Paleography Exercise

Objective: To produce a manuscript quire using medieval practices as we collectively explore issues relating to book production and book ownership in the Middle Ages, and how these issues relate to the study of medieval literature.

To complete this exercise, you will be divided into four groups.  As a class we will decide how best to divide our goatskin, which will determine how large our leaves (pages) will be and how many leaves will comprise a single quire, or gathering.  Each group will then be supplied with dipping inks and goose feathers (which you will cut into quill pens) and you will be responsible for pricking, ruling, and copying a text into the quire.  Additionally, each individual student will write a two-page double-spaced essay commenting on what he or she learned from the assignment about medieval book production and what it means for the study of Chaucer and other medieval literature.  The project and short essay together will comprise 5% of your final grade in this class.

Two components will factor into evaluation: basics and embellishments.

The Basics:

The quires of each group should feature:

f      A regular pattern of pricking and ruling.

f      A consistent type of script; e.g., Gothic Bookhand.

f      Rubrication according to a discernable method.

f      Evidence of planning ahead; e.g., the complete text of whatever you’re writing should fit comfortably within the quire you’re given, without “scrunching up” letters at the end of the quire.

The responsible execution of the basics constitutes the minimum criteria for meriting a C or B grade.

Embellishments:

In addition to the basics above, each group may choose to embellish their quire with one or more of the following:

f      The application of gold leaf, which I can supply.

f      Inhabited/Historiated initials.

f      A fake “error” which is (cleverly?) corrected.

f      Decorative borders and “frog spawn,” as featured in the image on the right.

f      The brave of heart may even wish to attempt a miniature (illustration).

f      I will offer an additional embellishments as we move through our paleography unit.

Tastefully executed embellishments (i.e., don’t try to do everything!) can turn a cheap manuscript into a de luxe one, and similarly can have a salutary effect on my evaluation of your quire.

For these embellishments and others, see the reference materials placed on reserve:

Backhouse, Janet. The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the

British Library. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Brown, Michelle. A Guide to Western Historical Scripts: From Antiquity to 1600. London :

British Library, 1990.

Brown, Michelle B. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. (Getty

Museum, 1994).

De Hamel, Christopher. Medieval Craftsmen: Scribes and Illuminators. (British Museum, 1992).

Also consult these websites:

http://www.philamuseum.org/micro_sites/exhibitions/leavesofgold/learn/children/how_made/index.html

http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/writing.htm

http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/home.html

FAQs

Q: What text do we copy?

A: That’s up to you. The text will depend on how much vellum each group gets, and how much text you estimate will fill up your quire.  You will have to practice your bookhand and derive estimates from your practice.  I will likely make some suggestions later in the semester.

Q: Will all the quires fit together to form a complete book?

A: Not necessarily.  We may collect all the gatherings and bind them to form a florilegium, a common collection of shorter works, such as Jankyn’s Book of Wikked Wives from the Wife of Bath’s Prologue.

Q: Should only one person write the entire script?

A: Scriptoria developed some division of labor (scribes, illuminators, etc.)  So if one member of the group has a particularly steady hand, then perhaps he or she should do the copying.  However, plenty of manuscripts feature multiple hands. (Beowulf, for example, was written down by two scribes.)  I am not averse to seeing evidence of multiple scribes from your group, as long as you make an effort to keep the script stable.

Q: I have a friend who is a really good artist.  Can I have him/her help my group with the quire?

A: All the “basics” must be done by members of the group.  However, Michelle Brown reminds us that “scribes, illuminators, stationers, and parchmenters often lived in the same urban neighborhood and worked together on individual projects,” so you may seek outside help with any embellishment if you wish.

Q: I hate group work.  Either one person ends up doing it all and the lazy people get credit, or the lazy people ruin it for everybody.  Why are you so mean?

A. In your essay you must discuss how labor was divided and what contribution each person made.  Everyone in the group must do something substantive; if you cannot explain your role, you will have lost out on a potentially significant learning experience, and your individual grade on the project will suffer

When is all this due?

The quire and the paper are due during Friday, Dec. 1, at my house in conjunction with the Third Occasional Chaucer Animated Film Fest.  Time: 6:00 pm.  This get-together will also constitute a kind of “viewing party” of the quires.

Further List of Embellishments

In addition to the basics listed on your assignment, each group may choose to embellish their quire with one or more of the following:

f      The application of gold leaf, which I can supply.

f      Inhabited/Historiated initials.

f      Litterae notabiliores

f      Regular lines over vowels that are to be followed by m or n in Latin texts according to conventional medieval practice.

f      Pen flourishes

f      Bar line-fillers

f      Bas-de-page scene

f      Incipit and/or explicit

f      Drolleries & grotesques

f      A section of display script

f      Rubric

f      Foliate borders

f      A fake “error” which is (cleverly?) corrected.

f      A marginal gloss or two

f      A pen-trial, perhaps devotional in nature.

f      “Frog spawn,” as featured on your assignment sheet.

f      The brave of heart may even wish to attempt a miniature (illustration).

f      Colophon; consider making it funny, like this one from a worn-out scribe: Explicit hic totum pro Christi da mihi potum (This whole book is done; for Christ’s sake give me a drink!)

f      I will offer an additional embellishments as we move through our paleography unit.

If you don’t know what these terms mean, consult texts on reserve, particularly Michelle Brown’s Understanding Medieval Manuscripts

Tastefully executed embellishments (i.e., don’t try to do everything!) can turn a cheap manuscript into a de luxe one, and similarly can have a salutary effect on my evaluation of your quire.

Make sure embellishments follow a consistent hierarchy.  For some really outlandish, carnivalesque ideas, see Michael Camille, Image on the Edge, on reserve.

To glean some Chaucer-specific ideas, play around with our CD-ROM of the Hengwrt ms. in the library: Hengwrt Chaucer digital facsimile; Location: IMC - Ask at Circulation Desk; Call Number: 1338-67.

Sketch out a plan on supplied art/parchment paper before you try it on your real vellum; once you start your quire, there are no do-overs since “Chaucer the Goat” died only once.  Also, don’t use the punctuation of modern editions; part of the objective of this assignment is to recognize that all modern editions are, in a sense, interpretations of medieval texts in ms.  Follow medieval exemplars for use of punctuation.

Suggestions for Texts

A passage or two from Psalms in Latin; a popular medieval book was a Psalter.

A section from Chaucer.  Would the Cook’s fragment be too long for your quire?  Maybe a pilgrim’s description from the GP, or a tale’s prologue.