A biocodicological analysis of the medieval library and archive from Orval Abbey, Belgium.

ABSTRACT: 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). Calfsk

SUBMITTER: Ruffini-Ronzani N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8170200 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature