#Weird medieval manuscripts trial
#Weird medieval manuscripts professional

Since an understanding of the work they transcribed was unnecessary, the monks made many mistakes. The knife could also be used to scrape off any mistakes the scribe might make in transcription.

A penknife was an essential tool for the fussy scribe. However, the quill and reed could be easily re-cut to suit the individual monk’s preference. The metal pen was durable and precise, especially for creating thin lines. In the later middle ages, monks dragged metal pens with multiple points across a sheet of vellum to create the musical staff on which they inked the square-shaped notes. Medieval monks used fine pointed metal pens to trace the lines on parchment. Both Egyptians and Romans are known to have used metal pens, some of which were shaped to imitate bird feathers. The earliest fragments of a metal pen date to the 13th century BCE. A quill pen was lighter and more flexible than a reed or cane pen. Often the feathers were removed from the quill, leaving just the hollow, stick-like portion to serve as the pen. A quill pen was made in the same way simply using a feather from a crow, a peacock, an eagle or other bird, instead of the reed. The hollow created by removing the pith held the ink, which flowed through the slit to the tip of the pen. A section of reed or cane was easy to work into a pen: first the pith would be removed, next, the end would be carved to a point or an angle, and finally a slit would be cut into the tip. Pens might be made of cane, reed, bird quill, or metal. The shape and condition of the pen contributed to the scribe’s ability to write quickly and easily, so its importance cannot be overlooked.Ī plain medieval stylus dating from c.

These two brief notes probably reflect Maelmuiri’s attempts to test a newly cut pen to make sure it worked and the ink flowed properly.

#Weird medieval manuscripts trial

In the famous Lebhor na Huidre, or Book of the Dun Cow, the Irish scribe twice scribbled, Probatio pennae Maelmuiri (a trial of the pen of Maelmuiri). As a scribe aged, his writing might reflect a loss of stamina, as well as the fine motor control necessary to form the letters consistently.Īs the marginalia quoted above indicate, the quality of their work did often depend on their tools. In addition to having better eyesight than their elders, teenagers probably possessed the endurance necessary for what was actually very boring, repetitive work. Scribes didn’t choose what they wanted to copy: the work consisted of mechanical transcription rather than intellectual exploration. The librarian assigned the text to the scribe. Excellent eyesight, usually a trait that disappears with age, was vital to the task. The work was so pressing that an abbot might grant them permission to skip prayer services so they could continue while the light was still good. They worked as long as the light was good enough to see by and their marginalia record their fatigue. Scribes wrote in bitter cold and searing heat.

#Weird medieval manuscripts professional

Historian and professional scribe Timothy O’Neill argues that the best medieval scribes were probably young teenagers. Early monastic rules make it clear that each monk should be given to the work he does best provided he does not take pride in his expertise. The late Roman and early medieval periods saw the copying of texts move from a secular, professional scribe to a monastic scribe based in a religious establishment. “Cithruadh Magfindgaill wrote the above without chalk, without pumice, and with bad implements.”Ĭhristine de Pizan wrote rather than copied books. While a few describe the beauties of nature or a lovely day, many enumerate complaints or excuses.Ī typically short comment in one manuscript reads simply, “A curse on thee, O pen,” while a longer message enumerates the scribe’s difficulties that particular day: These informal, sometimes witty notes, known as marginalia, hint at the joys and miseries of life as a scribe. The monks jotted these remarks down in the margins of their otherwise carefully penned manuscripts.

Medieval scribes frequently recorded their feelings about their work, the tools they used, and the conditions under which they copied out texts. Modern viewers usually see the beauty of illuminated manuscripts rather than the enormously hard work that went into them, but a close examination of medieval manuscripts reveals the difficulty of creating accurate and attractive books before the advent of the printing press. In this case, however, the scribe may well have been right. The old adage warns that it is a bad workman who blames his tools for poor workmanship. “Let me not be blamed for the script, for the ink is bad, and the vellum defective, and the day is dark.”