VELLUM AND OTHER MATERIALS
Difference between vellum and parchment--Names of different
preparations--The kinds of vellum most prized for illuminated books--The
"parcheminerie" of the Abbey of Cluny--Origin of the term
"parchment"--Papyrus.
As vellum is constantly spoken of in connection with illumination and
illuminated books, it becomes necessary to explain what it is, and why
it was used instead of paper.
We often find writers, when referring to ancient documents, making use
of the words parchment and vellum as if the terms were synonymous; but
this is not strictly correct. It is true that both are prepared from
skins, but the skins are different. They are similar, but not the same,
nor, indeed, are they interchangeable. In point of fact, the skins of
almost all the well-known domestic animals, and even of fishes, have
been used for the purpose of making a material for writing upon.
Specifically among the skins so prepared were the following: the
ordinary lambskin, called "aignellinus"[2]; that prepared from stillborn
lambs, called "virgin parchment."
[2] Strictly _agnellinus_.
From sheepskins was produced ordinary "parchment," and also a sort of
leather called "basane" or "cordovan." Vellum was produced from
calfskin; that of the stillborn calf being called "uterine vellum," and
considered the finest and thinnest. It is often spoken of in connection
with the exquisitely written Bibles of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries as of the highest value.
Besides these were the prepared skins of oxen, pigs, and asses; but
these were chiefly used for bindings, though occasionally for leaves of
account and other books liable to rough usage.
Before the tenth century the vellum used for MSS. is highly polished,
and very white and fine. Afterwards it becomes thick and rough,
especially on the hair side. In the examination of certain MSS. the
distinction of hair side and smooth side is of importance in counting
the gatherings so as to determine the completeness, or otherwise, of a
given volume. Towards the period of the Renaissance, however, the vellum
gradually regains its better qualities.
Thus it may be seen that the difference between vellum and parchment is
not a mere difference of thickness; for while, in general, vellum is
stouter than parchment, there is some vellum which is thinner than some
parchment. Not only are they made from different kinds of skin, but the
vellum used for illuminated books was, and still is, prepared with
greater care than the parchment used for ordinary school or college
treatises, or legal documents.
The fabrication of both parchment and vellum in the Middle Ages was
quite as important a matter as that of paper at the present time, and
certain monastic establishments had a special reputation for the
excellence of their manufacture. Thus the "parcheminerie," as it was
called, of the Abbey of Cluny, in France, was quite celebrated in the
twelfth century. One reason probably for this celebrity was the fact
that Cluny had more than three hundred churches, colleges, and
monasteries amongst its dependencies, and therefore had ample
opportunities for obtaining the best materials and learning the best
methods in use throughout literary Christendom. As to the name "vellum,"
it is directly referable to the familiar Latin term for the hide or pelt
of the sheep or other animal, but specially applied, as we have said, to
that of the calf, the writing material thus prepared being termed
_charta vitulina_--in French _vélin_, and in monastic Latin and English
_vellum_.
The name "parchment" had quite a different kind of origin. It is an old
story, found in Pliny's _Natural History_ (bk. xiii. ch. 70), that the
ancient use or revival of the use of parchment was due to the
determination of King Eumenes II. of Mysia or Pergamos to form a library
which should rival those of Alexandria, but that when he applied to
Egypt for papyrus, the writing materials then in use, Ptolemy Epiphanes
jealously refused to permit its exportation. In this difficulty Eumenes,
we are told, had recourse to the preparation of sheepskins, and that
from the place of its invention it was called _charta pergamena_.
Pliny and his authority, however, were both wrong in point of history.
Eumenes, who reigned from about 197 to 158 B.C., was not the inventor,
but the restorer of its use (see Herodotus, v. 58). It was called in
Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} (2 Tim. iv. 13).
We may mention, by the way, that neither vellum nor parchment are by any
means the oldest materials known. Far older, and more generally used in
Italy, Greece, and Egypt, was the material which has given us the name
of our commonest writing material of to-day, viz. paper. The name of
this older material was _papyrus_ (Gr. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL
LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} and {~GREEK SMALL LETTER
CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL
LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}). As a writing material it was known in Egypt from
remote antiquity. It was plentiful in Rome in the time of the Cæsars,
and it continued, both in Grecian and Roman Egypt, to be the ordinary
material employed down to the middle of the tenth century of our era. In
Europe, too, it continued in common use long after vellum had been
adopted for books, though more especially for letters and accounts. St.
Jerome mentions vellum as an alternative material in case papyrus should
fail (Ep. vii.), and St. Augustine (Ep. xv.) apologises for using vellum
instead of papyrus.[3] Papyrus was also used in the early Middle Ages.
Examples, _made up into book-form_--_i.e._ in leaves, with sometimes a
few vellum leaves among them for stability--are still extant. Among such
are some seven or eight books in various European libraries, the best
known being the Homilies of St. Avitus at Paris, the Antiquities of
Josephus at Milan, and the Isidore at St. Gall.
[3] Thompson, _Greek and Latin Palæography_, p. 33.
And in the Papal Chancery papyrus appears to have been used down to a
late date in preference to vellum.[4]
[4] Thompson, _op. cit._, p. 34; Aug. Molinier, _Les Manuscrits_,
Prélim.; Lecoy de la Marche, _Les MSS. et la Miniature_, p. 24.
In France papyrus was in common use in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Merovingian documents dating from 625 to 692 are still preserved in
Paris.