Latin Paleography contd.

Latin Paleography, Part 1 cont.

External Characteristics

                The most usual form of the book was the codex. Sheets of papyrus or parchment were folded once and sewn together to form gatherings. Gathering sizes varied widely, anywhere from a single sheet, to upwards of over fifty, the latter more indicative of say a gospel. Production varied somewhat by region as well, mainly through the division of continental Europe and of Irish/Anglo-Saxon production.

                Continental production typically borrowed from the antiquity method of fewer double-leave gatherings as opposed to the usually five double leaves found in Irish and Anglo-Saxon groupings. The number of leaves in a gathering increases throughout the late Middle Ages. As a general rule, like page faced like (skin side facing skin, and hair side facing hair), except in the case where the parchment was rubbed with a pumice stone—as you’ll recall, this practice made the two sides nigh indistinguishable—and in the unique case of the School of Leon in France in the eighth century. A transition occurred in the early middle ages from the flesh side facing out to the hide side.

                Gatherings were also formed by folding large sheets several times, and were then usually cut along the edge, though small books, common in the late Middle Ages, like prayer books and school primers were not cut and typically contained between eight and sixteen pages. When gathered, each leave was ruled and pricked to mark positions of vertical lines. Up through the twelfth century individual sheets were pricked and ruled individually or in small groups, usually two or three, and on occasion even whole gatherings. Further, double tram-lines were drawn on the sheet to guide calligraphic initials. Lead was frequently used for ruling lines after the twelfth century, and in the thirteenth century ink comes into use.

                Various methods of numbering the gatherings were employed. Latin manuscripts to the Byzantine East placed a numeral on the bottom left hand side of the first page of each gathering, and the oldest Latin was places the numeral at the bottom right of the last page. From the fifth century on letters were common, i.e A, B, etc. preceded by Q, and later would be placed in the center of the lower margins. This last method was particularly seen with Corbie during the Carolingian period.

                The practice of using catchwords, Reklamantan, was also a common reference tool. Usually the first word or syllable of the first page of a gathering would be written under the last line or word of a gathering. Foliation occurs regularly after the twelfth century, and pagination after the thirteenth. As an additional reference or citation tool, a page was divided often into four columns, each numbered.

                The page format was determined by two main factors; the extent of the work and the nature of the content or purpose of the book—was it going to be deluxe or portable? The size of the book also determined the type of script used. The format usually took on three main sizes, Large, medium, and small. Large formats were used for deluxe editions of books, like the works of Vergil and Bibles. Medium formats were commonest in early medieval libraries. Small books were often used for notebooks, pocket-gospels, monastic rules, or devotional books.

                In the Later Middle ages small narrow letters, less space between lines, abbreviations, and thinner parchment were all used to economize book production and to try and keep the physical size of books down, so that a four to five hundred leave Bible on Virgin parchment for instance would not be very unwieldy. This was not always the case, however, as huge choir books were typical in the late Middle Ages.

                There was a very aesthetic process to formatting books and pages of books, which could also tell us something about the content of the book Tall narrow books typically contained poetry, as they were divided into columns and in German and Latin rhythmic poetry lines were split so that the end of each line would rhyme.

                Writers sought a balanced distribution of writing and margin area when considering page layout, and would often divide the pages into columns—a carryover from papyrus age writing. A square format would equal a square writing area, for instance. Special layouts were used for texts with commentary, with two main methods. Before the twelfth century, text and commentary would be written side by side in two columns using two distinct types of scripts or different widths (large column for text, and a small one for commentary). After the twelfth century a less complicated way was employed, that of writing the commentary after the text in a smaller script.

                As a method to preserve the text, bindings of various types were employed. Deluxe bindings, wooden boards covered with leather, or simple parchment or leather wrappings were the three main types used. Deluxe bindings were commonly used for liturgical texts to receive elaborate and precious decorations. Wooden boards covered with leather were by far the commonest. The corners of these would be reinforced with metal bosses and the leather often decorated by stamps. Leather wraps were used for account books, student manuals and other documents that did not really need to be preserved for long periods of time.

                Not all works took the form of a codex, Rotuli were also common, and were similar to rolls. They were suitable for Biblical history, chronicles, extended genealogies and other like documents, and were preferred by pilgrims and travelers as they were handy and lightweight. Monastic mortuary lists also typically used these as the monks would travel from house to house collecting the names of the dead.

                Tabulae were also common. This was a large piece of parchment stretched over a wooden tablet to be used in schools for reading, arithmetic, geometry, and music education; monastic chronicles; world maps; and even library catalogs.

                Charters and letters also pervaded and did not follow any one type of tradition. They typically used elaborate or embellished scripts to add emphasis, and were used for day-to-day and political affairs. They often included either a signature or salutation to add certification, or would include a seal either on the charter, or as Frederick I had done, simply send along a wax seal on a piece of parchment. They were always single sheets written only on one side. Simplification was very common, sometimes even abandoning elongated writing.