Calla Durose-Moya

Prof. McEvilla
SMC228
June 21, 2017
Final presentation: Parchment
Parchment was the primary support employed by medieval scribes to preserve their
written words.
The discovery of the use of parchment was taken on in the Medieval age. According to the
Virtual Hill Museum and Manuscript Library Before around 1200, parchment making was
presumably conducted largely within monasteries, the primary producers of books. As lay and
commercial production of manuscripts increased, parchmenters often formed a trade group,
with shops located in the same part of a town, near the water supply needed for production.
The material was to become the imprint of the Medieval world, and also determined the shape
and future of books to come. The discovery of new techniques for printing and engraving that
led to producing books in large quantities was found, but the Medieval book, since it was
produced by skilful craftsmen, was always a unique copy. Thanks to the work of these
craftsmen who illuminated, copied and commented existing texts, a world of knowledge and
learning are brought to be accessible and beautiful.
The widespread use of parchment during the Medieval age was necessary for copyists or
scribes to preserve ancient texts that were originally written in Latin to be translated, copied, as
well as illuminated to be accessible to the illiterate population.
Its use extends as far back as the fifth century B.C.
Photo: The four Gospels in Syriac (probably fifth century),
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/online/crossing-borders/codex
According to the great Roman historian Pliny, the material was invented in Pergamum,
Greece (the Latin word for parchment is pergamenum) in the second century B.C.,
after the exportation of papyrus from Alexandria was halted.
The Romans had already known about the use of parchment before 200 BC and preferred it for
rough drafts of manuscripts as ink could easily be erased from the page, which was better than
wooden tablets for writing in comparison.
The invention of parchment was simply more economical as it could be manufactured
anywhere in the world (anywhere where there are animals) and was easy to write on, be
carried, be bound or folded, and was thin and soft, as opposed to clay or wood tablets and
papyrus, which only could be marked on one side whereas parchment could be written on
both. The invention of a new medium of writing that could be easily folded and bound thus led
to the introduction of the codex (in the West).
Paperwhich was invented in China during the first or second century B.C.would
not become widely used in Europe until the twelfth century A.D.
Paper is made from vegetable or botanical fibres which are made into a pulp and then spread
out to form a leaf. According to Quatr.us Study Guide, In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty
emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts'ai Lun was the first to start a paper-
making industry. Chinese paper-makers were taken prisoner in the war of Samarkand in 751
and were forced to give the secret of paper making away to the Arabs.
 Works Cited

Fournier, S., Nicolini, J. and Nicolini, A. (1998). A brief history of parchment and
illumination. Gavaudun, France: Editions Fragile.
Quatr.us. (2017). Who invented paper? Ancient China - Quatr.us. [online] Available at:
http://quatr.us/literature/paper.htm [Accessed 21 Jun. 2017].
Library, V. (2017). Virtual Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. [online] Vhmml.org.
Available at: https://www.vhmml.org/lexicon/definition/15053 [Accessed 21 Jun. 2017].