Abstract Ornamental needlework is a far less rare occurrence in medieval manuscripts as common awareness would suggest. The article proposes general observations on different types and forms of functional and ornamental needlework on parchment, and reflects on the fact that the phenomenon seems to have been overlooked due to its general perception as « repair ». Three different case studies from German and Swiss monasteries (Zwiefalten, Weingarten, and Engelberg, twelfth to fourteenth centuries) place the ornamental stitchings into a broader context where precious textiles, cuttings from manuscripts, and stitched-in prints are also considered. Parchment stitchings arguably enhance the decoration of a book instead of diminishing it ; in transporting high-status textile work into manuscripts, their prestige is heightened and enriched by an additional ornamental repertoire.
Christine Jakobi-Mirwald (Sat,) studied this question.