Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin. Goatskin is the Skin of a Goat. Non tanned goatskin is used for Parchment or for Drumheads or Sounding boards of some musical Vellum (from the Old French Vélin for "calfskin" is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on single pages scrolls codices or books Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin or lambswool. Goatskin is the Skin of a Goat. Non tanned goatskin is used for Parchment or for Drumheads or Sounding boards of some musical Its most common use is as the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way It is distinct from leather in that parchment is not tanned, but stretched, scraped, and dried under tension, creating a stiff white, yellowish or translucent animal skin. Leather is a material created through the Tanning of hides and Skins of Animals primarily Cattlehide The Tanning process The finer qualities of parchment are called vellum. Vellum (from the Old French Vélin for "calfskin" is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on single pages scrolls codices or books It is very reactive with changes in relative humidity and is not waterproof. Relative humidity is a measurement of the amount of Water vapor that exists in a gaseous mixture of air and water
Plant-based parchment is used in baking and other applications as a substitute for animal parchment.
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History
According to the Roman Varro, Pliny's Natural History records (xiii. Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC &ndash 27 BC also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman Naturalis Historia ( Latin for "Natural History" is an Encyclopedia written Circa AD 77 by Pliny the Elder. 21), parchment was invented under the patronage of Eumenes of Pergamum,[1] as a substitute for papyrus, which was temporarily not being exported from Alexandria, its only source. Papyrus (/pəˈpaɪrəs/ (Rhymes -aɪrəs)is a thick paper-like material produced from the Pith of the papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus
Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in his time, the 5th century BC; and in his Histories (v. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash 58) he states that the Ionians of Asia Minor had been accustomed to give the name of skins — diphtherai — to books; this word was adapted by Hellenized Jews to describe scrolls [1]. Parchment (pergamenum in Latin), however, is named after the city where it was perfected. In the 2nd century B. C. a great library was set up in Pergamon that rivaled the famous Library of Alexandria. The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the ancient world As prices rose for papyrus and the reed used for making it was overharvested towards local extinction in the two nomes of the Nile delta that produced it, Pergamon adapted by increasing use of parchment. A nome (from Νομός “district” was a subnational administrative division of Ancient Egypt. The Nile Delta ( Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt ( Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads
Writing on prepared animal skins had a long history, however. Some Egyptian Fourth Dynasty texts were written on parchment. The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement Though the Assyrians and the Babylonians impressed their cuneiform on clay tablets, they also wrote on parchment from the 6th century BC onward. Rabbinic culture equated a "book" with a parchment scroll. Early Islamic texts are also found on parchment.
One sort of parchment is vellum, a word that is used loosely to mean parchment, and especially to mean fine parchment, but more strictly refers to parchment made from calf skin (although goat skin can be as fine in quality). Vellum (from the Old French Vélin for "calfskin" is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on single pages scrolls codices or books The words "vellum" and "veal" come from Latin vitulus, "calf", or its diminutive vitellus. Veal is the Meat of A diminutive is a formation of a Word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning smallness of the object or quality named encapsulation intimacy or endearment In the Middle Ages calfskin and split sheepskin were the most common materials for making parchment in England and France, while goatskin was more common in Italy. Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin or lambswool. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Other skins such as those from large animals such as horse and smaller animals such as squirrel and rabbit were also used. Whether uterine vellum (vellum made from aborted calf fetuses) was ever really used during the medieval period is still a matter of great controversy.
There was a short period during the introduction of printing where parchment and paper were used interchangeably: although most copies of the Gutenberg Bible are on paper, some were printed on parchment. Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible or the Mazarin Bible) is a printed version of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that In 1490, Johannes Trithemius preferred the older methods, because "handwriting placed on parchment will be able to endure a thousand years. Johannes Trithemius ( 1 February 1462 - 13 December 1516) was born Johann Heidenberg. But how long will printing last, which is dependent on paper? For if . . . it lasts for two hundred years that is a long time. " [2]
The heyday of parchment use was during the medieval period, but there has been a growing revival of its use among contemporary artists since the late 20th century. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Although parchment never stopped being used (primarily for governmental documents and diplomas) it had ceased to be a primary choice for artist’s supports by the end of 15th century Renaissance. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere This was partly due to its expense and partly due to its unusual working properties. Parchment consists mostly of collagen. When the water in paint media touches parchment’s surface, the collagen melts slightly, forming a raised bed for the paint, a quality highly prized by some artists. Parchment is also extremely affected by its environment and changes in humidity, which can cause buckling. Some contemporary artists also prize this quality, noting that the parchment seems alive and like an active participant in making artwork. To support the needs of the revival of use by artists, a revival in the art of making individual skins is also underway. Handmade skins are usually better prepared for artists and have fewer oily spots which can cause long-term cracking of paint than mass-produced parchment. Mass-produced parchment is usually made for lamp shades, furniture, or other interior design purposes. [3]
The radiocarbon dating techniques that are used on papyrus can be applied to parchment as well. Radiocarbon dating is a Radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring Radioisotope Carbon-14 (14C to determine the age of They do not date the age of the writing but the preparation of the parchment itself. However, radiocarbon dating can often be used on the inks that make up the writing, since many of them contain organic compounds such as plant leachings, soot, and wine.
Manufacture
The first step in creating parchment was to wet or soak the recently flayed skin in water to remove the blood and dung and to allow easier penetration of the dehairing liquor. Flaying is the removal of Skin from the Body. Generally an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact [4]
In early days the liquor bath was fermented vegetable matter but by the Middle Ages a lime bath was used to soften the epidermal layer thus allowing the hair to be removed more easily. It is possible that urine was sometimes used as a lime alternative.
The liquor bath would have been in wooden or stone vats and the hides stirred with a long wooden pole to avoid getting the lime on human skin. The skins would stay in the bath for 8 or more days (longer in winter) being stirred two or three times a day.
After being rinsed the skins would be given a second lime bath but care would be taken to not leave the skins in too long or they would be weakened and not able to stand the stretching required for parchment. [4]
The stretching allowed the fibres to become aligned running parallel to the grain. Cords were attached and the skin was stretched on a wooden frame with both sides open so they could be scraped with a sharp, curved knife to remove the last of the hair and get the skin to the right thickness.
The skins, which were made almost entirely of collagen, would form a natural glue while drying and once taken off the frame they would keep their form. Collagen is the main Protein of Connective tissue in Animals and the most abundant protein in Mammals making up about 50% of the whole-body protein
Parchment treatments
To make the parchment more aesthetically pleasing or more suitable for the scribes, special treatments were used. A scribe (or scrivener) is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession
According to Reed there were a variety of these treatments. Rubbing pumice powder into the flesh side of parchment while it was still wet on the frame was used to make it smooth so inks would penetrate deep into the fibres. Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava composed of highly microvesicular glass Pyroclastic with very thin translucent
Powders and pastes of calcium compounds were also used to help remove grease so the ink would not run.
To make the parchment smooth and white, thin pastes (starchgrain) of lime, flour, egg whites and milk were rubbed into the skins.
Meliora di Curci in her paper "The History and Technology of Parchment Making" notes that parchment was not always white. "Cennini, a 15th century craftsman provides recipes to tint parchment a variety of colours including purple, indigo, green, red and peach. Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c 1370 &ndash c 1440 " The Early medieval Codex Argenteus and Codex Vercellensis, the Stockholm Codex Aureus and the Codex Brixianus give a range of luxuriously produced manuscripts all on purple vellum, in imitation of Byzantine examples, like the Rossano Gospels, Sinope Gospels and the Vienna Genesis, which at least at one time are believed to have been reserved for Imperial commissions. The Codex Argenteus (or "Silver Bible" is a 6th century manuscript originally containing bishop Ulfilas 's 4th century translation of the Bible The title Codex Vercellensis (the "Codex of Vercelli") symbolized by a, refers to two manuscript codices preserved in the cathedral library of See also List of New Testament Latin manuscripts The Codex Brixianus (Brescia Biblioteca Civica Queriniana sn is a 6th century Latin Gospel Book which was probably produced in Italy. The Rossano Gospels (Gregory-Aland no 042 or Σ) located at the Cathedral of Rossano in Italy, are a 6th century Gospel Book The Sinope Gospels (Gregory-Aland no O or 023; Soden ε 21 also known as the Codex Sinopensis, is a fragment of a 6th century illuminated The Vienna Genesis ( Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod
Reuse
- Main article Palimpsest. A palimpsest is a Manuscript page whether from scroll or Book that has been written on scraped off and used again
During the seventh through the ninth centuries, many earlier parchment manuscripts were scrubbed and scoured to be ready for rewriting, and often the earlier writing can still be read. These "recycled" parchments are called palimpsests. A palimpsest is a Manuscript page whether from scroll or Book that has been written on scraped off and used again Later, more thorough techniques of scouring the surface irretrievably lost the earlier text.
Alternatives to Parchment
- Main article Gevil. Gevil (often transliterated "gewil" is animal hide that has been prepared as a Writing material in Jewish scribal documents in particular a Sefer
The way in which parchment was processed (from hide to parchment) has undergone a tremendous evolution based on time and location. Parchment and vellum are not the sole methods of preparing animal skins for writing. In the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14B) Moses writes the first Torah Scroll on the unsplit cow-hide called gevil. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Bava Batra is the third of the three tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property Gevil (often transliterated "gewil" is animal hide that has been prepared as a Writing material in Jewish scribal documents in particular a Sefer
- Main article paper. Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon printing upon or packaging
In the later Middle Ages European parchment in turn was largely replaced by paper, a Chinese invention that was being manufactured in Moorish Andalusia in the eleventh century. Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon printing upon or packaging Andalusia (Andalucía is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest in terms of land area Paper became particularly important with the advent of printing in the later fifteenth century, since the demands of printers would have outstripped the supply of animal skins for parchment. Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press
Parchment is still the only medium used by religious Jews for Torah scrolls or Tefilin and Mezuzahs, and is produced by large companies in Israel. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ A Sefer Torah ( Hebrew: ספר תורה; plural ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah; “Book(s of Torah ” or “Torah Scroll (s” A scroll is a roll of Papyrus, Parchment, or Paper which has been written drawn or painted upon for the purpose of transmitting information or using as Tefillin, ( תפילין) also called phylacteries, are a pair of black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with biblical verses A mezuzah (מזוזה "doorpost" (plural mezuzot (מזוזות is a piece of Parchment (usually contained in a decorative case For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. For those uses, only hides of kosher animals are permitted. Since there are many requirements for it being fit for the religious use, the liming is usually processed under supervision of a qualified Rabbi. Rabbi (pronunciation, although in English usually) in Judaism, means a religious ‘teacher’ or more literally ‘my great one’ when addressing any master [5]
Additional uses of the term
In some universities, the word parchment is still used to refer to the certificate (scroll) presented at graduation ceremonies, even though the modern document is printed on paper or thin card; although doctoral graduands may be given the option of having their scroll written by a calligrapher on vellum. The University of Notre Dame still uses animal parchment for its diplomas. The University of Notre Dame du Lac (or simply Notre Dame) (ˌnoʊtɚˈdeɪm is a private Roman Catholic Research university located in
Plant-based parchment
Vegetable (paper) parchment is made by silicone treatment of high density paper. Silicones are largely inert compounds with a wide variety of forms and uses This produces a cross-linked material with high density, stability and heat resistance. Applications include cooking and baking (cooking parchment, baking parchment). To avoid sticking to foods, silicone and other coatings can be applied to parchment.
A common use is to eliminate the need to grease baking sheets and the like, allowing very rapid turn-around of batches of cookies in a commercial bakery. "Saucepan" redirects here In Australia "the Saucepan" is sometimes used as an unofficial name for part of the constellation of Pavo, when finding the It can also be folded to make moisture-proof packages in which food items are cooked or steamed En papillote. En Papillote (French "in parchment" is a method of Cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked.
Standard grease-proof or wax paper does not have the properties of parchment and will burn in most cooking applications. Wax paper (also called waxed paper) is a kind of Paper that is made Moisture proof through the application of Wax.
See also
Notes
- ^ Either Eumenes I — who ruled 263–241 BC — or Eumenes II — who ruled 197–158). Manuscript culture refers to the development and use of the Manuscript as a means of storing and disseminating information until the age of Printing. A diploma (from Greek δίπλωµα diploma, meaning "folded paper" is a Certificate or Deed issued by an educational institution A palimpsest is a Manuscript page whether from scroll or Book that has been written on scraped off and used again Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon printing upon or packaging The repair and mending of Parchment has taken place for thousands of years Klaf is the material on which a Sofer writes certain Jewish liturgical and ritual documents the Kosher form of Parchment or Vellum Gevil (often transliterated "gewil" is animal hide that has been prepared as a Writing material in Jewish scribal documents in particular a Sefer Duchsustus is the name of a type of Parchment used for religious writings in Judaism. Eumenes I of Pergamon was Dynast (ruler of the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor from 263 BC until his death in 241 BC Eumenes II of Pergamon (Εὐμένης Α' τῆς Περγάμου (ruled 197 - 159 BC was king of Pergamon and a member of the Attalid dynasty.
- ^ as quoted in David McKitterick, Print, Manuscript, and the Search for Order Cambridge University Press, 2003
- ^ For examples of contemporary artists using parchment see: For an example of a contemporary parchment maker see:
- ^ a b Reed, 1975.
- ^ Information Leaflet by Vaad Mishmereth Staam.
References
- di Curci, Meliora. (2003) The History and Technology of Parchment Making. http://www.sca.org.au/scribe/articles/parchment.htm
- Hasewint, Inden W. (2001) Tor Parchment Prepared According to Mediaeval Recipes. http://dedas.com/parchment/uk/recipe.html
- Reed, Ronald. (1975). The Nature and Making of Parchment. Leeds, England: Elmete Press
Further reading
- Dougherty, Raymond P. , 1928. " Writing upon parchment and papyrus among the Babylonians and the Assyrians," in Journal of the American Oriental Society 48, pp 109–135.
- Ryder, Michael L. , 1964. Parchment: its history, manufacture and composition.
- Reed, R. 1972. Ancient Skins, Parchments, and Leathers. Seminar Press. ISBN 0-12-903550-5
External links
- Central European University, Materials and Techniques of Manuscript Production: Parchment: medieval technique
- On-line demonstration of the preparation of vellum from the BNF, Paris. Text in French, but mostly visual.
- Leaves of gold
- Meir Bar-Ilan, "Parchment"
- Lacus Curtius Website: Liber: Roman book production
- UNESCO: Parchment: production and conservation
- Inden witten Hasewint Parchment Contemporary application of the Medieval technique.
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