Ancien proffesions. The parchment and its manufacture.

The use of parchment is known since ancient times, al thongh its origin depens on the authors. Ctesias and Herodoto tell us it was a scriptorico material widely used in the Persian empire, whose usage was wide-spread in the V century in the river basin of Mediterranean.

The surviving parchment that is considered the most antique is a Greek document from Dura Europo dated in the II century.

In the Greek world this material was called diphtéra, membrane in latin. The designation of the membrane pergamena or pergamenum ascribing it to the King Eumenen the II ( 195-158 b.C.) and its invention as well. The name pergamenum was used for the first time in the edict of Diocleciano in the years 301, which is about “ De pretiis rerum venalium”. In the west it was the most important sciptoricum material from IV to XVI century, not only for books but also for diplomatic documents.

For luxurious books in the Greek-Latin world, the dyed purple parchment was used and the writing was with golden and silver inks. The most ancient known models date back to the V century and they were frequent in this period. One of the most important being the Codex Argenteus know as the Gospel Book of Ulfilas, found in the University of Upsala. The use of this kind of parchment triumphed again in the
Carolinge period (IX-X century) with the intention of recreating the examples of ancient times. It was also used in documents of bizantine and German chancellery in solem events.

Parchment was made of animal skins. The most frequently used being sheep goat and cow hide. Lamb and kid were used less due to their fragility and small size. The transformation of parchment into a material suitable for writing on or being binded was made by the percamenarius or parchment craftsmen. These craftmen have existed since the Carolingio, Romanesque and Gothic periods. In the year 822 the abbot Abelardo established among the different proffesions in the abbey in Corbey the job of parchment maker.

The preparation of parchment was and still is a slow and complicated process. The first step is the choice of skin. Thi is a difficult and crucial task because the quality

Of the final product depens on this choice . A bad quality skin will never. Ever turn into good parchment. On the other hand good quality skin that isn´t processed properly, will not turn into good parchment skin will never, ever turn intro good parchment.

The first phase consisted in washing the skin with cold, running water until it was clean. Then it was left soaking in stone basins or wodden tubs stirring several times a day with a wooden pole until the hairs fall out.

Afterthat, the slippery skins were taken out of the basin or tub one by one and put then with the hair side face up on a vertical curved board called a canfustre. On this board the parchment maker scratched them with a long curved blade until he removed the hair completely.

They were washed again with running water and once again they were spread on the canfustre to eliminate with the blade any remaining flesh. At this stage, the skin was soaked again in order to eliminate the remains of the lime.

The second phase of the process: when the skin is transformed int parchment. The skins were put to dry spreading on a wooden framework and well-tauted. The said frame could be circular, as described on medieval writings, or rectangular as shown in the manuscript of Bamberg (XII century). To give them the necessary tautness the skins were nailed as tautly as they could hold to the same on the whole of the skin. From this moment on, the parchment-maker only had to wait for the skin to dry.

At this point the parchment could be used to bird and for other purposes. To make them suitable for writing a final specially delicate process was necessary: scratch and polish. The side of the flower skin ( the hairy side) must be scratched to eliminate the characteristic sating lustre and which impedes writing. The procedure used consisted of scratching with a pumice stone and then polishing it with elk.

The parchment bought by booksellers can´t have been polished as we can deduce from the production cost for some books. The accounts of the Saint-Chapelle in Paris include the expenses made to purchase 972 dozens of skins for the amount of 194 livres and 18 sous, wore 24 livres and six sous for scratiing them; 60 pound to select them and 10 sous to the assessor. It is also known that 4 pounds, six shillings and o pences were paid for 13 dozens calf skins for the luxurious Litlyngton Missal in the Westmister Abbey in 1383-1384. It was the greatest expens made.

Parchment is a excepcially lasting material. It can last one thousand and even more. There is no facsimile which can offer the experience of feeling and smelling a medieval parchment.