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8 - Urban production of manuscript books and the role of the university towns

from Book production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

By
M. A. Michael
Edited by
Nigel J. Morgan  and
Rodney M. Thomson
Nigel J. Morgan
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Rodney M. Thomson
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
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Summary

Each medieval book is an individual creation, and a surprising number of artisans trained in a variety of skills and belonging to different trades contributed to its making. The writing and decoration required mineral, vegetable and animal constituents which, in some cases, had to be imported from distant places only dreamed of by those who used them. Thus, an illuminated book often shows evidence of the fullest extent of international trade in the Middle Ages, while its written and pictorial content represent a sophisticated summary of the cultural heritage of the society which produced it.

A great many texts were essential to the everyday functioning of society: legal books were required for the administration of justice and the study of law, liturgical books were required and used in every church and chapel, books for the university curriculum and study Bibles were needed at universities and colleges, and vernacular poetry and literature was widely read or listened to by wealthy and aristocratic lay persons. Books were required for a diversity of reasons for both secular and religious audiences whose needs and interests sometimes overlapped. Many texts had multiple functions. Books of Hours and Psalters made for the laity served as teaching aids for instructing children in the alphabet and reading at their first stage of education, and often incorporated pictorial narratives and devotional images as well as the liturgical calendar of the year. Moreover books were considered valuable gifts and played a central role in the act of gift-giving throughout the Middle Ages.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain
, pp. 168 - 194
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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