Paper Stocks in Western Medieval Manuscripts : Paper stocks

Paper Stocks in Western Medieval Manuscripts

A composite, mixed-media manuscript in multiple parts, compiled from the second half of the thirteenth century to the second half of the fifteenth century. It includes the following texts: on ff. 1-78, Raymundus de Pennaforti’s Summa de penitentia; on ff. 115-180, the anonymous Cibus anime; on ff. 213-230, the Pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditationes vitae Christi; on ff. 233-238, Anselm of Canterbury’s Meditatio I, and on ff. 239-246, Bernard of Clairvaux’s Meditationes piissimae de humana conditione (SCAMM, pp. 231-233).The paper parts of the manuscript comprise (1) ff. 115-180, the copy of Cibus anime; (2) ff. 213-226, a mixed-media quire with inner and outer parchment bifolia, and (3) ff. 230-246, which includes a parchment leaf at f. 236. These parts include five paper stocks, three of which lack a twin mark. A folio measures between 290 and 300 mm in height x 207 to 216 mm in width, and the sheets are folded in folio. This suggests that the original sheets had dimensions ranging between 300-315 mm in height x 420-460 mm in width, a format of paper known as Chancery, which was the most common size of paper in medieval England. The range of measurements depends on the precise dimensions of the original sheets before folding and the trimming of the folio before binding.The paper stocks in this manuscript bear the following watermarks: a cardinal’s hat, a set of three mountains, a bull, a bell, and a ring. Similar, though not identical, instances of the cardinal’s hat are attested on the <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://memoryofpaper.eu/BernsteinPortal/appl_start.disp#'>Bernstein Project</a> from 1430 to 1450. The mark of three mountains, which is set in a circle and surmounted by a cross, has been deformed through use. It has no exact matches on Bernstein, but similar types of watermarks are in use from 1430s. The paper stock with the watermark of the bull also appears in CUL, MS Ii.5.43. The paper stock with the watermark of the bell is same as Likhachev 940 (1328-1329), available on Bernstein. These images have been produced through MSI in order to capture physical details of the item.Orietta Da Rold and Logan Rivers