An introductory vocabulary

Codex is a descriptive term, used to describe the form or appearance of the item, and to distinguish it from rolls or loose charters. The word codex first appeared in Latin to describe public records or accounts that were written on wooden tablets which were then connected (or bound) on one side. The wooden tablets were eventually replaced by paper leaves and by parchment. Classical libraries contained books that were written on scrolls. The codex became popular in the Christian era because it was easier to read and to store than a scroll.

The word book implies a modern printed work that has been published and exists in many copies. It can be bound in hardcover or in paperback. The modern book is not a unique object – for example, if you drop your paperback in the bath or spill coffee on it, you can replace it with an identical copy.

A manuscript is a handwritten book. Today we may use the word to refer to an unpublished work. Before the invention of printing, all books existed in manuscript form. Then, manuscripts were the only way to record and transmit texts. A medieval manuscript is a unique object that is considered an artifact worthy of study apart from its texts. Cataloguing manuscripts is a highly specialized field with its own vocabulary to describe their appearance. Starting at the outside and working in:

The cover consists of the spine, the front, and the back. The cover may be wooden boards or parchment. The boards may be covered with leather that is stamped or embossed.

The codex is formed from quires, which are stitched together in gatherings. The gatherings may be seen at the top and bottom of the spine. The quires are formed from folios, which are single sheets of paper or parchment that have been folded in half (folio size) then again (bifolio).

The leafs are foliated, not paginated. Folios count the number of leafs in the book, and are number 1 (recto and verso [front and back]) 2 (recto and verso [front and back]) and so on. Pagination counts the number of pages, which are both sides of the leaf. Thus ff. 1 recto to 2 verso becomes pp. 1-4.

The pages are laid out in one or two columns. The scribe rules the page, either by pricking or by incising.

The scribe writes in a script. Book hands are clearly written hands chosen by the patron. Archival materials are usually written in secretarial or notarial hands, which are harder to read.

Any decoration would be added later. Scribes would leave room for illuminations (pictures). There are other forms of embellishment, such as ornate initials.

The colophon, at the end of the manuscript, describes when the manuscript was completed and who the scribe was. The scribe is very rarely the author. Instead, he worked from another copy to create this manuscript.

Manuscript texts are identified by the incipit, which are the first words of the text. It is easy to confuse incipits with the rubric, which describes the text. Manuscript texts are not known by author or title because such attributions are rarely exact.

The appearance and contents of each manuscript is unique. But in addition to the variations introduced by the method of manufacture, owners combined different texts together in a new codex. They may have done it for convenience, or to save space. This type of codex is called a sammelband. Each manuscript within the sammelband is treated as a different part, with its own foliation and physical description. You sometimes find such created volumes in archival collections, but there is a clear intent to file similar items together in one volume.

Usually, manuscript cataloguers make a distinction between manuscripts, which are the work of authors, and archival materials, which are the records of an institution. The same terms are used to describe medieval manuscripts and medieval archives, with some differences:

Archival collections contain loose documents, called charters (not leafs). These documents are written on single sheets of parchment. The entity issuing the charter would keep a register of the recipients of the charter, the date, and the business of the charter.

A cartulary is a collection of charters, usually made for legal purposes.

A single authorized copy is called a notarial copy or a vidimus.

Archival collections group similar items into series. Thus you might have volumes 1, 2, 3 of baptisms.

Archival texts are not identified by incipits. Most parts of the document are highly formulaic, so incipits are useless to identify unique texts. Instead, they are identified by a set of five criteria:

Who issued the document

Who received the document

The date of the document

The place it was issued

The type of the document

A summary of the document would also include the purpose of the document

The only documents that are identified by incipits are papal bulls, and even then it helps to note the five criteria. Collections of bulls are called bullaria.

These methods of identifying texts are different from shelfmarks and archival numbers. Researchers use shelfmarks and archival numbers to cite their original source material. Researchers may think of shelfmarks and archival numbers as call numbers. There are, however, significant differences. Before the invention of modern cataloguing systems, codices were labeled according to their position on the shelf. Hence the term shelfmark, which would refer to the shelf where the manuscript was located and its position on the shelf. Archival numbers are similar – archival items are listed by series, and by their location within the series. Modern call numbers are assigned by cataloguing systems, which classify the books according to their author, title, and subject. Call numbers cannot be changed without reclassifying the book. Shelf marks and archival numbers can be changed when the librarian rearranges the shelves. Therefore, manuscript cataloguers are more comfortable recording the internal aspects that cannot be changed, like the incipit and the criteria.

For more information on descriptive terms:

Manuscripts

Central European University Medieval Manuscript Manual, http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/index.html (Versions available in English, Italian, Hungarian, and Russian)

An introductory vocabulary

For more information on descriptive terms:

Manuscripts

Archives