erikkwakkel: Wearing a book Books are objects to read from. This is true now, and so it was in medie

erikkwakkel:

Wearing a book

Books are objects to read from. This is true now, and so it was in medieval times. Between then and now, however, medieval books were recycled, old-fashioned as they had become after the dawn of printing. These three items show one particular function served by recycled manuscript material: as lining of clothes - and a hat. All three images show linings cut from parchment leaves: the shape of a vest cut from an Icelandic manuscript dating to 1375-1400 (middle); a late-fifteenth century dress of a Cistercian nun in the convent of Wienhausen supported by a 13th-century Latin text (top); and the lining of a bishop’s miter cut from 13th-century Norse love poetry (bottom) - I blogged about the latter here. While the stiff properties of animal skin made it perfect for supporting soft materials such as clothes and hats, it is an odd idea that someone would walk around wearing medieval books - not to mention a bishop preaching with love poetry on his head. On the bright side, thanks to all this recycling, at least parts of these precious books survive. 

Pic: Vest: Arnamagnæan Samling (University of Copenhagen and Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík), manuscript 122b, fol. II, more information here andhere; Dress with manuscript lining: source unknown to me, but featuring in a lecture by Dr. Henrike Lähnemann and discussed in this blog (source of pic); Bishop’s miter: Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, MS AM 666 b 4to, more here.