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Throughout the history of writing, roughly all writable surfaces–including some unconventional ones–have been used to transmit text. From pottery shards to jade, to more recognizable surfaces such as paper, papyrus, and parchment, humanity has used countless materials to share history, culture, and literature. In pursuit of this goal, many vessels for storing writing emerged. By the end of the Roman Empire, the codex began to replace the dominant writing supports. Scrolls and stone tablets slowly gave way for a new medium: the medieval manuscript.

BUT WHAT IS A MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT?

Answering this question will be the goal of this website. This website aims to guide readers through the Western tradition of manuscripts and provide a space to create a foundation for further research. This website will address the basic questions of manuscripts, such as their contents, makeup and their history while providing resources for continued study.

OK, THAT’S ALL REALLY GREAT… SO WHAT IS A MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT?

A medieval manuscript is a handwritten book or document from the Middle Ages, spanning roughly the 5th to late 15th centuries. The word manuscript comes from the Latin word manus (meaning hand) and scriptus (writing) meaning “written by hand”. Manuscripts from the Middle Ages store a wide range of subject matters, but most often are religious or historical texts. Medieval manuscripts come in the form of a codex. A codex is a book with a spine that includes pages you can turn bound between two boards. It is quite similar to a modern book, with the main differences being the materials they are made from, such as parchment or vellum, and that they are written by hand, not printed. A codex is most commonly made of parchment bound with wooden book covers bound in leather. Interestingly, the word codex originally meant ‘tree trunk’ in Latin. Before referring to a parchment book, the word codex described a collection of wooden boards with written text bound in a book format.

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