Книга эпохи античности принципиально отличается from a book created in the Middle Ages. The difference lies not only in the meaning and themes. The materials on which they wrote as well as the tools with which they wrote are mainly different from each other. Therefore, we now consider in detail what material for writing in the early Middle Ages was the most popular, on which books were written and what was necessary for this.
Slave antique society inhistorical context appears before us as a free-thinking, developing, educated. Therefore, the multiple written reminders dating from this epoch are not just ancient pictograms and rebuses, but full-fledged documents and writings written in the dead languages nowadays. However, in those years of literacy only the richest people were trained. For writing, they used papyrus - so to speak, hard paper, which was transported to Europe from Egypt. With the advent of the Middle Ages, this writing material has lost its relevance, primarily because the relationship with the East has gone wrong. Therefore, starting from the third century, people are switching to parchment.
After the relationship with Egypt fell apart,Sicily began to make their papyrus. But this writing material could hardly satisfy the demands of the Italian offices. It was yellow, brittle, too porous and not suitable for writing with a pen. Then the Europeans turned to the invention of the inhabitants of Asia Minor, which appeared in the second century BC. e. These were the numbed rawhide skins of animals, on which the Jews of the Old Testament had previously recorded the revelations of the Old Testament. The invention belonged to the king Pergamum Eumenes II, whence his name came from.
Parchment was used as writing material inEarly Middle Ages most widely. It spread throughout Europe, including the Scandinavian countries, and became the basis for many religious books and secular treatises.
It turns out that parchment is the most usedmaterial for writing in the early Middle Ages. On this basis, we find letters, diplomas, diptychs, three-leaved books with instructions, and even personal notebooks of feudal lords and other representatives of high society. In order to make a notebook, at that time it was enough to fold a piece of parchment only once. It was soft, versatile, and it didn’t hesitate. To create more meaningful records, a lot of parchment sheets were collected, which were sewn up, like modern books. In such collections were written religious texts, laws, government installations, and more.
New material for writing in the early Middle Agesgave impetus to the development of a fundamentally new system of maintaining documentation and compiling books. Example one is a library. In the ancient world, it is presented to us in the form of numerous scrolls that were stored on the shelves. In such an abyss of papyrus to find the necessary information was extremely problematic. In the middle ages, we see shelves filled with books, each of which has a cover. Through this title page, you can determine what kind of information is contained inside. The second example is furniture (oddly enough). The ancient sages worked on music stands, and medieval feudal lords and priests began writing for the first time at the table. Such an invention as a parchment book has become a real find for society. Everyone claimed that it was convenient to hold, pleasant to read, and most importantly - you can find the information you need as soon as possible.
Is parchment the only material forletters in the early Middle Ages? The answer to this question is somewhat negative. The fact is that only notable people had the honor to write on animal skins, while the poor were not able to afford such pleasure. Therefore palimpsests became popular among them. So called papyrus sheets, which erased the old texts, and then put on them new ones. Ink was scraped with knives, pumice, burned out, soaked - in a word, there were incredibly many ways. After such procedures, the text was completely lost. New notes were made on the papyrus, the value of many of which is not as great as the destroyed predecessors.
By the 10th century, writing in the early Middle Agesmoves to a new level. During the years of emigration to Europe of the Arabs, paper appeared here, which was much cheaper than parchment and more convenient to use. But the type of its production was fundamentally different from the modern one. The sheets were obtained by crushing with a special press of linen cloth, which, after being dried, was cut. The paper was not as fragile and valuable as papyrus, because it became like parchment, made out into books, made of letters, diplomas and simple notebooks.
