The transition of communication technology: Oral Culture, Manuscript Culture, Print Culture, and Information Age

Manuscript culture refers to the development and use of the manuscript as a means of storing and disseminating information until the age of printing. The Early Age of manuscript culture consisted of monks copying mostly religious text in monasteries. Medieval manuscript culture deals with the transition of the manuscript from the monasteries to the market in the cities, and the rise of universities. Manuscript culture in the cities created new jobs built around the making, copying and trade of manuscript, and typically was regulated by universities. The Late Age of manuscript culture existed immediately preceding and during the rise of the printing press. Late manuscript culture was characterized by a desire for uniformity, well ordered and convenient access to the text contained within, and ease of reading the text aloud. It directly grew out of the Fourth Lateran Council and the rise of the Devotio Moderna. It included a change in materials (with a switch from vellum to paper), and was subject to remediation by the printed book, while also influencing it. Image File history File links SummaryDiagramVertical. ... The know-how that goes into a given medium. ... Oral culture is a tradition all over the world. ... Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and communication. ... It has been suggested that Digital Age be merged into this article or section. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... Printing is an industrial process for reproducing copies of texts and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. ... Monastery of St. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... The Fourth Council of the Lateran was summoned by Pope Innocent III with his Bull of April 19, 1213. ... Devotio Moderna was a religious movement of the Late Middle Ages. ...

Medieval manuscript culture

Trade

In 13th century, Paris was the first place to have large commercial trade of manuscripts. Book trade did not consist of the methods which we think of now. Instead of making large numbers of books and then attempting to sell them, like printers would do much later, the manuscript-book producer was commissioned to make specific books for specific people. Paris was also one of the first cities which had a large enough population of wealthy literate that it could support the livelihood of people producing manuscripts. Now manuscripts could be made outside of the monastery and in cities by these people. This marks the shift in manuscript culture from the early age with monks to booksellers and scribes making a living from their work in the cities. ^[1] (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

Illuminated L^[2]

Individuals did much scribal work but collaboration has also been suggested. Commercial workshops or ateliers operated out of Paris in the middle 13th century. These workshops often collaborated on jobs. Research from François Avril, Joan Diamond and others has confirmed that two or more artists have alternated, or otherwise shared, in the illumination of a single manuscript. However, it is unclear exactly how the logistics of this kind of production worked out. ^[3] A workshop is a room or smaller building which contains tools and/or machinery for making or repairing things. ... An artist is someone who employs creative talent to produce works of art. ...

Most medieval scribes had kept their gathering together as they copied, but some did separate books into sections to copy them in parts. It can be seen that previously in the monasteries, work had been broken up between the scribes and the illuminators. One can find examples of where at the beginning of a new paragraph, the scribe would space out for and write out a small cursive letter which would have been painted in at a later time by the illuminator. These are basic forms of distributing the work for copying a manuscript, but it was with the pecia system which really develops and perfects breaking the book into parts to be copied. ^[4] Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ... An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript, often of a religious nature, in which the text is supplemented by the addition of colourful ornamentation, such as decorated initials, borders and the like. ...

Pecia System

The Pecia system develops in Italian university cities by the beginning of the thirteenth century, and it became a regulated procedure at the University of Paris in the second half of the century.^[5] The pecia system breaks up the book into sections called pecia. Individuals like students can rent them out section by section to copy. They were generally four folios long which allowed for a fast turn over rate for each pecia for students or pastors to exchange. ^[6] For example, if there was 70 peciae, it meant that 70 people potentially could copy that book in the same amount of time that it would take one person to copy an entire book if they alone had the whole single copy. The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: ) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganised as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ...

Detail of pecia mark^[7]

The original collection of peciae for a book from which all future copies will be based off of is called the exemplar. The process of making an exemplar was supposed to be an orderly procedure: Masters of the university who compiled a new work were to edit, correct, and submit this authentic text to a stationer; he in turn copied from it an exemplar in pecia, corrected these against the author’s text with utmost care, and finally submitted them to the inspection of the university’s delegates for approval and for the setting of a rental price. Only then were pecia available for rental and copy. ^[8] Exemplar, in the sense developed by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, is a well known usage of a scientific theory. ... Cosette Dwyer is an amazing author. ...

Paul Pierce within an illustration of a Mediæval Scriptorium. From a manuscript of a Book of Prayers. 15th Century. British Museum, Slo. 2468.^[9]

In reality, it came down to the stationer—part of whose job was renting out pecia—finding and offer for rental the works which he thought would be demanded. And this pressure on the stationers prompted them to acquire exemplars in as good a state and in as short a time as possible. The emphasis was on speed of acquisition instead of the quality of the product. If a certain work appeared as if it might become a “best seller,” a stationer would make a copy of the best text immediately available, and would have his exemplar-pecia corrected as well as time permitted. At times, the stationer sought the text; at other times, it was the author who offered his newly completed work to the stationer, but it was never the university as a formal body which made requests or developed what was to be offered. ^[10] Stationery, a shortening, recorded since 1727, of stationary wares (circa 1680) is a general name given to paper and office supplies such as envelopes, notepads, pens, pencils, erasers, paper clips, staples, etcetera. ...

Booksellers in Paris

King Philip the Fair of France, 1285-1314, instituted a .4% commercial tax on all goods.^[11] It was in 1307 that Philip the Fair exempted all the librarii universitatis from paying the commercial tax, the taille. This exemption empowered the universities’ all over France over the booksellers because if they did not swear the oath there would be no tax exemption. ^[12] Philip IV the Fair (French: Philippe IV le Bel) (1268 – November 29, 1314) was King of France from 1285 until his death. ... A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). ... Events July - The Knights Hospitaller begin their conquest of Rhodes. ...

Librarius is a general term and stationarius refers to one specific kind of librarius. Librarius is elastic and can mean anything from scribe, bookseller, and librarian. Stationarius or stationer refer to those types of librarius who rented out peciae. Both however were involved in secondhand trade; produced new books; were equally thieves, frauds and cheats; regulated by the university and without any distinction between each other aside from the stationer having the added job of renting out pecia. ^[13] The Librarian, a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo A librarian is an information professional trained in library science and information science: the organization and management of information and service to people with information needs. ...

Restrictions

The oaths the librarii or booksellers had to swear to the universities’ restrictions and requirements for the tax exemption were extremely restrictive in regard to the resale of secondhand books. They were suppose to act more like intermediaries between the seller and the buyer while their profit was limited to essentially four pence in the pound. They were further required to display the secondhand books prominently in their shops, give a professional assessment of the likely price of the books submitted to them, and put would-be buyers in direct contact with the seller. ^[14] Representation of a university class, 1350s. ...

The bookseller had to swear not to underpay when bought and not to overcharge when sold. The stationers rented out copies of useful texts, one [[ quire at a time, so students and masters could make their own copies. Both fees were regulated by the university.^[15] Both kinds of booksellers had to guarantee their compliance to their oath by posting a bond of 100 pence.^[16] A quire of paper is used as a measure of paper quantity. ... Above: A variety of coins considered to be lower-value, including an Irish 2p piece and many US pennies. ...

A monk inspecting a sheet of parchment which he is buying from a parchment-maker^[17]

It was not just the booksellers which the universities regulated. Additionally, university regulations forbade parchmenters from hiding the good parchment from university members wanting to buy. There were plenty of other demands for parchment outside the university such as: the record-keeping for the royal government, every similar entity of a commercial or mercantile guild, every religious house that issued a charter or kept a rent roll, every public letter-writer, everyone from major international trader to local shop-keeper who kept accounts. They all demanded parchment in greater numbers and were willing to pay higher than the regulated price which the university members paid. And so, the universities feeling such pressures often chose to regulate parchment as well. ^[18] German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ... For the guitar manufacturer, see Guild Guitar Company. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

Benefits

While there were many restrictions on the bookseller, the job did have its benefits. The bookseller was free to produce and sell books, illuminate, or write for anyone they pleased like the Court, cathedral, or the wealthy laymen of the capital and provinces so long as they met their obligations to the university which they had sworn oaths to. In fact, most of their trade fell outside of the university regulation. There is an important distinction between the regulation of how books were traded within the university and how the booksellers were able to charge whatever the open market would bear. To the non-student or masters, there were no such restrictions on the booksellers.^[19] Between 1300-1500 the position of libraire was a closed position only open upon the resignation or death of a previous one. Aside from cheap books, it was only the libraire who was allowed to sell books in Paris. The university essentially guaranteed a monopoly on the sale of books for booksellers.^[20] In religious organizations , the laity comprises all lay persons, i. ... This article is about a city that serves as a center of government and politics. ... Province is a name for a secondary, or subnational entity of government in most countries. ...

Late Manuscript Culture

The Definable Characteristics of Late Manuscript Culture

The period of "Late Manuscript Culture" dates from roughly the mid-fourteenth century to the fifteenth century, preceding and existing alongside the printing press. While embodying all of the ideals and adhering to the regulations observable in the Devotio Moderna, there are many clear characteristics of Late Manuscript Culture. For instance, careful attention was paid to the to the punctuation and layout of texts, with readability and specifically reading aloud taking preeminence. Meaning had to be clear in every sentence, with as little room left to interpretation as possible (compared to the lack of spaces in text and any markings for the purpose of aiding in enunciation), due to preachings' rise in popularity after the Fourth Lateran Council. Correct orthography was attempted whenever the necessary exemplars made it possible to emend earlier texts, especially Bibles, and this correction made many texts uniform. In this period of Manuscript Culture, the emendatiora, manuscripts which combined surviving texts of the oldest available exemplars with the manuscripts that had been currently acceptable and prominent, were created. ^[21] Devotio Moderna was a religious movement of the Late Middle Ages. ... The Fourth Council of the Lateran was summoned by Pope Innocent III with his Bull of April 19, 1213. ... The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of writing in that language. ...

Aids to find one's way about the text are prominent features in these manuscripts. While none were invented solely in fifteenth century, they were used with increasing frequency and became more complex. These include

• tables of contents
• lists of chapters, either at the beginning of each book or gathered at the beginning of the whole work (if it is a collection of works)
• running headlines
• extensively detailed colophons
• page numbers in Arabic numerals.
• the appearance of subject indexes^[22]

Other changes included the enlargement of the rubric from one to two lines in the university manuscript to eight or ten, and the distinction of it by separate letter-form. The rubric also changed in regard to the categories of information included in it. An earlier rubric might have contained a title of the particular section or article, and a description of the ending of the preceding one. A fifteenth century rubric would add information about the translator or translators, and the original writer if they were not particularly well known. A brief description of their content, or even detailed information considering the date or conditions of the works creation is also occasionally seen, though not as frequently. These changes exemplify the desire for uniformity, ease of access, and strict regulation of a given work and its subsequent correction. These are many of the same goals attributed to the uniformity exemplified by the printing press. ^[23] Numerals sans-serif Arabic numerals, known formally as Hindu-Arabic numerals, and also as Indian numerals, Hindu numerals, Western Arabic numerals, European numerals, or Western numerals, are the most common symbolic representation of numbers around the world. ... Rubric can refer to: In typography, rubric refers to a section of red text In academia, rubric is a grading scheme In liturgy, rubric refers to instructions indicating actions to be performed rather than words to be said A rubric is also an authoritative rule, an explanatory or introductory commentary...

The Production of Manuscripts at the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century

The emergence of new standards in manuscript production, beginning in the Low Countries at the end of the fourteenth century, clearly marked the beginning of a new epoch in manuscript culture. Uniformity would result from the desire for clarity, both in terms of bibliographic accuracy and the reproduction and correction of the text itself. It necessitated greater organization, specifically within the monastic scriptoria. These had lost pre-eminence in medieval manuscript culture, characterized by the university, but had begun to undergo a rebirth in the fourteenth century. Historians have characterized this period as chaotic, with very poor quality paper manuscripts being held as a standard. However, the varying quality of materials did not affect the quality of the text contained on it, as the transition was made from parchment to rag paper. For instance, there was the formation of a new script called hybrida, that sought to combine the traditional cursiva script with the script used in printed books. There was little loss of legibility, due to the use of sharp angles instead of loops. Additionally, in the first half of the fifteenth century the practice of using a hierarchy of scripts to demarcate different sections of a text was re-instituted. Rubrics and colophons were clearly set off from the remainder of a text, employing their own unique script. All of these changes resulted from a desire for improved accuracy, and led to the creation of complex codification rules.^[24] The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries (see Country) on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers. ... A Scriptorium was a room or building, usually within a Christian monastery where, during medieval times, manuscripts were written. ...

Uniformity Amidst Variety

Many manuscripts were produced that had differences in terms of size, layout, script, and illumination. They were based on the same text while being created by many different scribes. Yet, they were meticulously corrected, to the point that very few differences in terms of the text itself can be observed among them. This implied not only the presence of a direct authority that maintained some sort of direction over the scribes, but also a newfound pursuit of scholarly accuracy that had not been present with the university book sellers. It was emphasized by the new religious orders that had been created in the fourteenth century. Correction and emendation would be held in the same esteem as copying itself. ^[25]

Codification Rules and the Opus Pacis

Written in 1428 by the German Carthusian, Oswald de Corda, prior of the Grand Chartreuse, the Opus Pacis consisted of two parts. One dealt primarily with orthography and accent, where Oswald stated that his motive in creating these codification rules was to dispel the anxiety of his fellow Carthusians. Many members of the order were worried about the omission of single letters, not just phrases, words or syllables within copies of a given text (demonstrating the new concern for uniformity taken to an extreme). It is clear that his audience was composed of scribes, specifically those meticulous to “the verge of neurosis”. He seeks to reinforce the importance of older statutes regarding manuscript production, such as the Carthusian statutes, and the way in which he seeks to correct them. ^[26] Events October 12 - English forces under Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury besiege Orléans. ... A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. ... A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusians are a Christian religious order founded by St Bruno in 1084. ... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ...

The Statuta Nova of 1368

Oswald specifically wanted to reform the Statuta Nova of 1368. It stated no one could emend copies of the Old and New Testament, unless they were doing so against exemplars that had been prescribed by their order. Anyone who corrected texts in a manner inconsistent with those exemplars was publicly acknowledged to have corrupted the text, and subsequently punished. Oswald answered this with his Work of Peace, and stated that correctors should not engage in pointless labor by over-correcting. In it, he described correction not as a command, but an indulgence. It was practiced for the improvement and glorification of a text, and though it followed a set of rules, they were not so strict as to stifle emendation. This was a transition from older works with large amounts of lists and regulations that mandated every action a scribe could take in correction, and had been widely ignored in medieval print culture. Oswald rejected a system in which one must simply pick a single exemplar and correct according to it, or reproduce portions of texts which the scribe knew to be in error due to a proper exemplar not being attainable. Before Oswald, many believed these were the only available options under the older, strict rules. ^[27] Events Timur ascends throne of Samarkand. ...

New Rules of Corrections

Oswald specifically made sure to outline the proper way of correcting various readings of the same text, as observed in varying exemplars. He stated that scribes shouldn't instantly correct according to one or the other, but deliberate, and use proper judgment. Oswald also said that in the case of bibles, scribes shouldn't immediately modernize archaic spellings, because this had produced further variation within texts. Oswald also detailed a uniform set of abbreviations. However, he stated that scribes should recognize national differences, particularly in light of the Great Schism. Scribes were right to correct texts with different dialects of Latin, especially if they were using archaic forms of Latin verbs, however. ^[28] The term Great Schism refers to either of two splits in the history of Christianity: Most commonly, it refers to the great East-West Schism, the event that separated Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman Catholicism in the eleventh century (1054). ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Valde Bonum

In his prologue to the Opus Pacis, Oswald contrasts his work with the Valde Bonum,^[29] an earlier handbook compiled during the Great Schism. It had attempted to set forth universal spellings for the Bible, and stated that the corrector need not emend to conform to an exemplar from a given region based on its perceived superiority, but could rather take local regional practice as a standard. It acknowledged that centuries of use, and transmission from nation to nation, had an effect on various spellings. He incorporated many of these elements into his Opus Pacis, which was copied and put to practical use, and had spread from Germany as far north as Ireland. By the 1480's it had become a standard, specifically for the Devotio Moderna and the Reformed Benedictines. Opus Pacis became a generic term for any work of its kind. The last surviving copy was written in 1514, indicating that manuscript correction remained an important subject sixty years into the printed era. ^[30] The Bible is the collection of sacred writings or books of Judaism and Christianity. ... The longest lasting of the western Catholic monastic orders, the Benedictine Order traces its origins to the adoption of the monastic life by St. ...

Manuscript as a Vehicle for Preaching

It was in Late Manuscript Culture that the written page took on a renewed meaning to religious communities. Scriptorias of Benedictine, Cisterican and Augustinaian houses had resumed after being suppressed by the production of university and mendicant books. Particularly, these scriptoria exemplified the idea that one shall live by the fruit of one's labors. Writing sacred books was the most fitting, suitable and pious task that one could undertake to do so. Also, copying these books was equivalent to preaching with ones hands. Sermons were only of moderate importance in the 1200's. By the 1400's, after the emphasis placed on preaching in the Fourth Lateran Council, they were of the utmost importance. The formation and expansion of preaching orders led to the proliferation of pastoral theology in schools, and preaching was now an indispensable part of the sacraments. Uniform manuscripts with many tools made for ease of reference, reading, and enunciation became necessary ^[31].

The Devotio Moderna and the reformed Benedictines relied on reading devotional texts for instruction, and the written word was raised to a high level of importance not afforded by earlier religious movements. The writing was just as important as the word. In fact, monasteries bought many printed books, becoming the main market for the early printing press, precisely because of this devotion to preaching. Without the Devotio Moderna and orders that followed their example, the need for texts and printers would not have been present. Printing had exploded in Germany and the Low Countries, the home of the Devotio Moderna and Reformed Benedictines, as opposed to England and France. They were also the home to the beginnings of Late Manuscript Culture, because of the common desire for uniformity. Trimethius protested the invasion of the library by the printed book because of the missing aspect of devotion that had been present in preaching with ones' hands. With the preaching possible as a scribe, manuscripts had a function that was lacking in a printed book, though both possessed a greater degree of uniformity than earlier manuscripts. ^[32] Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Julio Pérez Ferrero Library - Cúcuta, Colombia A modern-style library in Chambéry A library is a collection of information resources and services, organized for use, and maintained by a public body, institution, or private individual. ...

Manuscripts and the Arrival of Print

By roughly 1470, the transition from handwritten books to printed ones had begun. The book trade, in particular, underwent drastic changes. By this point German printing presses had reached the northernmost regions of Europe, specifically Paris. By 1500, print had stopped imitating manuscripts and manuscripts were imitating print. In the reign of Francis I (1515-1547) for instance, the king's handwritten manuscripts were based on Roman type. While quality rag paper had appeared before the arrival of the printing press, it was at this time that parchmenters lost most of their business. Paper was not only acceptable, it was preferable, and printers and scribes had both ceased to use parchment altogether. Many libraires decried these changes, because of the loss in individuality and subtlety that resulted.^[33] Many printed books and manuscripts were even created with the same paper. The same watermarks are often observable on them, that signified the particular paper dealer who created it.^[34] Events May 15 - Charles VIII of Sweden who had served three terms as King of Sweden dies. ... Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... 1500 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The title of Francis I can refer to: Francis I of Austria (1768-1835) Francis I, King of France 1515-47 Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1745-1765) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1515 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1547 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ...

Manuscripts were still written and illuminated well into the sixteenth century, some dating to just before 1600. Many illuminators continued to work on various manuscripts, specifically the Book of Hours. The Book of Hours had been the most commonly produced manuscript from the 1450's onward, and was among the last manuscripts created. By the sixteenth century, however, manuscripts were mostly illuminated by artists retained by nobles or royals. Their work was required (and manuscripts were created) only for unusual occasions, such as noble or royal births, weddings, or other extraordinary occurrences. The number of copyists had greatly declined, as these types of manuscripts were not intended for mass, or even student, consumption. ^[35] A illuminated page from the Très Riches Heures showing the day for exchanging gifts from the month of January A Book of Hours is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. ...

The traditional organization of book production fell apart; they were made up of libraires dolling out quires to scribes and illuminators, who lived in close proximity. The new, specialized system based on patronage didn't support them. Libraires, and not scribes, turned into printers, and served as a link between late manuscript culture and print culture. They had possessed reserves of manuscripts, and slowly supplemented them with printed books, until printed books dominated their collections. However, the cost and risks involved in making books greatly increased with the transition to print. Still, Paris and more northern areas of Europe (especially France) had been the foremost center of manuscript production, and remained a force in the printed book market, falling only behind Venice.^[36]

Manuscript Descent and Exemplars

There were accounts of scribes working in a similar manner in comparison to their rival printers, though the process was still subtly different. The pages on sheets of vellum were folded together to form a quire before the invention of printing or paper, and printed books also bound multiple quires to form a codex. They were simply made of paper. Manuscripts were also used as exemplars for printed books. Lines were counted off based on the exemplar and marked in advance, while the typesetting reflected the layout of the manuscript's text. Within a few generations, however, printed books were used as new exemplars. This process created various “family trees”, as many printed sources would be double checked against earlier manuscripts if the quality was deemed to low. This necessitated the creation of stemma, or lines of descent among books. This made manuscripts gain a new significance, as sources to find earlier authority or a better authority, in comparison to the published version of a text. Erasmus, for instance, attained authoritative manuscripts from the medieval period due to his dissatisfaction with printed Bibles.^[37] Desiderius Erasmus in 1523 Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (also Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) (October 27, probably 1466 – July 12, 1536) was a Dutch humanist and theologian. ...

Christine de Pizan and Humanist Illumination

The Epistre Othea or Letter of Othea to Hector, composed in 1400, symbolized the murky transition from manuscript culture to the Renaissance and humanistic print culture. It was a retelling of the classical story of Othea through an illuminated manuscript, though it conveyed many humanistic Renaissance ideas. Created by Christine de Pizan, it's patron was Louis of Orleans, heir to the French throne. It contained over 100 images, and each chapter opened with the image of a mythological figure or event. It also contained short narrative verses, and texte addressed to Hector. Each prose passage contained a labeled glose, and attempted to interpret a humanistic lesson from the myth. Every glose closed with a quote from an ancient philosopher. Additionally, other short prose passages called allegories concluded a section. They conveyed lessons applicable to the soul, and a Latin Bible quotation. ^[38] Christine de Pizan instructing her son. ...

Christine de Pizan combined contemporary images through illumination with new humanistic values typically associated with print. Her work was based on Ovid's, and many Ovidian myths were traditionally illuminated, the medieval period. She also incorporated astrology, Latin texts, and a wide variety of classical mythology in fleshing out Ovid's account, maintaining her humanist motivations. This contradiction also led to the use of illuminatio, or the practice of using light as color. Her Othea is a bricolage, restructuring tradition while not trying to create a new master work. It was done in the style of an ordinatio, or layout that emphasized the meaning of the organization of images. ^[39] Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now Constanţa AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... Bricolage – from the French-language verb bricoler, meaning to tinker or to fiddle – is that languages equivalent of the English phrase do-it-yourself. Bricolage is also often contrasted to engineering: building by trial and error rather than based on theory. ...

The Othea reflected a late manuscript culture that was defined by violence, action, and gender challenges within literature. Anger was depicted in relation to gender, and marked “a departure from the Aristotelian tradition”. Women were no longer driven into mindless frenzies, but possessed anger that developed from fully considered character interactions. The Epistre Othea remained Christine's most popular work, despite the fact that multiple versions existed. Because of the fluid nature of mansucript reproduction, specifically in the case of illumination (as opposed to the text), the visual experience was not uniform. Each exemplar incorporated diverse cultural elements, with many having entirely different philosophical and theological implications. Only later reproductions that used woodcuts to reproduce the images created a truly authorial version of the manuscript. It also owed its very existence to the printing press in the first instance, because bibles were now relegated to the press, leaving nonreligious texts available for detailed illumination. ^[40]

Constructing an Auctor with Chaucer

William Caxton

While using medieval manuscripts as exemplars, many printers attempted to implant humanist values into the text. They attempted to create a uniform work, displaying many similarities in terms of motivation with the Devotio Moderna. Early editors and publishers needed definitive works to define a culture. William Caxton (1415~1424-1492), an editor, was instrumental in shaping English culture and language, and did so through his authoritative Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.^[41] Caxton was a transitional figure, who sought to close the gap between manuscript culture and a more humanistic print culture through Chaucer's work. Specifically, Caxton attempted to make Chaucer appear similar to classical writers and continental poets.^[42] The printers device of William Caxton, 1478. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Chaucer as Humanist

Caxton attempted to make Chaucer into an English Petrarch or Virgil, and realized that new humanistic sixteenth century versions of his work had to recognize fourteenth century versions. His Chaucer transcended medieval ideals, and became timeless, conforming to humanistic ideals. This required construction of a literary genealogy referred to older medieval exemplars. Through his editing, Chaucer was framed as an early promoter of the Renaissance, who decried Gothic and medieval culture, and who rescued the English language. From the c. ... A bust of Virgil, from the entrance to his tomb in Naples, Italy. ...

^[43]

Caxton and the Flaws of "Olde Bookes"

Caxton wanted to discard “old bookes” that were characteristic of medieval culture. To do this, he modernized older terms and introduced Latinate spellings. He removed the influence of manuscript culture, that allowed the reader to have some textual authority. Caxton believed that printed books could set a defined authorship, in which the reader would not feel it appropriate to change the text or add glosses. He believed that cheap versions of this authorial Chaucer would allow a diverse group of readers to develop common economic and political ideals, unifying the culture of England. He was the exemplum for the English standard. His version of Chaucer was well liked by Henry VII of England, who decided to spread it in order to help provide England with a common cultural background. ^[44] Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509), King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), was the founder and first patriarch of the Tudor dynasty. ...

Changing Perceptions of the "Book"

To most people in the late age of manuscript culture, books were codices first, vehicles for text, regardless of whether they were printed or handwritten. The cost of obtaining them determined the standard, and printed books gradually gained precedence. William Caxton stated that his readers could have them “good cheap”, and that the quality of text was improved, if not equaled, in print. Many catalogues from the period do list both kinds indiscriminately. However, in auctions a careful distinction was made between the two, as anything handwritten fetched a higher price. ^[45]

Popular Assumptions and Historical Revision

Many scholars of print culture, as well as classicists, have argued that inconsistencies among manuscripts due to the blind copying of texts and a static manuscript culture that (specifically medieval manuscript culture) existed during the rise of the printing press. The noted classicist E.J. Kenney, whose work formed much of the early scholarship on this issue, stated that “medieval authors, scribes, and readers had no notion of emending a text, when they were confronted with an obvious error in their exemplars, other than by slavishly copying the readings of another text”. There was a great diversity among them, however, as observed in this copy of Jerome's Epistolae Morale, compared to this copy of Cicero's Letters, both dating from the 1500's. However, many historians and specifically medievalists argue that the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries demonstrated reforms that accommodated many of the functions associated with print. Also, many classicists naturally looked to reproductions of classical texts during the period, which were not necessarily characteristic of other work that was deemed more important. Universality and uniformity, medievalists believe, was seen among some late manuscripts, along with other changes typically associated with the printed book.^[46] Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and communication. ... “Saint Jerome” redirects here. ... Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA:Classical Latin pronunciation: , usually pronounced in American English or in UK English; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, widely considered one of Romes greatest orators...

Much of the recent scholarship on Late Manuscript Culture was specifically generated by Elizabeth Eisenstein^[47], a key print culture scholar, and arguably creator of the "print culture" model. Eisenstein argued that the invention of the printing press eventually led to the Renaissance, and the social conditions necessary for its occurrence. The printing pres allowed readers to free themselves from many limitations of the manuscript. She did not detail the state of manuscript and scribal culture in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, however. She described in depth the conditions present in Germany at the time of the printing presses' invention in Mainz, and detailed the scribal culture in England and France in order to compare print culture and manuscript culture. She didn't describe Italian humanists in Florence and renewed religious orders of the Modern Devotion in the Low Countries and Germany. These included the Windesheim Congregation, of which Oswald de Corda was a memeber. Many medievalists, specifically Mary A. Rouse and Richard H. Rouse, responded by attempting to create a more detailed account of late manuscript culture, and defined its distinctive characteristics. This is part of the belief that changes occurred during the period that print culture scholars, such as Eisenstein, ignored. ^[48] Elizabeth Eisenstein is an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th c. ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... The Congregation of Windesheim was a branch of the Augustinians which took its name form an Augustinian monastery situated about four miles south of Zwolle on the Issel, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. ...

References

1. ^ Barker, Nicolas, and British Library. A Potencie of Life : Books in Society : The Clark Lectures 1986-1987, British Library Studies in the History of the Book. London: British Library, 1993. p. 45-52.
2. ^ http://wally.rit.edu/cary/cc_db/manuscripts/43a.jpeg
3. ^ Barker, 1993 p.46.
4. ^ de Hamel, Christopher. The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illuminination: History and Techniques. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1988. p. 41-52.
5. ^ Rouse, Richard H., and Mary A. Rouse. Manuscripts and Their Makers : Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris, 1200-1500. 2 vols, Illiterati Et Uxorati. Turnhout, Belgium: Harvey Miller, 2000. p.85.
6. ^ Ullman, B. L., "La Pecia dans les manuscrits universitaires du XIII e et du XIV e siecle." Rev. of La Pecia, by Jean Destrez. Classical Philology, Vol. 33, No. 2. Apr. 1938: pp. 238-240.
7. ^ http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=13853
8. ^ Rouse, Mary A., and Richard H. Rouse. Authentic Witnesses : Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts, Publications in Medieval Studies ; 17 Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991. p.303.
9. ^ http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16531
10. ^ Rouse, 1991 p.304-5.
11. ^ Barker, 1993 p.47.
12. ^ Rouse, 1991 p.272.
13. ^ Rouse, 1991 p.261-3.
14. ^ Rouse, 1991 p.270.
15. ^ Barker, 1993 p.52-3.
16. ^ Rouse, 2000 p.77.
17. ^ http://hortulus.net/may06lf/irwin.html
18. ^ Rouse, 2000 p.80.
19. ^ Rouse, 1991 p.269.
20. ^ Rouse, 2000 p.78.
21. ^ Rouse, Mary A., and Richard H. Rouse. Authentic Witnesses : Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts, Publications in Medieval Studies ; 17 , p. 447-457.
22. ^ Hellinga, Lotte. The Codex in the Fifteenth Century. Manuscript and Print. Barker, Nicolas, ed. and British Library. A Potencie of Life : Books in Society : The Clark Lectures 1986-1987, British Library Studies in the History of the Book. London: British Library, 1993. p. 63-84. Rouse, 1991. p. 452-459.
23. ^ Rouse, 1991 p. 452-457
24. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 450-452
25. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 427-440
26. ^ Rouse 1991, 450-457
27. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 440-452
28. ^ http://www.hist.msu.ru/Departments/Medieval/Cappelli/ Rouse 1991, p. 440-452
29. ^ A 14th/15th century, German Valde Bonum
30. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 440-448
31. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 452-456
32. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 452-456
33. ^ Lotte, p.63-81 Rouse, Richard H., and Mary A. Rouse. Manuscripts and Their Makers : Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris, 1200-1500. 2 vols, Illiterati Et Uxorati. Turnhout, Belgium: Harvey Miller, 2000. p. 328-329
34. ^ http://www2.ksbm.oeaw.ac.at/_scripts/php/wzma.php
35. ^ Hellinga, Lotte. p. 63-79 Rouse 2000, p. 329-331
36. ^ Hellinga, Lotte. p. 63-72 Rouse 2000, p. 329-332
37. ^ Lotte, p. 64-84 http://wapedia.mobi/it/Treviso#1.1.
38. ^ Desmond, Marilynn and Pamela Sheingorn. Myth, montage, & visuality in late medieval manuscript culture : Christine de Pizan’s Epistre Othea. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003. p. 1-5
39. ^ Desmond, p.1-192
40. ^ Desmond, p. 192-241
41. ^ A 14th/15th century, Caxton era Works of Chaucer
42. ^ Mayer, Lauryn S.. Words made flesh: reading medieval manuscript culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. p. 121-145
43. ^ Mayer, p. 121-148
44. ^ Mayer, p. 132-148
45. ^ Lotte, p. 64-84
46. ^ Rouse 1991, p. 427-429
47. ^ Elizabeth Eisenstein, Print as an Agent of Change, 2 vols. (Cambridge: University Press, 1979). p. 328-329
48. ^ Rouse, 1991 p. 465-466

See also

• Manuscript
• Illuminated manuscripts
• Scriptorium
• Codex
• List of manuscripts
• List of Hiberno-Saxon illustrated manuscripts
• Manuscript processing
• Manuscript format
• Historical document
• Book

A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript, often of a religious nature, in which the text is supplemented by the addition of colourful ornamentation, such as decorated initials, borders and the like. ... A Scriptorium was a room or building, usually within a Christian monastery where, during medieval times, manuscripts were written. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... This is a list of famous manuscripts. ... Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts are those manuscripts made in the British Isles from about 500 CE to about 1000 CE, or those manuscripts made on the continent in scriptoria founded by Irish or Anglo-Saxon missionaries and which are stylistically similar to the manuscripts produced in the British Isles. ... Manuscript format is the format in which most editors prefer to receive writers submittals of text manuscripts for publication. ... Historical documents are document that contain important information about a person, place, or event. ... A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side, and within protective covers. ...

Bibliography and Further Reading

Barker, Nicolas, and British Library. A Potencie of Life : Books in Society : The Clark Lectures 1986-1987, British Library Studies in the History of the Book. London: British Library, 1993.

Dagenais, John. The Ethics of Reading in Manuscript Culture: Glossing the "Libro de buen amor." Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994

Desmond, Marilynn and Pamela Sheingorn. Myth, montage, & visuality in late medieval manuscript culture : Christine de Pizan’s Epistre Othea. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003.

Mayer, Lauryn S.. Words made flesh: reading medieval manuscript culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. Ong, Walter. Interfaces of the Word: Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness and Culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977

Rouse, Mary A., and Richard H. Rouse. Authentic Witnesses : Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts, Publications in Medieval Studies; 17 Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991

Rouse, Richard H., and Mary A. Rouse. Manuscripts and Their Makers : Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris, 1200-1500. 2 vols, Illiterati Et Uxorati. Turnhout, Belgium: Harvey Miller, 2000.

Trapp, J. B., ed. Manuscripts in the Fifty Years after the Invention of Printing: Some Papers Read at a Colloquium at the Warburg Institute on 12-13 March 1982

External Links

• Medieval Illuminated Manuscipts
• Medieval manuscript leaves.
• Illuminated Manuscripts
• The Schøyen Collection
• Manuscriptorium
• Bodleian Library Collection of Manuscripts
• A. CAPPELLI. DIZIONARIO DI ABBREVIATURE LATINI ED ITALIANI.
• Hill Museum and Manuscript Library
• WZMA - Wasserzeichen des Mittelalters