The Medieval Scriptorium

Making Books in the Middle Ages

Sara J. Charles

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781789149777
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Illuminated with illustrations, an exploration of medieval manuscript production that offers insight into both the early history of the book and life in the Middle Ages.
 
This book takes the reader on an immersive journey through medieval manuscript production in the Latin Christian world. Each chapter opens with a lively vignette by a medieval narrator—including a parchment maker, scribe, and illuminator—introducing various aspects of manuscript production. Sara J. Charles poses the question "What actually is a scriptorium?" and explores the development of the medieval scriptorium from its early Christian beginnings through to its eventual decline and the growth of the printing press.
 
With the written word at the very heart of the Christian monastic movement, we see the immense amount of labor, planning, and networks needed to produce each manuscript. By tapping into these processes and procedures, The Medieval Scriptorium helps us to experience medieval life through the lens of a manuscript maker.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• One The Beginnings
• Two Monasticism and Manuscript Production in the West, 500–1050
• Three Locus Scribendi – The Place of Writing
• Four Material World: Parchment and Ink
• Five Illumination and Painting
• Six The Twelfth-Century Renaissance
• Seven The End of the Scriptorium
• Conclusion
• GLOSSARY
• REFERENCES
• FURTHER READING
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INDEX