manuscripts. We will not go so far back as the Greek traditions relating
to the works of Homer, of which some copies were ornamented with a
richness that has, probably, never been surpassed. In the fifth century
St. Jerome possessed twenty-five parts of the works of Origen, which
Pamphilus the Martyr had copied with his own hand. St. Ambrose, St.
Fulgentius, Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, men as learned as they were
pious, applied themselves to reproducing with their own hands the best
ancient texts. A copyist by profession was called _scriba_, _scriptor_;
the place in which they generally worked was called _scriptorium_. The
capitularies against bad copyists were frequently renewed. “We ordain
that no scribe write incorrectly,” we find in the collection of Baluze.
We read in the same collection, in 789, “There shall be good Catholic
texts in all monasteries, so that prayers shall not be made to God in
faulty language.” In 805, “If the Gospels, the Psalter, or the Missal
are to be copied, only careful middle-aged men are to be employed;
verbal errors may otherwise be introduced into the faith.” There were,
moreover, _correctors_ who rectified the work of the copyists, and
attested the work, on the volumes, by the words _contuli_, _emendavi_
(“I have collated, I have revised”). A copy of Origen’s works has been
mentioned, corrected by the hand of Charlemagne himself, to whom is also
attributed the introduction of full stops and commas.
The same care presided over the preparation of royal charters and
diplomas; the referendaries or chancellors drew them up and
superintended their despatch; the principal officers of the crown
intervened, as guarantors or witnesses to them, and these acts were read
publicly before they were signed and sealed. Notaries and witnesses
guaranteed the authenticity of private charters.
As long as printing did not exist in France, the corporation of scribes,
copyists of charters, and copyists of manuscripts, which counted among
them booksellers, was very numerous and very influential, since it was
composed of graduates of the university that patronised them and placed
them among the number of its indispensable agents. He who desired to
become a bookseller had to give proof of his instruction and of his
ability; he was obliged to take an oath “not to commit any deception,
fraud, or evil thing which might damage or prejudice the university, its
scholars and frequenters, nor to rob nor speak ill of them.” Besides
which he was compelled to deposit a sum of fifty francs (_livres
parisis_) as caution-money.
The rules imposed on scribes and on booksellers were always very strict,
and this severity was only too justly occasioned by the abuses that
existed, and by the scandalous disorder of the people who exercised
these professions. In the year 1324 the university published this
order:--“There will be admitted only people of good conduct and morals,
sufficiently acquainted with the book trade, and previously approved by
the university. The bookseller may not take a clerk into his service
till that clerk has sworn, before the university, to exercise his
profession according to the ordinances. The bookseller must give to the
university a list of the works which he sells; he must not refuse to let
a manuscript to whomsoever may wish to make a copy of it, on payment of
the indemnity fixed by the university. He is forbidden to let out books
that have not been corrected, and those students who find an incorrect
copy are requested to denounce it publicly to the rector, so that the
bookseller who has let it out may be punished, and that the copy may be
corrected by _scholares_ (learned men or scholars). There shall be every
year four commissioners chosen to fix the price of books. One bookseller
shall not sell a work to another bookseller before he has exposed the
work for sale during four days. In any case the seller is obliged to
register the name of the purchaser, to describe him, and to state the
price for which the book was sold.”
From century to century this legislation underwent variations, according
to the ideas of the times: and when the printing-press came, in the
middle of the fifteenth century, to change the face of the world, the
corporation of _scribes_ rose at first against the new art which was to
ruin them. “But at last,” says Champollion-Figeac, “they submitted, and
temporary measures were recommended to the public authorities for the
defence of an ancient order of things which could not long resist the
new.”
Now let us go back to the first centuries of the Middle Ages, to resume
the question from a palæographic point of view.
The languages and literature of modern Europe are all Greek or Latin,
Sclavonic or Gothic; these four great families of peoples and of
languages have existed in spite of the vicissitudes of politics. Such is
the basis whereon must be found all the researches by which we are to
establish the origin and nature of the writing peculiar to each
literature.
The Greeks of Constantinople taught writing to the Sclavonic race, and
with it the Christian faith. The most ancient Greek writing (we speak of
the Christian era only) was the _capital_ writing, regular and
well-proportioned; as it became general it was simplified more and more.
After this sort of writing, examples of which are found only on stone or
bronze, we come to the writing called, although we do not know why,
_uncial_,[53] which, was the first step towards the Greek _cursive_
(flowing).
_Uncial_ writing was employed, in Greek manuscripts, up to the ninth
century; we may observe the transition from the _uncial_ to the
_half-uncial_, and from the _half-uncial_ to the _minuscule_.[54] In the
tenth century manuscripts in minuscule became very abundant--the
tachygrapher’s (ταχὑς, quick, and γρἁφω, I write), or the partisans of
quick writing, gained the day; the caligraphers (καλὁς, beautiful, and
γρἁφω I write) desired to follow their example. These employed a great
deal of time in painting the initials of running letters: the new
method, which produced more in the same space of time, easily got into
favour; the caligraphers abandoned the uncial and adopted the minuscule
characters connected together, which combined good forms with greater
facility of execution. Thenceforward, the uncial was no longer employed
except for the titles or headings of books.
Among the fine specimens of this epoch which have been preserved, we may
mention, in the Imperial Library of Paris, a Book of the Gospels, called
Cardinal Mazarin’s, and the Commentaries of Gregory Nazianzus; at the
Laurentinean Library, Florence, are a Plutarch and a Book of the
Gospels, written with gold ink in large and massive minuscule cursive
characters; and lastly, a book of ecclesiastical offices, belonging also
to the Imperial Library in Paris, and which bears this superscription in
Greek:--“Pray for Euthymus, a poor monk, priest of the monastery of St.
Lazare. This volume was finished in the month of May, Convocation S, in
the year 6515,” a date which, according to the computation of the Greek
Church, corresponds to the month of May of the year 1007 of the
Christian era.
To the twelfth century is assigned the beautiful Greek manuscript which
was afterwards given to Louis XIV. by Chrysanthes Noras, Patriarch of
Jerusalem; to the thirteenth century belongs another manuscript, in very
small cursive letters, ornamented with portraits, presented by the
Emperor Palæologos to St. Louis. It was only in the fourteenth century
that manuscripts half Latin and half Greek, appeared. Lastly came Ange
Végèce, of Corfu, who, towards the middle of the fifteenth century, made
for himself, as a Greek caligrapher, such a reputation that he gave, it
is said, rise to the proverb, “_Écrire comme un ange_.”
The Greek alphabet, when it penetrated into the countries of the north
with the Christian religion and civilisation, underwent important
modifications. On the right bank of the Danube, in ancient Mœsia,
Ulphilas, the descendant of a Cappadocian family formerly taken prisoner
by the Goths, invented, in the fourth century, the alphabet bearing, on
that account, the name of _Mœso-Gothic_, and which is of Greek origin,
with a mixture of Latin characters and other peculiar signs. This
writing is heavy, without being elegant; differing, as if by an instinct
of nationality, from the types which it imitates. The Mœso-Gothic
manuscripts are, however, very rare; only two or three being known.
The Sclavonic writing, which is also a daughter of Greece, has a history
nearly similar to that of the Mœso-Gothic. When the people of this
family were converted to Christianity, they were brought over to it by
Greek Christians, and the Patriarch Cyril, in the ninth century, became
their teacher; he taught them, how to write (which they never knew till
then), and it was the Greek alphabet they adopted, adding to it,
however, a few new signs, so that they might be able to express the
sounds peculiar to their language. Sclavonic manuscripts are positively
numerous in public libraries. We find them in Paris, Bologna, and Rome,
but above all in Germany, and in the country under the dominion of the
Muscovite. One of the most celebrated is that belonging to the town of
Rheims, and which is known by the name of “Texte du Sacre,” because a
tradition (an erroneous one, however) asserts that the kings of France,
at the time of their coronation at Rheims, took the oaths on this book,
which was said to be written by the hand of St. Procopius. The Sclavonic
manuscripts in general recommend themselves less by the elegance of
their execution than by the richness of their bindings.
The actual Russian alphabet is but an abridgment of the alphabet called
the _Cyrilian_, reduced to forty-two signs by the Emperor Peter I.; so
that the Sclavonic nations knew two _Cyrilian_ alphabets, the ancient
Sclavonic for the liturgical writings, and the modern Sclavonic, or
Russian, in general use. Of the first no manuscripts exist earlier than
the eleventh century of our era.
The manuscripts of the Latins are, without doubt, more numerous and more
varied, because the Latin Church is more extensive, and because Roman
civilisation spread itself over a larger number of European provinces.
At the head of the manuscripts of the Latin writing is placed a fragment
of papyrus, found in Egypt, on which is inscribed an imperial edict for
the annulment of a sale of property, agreed upon in consequence of some
violence committed by a certain man named Isidore; the date of this
document has been fixed as the third century. For the fourth century we
have the “Virgil,” with miniatures, which we mention elsewhere
(MINIATURES OF MANUSCRIPTS), and a “Terence,” both belonging to the
Vatican Library, and both written in capital letters; in the latter,
however, they are irregular, and called, on that account, _rustic
capitals_.
To the same period we must refer the “Treatise on the Republic,” by
Cicero, which has but lately been found in a volume from which the
previous writing had been effaced, as was often the case (see PARCHMENT
AND PAPER), in order to make room for the new writing. For the fifth
century we have a second “Virgil,” with miniatures, which passed from
the library of the Abbey of St. Denis into that of the Vatican. The
“Prudence,” which the Imperial Library of Paris still possesses, is a
very fine manuscript of the sixth century, written, in rustic capitals,
quaint but elegant.
Two other kinds of writing were, at the same period, in use among the
Latins; this same rustic capital, ceasing to be rectangular, and rounded
in its principal strokes, became the uncial; and for that very reason
being much more expeditious, was reserved especially for the copying of
works; while the cursive, although sometimes employed for manuscripts,
was used chiefly in letter-writing. Of the first of these two writings,
the uncial, we have two fine specimens of the sixth century in the
“Sermons” of St. Augustine, on papyrus (Fig. 336), and in a Psalter of
St. Germain-des-Prés, written in letters of silver on purple vellum,
both of which now belong to the Imperial Library, Paris.
In the same century, we find a kind of writing called _half-uncial_,
which became more and more expeditious by the change made in certain of
its forms. There was then also a Gallican uncial, the form of which we
can see in the manuscript said to be by St. Prosper (Imperial Library,
Paris); and an uncial of Italy, among which figure the Bible of
Mont-Amiati, at Florence; the palimpsest[55] Homilies of the Vatican,
and the admirable Book of the Gospels at Notre-Dame, Paris (Fig. 337).
The most ancient style of cursive writing, employed in charts and
diplomas, is to be seen in the deeds known by the name of _charters of
Ravenna_, from the name of the town in which they were first discovered.
We may consider as analogous to these the writing of the Acts of our
early kings, very difficult to read on account of the exaggerated manner
in which the thin strokes join the letters together, and by the
indefinite forms of the up and down strokes. We give a fragment (Fig.
338) taken from an original chart, on parchment, of Childebert III. We
see what the same writing had become in 784 by Fig. 339, copied from an
original capitulary of Charlemagne.
To the same period belongs the employment, in ordinary use among
chancellors and notaries, of a writing completely tachygraphic; it is
composed of ciphers, one of which took the place of a syllable or a
word. This writing was called _Tironian_, because the invention of it is
attributed to Tiro, Cicero’s freed-man, who made use of it in
tachygraphing, or, as we should now say, stenographing (short-hand), the
speeches of the illustrious orator. Fig. 340 is taken from a psalter of
the eighth century, of which the text is transcribed with the
tachygraphic characters of that period.
The name of _Visigothic_ is given to the writing of manuscripts executed
in the south of France and in Spain during the rule of the Goths and the
Visigoths; this writing, still rather Roman, is generally round and
embellished with fanciful strokes, which render it agreeable to the eye.
We also find in Italy the _Lombardic_, in use for diplomas till the
twelfth century.
The beautiful manuscripts on purple vellum are of the time of
Charlemagne, when luxury in the arts showed itself in all forms. There
is in the Imperial Library, Paris, a magnificent volume, which came from
the ancient domain of Soubise, that contains the Epistles and Gospels
for all the festivals of the year: the execution of this work is
perfect; the gigantic capital letters, of Anglo-Saxon form, are
coloured, and rendered still richer by being dotted with gold.
A valuable manuscript of the “Tractus Temporum” of the Venerable Bede, a
manuscript posterior by more than two hundred years to the author, who
lived in the beginning of the eighth century, affords a specimen of one
of the varieties of minuscule writings, which in France was called the
_Lombardic writing of books_, because it was in use during the reign of
the Lombard kings beyond the Alps; it is more difficult to read than the
Roman, though similar in form, because the words are not separated. A
beautiful manuscript of “Horace” (Imperial Library, Paris), which
presents a mixture of the different kinds of Roman writing of the
period, is attributed to the same century. We have in Fig. 341 an
elegant ornamental capital, taken from a manuscript, “Commentaries of
St. Jerome,” also in the Imperial Library. We find specimens of writing
of Anglo-Saxon origin, capital letters, and running text, in many books
of the Gospel.
The diplomatic writing of the tenth century is here represented by a
charter of the king, Hugh Capet, from which we borrow Fig. 342; it must
have been issued between 988 and 996. In this fragment, the first line
only is composed of characters very elongated, close together, mixed
with some capital letters and some singular forms. It bears witness to
the fact that the fine Merovingian writing had then singularly
degenerated.
In the eleventh century the minuscule of manuscripts was characterised
by its angular forms, which caused it to receive the name of _Capetian_.
Then the Capetian, exaggerated in its tendency towards its strokes and
angles, became the _Ludovician_, which announces the thirteenth century,
and characterises the reign of St. Louis.
[Illustration: Fig. 335.--Scribe or Copyist, in his Work-room,
surrounded by Open Manuscripts, and Writing at a Desk.
(From a Miniature of the Fifteenth Century.)]
However, manuscripts of the thirteenth century abound, and the history
of the writing of the period of St. Louis and of the three centuries
succeeding it, may be summed up in these words:--“The Capetian writing
called _Ludovician_, when it had come to differ still more from the
beautiful forms of the writings of Charlemagne’s time or the renovated
Roman, was more and more deformed, and these successive degradations
became so complicated that the writing, in the seventeenth century,
resulted in being perfectly illegible. Thus can be generalised all the
precepts relative to the state of writing, in the manuscripts and the
charters in France, for this period of three hundred years” (Fig. 343).
It was, however, the era of the richest manuscripts, that in which was
brought to perfection the art of ornamenting them, when the pencil of
the miniature-painter and the pen of the caligrapher, conjointly,
produced some masterpieces (Fig. 344). This was also the time when the
corporation of writers became numerous and powerful (Fig. 335). One of
the most distinguished members of this society was that Nicholas Flamel,
about whom so many fabulous legends have been invented. We give, as a
specimen of his magnificent cursive writing (Fig. 345), the fac-simile
of one of the _ex libris_ inscriptions he placed at the beginning of all
the books belonging to Duke Jean de Berry, whose secretary and
_bookseller_ he was.[56]
In other countries than France, in Germany especially, Gothic writing
was easily diffused. German manuscripts differ little from those of
France. We observe only that German writing continued to be very fine
till the middle of the thirteenth century, at which period it became
irregular, angular, and bristling with sharp points.
That which has just been said of Germany in particular is naturally
applicable to East and West Flanders, and to the Low Countries. During
the fifteenth century, under the impulse given by the Dukes of Burgundy,
whose influence we have already mentioned, the most important
chronicles, the best histories then extant, were magnificently
transcribed in that beautiful Gothic minuscule, thick, massive and
angular, which was called _lettre de forme_; and we find it again in
some ancient editions of the end of the fifteenth century (Fig. 346),
and of the beginning of the sixteenth.
In more northern countries the _Runic_ alphabet was made use of, to
which for a long while a marvellous origin was attributed, but which the
Benedictines justly regarded as an imitation, or rather as a corruption,
of the Latin alphabet. There exist in the _Runic_ language inscriptions
on stone and on wood, some manuscripts on vellum, and Irish books on
parchment and on paper.
In the south, the writing seems constantly to have reflected the lively
and frank spirit of its inhabitants, among whom was perpetuated the
profound impress of the old Roman civilisation. The minuscule continued
as high as it was long, thin, and distinct; even when it was altered by
the influence of the Gothic, it was still beautiful, and, above all,
legible, as we may be convinced of by examining a fine manuscript
entitled “Specchio della Croce” (“Mirror of the Cross”), of the
thirteenth century; and a precious manuscript of Dante, of the
fourteenth century, both belonging to the Imperial Library, Paris.
We may adopt for Spain the same opinions as for Italy. There was in
that country also writing of great merit, handed down from the Romans,
which received, as we have already said, the name of _Visigothic_. The
Visigothic writing of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, of the
eleventh especially, is a minuscule of the most graceful kind. But
Gothicism, by the _Capetian_ and the _Ludovician_ coming in as
intermediate agents, at last corrupted this elegant and delicate
writing, as we see in the collection of Spanish troubadours, formed by
order of John II., King of Castile and Leon, about 1440; a celebrated
manuscript in the Imperial Library, Paris.
Into England, where the Anglo-Saxon type reigned supreme, the Norman
conquest introduced the French writing in charters and manuscripts. And
lastly, among the writings called national, we must again mention that
of Ireland, of which there are fine examples remaining; but upon
examination they prove to be nothing but a variety of the Anglo-Saxon.
It is said to have been in use since the sixth century; and we find that
in spite of divers conquests it continued to be employed till the
fifteenth century. It was even known and employed in France, although it
by no means recommends itself by its elegance, as is attested, among
other manuscripts, by that of the “Homilies of St. Augustine,” in the
Imperial Library, Paris, which is supposed to belong to the eighth
century.
Here our summary review of palæographic examples at different periods of
the Middle Ages comes to an end. We might follow up our investigations
on this point, even after the time when the printing-press was invented,
since manuscripts are found of the reign of Louis XIV.; but they were
nothing but fanciful inutilities; each century, in order to show itself
in its true light, should follow the instincts and the inspirations
which belong to it.
FAC-SIMILE OF MANUSCRIPTS.
[Illustration: Fig. 336.--Writing of the Sixth Century, with Capital
Letters, from a Manuscript, on Papyrus, of the “Sermons of St.
Augustine.”
(Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Spes nostra e[st] non de isto tempore, neque de mundo est, neque
in ea felicita[te...._
TRANSLATION.--Our hope is not of this time, nor is it of the world, nor
in that felicity.]
[Illustration: Fig. 337.--Title and Capital Letters of the Seventh
Century, from a Book of the Gospels of Notre-Dame, Paris. (Imperial
Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Incipit præfatio._
TRANSLATION.--Here begins the Preface.]
[Illustration: Fig. 338.--Writing of the end of the Seventh Century,
after a Diploma of Childebert III., for the Gift of a Villa to the Abbey
of St. Denis. (This Fac-simile gives only the half of the length of the
lines.)
TEXT.--
_Childeberthus rex_
_Se oportune beneficia ad loca sanctorum quod pro juvamen servorum...._
_Et hoc nobis ad eterna retributione pertenire confidemus. Ideoque...._
[Illustration: Fig. 339.--Writing of the Eighth Century, from a
Capitulary of Charlemagne, addressed to Pope Adrian I. in 784.
(Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Primo Capitulo. Salutant vos dominus noster, filius vester,
Carolus rex [et filia vestra domna nostra Fastrada, filii et] filæ
domini nostri simul, et omnis domus sua._
_II. Salutant vos cuncti sacerdotes, episcopi et abbates, atque omnis
congregatio illorum [in Dei servicio constituta etiam, et universus]
populus Franconum._
TRANSLATION.--I. Our lord, your son, King Charles [and your daughter our
Lady Fastrada, salute thee, also the sons and] daughters of our Lord,
and all his house.
II. All the priests, bishops, and abbots salute thee, as also the whole
congregation [of those who are established in the service of God, and
the whole] of the French people.]
[Illustration: Fig. 340.--Tironian Writing of the Eighth Century, from a
Latin Psalter. (Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Exsurge, Domine, in ira tua et exaltare in finibus inimicorum
meorum, et exsurge, Domine Deus meus, in precepto quod mandasti; et
sinagoga populorum circomdabit, te, et propter hanc in altum regredere._
TRANSLATION.--Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of
the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou
hast commanded.
So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their
sakes therefore return thou on high.--(Psalm vii. 6, 7.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 341.--Writing of the Tenth Century, after a
Manuscript of the “Commentaries of St. Jerome.”
(Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Qui nolunt inter epistolas Pauli eam recipere quæ ad Filemonem
scribitur aiunt non semper apostolum nec omnia Christo in se loquente
dixisse. Quia neque_ ...