Writing has always been an important part of life. In fact, historians agree that writing is one of the major signs that early groups of people had formed a civilization. Early Mesopotamians valued writing so much that they worshipped Nabu, the patron god of scribes. The Egyptians also believed in scribal gods and that a scribe’s work was of the greatest importance.
In medieval Europe, monks saw it as their duty to copy, preserve, and illuminate important texts. Monks and scribes copied books on history, religion, and classical writing by hand and eventually began decorating the pages.
Pages were brought to life with bright colors, gold detailing, and images of animals, plants, buildings, and religious figures. Even those who couldn’t read could enjoy a book, although these were often reserved for the wealthy and those in religious circles.
A scribe is a person whose job is to write by hand or copy other documents.
For a book to be truly “illuminated,” it must be decorated with gold leaf.
An ancient book was called a codex.
Creating a book, or codex, was not easy. You couldn’t just go to the local arts and crafts store. While papyrus scrolls were still used in the medieval period, parchment quickly became the standard. This thin layer of animal skin was specially prepared and could easily be sewn together to form a book. Since livestock—especially sheep and cattle—was abundant in Europe, parchment became the first choice.
Although this parchment was received from a craftsman, scribes were still responsible for making all the other tools needed to write and “illuminate” a manuscript.
Illuminating a text meant decorating it with bright colors and images. Scribes used plants, insects, chemicals, gold, and even urine to create the colors needed to complete this process.
Beyond creating and copying these beautiful books, Irish monks took on another important job: keeping the manuscripts safe.
While most of Europe faced constant attacks by outside forces, Ireland remained largely untouched. Irish monks saw it as their duty to protect religious and classical texts from destruction. These monks used their isolated environments to their advantage, copying codices so they could later be brought back to Europe. Thanks to these Irish monks, many pieces of Christian and Latin literature were redistributed throughout Europe, and many have survived to this day.
Because of these scribes, anyone could look at a book and appreciate it. The pictures, details, and even the lettering were works of art that people in the past could admire, and so can we today.