Books -- History -- 400-1450; Manuscripts; Paleography
As indicating the extent and the importance of the specific movement
toward the establishment of libraries, promoting thus the revival of
learning after the long night of the "Dark Ages," we desire to condense
the following paragraph from a recent and valuable work: A number
of libraries were established in Paris and were available, not only
for professors, scholars, and students of the schools, but for those
interested in books and literature and duly accredited strangers who
came from elsewhere and who would accept the easy conditions of the
libraries' protected use. There were libraries also connected with
the numerous abbeys of these and of previous and subsequent times. A
score or more of these abbeys came, in time, to be located in England,
as those at Wearmouth and Jarrow--places forever distinguished for
the life labors of the Venerable Bede--in a dozen of which there were
fine libraries with large writing rooms wherein books were constantly
copied and treasured. In France important collections of books were
to be found at Cluny and in many other abbeys. The number of books in
all these libraries was constantly enlarged and the libraries enriched
from various sources: By the exchange of duplicate books with other
libraries; by borrowing from neighboring libraries for the purpose of
copying; and by donations of books from private sources and individual
donors. As an example of this last mentioned source of increase and
enrichment, the library of La St. Chapelle of Paris, founded by Louis
IX., was constantly augmented by his donations of the books that had
been given to him and which he passed on for the advantage of the
library's patrons. Moreover, the constant "wear and tear" of books even
when written on parchment or vellum, and notwithstanding the stringent
regulations safeguarding their use to legitimate channels, constantly
called for the re-writing of worn-out volumes that were passed along
from one generation to another.[70]
The Arabian conquests, too--notwithstanding the sore disasters which
they at first seemed to threaten--turned rather, through the caliphs'
subsequent patronage of learning and science, to the preservation and
extension of literature. The Greek manuscripts came to be eagerly
sought for by the Arabians and were translated into their own language.
Colleges, schools, and libraries, in numerous places, were the tangible
and assuring tokens of the subsequent favor of the Arabians toward
literature. Bagdad in the far East and Cordova in the far West, with
Cairo and Tripoli lying between, became seats of rich developments of
science and letters and the depositories of books during the age when
Europe was deeply enshrouded in intellectual darkness.[71]
XX
MONASTERIES AND THE MONASTIC INSTITUTION
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