The Miniaturisation of Bible Manuscripts in the Thirteenth Century. A Comparative Study

Ruzzier, Chiara

doi:10.1163/9789004248892_006

Cited by 4 publications

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“…The most frequently cited examples of uterine vellum are the 13th-century Paris Bibles (1,2,4,6,7). These books were singlevolume Bibles (pandects) with a consistent organization, which meant that they were easily searchable, making them the ideal reference guide for study and sermon preparation (8).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most important subgroups of 13th-century Paris Bibles is the pocket or portable Bible, volumes sufficiently small to be easily transported. Ruzzier (6) suggests that the total output of portable Bibles in the 13th century could have exceeded 20,000 copies. The majority of surviving copies (∼54%) were made in France, most in Paris (6), although Bibles of this style were also produced in England at the same time and slightly later in both Italy (notably in the Veneto) and Spain.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forbes (21), citing Wattenbach, notes that hides used for parchment were predominantly calf in the north of Europe and sheep and goat in the south. Ruzzier (6) (4), noting the "warm, creamy tint" and "flexibility" of late-medieval Italian skins, attributes these qualities to the use of goatskin and possibly alternative methods of preparation. De Hamel (3) observes that Italian parchment is often prepared from goatskin, which contrasts with the poor representation of goatskin in England (22)(23)(24).…”

Section: Validation Of Triboelectric Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting

Fiddyment

Holsinger

Ruzzier

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

134

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Tissue-thin parchment made it possible to produce the first pocket Bibles: Thousands were made in the 13th century. The source of this parchment, often called "uterine vellum," has been a long-standing controversy in codicology. Use of the Latin term abortivum in many sources has led some scholars to suggest that the skin of fetal calves or sheep was used. Others have argued that it would not be possible to sustain herds if so many pocket Bibles were produced from fetal skins, arguing instead for unexpected alternatives, such as rabbit. Here, we report a simple and objective technique using standard conservation treatments to identify the animal origin of parchment. The noninvasive method is a variant on zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide mass fingerprinting but extracts protein from the parchment surface by using an electrostatic charge generated by gentle rubbing of a PVC eraser on the membrane surface. Using this method, we analyzed 72 pocket Bibles originating in France, England, and Italy and 293 additional parchment samples that bracket this period. We found no evidence for the use of unexpected animals; however, we did identify the use of more than one mammal species in a single manuscript, consistent with the local availability of hides. These results suggest that ultrafine vellum does not necessarily derive from the use of abortive or newborn animals with ultrathin hides, but could equally well reflect a production process that allowed the skins of maturing animals of several species to be rendered into vellum of equal quality and fineness. Hamlet, V.i

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Validation Of Triboelectric Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting

Fiddyment

Holsinger

Ruzzier

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

134

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Ray¹

2016

Pecia

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Missing Books in the Folk Codicology of Later Medieval England

Sawyer¹

2017

The Mediaeval Journal

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Such a collection Dennistoun had hardly dreamed of in his wildest moments. Here were ten leaves from a copy of Genesis, illustrated with pictures, which could not be later than A.D. 700. Further on was a complete set of pictures from a Psalter, of English execution, of the very finest kind that the thirteenth century could produce; and, perhaps best of all, there were twenty leaves of uncial writing in Latin, which, as a few words seen here and there told him at once, must belong to some very early unknown patristic treatise.In M. R. James's ghost story 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book', an antiquarian encounters a haunted collection of manuscript fragments. 1 The metaphor offered by this story for the study of surviving manuscripts, an activity which might be understood as the raising of ghosts, has been noted by John Scattergood in a brief, perceptive reading. 2 But 'Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book' points more particularly to the problem posed by missing manuscripts. The scrap-book or album paradoxically preserves exciting material while also reminding its readers of a larger body of lost evidence: all the manuscripts from which the scraps were taken. 3 Such scrap-books are frustrating evidence. Complete medieval manuscripts are more comforting, and they survive in comfortingly large numbers, relative to individual scholars' research time: for example, there are around ten thousand Western examples in the Bodleian Library, or enough for forty years of study with a new manuscript every working day. These numbers are, however, tiny relative to the numbers which are lost: it is estimated that ninety-five to ninety-eight percent of all the medieval manuscripts once produced have disappeared. 4 Furthermore, the manuscripts which remain constitute a patchy collection of unusual survivors, preserved for reasons which are hardly neutral, such as size, beauty or a particular provenance. Canon Alberic's fragmentary and haunted scrap-book is, then, a fine synecdoche

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The Miniaturisation of Bible Manuscripts in the Thirteenth Century. A Comparative Study

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting

Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting

Intellectual Exchange:

Missing Books in the Folk Codicology of Later Medieval England

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