Books and their makers during the Middle Ages : $b A study of the conditions of the production and distribution of literature from the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of the seventeenth century, Vol. IPutnam, George Haven
History
Books and their makers during the Middle Ages : $b A study of the conditions of the production and distribution of literature from the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of the seventeenth century, Vol. I
Putnam, George Haven
Books -- History -- 400-1450; Copyright; Freedom of the press -- History -- To 1500; Manuscripts; Printers
In the thirteenth century, Matthew Paris compiled his chronicles,
the writing in which appears to have been, for the greater part at
least, done by his own hand, but at this time, in a large proportion
of the literary work carried on in the English monasteries, the
transcribing was done by paid scribes. This, however, was much less
the case in the Continental monasteries. In Corbie, towards the latter
half of the century, there is a record of zealous writing on the part
of a certain Brother Nevelo. Nevelo tells us that he had a penance to
work off for a grave sin, and that he was allowed to do this by work
in the _scriptorium_.[106] During this century, the monasteries of
the Carthusians were particularly active in their literary work, but
this work was limited almost entirely to theological and religious
undertakings. An exception is presented in the chronicles of the
Frisian monk Emo. While Emo was still a school-boy, he gave the hours
which his companions employed in play, to mastering penmanship and the
art of illuminating. Later, he was, with his brother Addo, a student in
the schools in Paris, Orleans, and Oxford, and while in these schools,
in addition to their work as students, they gave long hours of labour,
extending sometimes through the entire night, to the transcribing of
chronicles and to the preparation of copies of the so-called heathen
literature.
Emo was the first abbot of the monastery in Wittewierum (1204-1237),
and it is recorded that the abbot, while his brothers were sleeping,
devoted his nights to the writing and illuminating of the choir books.
In this monastery, Emo succeeded in bringing together in the _armarium
librorum_ an important collection of manuscripts, and he took pains
himself to give instructions to the monks in their work as scribes.
The quaint monastic record entitled the _Customs of Clugni_ was written
by Ulrich, a monk of Clugni, some time between the years 1077 and 1093
at the request or under the instructions of William, Abbot of Hirschau.
This was the Abbot William extolled by Trithemius as having restored
the Order of S. Benedict, which had almost fallen into ruin in
Germany. Trithemius speaks of his having founded eight monasteries and
restored more than one hundred, and says that next to the reformation
wrought by the foundation and influence of Clugni, the work done by
Abbot William was the most important recorded in the annals of his
Order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account