History Book Review: The Medieval Scriptorium by Sara J. Charles

The book consists of seven chapters, not including the introduction and conclusion. The chapters are: 1. The Beginnings, 2. Monasticism and Manuscript Production in the West, 500-1050, 3. Locus Scribendi - The Place of Writing, 4. Material World: Parchment and Ink, 5. Illumination and Painting, 6. The Twelfth-Century Renaissance, and 7. The End of the Scriptorium. The book ends with a short glossary, references, further reading, and photo acknowledgements.

Each chapter starts with a fictional first person account of a worker detailing some aspect of manuscript creation. I’m not usually a fan of this kind of thing, but here it helped put me into the correct mindset that I was dealing with a different time and place, and to really let me experience that world for a moment.

The book provides a fantastic overview of how manuscripts changed over the centuries. The author mentions different fonts and decorative elements (various types of pen flourishes, illustration styles, etc). She goes into a lot of detail for how inks and parchment were made (and she’s tried making some herself, which she has documented on her Teaching Manuscripts website and blog). 

The book has a decent number of photos, but given the highly visible nature of the topic, there are more referenced than have been included, which you can look up on your own. Here’s where the ebook is an advantage, as I could cut and paste the references straight into my browser to see the manuscript being discussed. There were a lot of these, so I didn’t look them all up, only ones with elements I was interested in, or wanted the visual to understand the text better. Unfortunately, occasionally the manuscript wasn’t digitized, so unless wikipedia or an article brought up the specific image mentioned in the text, I was out of luck seeing it (ex: Lincoln Cathedral MS 147, fol. 15v. I found a single cropped image of another page on a Lincoln University article via google but not the one referenced). Often the author will give more than one reference though, so if one image isn’t searchable another one likely is.

The language is very clear, making this an enjoyable read. The breadth of information is wonderful. If you’re interested in manuscript production, medieval inks, and how manuscripts changed over time, this is a great resource.

History Book Review: Going to Church in Medieval England by Nicholas Orme

This is a book about worship and attendance of the medieval church in England. Specifically, the book focuses on parish worship, that is, worship for the populace in villages and towns (as opposed to monasteries and cathedrals, where worship was for their members). It consists of nine chapters: Origins and the Parish, The Staff of the Church, The Church Building, The Congregation, The Day and the Week, The Seasons and the Year, The Life Cycle, The Reformation and Reflections.

It is a very detailed study and can be a bit dry at times. The breadth of information however, is incredible. The author researched numerous primary sources to get a broad idea of how people really responded to the church’s demands (tithes/taxes, holy days, weekly worship). Some were pious, others rebellious.

Rather than a chronological overview, the book tackles a subject and shows how it changed over time. I personally found the two chapters on liturgy and how it worked from day to day and over the course of the year (chapters 5 and 6) the most fascinating. It’s really hard to get a firm understanding of how church practice occurred beyond reading primary sources (like the missal or breviary), so a book explaining now only how the services went, but also how they differed as they year progressed was very helpful. The book includes a lot of details about various ceremonies (baptism, marriages, etc) as well.

There are a decent number of colour illustrations throughout the book.

I learned so much from this book. From seemingly simple things like the difference between a rector and a vicar, to how much medieval practice survived the Reformation’s attempts at reform. If you’re interested in the Catholic church, how churches were run in the middle ages, or liturgy and religious practices in England, you really need to pick this up.

Books Received in October 2024

Many thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages by Sara J. Charles.

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.