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Abstract
When examining parchment, it can be difficult to determine the animal species from which a skin was obtained. In order to develop a reliable and non-invasive method of identification, Anna Di Majo, Carlo Federici, and Marco Palma studied hair follicles in parchment from medieval Italian manuscripts. Using microscopes and transmitted light from heat-free optical fibers, they analyzed the entire follicular structure of each sheet. They compared their findings with contemporary parchment of known origin. Follicular arrangement along with other dermal structures, species-specific features, and hair-root depth revealed an overwhelming prevalence of goatskin among the sheets the team examined. This non-invasive technique can be useful in determining the provenance of parchment artifacts and for gaining a better understanding of the materials chosen for inscription and illumination.
Acknowledgements
We are particularly grateful for the support of Arnaldo d’Addario, Head of the School, and Maria Lilli Di Franco, Director of the Institute, which greatly facilitated our work.
Notes
Notes
1 Julien Leroy, “La description codicologique des manuscrits grecs de parchemin, ” in La Paléographie grecque et byzantine. Paris, 21-25 octobre 1974, Colloques Internationaux du C.N.R.S. 559 (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1977), 27-44.
2 Codices Latini Antiquiores, I (1934), xi; II (1935), viii (= 1972/2, xii).
3 Bernhard Bischoff, “Zu dem Verhalten von Tinte und Pergament in alten Handschriften,” in Archivalische Zeitschrift 70 (1974): 98-100, 99; Bernhard Bischoff, “Die Rolle von Einflüssen in der Schriftgeschichte,” in Paläographie 1981. Colloquium des Comité International de Paléographie. München, 15-18 September 1981. Referate. Münchener Beiträge zur Mediävistik und Renaissance-Forschung 32, ed. Gabriel Silagi (München: Arbeo-Gesellschaft, 1982), 93-103. The same opinion is expressed by Johanne Autenrieth, “Insulare Spuren in Handschriften aus dem Bodenseegebiet bis zur Mitte des 9. Jahrhunderts,” in Paläographie 1981, 145-57.
4 Neil Ripley Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), vii, 3.
5 Julian Brown, “The Distribution and Significance of Membrane Prepared in the Insular Manner,” in La paléographie hébraïque médiévale. Paris 11 –13 septembre 1972, Colloques internationaux du C.N.R.S. 547 (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1974), 127-135, 128.
6 Hedwig Saxl, “An Investigation of the Qualities, the Methods of Manufacture and the Preservation of Historic Parchment and Vellum with a View to Identifying the Animal Species Used” (Master of Sc. Thesis, Leeds Department of Leather Industries, Leeds, 1954). The subject had already been briefly examined in Hedwig Saxl’s article “Histology of Parchment,” in Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts VIII (1939), 3-9. A summary of Saxl ’s thesis titled “A Note on Parchment” is in A History of Technology. Volume II, The Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages, c.700 B.C. to c. A.D. 1500, ed. Charles Singer, Eric John Holmyard, Alfred Rupert Hall, Trevor Illtyd Williams (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 187-90.
7 Saxl, “An Investigation,” 161-75.
8 The codices examined for which the catalog number is given are: Dublin, Trinity Coll., 57 (A.IV.5) (Book of Durrow, CLA II 273, originally from Northumberland, 7th cent./2); Leeds, Brotherton Libr., 16 (Greek manuscript attributed to 13th cent.); London, Brit. Libr., Harley 2277 (dated around 1300, English origin) and Add. 22764 (15th cent., Italian origin). The animal species are calf in the Book of Durrow, sheep in Harley 2277, goat in Add. 22764. The parchment of the Greek manuscript from Leeds does not seem to have been produced from the skin of a farmed animal (Saxl, “An Investigation,” 164-8, figs. 49 –62).
9 Ronald Reed, Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers (London/New York: Seminar Press, 1972), 127 –31. Returning to this question the same author highlighted the difficulty of recognizing the animal species from the skin used to make the parchment in Ronald Reed, The Nature and Making of Parchment (Leeds: Elmete Press, 1975), 19, 75-8.
10 Michael L. Ryder, “Remains Derived from Skins,” in Science in Archaeology, ed. Don R. Brothwell, Eric S. Higgs (Bristol, 1969), 2, 539-54 (especially 550). Among the many contributions by the same author, we also recall “Follicle Arrangement in Skin from Wild Sheep, Primitive Domestic Sheep and in Parchment,” Nature 182 (1958): 782-3; “Follicle Remains in Some British Parchments,” Nature 187 (1960): 130-2; “Parchment. Its History, Manufacture and Composition,” Journal of the Society of Archivists 2 (1964): 391-9, partially reprinted in Library Conservation: Preservation in Perspective, ed. John P. Baker, Marguerite C. Soroka (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania: Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, 1978), 85-90.
11 Claire Chahine, “Identification des cuirs et parchemins anciens à l'aide du microscope,” in Preprints: ICOM Committee for Conservation 4th triennial meeting: Venice 13-16 October 1975 vol. 2, 75/15/6 (Paris: International Council of Museums, 1975).
12 Among the oldest recipes, it is worth remembering the relatively short one in the famous Codex 490 from the Chapter Library in Lucca, fol. 219V (CLA III 303c), 8th/9th century [Compositiones ad tingenda musiva, ed. Hjalmar Hedfors (Uppsala: Almqvist och Wiksell, 1932), 14-5] and the other, much more detailed, on fol. 148r of Harley 3915, British Library, one of the most important references to the treatise De diversis artibus by Theophilus. The second recipe, whose incipit is particularly relevant to the aims of our research (Ad faciendas cartas de pellibus caprinis more bononiense), appears at the end of a codex of German origin, datable no later than the start of the thirteenth century. The text of the recipe has been published by Daniel Varney Thompson, “Medieval Parchment-Making, ” in The Library Volume s4-XVI Issue 1 (1935): 113-7, 114; on the content of the manuscript and its dating, see also among others Rozelle Parker Johnson, “The Manuscripts of the Schedula of Theophilus Presbyter, ” in Speculum 13 (1938): 86-103; Bernhard Bischoff, “Die Überlieferung des Theophilus-Rugerus nach den ältesten Handschriften,” in Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst s. III, 3/4 (1952/53), 145-9; Theophilus, De diversis artibus, ed. and trans. by Charles Reginald Dodwell (London: Nelson, 1961), lxiii –lxv.
13 Translator’s note: The Benedictine Abbey of Nonantola (Modena) has a rich library containing parchments from the eighth century onwards.
14 Marco Palma, “Da Nonantola a Fonte Avellana. A proposito di dodici manoscritti e di un domnus Damianus,” in Scrittura e civiltà 2 (1978): 221-30. After this, using older arguments regarding this controversial question that has been debated for centuries, the following authors raised doubts concerning domnus Damianus: Giorgio Picasso, “La tradizione libraria di Fonte Avellana,” in Fonte Avellana nella società dei secoli XI e XII, Atti del II Convegno del Centro di studi avellaniti, 1978 (Fonte Avellana: Arti Grafiche, 1979), 345-66; Celestino Pierucci, “Inventari dell'antica biblioteca di Fonte Avellana (secc. XI-XVIII),” in Fonte Avellana nella società dei secoli XIII e XIV, Atti del III Convegno del Centro di studi avellaniti (Fonte Avellana: Arti Grafiche, 1979), 144 n. 13, 149 n. 35; Eugenio Massa, “Paolo Giustiniani e gli antichi manoscritti avellanesi di san Pier Damiani,” in Fonte Avellana nella società dei secoli XV e XVI, Atti del IV Convegno del Centro di studi avellaniti, 1980 (Fonte Avellana: Arti Grafiche, 1981), 77-160. The question of their Nonantolan origin has not been raised again.
15 On the characteristics of these manuscripts and the relative bibliography, see most recently Marco Palma, “Antigrafo/apografo. La formazione del testo latino degli Atti del Concilio Costantinopolitano dell’869-70,” in Atti del Convegno internazionale Il Libro e il Testo, Urbino, 20-23 settembre 1982, ed. Cesare Questa, Renato Raffaelli, Scienze umane. Atti di congressi, I (Urbino: Pubblicazioni dell'Università di Urbino, 1984), 307-35.
16 Jan-Olof Tjäder, “Der Codex argenteus in Uppsala und der Buchmeister Viliaric in Ravenna,” in Studia Gotica. Die eisenzeitlichen Verbindungen zwischen Schweden und Südosteuropa. Vorträge beim Gotensymposion im Statens Historiska Museum Stockholm 1970, ed. Ulf Erik Hagberg, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens handlingar, Antikvariska serien, 25 (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1972), 144-64. The signature is in Laur. 65, 1 (fol. 144V), written in a single hand which has been recognized in part of Par. lat. 2235 by Armando Petrucci, “Un altro codice della bottega di Viliaric,” in Studi offerti a Roberto Ridolfi, direttore de La Bibliofilia (Florence: Olschki, 1973), 399-406.
17 It is worth noting Bernhard Bischoff, “Scriptoria e manoscritti mediatori di civiltà dal sesto secolo alla riforma di Carlo Magno,” in Centri e vie di irradiazione della civiltà nell'alto medioevo. Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo 11, 18-23 aprile 1963 (Spoleto, 1964), 486; Libri e lettori nel medioevo. Guida storica e critica, ed. Guglielmo Cavallo, Universale Laterza, 419 (Rome-Bari: Laterza, 1977), 34; Bernhard Bischoff, Paläographie des römischen Altertums und des abendländischen Mittelalters. Grundlagen der Germanistik, 24 (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1979), 100 and n. 170, 232 and n. 42; Armando Petrucci, “Scrittura e libro nell’Italia altomedievale. Il sesto secolo,” in Studi medievali s. III, 10, 2 (1969): 184, 186 –7.
18 The monastery of Eugippius was named after Saint Severinus: it therefore belonged to another institution not the aedes beati Petri of Donatus, cfr. Marco Palma, “Nonantola e il Sud. Contributo alla storia della scrittura libraria nell ’Italia dell ’ottavo secolo,” in Scrittura e civiltà 3 (1979): 78 n. 6; Michael M. Gorman, “Eugippius and the Origins of the Manuscript Tradition of Saint Augustine’s De Genesi ad litteram,” in Revue Bénédictine 93 (1983): 7-30.
19 Elias Avery Lowe, “A List of the Oldest Extant Manuscripts of Saint Augustine with a Note on the Codex Bambergensis,” in Miscellanea Agostiniana II (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1931). Republished in Palaeographical Papers 1907 –1965, ed. Ludwig Bieler (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 303-14.
20 In addition to the unmistakable G, it is worth noting, for example, the curving line of the D, the thin horizontal line of the E, the tendency to extend in the opposite direction the first and third part of the N, the steady wave of the crossbar on the T. There are also frequent slight empattements at the end of the uprights, while the contrast is emphasized by the thinning, albeit not constant, of some diagonal lines. This reinforces the hope (expressed by Augusto Campana, “II Codice Ravennate di S. Ambrogio,” in Italia medioevale e umanistica Vol. 1 (Padova: Editrice Antenore, 1958), 15-64, and repeated by A. Petrucci, “Scrittura e libro nell’Italia altomedievale. Il sesto secolo,” 181 regarding the recognition of a single hand in the margins of several late antique codices.
21 That the traditional title of Enchiridion was not given by the author of De fide, spe et caritate addressed to the Roman martyr, Saint Lawrence, has been recently underlined by Giuseppe Broccia, Enchiridion. Per la storia di una denominazione libraria. Note e discussioni erudite, 14 (Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1979), 40-1.
22 On the very close morphological similarity between the semiuncial of the Bamberg codex and that in the Vatican, see E. A. Lowe, “A List of the Oldest Extant Manuscripts,” 313, while A. Petrucci, “Scrittura e libro nell’Italia altomedievale. Il sesto secolo,” 187, attributes the latter manuscript “probably to a single hand.”
23 The fragments of two patristic manuscripts, divided between the current Orléans, B. mun. 192 (169) (fol. 19, CLA VI 810 and fol. 46 –55, CLA VI 819) and Leiden, Rijksuniv., Voss. lat. 8° 88A (fol. 1-2, again CLA VI 819) may have the same origin. The attribution has been reiterated by Bischoff, “Paläographie des römischen Altertums,” 232 n. 42.
24 For the biography of Eugippius, presumably born in the 460s, see among others Michele Pellegrino, “Il Commemoratorium vitae Sancti Severini,” in Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia 12 (1958): 1-26; Friedrich Lotter, “Severinus von Noricum. Legende und historische Wirklichkeit,” in Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 12 (Stuttgart: Anton Hierseman, 1976), 21-3, 32-6.
25 Donatus diaconus in aedibus beati apostoli Petri Deo volente proprium codicem vicies post consulatum Basili uc indicione decima infirmus et debilis legi legi legi (Gorman, “Eugippius and the Origins,” 13 n. 27).
26 The codex of Metz is included in the list of manuscripts that can be linked to Eugippius’ library compiled by André van de Vyver, “Cassiodore et son œuvre,” in Speculum 6 (1931): 244–92. On the writing activity of Lucullanum, also after Eugippius’ death, see Guglielmo Cavallo, “La circolazione libraria nell’età di Giustiniano,” in L’imperatore Giustiniano. Storia e mito. Giornate di studio a Ravenna, 14-16 ottobre 1976, ed. G.G. Archi. Milan, 1978 (Circolo toscano di diritto romano e storia del diritto, 5), 201-236. The attribution to the scriptorium of the Monastery of S. Pietro of three codices traditionally deemed to have been produced at nearby S. Severino was recently suggested by Gorman, “Eugippius and the Origins,” 30, exclusively based on the content of Donatus’ signature in Cassinese 150.
27 The entire microscopic apparatus is described in detail by Carlo Federici, “Toute la lumière sous le parchemin (ou sous le papier),” in Gazette du livre médiéval 2 (printemps 1983): 18-21.
28 Reed, Ancient Skins, 34-5, 43.
29 D. McEwan Jenkinson and T. Nay, “The Sweat Glands and Hair Follicles of Different Species of Bovidae,” in Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 28 (1975): 55-67.
30 Two kinds of piliferous follicle, primary and secondary, can be found in the skin of mammals. While the latter are differentiated after birth, the former are already present during the intrauterine life of the fetus. Primary follicles always have a sudoriferous gland associated with an erector muscle, but both are absent in secondary follicles.
31 Twenty-five bifolia out of the ninety-four originals in the codex Laurenzianus are sheep parchment, and of these only one quire (f. 141-148) consists entirely of this animal species. In the Paris codex this species was present in a single bifolium 101-104.
32 The prevalent use of goat skins for the manufacture of parchment is highlighted, for different periods and areas compared to those examined here, in the recent works by Peter Schreiner, “Zur Pergamentherstellung im byzantinischen Osten,” in Codices manuscripti 9 (1983): 122-7, and Paolo Cherubini, “La pergamena,” in Paolo Cherubini, Anna Esposito, Anna Modigliani, Paola Scarcia Piacentini, “II costo del libro,” in Scrittura, biblioteche e stampa a Roma nel Quattrocento. Atti del 2° Seminario, 6-8 maggio 1982. Littera antiqua 3, ed. Paola Farenga, Massimo Miglio, Anna Modigliani (Città del Vaticano: Scuola vaticana di paleografia, diplomatica e archivistica, 1983), 323. Research of the same kind carried out by Carlo Federici on fifteenth-century manuscripts in the Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena, the results of which will be published shortly, showed the almost complete predominance of goatskins and the occasional presence of sheepskins.
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Anna di Majo
Originally published as “La pergamena dei codici altomedievali italiani. Indagine sulle specie animali utilizzate,” Scriptorium, vol. 39, no.1 (1985): 3–12.