[1] Again,
Ordericus Vitalis winds up the fourth book of his ecclesiastical
history by saying--nunc hyemali frigore rigens--he
must break his narrative here, and take up other occupations
for the winter.[2] Jacob, abbot of Brabant (1276),
built scriptoria, or possibly carrells, round the calefactory, or
warming-room, where the common fire was kept burning,
and the lot of the scribe was made somewhat easier to bear.
[1] Bede, Works, ed. Plummer, xx.
[2] O. V., pars II. lib. iv.
A scribe could only write what the abbot or preceptor
set him. When his portion had been given out he could
not change it for another.[1] If he were set to copy
Virgil or Ovid or some lives of the saints the task would
conceivably be pleasant. But such was seldom the scribe's
fortune. The continual transcription of Psalters and
Missals and other service books must have been infinitely
wearisome, at any rate, to the less devout members of the
community. In some large and enterprising houses a
scribe copied only a fragment of a book. Several brethren
worked upon the same book at once, each beginning upon
a skin at the point where another scribe was to leave off.
Pages:
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138