![]() ![]() Monks were involved in every aspect of a book's production from processing the vellum to the final product.Ī director would distribute pages to be done to the monks in the room and then remain to supervise and maintain the rule of silence. The scriptorium was a large room with wooden chairs and writing tables which angled upwards to hold manuscript pages. From the 5th to the 13th century CE monasteries were the sole producers of books. Some books no doubt arrived with the monks who came to live there but most were produced at the site by monks known as scriptores in rooms called scriptoriums. Initially, however, they were made by monks in monasteries, abbeys, and priories probably first in Ireland and then Britain and the continent.Įvery monastery was required to have a library according to the rules of St. Manuscript_nerd (CC BY) HOW THEY WERE MADEĪs books became more popular, they were produced by secular merchants and sold in books stalls and stores. Paper would not be accepted by Europeans until the 11th century. Paper and papyrus were considered un-Christian by the medieval church and their use was discouraged as these materials had been used by pagan writers in the past and were used by “heathens” of the east at this time. ![]() European monks favored vellum and this became their standard material for the works which would become known as illuminated manuscripts. Parchment made of calfskin was called vellum, was of much higher quality as a writing surface, and so became more popular. The Chinese had been using paper for almost a century when people in Asia Minor developed writing surfaces made of animal hides (sheep or goats) which were soaked in water, scraped to remove hair, stretched on wooden frames to dry, and then bleached with lime the finished product became known as parchment. In Europe, however, the acceptance of paper was still centuries away. Muslim artisans decorated their books with elaborate borders and illustrations and these are often defined as illuminated manuscripts. They also made extensive copies of western philosophers like Aristotle (384-322 BCE) which preserved many of his works long before they were appreciated in the west. ![]()
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