Biocodicological analysis of parchments from manuscript books and archives offers unprecedented insight into the materiality of medieval literacy. Using ZooMS for animal species identification, we explored almost the entire library and all the preserved single leaf charters of a single medieval Cistercian monastery (Orval Abbey, Belgium). Systematic non-invasive sampling of parchment collagen was performed on every charter and on the first bifolium from every quire of the 118 codicological units composing the books (1490 samples in total). Within the genuine production of the Orval scriptorium (26 units), a balanced use of calfskin (47.1%) and sheepskin (48.5%) was observed, whereas calfskin was less frequent (24.3%) in externally produced units acquired by the monastery (92 units). Calfskin was preferably used for higher quality manuscripts while sheepskin tends to be the standard choice for ‘ordinary’ manuscript book production. This finding is consistent with thirteenth-century parchment accounts from Beaulieu Abbey (England) where calfskin supply was more limited and its price higher. Our study reveals that the making of archival documents does not follow the same pattern as the production of library books. Although the five earliest preserved charters are made of calfskin, from the 1230s onwards, all charters from Orval are written on sheepskin.

Au cours du dernier quart du xie siècle, la cité lotharingienne de Cambrai connaît une mutation politique majeure. Alors que le pouvoir y était traditionnellement partagé entre l’évêque et l’aristocratie laïque depuis le xe siècle, l’émergence d’un troisième acteur – la commune – bouleverse les équilibres dans cette ville-frontière autour de 1100. Le présent article analyse la manière dont de (nouvelles) élites urbaines ont émergé sur la scène politique cambrésienne dans un contexte de troubles en partie induits par la réforme grégorienne. Si une insurrection fomentée contre l’évêque Gérard II échoue en 1077, la guerre civile qui affecte le Cambrésis au tournant des xie et xiie siècles offre aux citadins la possibilité de négocier avec l’évêque Gaucher l’octroi d’une charte de commune en 1102. Cette concession traduit sur un plan institutionnel l’influence acquise par les cives dans les secteurs politique et économique. Une analyse fine des sources révèle en effet que certains citadins ont pleinement profité de l’essor économique que connaissait le Cambrésis depuis près d’un siècle, au point de parfois exercer un véritable pouvoir d’influence dans l’entourage épiscopal. La pression fiscale croissante, les tensions politiques et une certaine insatisfaction à l’égard du conservatisme du clergé cambrésien pourraient avoir constitué des facteurs déclencheurs du mouvement communal.

Book production by medieval scriptoria have gained growing interest in recent studies. In this context, identifying ink compositions and parchment animal species from illuminated manuscripts is of great importance. Here, we introduce time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) as a non-invasive tool to identify both inks and animal skins in manuscripts, at the same time. For this purpose, both positive and negative ion spectra in inked and non-inked areas were recorded. Chemical compositions of pigments (decoration) or black inks (text) were determined by searching for characteristic ion mass peaks. Animal skins were identified by data processing of raw ToF-SIMS spectra using principal component analysis (PCA). In illuminated manuscripts from the fifteenth to sixteenth century, malachite (green), azurite (blue), cinnabar (red) inorganic pigments, as well as iron-gall black ink, were identified. Carbon black and indigo (blue) organic pigments were also identified. Animal skins were identified in modern parchments of known animal species by a two-step PCA procedure. We believe the proposed method will find extensive application in material studies of medieval manuscripts, as it is non-invasive, highly sensitive and able to identify both inks and animal skins at the same time, even from traces of pigments and tiny scanned areas.

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Investigating the case of the Investiture Struggle in the diocese of Cambrai–Arras (c. 1100), this article aims at exploring some crucial issues for historians using social network analysis in the study of heterogeneous relationships. The study proceeds along three lines of enquiry. First, by establishing a hierarchy in the different types of relationships mentioned in the sources, it determines which of them are the most important to model and understand the structure of the network. Second, it demonstrates it is unnecessary to consider co-witnessing relationships (i.e. to be witnesses of a same charter) in the modelling of networks. Indeed, co-witnessing relationships do not help to improve our understanding of the structure of the parties at stake in a conflict. Finally, this paper deals with the importance of rank order in the witness lists. It demonstrates that, in the case of Cambrai, rank order does not have an influence on the global structure of the network. In other words, all individuals in the same witness list play a similar role in the network in terms of party structuring.