Used with the kind permission of Kendra Hollyoak
Greetings, everyone! I'll be talking about parchment today...
Before the use of paper became widespread, in the 16th century, parchment was the most common writing material in medieval Europe. Stored under the right conditions (kept away from moisture and extremes of temperature), parchment is extremely durable and can last for over a thousand years (Reed 1972: 119).
Parchment is made from the untanned skins of animals (most often, cows, sheep, and goats). Parchment differs from leather both in its manner of production and in its physical characteristics. Leather owes its characteristics to the chemical alteration of the skin (by introducing tannins, oxidized-oils, or mineral salts), whereas parchment is made by physically altering the structure skin fibers.
In order to understand the nature of parchment, one must first know something about the structure of skin. Skin is composed of two main layers (a thin outer layer called the epidermis, and a thicker inner layer called the dermis or corium). The dermis is mainly composed of a spongy network of collagen fibers.
Hairs grow in depressions in the epidermis called follicles. The follicles are partially enclosed by the papillary layer of the dermis. The papillary layer, with its pattern of bumps, produces the distinctive grains in leather and parchment made from the skins of different animals (Ryder: 393).
When talking about leather and parchment, the term flesh side refers to the inside layer of the skin (the side connected to the animal), and the term grain side refers to the outer surface of the skin.
Although parchment-making involves many steps and unique processes, the most important step is the stretching and drying of the skin under tension. This is the step that determines the characteristics of parchment.
Parchment is made from the dermis of an animal. Stretching the skin, and working the skin while it is stretched, causes the dermal fibers, whose normal structure is a three dimensional net, to break down and realign into flat layers lying parallel to the grain and flesh surfaces of the skin.
Drying the skin under tension fixes the flattened structure of the dermal fibers so they cannot go back to their natural condition. If parchment gets wet and isn't kept under tension, it goes back to its original condition and essentially becomes rawhide.
The technique of parchment making in the medieval period isn't substantially different from the techniques used today (with the exception that some steps have been mechanized). Medieval parchmenters had an intimate knowledge of their craft and their materials. Although they may not have understood exactly why their techniques worked (the minute physical and chemical alterations caused by certain treatments), they knew what treatments produced desired effects and what variables could harm their results. This experience, coupled with the daily, hands-on practice of their craft, produced parchments unequaled by today's parchmenters.
The techniques of parchment-making were well-known and well-documented in the medieval period. One of the first descriptions of parchment-making is given in a Wattenbach manuscript of the 8th century. This source states that the skin was placed three days in lime water to loosen the hairs, which were then scraped off with a knife. Powdered chalk was rubbed into the skin during drying (Ryder:395).
In the early 12th century, Theophilus provided one of the best written accounts of medieval parchment-making (Reed 1972: 133-135):
Next you must withdraw the skins and unhair them. Pour off the contents of the bath and repeat the process using the same quantities, placing the skins in the lime liquor and moving them once each day over eight days as before.
Then take them out and wash well until the water runs quite clean. Place them in another bath of clean water and leave them for two days.
Then take them out, attach the cords and tie them to the circular frame. Dry, then shave them with a sharp knife, after which, leave for two days out of the sun...moisten with water and rub the flesh side with powdered pumice. After two days wet it again by sprinkling with a little water and fully clean the flesh side with pumice so as to make it quite wet again. Then tighten up the cords, equalize the tension so that the sheet will become permanent.
Once the sheets are dry, nothing further remains to be done."
--Schedula diversarium artium.
Theophilus Presbyter. Early twelfth century.
Written in Latin in Germany.
British Museum MS. Harley 3915, fol. 128r
The following sections detail the steps involved in parchment making:
1. Soaking
Soak the skin in repeated baths of clean water. Soaking cleans the skin and facilitates the absorption of the lime solution during unhairing.
2. Unhairing
Unhair the skin by soaking it in an acid or lime (alkali) bath to loosen the hair and the epidermal layer. Then remove the hair and epidermal layer by scraping (also known as pulling) with a blunt knife. Although acid baths were common in other parts of the world (mideast), in medieval Europe, soaking in a bath of slaked lime (Ca[OH2]) was used for unhairing since the 8th century.
Soaking in a lime bath also cleans, loosens and swells the dermal fiber network (facilitating later realignment of the fibers). The swelling of the fibers permits the lime liquor to fully penetrate the skin and loosens and removes much fatty material, liquid collagen, and ground substances (a sticky, mucus-like secretion interspersed with the dermal fibers).
In medieval times, unhairing was done over a curved beam with a two-handled, curve, blunt knife. After unhairing, the skin is returned to the lime bath to further swell the dermal fibers.
3. Fleshing
Use a sharp knife to further clean and level the flesh side of the skin by cutting away any hypodermal muscle and fat tissue still present. Like unhairing, fleshing was done over a curved beam but a very sharp, two-handled knife was used.
4. Washing
Wash and soak the skin in repeated baths of clean water to remove any remaining lime solution and reduce the pH level of the skin.
5. Stretching and Punching
Stretch the skin on a frame and work the flesh side with a lunar or semi-lunar knife. The working process is called punching and its purpose is threefold.
Punching:
Punching is the most important step of the parchment-making process in that it alters the structure of the skin.
During the medieval period, circular or rectangular wooden frames were used for stretching. The skin was tied to wooden pegs around the perimeter of the frame and tension was increased by turning the pegs. A high degree of tension is important since low tension results in transparent patches in the parchment.
The most common method of attaching the small skins to the frame was by looping cords around small pebbles (called pippins) pressed into the surface of the skin. Larger skins were attached by inserting metal pins in the skin or by using toggles (metal clamps).
6. Pouncing
Pouncing involves further smoothing the surface of the flesh side with a pumice stone or powdered pumice. This process produces a fine nap to the flesh side so that it is silky smooth.
Pouncing was most commonly done by the parchmenter on wet skins while they were still stretched on the frame. There are accounts of scribes pouncing dry, finished parchments, but this process requires much care since the dry skin is much more prone to scratching. Pouncing in the scriptorium was probably only done to poor quality parchment in order to remove residual hairs and irregularities left by a careless parchmenter. What was referred to as "pouncing" in the scriptorium may not have been classic pouncing, instead accounts may have been referring to a number of different finishing processes that could be applied to the dry parchment (see "Finishing").
7. Drying
After pouncing and while still tied on the frame, the parchment is dried slowly. Slow drying is important since it produces an even finish and prevents transparent regions in the parchment due to uneven drying.
Drying often involved the application of a calcium compound such as gesso, quicklime or chalk, to aid drying, degrease the parchment surface, and whitening. The distinction between drying and finishing was sometimes indistinct: finishing could take place in the parchment-house while the parchment was drying, or could be done in the scriptorium on dry parchment.
8. Finishing
Finishing was an optional stage in the production of parchment and involved the application of a wide variety of substances to modify the surface and qualities of the finished parchment. Finishing was intended to improve the parchment's smoothness, whiteness, and ability to take inks and colors.
The range of finishes techniques was vast. They included:
There is some confusion in the literature as to what treatments were applied when and by whom. Some finishes seem to have been applied by the parchmenter to damp parchment during the drying stage. Other finishes seem to have been applied by the scribes in the scriptorium as a preparation for writing or illumination.
Even Reed, considered an authority on parchment, contradicts himself regarding finishes. In one work (Reed, 1972:148), he says that the parchmenter applied a thick white water-paint made from gypsum or chalk to the parchment while it was drying on the frame. In another work, he ascribes the above process to the scribe in the scriptorium (Reed 1975: 88).
Since any finish involving moisture must be applied to parchment while it is under tension, it seems likely that such treatments were applied by the parchmenter while the parchment was still wet and on the frame. The treatments involving powdered substances were most likely applied by the scribe.
A certain finishing technique, called stanchgrain, was particularly prevalent in England. Stanchgrain involved the use of lime mixed with such materials as eggs, flour, water, pumice powder, and alum. Stanchgrain seems to have been applied as either a wet paste or as powder and produced a superior firm, smooth, and grease-free writing surface (Reed 1972: 151). I applied powedered stanchgrain (made from lime, egg, flour, and milk) to the parchment I made.
The following are some period recipes for stanchgrain (Reed 1972: 151-152):
To make stanche grain:
Take lime and quicklime and flour. First mix with the white of egg and milk until it becomes a thick paste. Apply to the parchment and let the latter dry slowly in the sun. This differs from pumice in that it is a thick paste whereas pumice is a thin paste.
MS Sloane 962, fol. 182r British Museum. Written in Latin in fifteenth century England.
Take quicklime and flour of wheat in equal quantities and a third part of rosin and mix them together with the white of an egg or with goat milk or else with cow milk until it is quite thick; then stir until forms a soft paste. Make paste into small balls and dry in the sun until they are hard.
To make stanch grain:
Take eggshells and clean them. Heat them and grind them to powder in a brass mortar. Sift the powder by passing it through a linen cloth. If your ink runs or spreads throw the powder on your work and rub it well with pumice.
--MS. Ee I 13, fol. 140r University Library Cambridge. Fifteenth century English manuscript written in England. (Reed: 151-152)
Well, that concludes my discourse on parchment-making. I see the others are still having workshops--why don't you see what they're up to and enjoy the faire?
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