AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF PARCHMENT
When we take a look at the general history of writing, in ancient times, writers used to write on rolls made of papyrus and store them either in boxes or in specially made compartments. However, since these rolls were very likely to be damaged, not many examples have survived to the present day.
When we come to the period we call the Middle Ages, scribes started to use parchment made of animal skin. The work they created by combining the parchments is called "codex". The biggest difference from Antiquity is that in the Middle Ages, books were stored between wooden covers. In this way, many examples have survived to the present day.
When we look at the present day, we see more manuscripts than the Western geography. The main reason for this is that in the West, every part of the animal was used because the animal husbandry system was based on slaughter. The skin was used to make parchment. In the East, on the other hand, slaughtering animals was frowned upon because the livestock system was based on fattening. The main purpose was to use the animals as much as possible. This made the use of parchment more widespread in the West.
ORIGIN OF THE WORD
The origin of the word parchment used in our language for "Pergament" is French. The word "Pergament", which was used instead of parchment in the Ancient Age, was first used as "Pergamena" during the reign of Emperor Diocletianus (301 BC) in an edict on prices. Although the city of Pergamum (formerly Pergamon) is shown as the origin of the word, this information is not very accurate. The making and use of parchment and papyrus has been known for a long time.
PURPOSE OF WRITING THE BOOK
In general, books were prepared for the use of churches and monasteries. In rare cases, books were also prepared for the personal libraries of well-to-do families. The books prepared for such libraries were specialized for the interests of the author. Books prepared for churches and monasteries were considered the private property of the saint of the church or monastery. For this reason, the name of the saint would be written on the first page.
The need to write or copy new books arose when a new church or monastery was founded. The newly founded church or monastery needed many books for liturgy and education. In medieval Europe, the people who undertook the task of writing and copying books were the monks in the clergy, the only class of people who could read and write and were engaged in education. The individualization of books began in the early 12th century. At this time, the growing readership led to the writing of new manuscripts. In this way, book writing or copying ceased to be the work of monastic monks alone and emerged as a new line of work. In time, these increasingly professionalized copyists began to provide services in their own workshops.
HOW WAS A BOOK PREPARED AND WRITTEN FROM START TO FINISH?
Animal skins were used to make parchment. It was a very slow process for the skin to become writable. Sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, antelope or calf skins were used for this job. The first step in preparing the animal skins for writing was to soak them in lime water. Afterwards, the meat pieces, if any, were removed and then soaked in fresh water for a day or two to remove the lime, remove the fat and whiten the skins. At this stage, dog or pigeon droppings were added to the water to break down the collagen and the skin was kneaded. The skin was stretched and hung in a rectangular frame, where it was scraped with a knife (lunellum). In this process, if there were any marks on the skin such as fly bites, hair follicles or wounds, they were either patched or left as they were, depending on their size. The fleshy part of the skin was preferred for writing. Because the fleshy part was both whiter and smoother. As the last stage of preparation for writing, the surface of the prepared parchment was smoothed with pumice stone powder and powder was poured on it. Then the lime water process was repeated for the last time.
The prepared scrolls were folded into two opposite pages and intertwined to form 8, 16 or 20 pages. The most preferred books were those with 8 and 16 pages. The parts that were cut off while turning the parchment into a book were either thrown away or used for students to take notes in classrooms.
Bird feathers were preferred as pens. Right-handers used the left wing of the bird and left-handers used the right wing of the bird. In this way, they had the best slope for writing. The most preferred feathers were goose and swan feathers. The scribe would carve the tip of the feather with a knife, creating a slit for the ink to soak through. Then he narrowed the feather's tip with a knife around the edges.
There were many recipes for the production of inks. Black was the most commonly used ink. Red, the second most used color, was used for titles, initials, dates and some corrections. Blue and green were used less frequently. Before writing the manuscript, he would draw the lines with the help of a ruler. A thin awl or colorless inks were used for this process.
The tables used for writing would be inclined tables with an upright chair. This was because the scribe needed to see the text upright and this was the best angle to hold the pen upright. But the tables were not always very wide. For copying or using more than one book for writing, there were book wheels next to the tables. By turning these wheels, the scribe could read any book he wanted. Sometimes the work to be copied was read to the scribe by another monk. Sometimes, when the scribe could not find a scroll to write on, he would scrape the pages of an unused book in the library with the help of a knife and write the new text on the other book.
After the writing and decoration was finished, the book was bound. For this process, the leaves were placed on a piece of leather and sewn together. They were then covered with a heavy cover to create pressure on the pages and prevent them from wrinkling. For extra pressure, clamps or hooks were used to hold the covers. The covers were covered with calfskin or pigskin. In this way, the waterproof cover protected the book more. On the cover of the book, titles were added to give information about the content and the author.
REFERENCES
Özlem Genç, Orta Çağ Avrupası Sosyal Kültürel ve Ekonomik Hayat, Kronik yay., İstanbul, 2022.
Charles F. Briggs, “Literacy, reading and writing in the Medieval West”, Journal of Medieval History, Cilt 26, Sayı 4, 2000, ss. 397-420.
Nuray Yıldız, “Eskiçağda Yazı Malzemesi Olarak Kullanılan Parşömen”, Marmara Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Türklük Araştırmaları Dergisi, Sayı 5, 1989.
Demet Sağlam, “Parşömenin Tarihçesi ve Geleneksel Yapım Tekniği”, II. Uluslararası Bergama Sempozyumu Bildirileri, Bergama, 2019.
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