The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages

What did a medieval scriptorium look like? This volume begins by posing this question to the reader and then poring over existing evidence to answer it. The answer is that it looked many different ways, over time and in different places. Very broadly, a scriptorium is a place where manuscripts are produced and includes the people involved, the materials they used, and the physical space. Sara J. Charles, a book historian at University of London, uses a combination of historical sources and the knowledge gleaned from the physical practice of remaking to illustrate these factors.Chapter 1 sets the scene by providing a historical grounding for book production. The technical innovation from scroll to codex, and the renewed religious emphasis on text accompanying the expansion of Christianity, play important roles (32–39). Charles describes the ways in which the existing Latin script evolved to meet the needs of Christians producing copies of sacred books. Much of this early production took place in monasteries, which also experienced many changes from their beginnings in the Middle East.Each chapter begins with a vignette of a person in a particular time and place and touches on the social and cultural aspects of their circumstances. These expand the typical monastic conception to include women and laypeople. Readers may find these informative or distracting. For instance, the story of the desert mother Paula (19–22) is fascinating, but she is perhaps too important and exceptional a figure to be illustrative of wider trends. Further, her position, both geographically in the Holy Land and as a translator bridging from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, place Paula on the periphery of the stated scope. Throughout the book, in vignettes and the body of the texts, the scribes and artisans are presented in terms of both their skills and accomplishments and their very human relation to their work.Subsequent chapters mostly follow chronology, detailing how the processes changed over time. A rich example is the animal skins used for vellum. Calf, sheep, and goat skins were all used, and their inherent properties suited them to particular uses. For example, the high lipid content of sheepskin makes alterations highly visible, acting as an anti-tampering device for official records (170). Chapter 5 gives an exhaustive description of the pigments used for illumination and their sourcing and preparation, covering everything from noble lapis lazuli to humble earwax. The connection to the physical world and the rhythms of agricultural life provide important setting and context for the scriptorium.Contrary to the popular image of silent monks at their desks, manuscript production was not limited to this setting. Monastic life quickly spread from the Middle East to Western Europe and then to the British Isles, while individuals and techniques circulated among these sites. Specialized skills were in demand, and were also practiced by laypeople. Further, the workers needed to produce the materials, both those that were sourced locally and those that traveled through trade, required networks of knowledge and relationships extending far beyond the walls where writing took place. Using descriptions and depictions of spaces, Charles also considers how much work was done collaboratively or in parallel, and how physical layout of spaces influenced these arrangements. The growth of universities in the twelfth century accelerated many of the changes, eventually leading to the decline of manuscripts and the genesis and growth of the printed book.This book is clearly written and highly engaging. Book, medieval, and religious studies scholars and students will find it of interest, as will conservation professionals and perhaps others in allied galleries, libraries, archives, and museums professions, as it will help them to understand the items in their collections. This volume joins Christopher de Hamel’s Making Medieval Manuscripts (2018), and Manuscripts in the Making (vol. 1, 2018), edited by Stella Panayotova and Paola Ricciardi, the proceedings of a conference accompanying the “Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts” exhibit at the Fitzwilliam Museum, reflecting a renewed interest in materials and techniques in the past decade.The numerous illustrations, both of manuscripts and of materials and techniques, are informative and presented well. In particular, the manuscript images benefit greatly from being in color and support the descriptions of the pigments and tools used in creating them. The greatest strength of this work is the careful attention given to sources describing techniques and their remaking in the present day, accompanied by an empathetic understanding of the challenges and constraints, and a dash of humor.The scope of the book is stated to be the Latin Christian world (23). Since the extent of Latin Christendom varied over time and could be porous, examples that fall outside of this scope are legitimate, but might be confusing to readers. Nevertheless, having a broad scope is useful, avoiding the pitfalls of some artificially delineated national histories. The reader will come away well-informed, and perhaps also entertained or inspired.