![]() The most affordable-and therefore common-colored ink used was an orange hue called minium, made by grinding the burnt-orange crust that resulted from roasting a pigment called white lead.ĮSV Illuminated™ Bible, Art Journaling Edition Various colored inks were mixed with a binding agent like egg whites using ingredients such as plants and minerals, and other elements such as mercury, sulphur, and cinnabar. To prepare the writing surface, animal skins were scraped, soaked, and dried to create each writing surface. Even some of these copyists were unable to read the text themselves, simply becoming adept at the mechanics of the task of copying symbols from one book to another. Monks would spend long hours where the lighting was best, usually in their cloister's writing room-the scriptorium-prepping the writing surface and hand-copying the Scriptures onto parchment or thin sheets of animal skins. Even Charlemagne, the "Father of Europe" and eventual Holy Roman emperor, was among those who struggled to hold a pen and produce his own name on parchment two hundred years later.īy illuminating texts, skilled artists were able to beautify the pages of the Bible as a way to summarize, explain, and, ultimately, preserve its message. ![]() Furthermore, in the sixth century, illiteracy was common, evidenced by the fact that only one in seven of the laity could write his or her own name. The glittering materials used were said to "light up" or illumine the text.īecause the Scriptures were not available in vernacular languages, they were not accessible to many, even those in the upper classes. The practice of illumination-adding decoration to book manuscripts-dates back to the early fifth century and continued into the Middle Ages, when scribes, monks, and other artists used richly colored pigments as well as gold and silver leaf to decorate the pages of books and Bibles. ![]()
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