Unusual Bits & Pieces

Unusual Bits & Pieces in Manuscripts

This page will show some rather unusual items or unusual details of medieval manuscripts.

Disclaimer: Unusal just means that I have not come across them on a regular basis, and I might be totally wrong with my opinion.

I'll be adding to this page as I come across more interesting bits & pieces.

	Palimpsest of Cicero, De Republica. Primary script (Cicero, large letters): uncial, s. iv. Secondary script (Augustine, On the Psalms), s. vii. Rome, Vat. Lat. 5757 A palimpsest is a manuscript on which an earlier text has been effaced and the vellum or parchment reused for another. It was a common practice, particularly in medieval ecclesiastical circles, to rub out an earlier piece of writing by means of washing or scraping the manuscript, in order to prepare it for a new text. The motive for making palimpsests seems to have been largely economic--reusing parchment was cheaper than preparing new skin. Another motive may have been directed by the desire of Church officials to "convert" pagan Greek script by overlaying it with the word of God. Modern historians, usually more interested in older writings, have employed infra-red and digital enhancement techniques to recover the erased text, often with remarkable results. Among the many important palimpsests, the most notable is the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus of which only 209 leaves have survived. Over the original fifth century text of the Bible, is written the twelfth century sermons of St. Ephrem.
From an 15th century Italian manuscript, written by Carthusian monks. Click on the picture for a better view. This manuscript features two lines for the writing instead of just the bottom line. And the letters are aligned on the top line instead of the lower. Also have a look at the "P" in the upper left corner. You can still see the tiny little "P" the scribe wrote there as instruction for the illuminator. Unfortuntely the source did not list the manuscript location & number. Stink!
	This one is from the manuscript Diözesan Hs. 173, CXr exhibition catalog: "Glaube und Wissen im Mittelalter" Aug. 7 - Nov 15, 1998 in the Dombibliothek in Cologne, showing manuscripts of that library It shows RED white-work on a blue background.
Manuscript Diözesan Hs. 150, 193 v exhibition catalog: "Glaube und Wissen im Mittelalter" Aug. 7 - Nov 15, 1998 in the Dombibliothek in Cologne, showing manuscripts of that library Black dots as decoration on red (and also white) fields struck me as unusal.

[Black] [Bryn] [Doodles] [Initials] [Parchment] [Unusual]