing as an essentially superficial process which stamps text onto perishable paper. He also said how paper could not last half as long as parchment. During this time writers were regarded just as highly as the books themselves.

Latin manuscript production became used. It had new punctuation in the italic letter form. Germany was the most resistant to the new style. The Iceland books in Old Norse were very different from this italic form. They had dual literacy in rune and alphabetical script. Their manuscripts were also undercoated and this became a common feature of early vernacular literature. Dante argued that this technique must be illustrious and courtly if it were to stay in the completion with the Latin manuscripts.

In the manuscript culture, books became big in demand. Primers were used for teaching children or any person who wanted to learn how to read. The primers taught the alphabet, religion and more. The skill to learn how to read was highly desired. People even made books of their own. They would write the books themselves, or they would hire a scribe to write for them. Sometimes a scribe was hired not because the person did not know how to write, but because the person did not have the materials needed to create a manuscript.

Comment: I enjoyed the headings for each part of the chapter. It helped me navigate the chapter more easily compared to the last chapter I blogged for. I also enjoyed how the history of manuscripts was explained in such detail. The fact that we have evolved so much amazes me. We have gone from writing on cave walls to writing on the computer. This chapter describes the invention of my favorite item of all: books. The manuscript culture shows not only the desire of having books and being able to read, but the creativity in the production around the world. 

Question: This chapter mentioned how there was a lot of controversy regarding the best way a manuscript should be produced. As mentioned above, it was even once thought that paper was not the best choice compared parchment. With this said, what examples of such controversy can you find in today’s modern society regarding the production of writing?