BOOKS IN MEDIÆVAL TIMES
The books of the Middle Ages are a special subject in themselves, since
they include all the illuminated manuscripts of Ireland, England and the
Continent. We can therefore do little more than indicate their
historical place in the story of books.
We have only to look at a mediæval illuminated manuscript to understand
how books were regarded in those days, and with what lavish expenditure
of time and skill the quaint characters were traced and the ornaments
designed and executed. And having looked, we gather that books, being
rare, were appreciated; and being sacred, were reverenced; and that it
was deemed a worthy thing to make a good book and to make it beautiful.
Sometimes the monkish artist's handiwork had a result not foreseen by
him, for we read that when St Boniface, the Saxon missionary who gave
his life to the conversion of Germany, wrote to ask the Abbess Eadburga
for a missal, he desired that the colours might be gay and bright, "even
as a glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the
Gentiles." It is easy to imagine how the brilliant pages would attract
the colour-loving barbarians, and prepare the way for friendly advances.
It is probable that the custom of ornamenting books with drawings was
derived from the Egyptians by the Greeks, and from the Greeks by the
Romans, among whom decorated books were common, although they are known
to us chiefly by means of copies preserved in Byzantine and Italian
manuscripts of a more recent period. These, and a few examples dating
from the time of Constantine, exhibit a style evidently derived from
classical models.
A survey of mediæval books properly begins with the early Irish
manuscripts, which stand at the head of a long and glorious line
stretching, chronologically, from the seventh century of our era to the
fifteenth. Although it is not known where the art was born to which
these wonderful productions of Celtic pen-craft owe their origin, it is
Ireland, nevertheless, which has provided us with the earliest and
finest examples of this work, the marvels of skill and beauty which,
summed up, as it were, in the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow, and
others, set the Irish manuscripts beyond imitation or rivalry.
[Illustration: PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS (_reduced._)]
[Illustration: PART OF PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS (_exact size._)]
Most of these books are Psalters, or Gospels, in Latin, while the
remainder consist of missals and other religious compilations, and of
them all the Book of Kells is the most famous. It was written in the
seventh century, and probably indicates the highest point of skill
reached by the Irish artist-scribes, or as regards its own particular
style of ornamentation, by any artist-scribes whatever. It is a book of
the Gospels written (in Latin) on vellum, and the size of the volume, of
the writing, and of the initial letters is unusually large. The leaves
measure 13½ x 9½ inches. The illustrations represent various incidents
in the life of Christ, and portraits of the Evangelists, accompanied by
formal designs. Ornamentation is largely introduced into the text, and
the first few words of each Gospel are so lavishly decorated and have
initial letters of such size that in each case they occupy the whole of
a page.
The book just described was preserved at Kells until the early part of
the seventeenth century. It then passed into Archbishop Ussher's
possession, and finally into the library of Trinity College, Dublin,
where it is now treasured.
Of course it is impossible to give here a reproduction of a page of this
marvellous book in its proper size and colours. Our illustrations,
however, may convey a little idea of the accuracy and minuteness of the
work, which, it is hardly necessary to say, was done entirely by hand,
and will serve as a text for a brief summary of the chief features of
Irish book art. The design here shown is composed of a diagonal cross
set in a rectangular frame, having in each angle a symbol of one of the
four Evangelists. The colours in this design, as reproduced by Professor
Westwood in his _Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish
Manuscripts_, principally consist of red, dark and light mauve, green,
yellow, and blue-grey. The animals depicted are quaint, but not
ridiculous, and the figure of St Matthew, in the upper angle of the
cross, though stiff and ungraceful, is less peculiar than other figures
in the book. The Irish artist was always more successful in designing
and executing geometrical systems of ornamentation than in representing
living figures.
The interlacing, which forms a large part of the design under
consideration, is a characteristic of Celtic work. The regularity with
which the bands pass under and over, even in the most complicated
patterns, is very remarkable, and errors are rarely to be detected. The
spirals which occupy the four panels at the ends and sides of the frame
are also typical of this school of art. The firmness and accuracy of
their drawing testify to the excellent eyesight as well as to the steady
hand and technical skill of the artist.
The prevailing feature of Celtic ornament as shown in illuminated
manuscripts is the geometrical nature of the designs. The human figure
when introduced into the native Irish books is absurdly grotesque, for
its delineation seems to have been beyond the artist's skill, or, more
correctly, to have lain in another category, and to have belonged to a
style distinct from that in which he excelled. At a later period, figure
drawing became a marked characteristic of English decorated manuscripts,
and English artists attained to a high degree of skill in this branch of
their art.
Bright colours were employed in the Irish manuscripts, but gold and
silver are conspicuous by their absence, and did not appear in the
manuscripts of these islands until Celtic art had been touched by
continental influence.
The tradition that the Book of Kells was written by the great St Columba
himself, reminds us that at this period nearly all books were the
handiwork of monks and ecclesiastics, and in all monasteries the
transcribing of the Scriptures and devotional works was part of the
established order of things. Columba, we know, was a famous scribe, and
took great pleasure in copying books. He is said to have transcribed no
less than three hundred volumes, and all books written by him were
believed to be miraculously preserved from danger by water. As an
instance of this, Adamnan relates the following story:--
"A book of hymns for the office of every day in the week, and in the
handwriting of St Columba, having slipt, with the leathern satchel which
contained it, from the shoulder of a boy who fell from a bridge, was
immersed in a certain river in the province of the Lagenians (Leinster).
This very book lay in the water from the Feast of the Nativity of our
Lord till the end of the Paschal season, and was afterwards found on the
bank of the river" uninjured, and as clean and dry as if it had never
been in the water at all. "And we have ascertained as undoubted truth,"
continues Adamnan, "from those who were well informed in the matter,
that the like things happened in several places with regard to books
written by the hand of St Columba;" and he adds that the account just
given he received from "certain truthful, excellent, and honourable men
who saw the book itself, perfectly white and beautiful, after a
submersion of so many days, as we have stated."
By Irish missionaries the art of book writing was taught to Britain,
chiefly through the school of Lindisfarne, where was produced the famous
Lindisfarne Gospels, or Book of St Cuthbert. This magnificent work,
which is one of the choicest treasures of the British Museum, was as
highly esteemed by its contemporaries as by ourselves, though perhaps
not for quite the same reasons. Tradition has it that when Lindisfarne
was threatened by the Northmen and the monks had to fly, they took with
them the body of St Cuthbert, in obedience to his dying behest, and this
book. They attempted to seek refuge in Ireland, but their boat had
scarcely reached the open sea when it met a storm so violent that
through the pitching of the little vessel the book fell overboard.
Sorrowfully they put back, but during the night St Cuthbert appeared to
one of the monks and ordered him to seek for the book in the sea. On
beginning their search, they found that the tide had ebbed much further
than it was wont to do, and going out about three miles they came upon
the holy book, not a whit the worse for its misadventure. "By this,"
says the old historian, "were their hearts refreshed with much joy." And
the book was afterwards named in the priory rolls as "the Book of St
Cuthbert, which fell into the sea."
[Illustration: PAGE FROM THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS (_reduced._)]
This notable volume is an excellent example of Celtic book art in the
beginning of its transition stage, a stage which marks the approach to
the two schools which were the result of the combination of Celtic and
continental influences in the hands of intelligent and skilful
Anglo-Saxon scribes--the Hiberno-Saxon and the English schools. It
contains the four Gospels written in Latin, and arranged in double
columns, each Gospel being preceded by a full-page formal design of
Celtic work and a full-page portrait of the Evangelist. The conjunction
of these two distinct styles of ornament forms one of the chief points
of interest in the book. The formal designs of interlaced, spiral, and
key patterns, so characteristic of Celtic work, show its near kinship
to the Irish books, while the portraits prove an almost equally close
connection with Roman and Byzantine models. There is reason to believe
that the classical element is due to the influence of an Italian or
Byzantine book or books brought to Lindisfarne by Theodore, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and his friend Adrian, an Italian abbot, when the
archbishop visited the island for the purpose of consecrating Aidan's
church.
The Lindisfarne Gospels accompanied St Cuthbert's body to Durham in 995,
but rather more than a century later was restored to Lindisfarne, and
remained there until the monastery which had replaced St Aidan's
foundation was dissolved at the Reformation. It is then lost sight of
until it reappears in the famous Cotton Library, with which it is now
possessed by the nation.
The English school of illumination had its chief seat at Winchester. Its
work is characterised by its figure drawing, and while the foliage
ornament introduced, together with the gold which was largely used in
the Winchester manuscripts, indicate continental influence, the
interlaced and other patterns are derived from the Irish school. Of this
class of manuscript the Benedictional of Æthelwold, in the Duke of
Devonshire's library, may serve as a typical example. It was written for
Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, by his chaplain Godemann, towards the
end of the tenth century. Were it practicable to offer the reader a
reproduction of one of its pages, it would be seen that it exactly
illustrates what has just been said. Its figure drawing and foliated
ornamentation are among its most striking features.
The Norman Conquest opened up the English school of art more widely to
continental influence, with the result that towards the end of the
thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries the English
manuscripts were unsurpassed by any in Europe. As a typical specimen of
the illuminations of this period, we may with propriety select one which
has been described by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson as "the very finest of
its kind," and "probably unique in its combination of excellence of
drawing, brilliance of illumination, and variety and extent of
subjects." It is a Psalter dating from the fourteenth century, and known
as Queen Mary's Psalter, because a customs officer of the port of
London, who intercepted it as it was about to be taken out of the
country, presented it to the Queen in 1553. This magnificent book is now
in the British Museum.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a large number of Bibles and
Psalters were written, and made up the greater part of the book-output
of the larger monasteries, to which we are indebted for all our fine
pieces of manuscript work. Indeed, most of the decorated manuscripts of
this period are occupied with the Scriptures, services, liturgies, and
other matters of the kind, and on such the best work was lavished.
Later, however, the growing taste for romances and stories induced a
corresponding tendency to decorate these secular manuscripts too, and
some very fine work of this class was produced, especially in France.
The books of the chronicles of England and of France, written in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were also largely adorned with
painted miniatures.
Nearly all the writing of Europe was done in the religious houses. In
most of the larger monasteries there was a scriptorium, or writing-room,
where Bibles, Psalters, and service books, and patristic and classical
writings were transcribed, chronicles and histories compiled, and
beautiful specimens of the illuminator's art carefully, skilfully, and
lovingly executed.
Books, however, were not only written in the monasteries, but read as
well. The rule of St Benedict insisted that the steady reading of books
by the brethren should form part of the daily round. Archbishop
Lanfranc, also, in his orders for the English Benedictines, directed
that once a year books were to be distributed and borrowed volumes to be
restored. For this purpose, the librarian was to have a carpet laid down
in the Chapter House, the monks were to assemble, and the names of those
to whom books had been lent were to be read out. Each in turn had to
answer to his name, and restore his book, and he who had neglected to
avail himself of his privilege, and had left his book unread, was to
fall on his face and implore forgiveness. Then the books were
re-distributed for study during the ensuing year. This custom was
generally followed by all the monasteries of Lanfranc's time.
Richard Aungervyle, Bishop of Durham, born in 1281 at Bury St Edmund's,
and therefore usually known as Richard de Bury, gives a vivacious
picture of the attitude of a book-lover of the Middle Ages in his
_Philobiblon_, or _Lover of Books_. He there sings the praises of books,
and voices their lament over their ill-treatment by degenerate clerks
and by the unlearned. He also tells how he gathered his library, which
was then the largest and best in England. _Philobiblon_ is written in
vigorous and even violent language, and is worth quoting.
Books, according to this extravagant eulogy, are "wells of living
water," "golden urns in which manna is laid up, or rather, indeed,
honeycombs," "the four-streamed river of Paradise, where the human mind
is fed, and the arid intellect moistened and watered." "You, O Books,
are the golden vessels of the temple, the arms of the clerical militia,
with which the missiles of the most wicked are destroyed, fruitful
olives, vines of Engedi, fig-trees knowing no sterility, burning lamps
to be ever held in the hand."
Then the books are made to utter their plaint because of the indignity
to which they are subjected by the degenerate clergy. "We are expelled
from the domiciles of the clergy, apportioned to us by hereditary right,
in some interior chamber of which we had our peaceful cells; but, to
their shame, in these nefarious times we are altogether banished to
suffer opprobrium out of doors; our places, moreover, are occupied by
hounds and hawks, and sometimes by a biped beast: woman, to wit ...;
wherefore this beast, ever jealous of our studies, and at all times
implacable, spying us at last in a corner, protected only by the web of
some long-deceased spider, drawing her forehead into wrinkles, laughs us
to scorn, abuses us in virulent speeches, points us out as the only
superfluous furniture in the house, complains that we are useless for
any purpose of domestic economy whatever, and recommends our being
bartered away forthwith for costly head dresses, cambric, silk,
twice-dipped purple garments, woollen, linen, and furs."
After this terrible picture of feminine ignorance and malevolence, it is
refreshing to turn to the achievements of the pious Diemudis, by way of
contrast. Diemudis was a nun of Wessobrunn in Bavaria, who lived in the
eleventh century. Nuns are not often referred to as writers, but of this
lady it is recorded that she wrote "in a most beautiful and legible
character" no less than thirty-one books, some of which were in two,
three, and even six volumes. These she transcribed "to the praise of
God, and of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the patrons of this
monastery."
Although the greater part of the book-writing of this time was done in
the monasteries and by monks and ecclesiastics, there were also secular
professional writers, a class who had followed this occupation from very
early days. They consisted of antiquarii, librarii, and illuminators,
though sometimes the functions of all three were performed by one
person. They were employed chiefly by the religious houses, to assist in
the transcription and restoration of their books, and by the lawyers,
for whom they transcribed legal documents. The antiquarii were the
highest in rank, for their work did not consist merely of writing or
copying, but included the restoration of faulty pages, the revision of
texts, the repair of bindings, and other delicate tasks connected with
the older and more valuable books which could not be entrusted to the
librarii or common scribes. On the whole, the production of books was
more of an industry in those days than we should believe possible,
unless we admit that the Dark Ages were not quite as dark as they have
been painted. "There was always about us in our halls," says Richard de
Bury, who no doubt was a munificent patron of all scribes and
book-workers, "no small assemblage of antiquaries, scribes, bookbinders,
correctors, illuminators, and generally of all such persons as were
qualified to labour in the service of books."
Books of a great size were frequently monuments of patience and
industry, and sometimes half a lifetime was devoted to a single volume.
Books therefore fetched high prices, though they were not always paid
for in money. In 1174 the Prior of St Swithun's, Winchester, gave the
Canons of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, for Bede's Homilies and St
Augustine's Psalter, twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was
embroidered in silver the history of St Birinus' conversion of the Saxon
King Cynegils. A hundred years later a Bible "fairly written," that is,
finely written, was sold in this country for fifty marks, or about £33.
At this period a sheep cost one shilling. In the time of Richard de Bury
a common scribe earned a halfpenny a day. About 1380 some of the
expenses attending the production of an _Evangeliarium_, or book of the
liturgical Gospels, included thirteen and fourpence for the writing,
four and threepence for the illuminating, three and fourpence for the
binding, and tenpence a day for eighteen weeks, in all fifteen
shillings, for the writer's "commons," or food.
The book-writers or copyists became, later, the booksellers, very much
as they did in old Rome. Sometimes they both wrote and sold the books,
and sometimes the sellers employed the writers to write for them, or the
writers employed the sellers to sell for them. Publishers as yet did not
exist. Practically the only method of publication known consisted of the
reading of a work on three days in succession before the heads of the
University, or other public judges, and the sanctioning of its
transcription and reproduction. The booksellers were called
"stationers," either because they transacted their business at open
stalls or stations, or perhaps from the fact that _statio_ is low Latin
for _shop_; and since they were also the vendors of parchment and other
writing-materials, the word "stationer" is still used to designate those
who carry on a similar trade to-day. As early as 1403 there was already
formed in London a society or brotherhood "of the Craft of Writers of
Text-letter," and "those commonly called 'Limners,'" or Illuminators,
for in that year they petitioned the Lord Mayor for permission to elect
Wardens empowered to see that the trades were honourably pursued and to
punish those of the craft who dealt disloyally or who rebelled against
the Wardens' authority. This petition was granted. By 1501 the Company
of Stationers was established, and it is highly probable that this was
only the Brotherhood of Text-writers and Limners under the more general
designation.
The well-known names of Paternoster Row, Amen Corner, Ave Maria Lane,
and Creed Lane still remain to show us where the London stationers who
sold the common religious leaflets and devotional books of the day had
their stalls, close to St Paul's Cathedral, and in some cases even
against the walls of the Cathedral itself, and where, too, the makers of
beads and paternosters plied their trade. And Londoners at least will
not need to be reminded that at this very moment Paternoster Row is
almost entirely inhabited by sellers of books, religious and otherwise.
There is also a queer open-air stall on the south side which serves to
carry on the ancient tradition of the place.
Societies similar to that of the Text-Writers and Limners of London also
existed on the Continent, and especially at Bruges, in which city
literature and book-production flourished under the patronage of
Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, who himself gave constant employment
to numerous writers, copyists, translators, and illuminators in the work
of building up his famous library. The members of the Guild of St John
the Evangelist in Bruges represented no less than fifteen different
trades or professions connected with books and writing. They included:
Booksellers,
Printsellers,
Painters of vignettes,
Painters,
Scriveners and copiers of books,
Schoolmasters and schoolmistresses,
Illuminators,
Printers,
Bookbinders,
Curriers,
Cloth shearers,
Parchment and vellum makers,
Boss carvers,
Letter engravers,
Figure engravers.
Of course, the printers here mentioned would at first be block-printers
only, as will be shown presently. And it is worth noticing that in all
this long list, which cannot be called at all exclusive, there is no
mention of authors.
The mediæval booksellers were not all permitted to ply their trade in
their own way. Since the supply of books for the students depended on
them, the Universities of Paris, Oxford, and elsewhere deemed it their
duty to keep them under control, having in view the maintenance of pure
texts and the interests of the students, at whose expense the
booksellers were not to be permitted to fatten. By the rules of the
University of Paris the bookseller was required to be a man of wide
learning and high character, and to bind himself to observe the laws
regarding books laid down by the University. He was forbidden to offer
any transcript for sale until it had been examined and found correct;
and were any inaccuracy detected in it by the examiner, he was liable to
a fine or the burning of the book, according to the magnitude of his
error. The price of books was also fixed by the University, and the
vendor forbidden to make more than a certain rate of profit on each
volume. Again, the bookseller could not purchase any books without the
sanction of the University, for fear that he might be the means of
disseminating heretical or immoral literature. Later, it was made
obligatory on him to lend out books on hire to those who could not
afford to buy them, and to expose in his shop a list of these books and
the charges at which they were to be had. The poor booksellers, thus
hedged about with restrictions, often joined some other occupation to
that of selling manuscripts in order to make both ends meet, but when
this practice came to the notice of the University they were censured
for degrading their noble profession by mixing with it "vile trades."
But presumably no such rules as the above hampered the booksellers of
non-university towns, such as London.
The control assumed by the Universities over the book trade presently
extended to interference with original writings and a censorship of
literature. With the introduction of printing and the consequent
increase of books and of the facilities for reproducing them this
censorship was taken up by the Church.
Ecclesiastical censorship, however, was not the outcome of the
Universities' assumption of control over the book trade. It sprang from
the jealousy of the clergy, who opposed the spread of knowledge among
the people--some, perhaps, because they knew that knowledge in ignorant
hands is dangerous, and others because they feared their own prestige
might suffer. This feeling existed before printing, though printing
brought it to a head. For instance, in 1415 the penalty in this country
for reading the Scriptures in the vernacular was forfeiture of land,
cattle, body, life, and goods by the offenders and their heirs for ever,
and that they should be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the
Crown, and most errant traitors to the land. They were refused right of
sanctuary, and if they persisted in the offence or relapsed after a
pardon were first to be hanged for treason against the King and then
burned for heresy against God. Thus the clergy upheld and encouraged a
censorship of the press. As early as 1479 Conrad de Homborch, a Cologne
printer, had issued a Bible accompanied by canons, etc., which was
"allowed and approved by the University of Cologne," and in 1486 the
Archbishop of Mentz issued a mandate forbidding the translation into the
vulgar tongue of Greek, Latin, and other books, without the previous
approbation of the University. Finally, in 1515, a bull of Leo X.
required Bishops and Inquisitors to examine all books before they came
to be printed, and to suppress any heretical matter.
The Vicar of Croydon, preaching at St Paul's Cross about the time of the
spread of the art of printing, is said to have declared that "we must
root out printing or printing will root out us." But an ecclesiastical
censorship over the English press was not established until 1559, when
an Injunction issued by Queen Elizabeth provides that, because of the
publication of unfruitful, vain, and infamous books and papers, "no
manner of person shall print any manner of boke or paper ... except the
same be first licenced by her maiestie ... or by .vi. of her privy
counsel, or be perused and licensed by the archbysshops of Cantorbury
and Yorke, the bishop of London," etc. The Injunction extended also to
"pampheletes, playes, and balletes," so that "nothinge therein should be
either heretical, sedicious, or vnsemely for Christian eares." Classical
authors, however, and works hitherto commonly received in universities
and schools were not touched by the Injunction.