Through a large number of medieval books that survive today, we can obtain insight into the cultural and historical context of the Middle Ages. Manuscripts were hand written and many contained elaborate decorated pages. The format owes its rate of survival to the protective bindings and value regarded by the owner. Many readers held an intimate relationship with their books, kissing and writing upon the pages. Numerous books, because of the cultural atmosphere during the time, contain Christian belief references. The early religious manuscripts were meticulously copied by monastic scribes for clergy and the elite. However, some books include references to Jewish and Muslim beliefs along with records and documents. Books with elaborate decoration were evidence of the skills brought back by Crusaders. The technique of enameling was introduced to Western Europe from Persia through Constantinople. Scrolls were used during the Middle Ages, but unfortunately, fewer survive and many of those are only fragments. The history of preservation has been documented along with the manuscripts themselves. In the thirteenth-century, a manuscript was in circulation to address the conservation of manuscripts.
Swartzburg, S.G. (1995). Preserving Library Materials: A Manual. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.
A document or book that was written by hand. The word derives from the Medieval Latin form manuscriptum.
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Oldest Complete Sefer Torah Scroll
Scrolls
The scroll was one of the principle literary formats during antiquity. Items were initially made from papyrus and stored in in cylindrical boxes called capsae. Scrolls were unrolled from left to right and read with a few columns visible at a time. The scrolls were used throughout the Middle Ages and were made from parchment which was read vertically. However, the bulkiness of scroll limited portability.
Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
Codex
The arrangement was established in the first-century. The codex is a book composed of folded sheets, sewn along one edge, and framed by two board covers. Portable, the format gained popularity with early Christians in the fourth century and continued to be sought after by the growing number of bourgeois in the Middle Ages.
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Corbellini, S., & Hoogvliet, M. (2013). Artisans and religious reading in late Medieval Italy and Northern France (ca. 1400 - ca. 1520). Journal Of Medieval & Early Modern Studies, 43(3), 521-544. doi:10.1215/10829636-2338590
Fulton, H. (2015). The geography of Welsh literary production in late medieval Glamorgan. Journal Of Medieval History, 41(3), 325-340. doi:10.1080/03044181.2015.1048093
Green, J. (2016). Reading in the dark: Lost books, literacy, and Fifteenth-Century German literature. Seminar-A Journal Of Germanic Studies, 52(2), 134-154.
Porto, R. R. (2012). Inscribed/Effaced. The Estoria de Espanna after 1275. Hispanic Research Journal, 13(5), 387-406. doi:10.1179/1468273712Z.00000000025
Riegler, M., & Baskin, J. R. (2008). "May the writer be strong": Medieval Hebrew manuscripts copied by and for women. Nashim: A Journal Of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, (16), 9-28.
Trevithick, M. & Seckman, D.(2013). A precious history preserved. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 59(35), A28-A30.
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