Jirí Vnoucek
The Royal Library, Department of Preservation, Copenhagen, Denmark
Introduction
Studies of the physical appearance of the parch-ment, which has been used for writing manu-scripts, can provide an interesting supplement to the existing forms of manuscript research and help to create a more complex image of the infor-mation recorded in medieval books.
The rocketing development of modern tech-nologies has also brought a great improvement in scientific analyses of materials. In recent years we have been given very detailed and ex-act information about collagen fibre and amino acids, the basic component of parchment. From microscopically sized samples it is possible to identify the DNA of the animal from whose skin the parchment was produced or to analyse the processes that caused degradation of the col-lagen fibre. Although this information opens up new horizons in many fields of this research, it is still necessary to interpret the results obtained correctly and within the context of further stud-ies in sciences that support history and namely studies of codicology in order to exploit their potentials to the full.
It is rather paradoxical that on the one hand we can learn almost intimate details about the parchment itself while on the other hand the description of parchment in codicological litera-ture lags far behind, being content with general descriptions of its qualities, often vague and inexact, and it is only occasionally that specific features are noted which are characteristic for different types of parchment and its methods of preparation. It is not rare for these to be pre-sented more like curiosities than important in-formation for a detailed description and further studies of the parchment.
It seems that codicologists are slightly uncer-tain as to what is to be expected from modern scientific analyses, since their questions in this field are mostly limited to the identification of the types of animal skin from which parchment was made or they expect answers to rather bi-zarre questions concerning the use of uterine
parchment and other rarities, theories which turn up in literature repeatedly.
In this context it might be thought quite surprising that rather simple non-destructive methods of visual observation of parchment can yield a whole spectrum of interesting informa-tion that can enrich our knowledge not only about parchment itself but also about the whole production of parchment manuscripts and their history.
In my master’s thesis called “Defects and damage in parchment manuscripts – an aid to visual examination of parchment for writing purposes” (2010), I have focused my research on the different types of imperfections and damage, which can be found in parchment manuscripts.
These were examined and described in chapters referring to the ways in which they appeared in parchment. For example, anatomical evidence about the animal from whose skin the parch-ment was made, evidence of the steps in the process of manufacture of the parchment or the preparation of its surface for the writing and production of the codex. Different forms of ag-ing and damages of parchment as they developed during the long history of the manuscripts were examined and described and their potential as a source of information discussed. In order to be able to recognize differences in the parchments in manuscripts it is also important to under-stand the methods of their preparation, which differed in the course of time and according to their place of production. Practical experiments with the manufacture of parchment can help to verify some of the theories or hypotheses. Recon-struction of the methods of production of the parchment can also reveal the origin of some of the imperfections that can later be recognized in historical manuscripts.
During my subsequent work with parchment manuscripts I have realized that all these specific
“signs or traits” are displaying information that can be brought into line like stones in mosaics which, if set up correctly, can create a more
com-plex picture and provide overall information. It might be explained differently by saying that they can be interpreted as some kind of linguis-tic letters on the parchment. If the parchment of manuscripts could be systematically studied by this means on a larger scale we might find the right combinations and eventually be able to un-derstand this language. Although this might per-haps sound too literary, there is no doubt that it represents a great potential for serious research based on the physical appearance of the parch-ment in a manuscript.
Methods
Methods and tools employed for the visual ex-amination are kept quite simple, so that any researcher in manuscript studies would be able to employ them. Different types of lighting might be used in order to recognize remarkable details giving us information about the types of animals, their sizes and the anatomy of the skins
that were used in the manuscripts. A great help is provided in the case of observation of parch-ment folia by transmitted light. Raking light on the other hand improves the visibility of various traces from tools originating from the produc-tion of the parchment.
Digital photography has made it possible to provide later evaluation of details recorded on the computer screen. Pictures obtained by high-resolution digital cameras can be later enlarged or relatively simply manipulated in generally used computer programs in order to ease recog-nition of even smaller details that can be later matched and compared with similar features on pictures from another folium or even another manuscript. Interesting results are appearing when parchments that were used for the produc-tion of manuscripts in the same scriptorium are compared.
More and more manuscripts have recently been digitalised and made available on libraries’
web sites. Texts or illustrations may be studied online and browsing through the manuscripts also makes possible a first general observation of the parchment. This can, however, only be used for preselecting some specific folia that show vis-ible irregularities, while for more detailed and complex observation it is still necessary to con-sult originals and use special techniques of light-ing and photography. Occasionally some printed facsimiles still offer more information than available from digital images on the websites.
Examples of use of visual examination of parch-ment in manuscripts
A The Hamburg Bible (The Royal Library, Copen-hagen, GKS 4, 2°) manuscript in large folio size can be used as a good example for studies of the manufacture of parchment and the pro-duction of the manuscript. On its large parch-ment folia we can find an almost complete cat-alogue of the different types of imperfections, repairs or other signs that are characteristic for parchment produced in the 12th/13th cen-turies. The method of formatting this parch-ment into bifolia and their organisation into quires in the codex display a quite advanced system for eliminating natural irregularities in the parchment. (Fig.1, 2)
B Strikes made by the parchment-maker’s knife recorded on the surface of the parchment folia of The Prague Sacramentary from the 8th/9th
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
centuries (The Prague Castle Archive, Metro-politan Chapter Library, O.83) can help us to reconstruct the manuscript’s bifolia back into the shape of the animal from which the skin was made. By this “reverse” method we can also learn interesting information about the sizes of sheep skins and how parchment was folded and divided into bifolia and later dis-tributed and organized in quires (Fig. 3).
C The codex which includes King Valdemar’s Ca-dastre (The Danish National Archives, C 8) and other manuscripts from the end of 13th
cen-tury is rather small in size and brings together slightly different types of parchment, which, thanks to the traces of the parchment-maker’s tools and other characteristics, can be identi-fied, compared and partly sorted into certain groups. It is also rather interesting to compare this parchment with the parchment of other codices which were written by the same scribe and preserved in different libraries (Fig. 4).
Conclusions
Parchment in manuscripts carry, like a vessel travelling through history, in several layers of in-formation from the past. In order to understand these it is necessary to learn its language by car-rying out systematic research on the characteris-tics of different types of parchment and the dif-ferent signs left on the surface from the process of manufacture or later damage. The clue lies in correct evaluation of the results obtained from visual analyses and combining them into certain patterns.
Some methods are developed and these have already brought interesting results as in the case of several individual manuscripts, but their great potential can be improved by development of specialised computer programs which will en-able research into and evaluation of a much larg-er numblarg-er of folia and animal skins from which parchment manuscripts have been made.
There is no doubt that highly specialised mate-rial analyses can produce relevant information but it is extremely important to target them precisely and effectively. The best effect will be obtained especially by interdisciplinary research involving codicologists and other historians, researchers in manuscripts, who will combine their knowledge with that of experts in other fields such as archaeology, biology, conservation and forensic science.
Texts for illustrations
Fig. 1: Each bifolio of the second volume in the Hamburg Bible is created from one calfskin. This means that the origi-nal spine of the animal was laid down horizontally at right angles to the spine of the book. Backing light made observa-tion of the former rump and spine of the animal easier. Note also the marks of the vertebrae and the U-shaped cut in the area of the former tail.
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 2: Coloured paper strips placed in the first half of the fore edge of the codex mark the original position of the head (yellow) and tail (green) of the animal on the skin. There are several reasons why the spines are distributed in this way through the quires. Parch-ment is more undulated and thicker in the area of the original neck, spine and rump than in other parts. With this layout one achieves a better balance in the thickness of the text block so that undesirable undulation of the folia is prevented. Spines of the skins of smaller sizes are placed centrally, while spines of larger skins are positioned either further up or down towards the top or bottom of the text block. With this ar-rangement a larger skin can also be used more economically, since leftovers which are cut away from one side of parchment may be used for the production of small-er manuscript documents.
Fig. 3: One of the reassembled skins from the Prague Sacramentary, a manuscript of quarto size, shows that this skin was large enough to produce only 3 bifolia and not 4 as might be generally expected.
This is not so surprising, since the sheep-skin from which the parchment was made is quite thin and weak and could easily be mechanically damaged during the flaying of the skin. In addition, raw skin in the course of the parchment-mak-ing process may be affected by bacteria
or mould, resulting in the appearance of a large number of small holes. Skin can become mechanically weak and quite large areas have to be removed already before the skin is stretched on the frame.
Fig. 4: Traces of the parchment-maker’s knife can be visualised by making a rub-bing over a textured surface placed over the parchment folio. This frottage meth-od helps to isolate and record traces of a tool which left on the parchment a unique offprint made by its jagged edge.
The obtained “fingerprint” or “bar code”
can be later used for recognition of the identical tool on the surface of other parchment folia coming from the identi-cal skin and later placed in a different part of the text block or even another codex. In the case of a smaller manu-script, for example of octavo size, we can expect a very uneven distribution of bifolia originating from one skin in the text block. For their production may also involve leftovers from the production of larger manuscripts.
Jirí Vnoucek
The Royal Library, Department of Preservation, Copenhagen, Denmark jiv@kb.dk