Medieval Scribes, Tools, & Practices A collection of authentic medieval tools used in all aspects of the scribe's work. This collection, originally organized by Alan Cole, belongs to the Museum of Writing Research Collection, Institute of English Studies, University of London, and is housed in the Senate House Library.

Title Line Marking Frame

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Brief description After examining some disintegrating fragments of wood with nails and remnants of gut strands attached, Alan Cole developed a potential method of use for the object in ruling parchment. First two pieces of wood, or rules, were fitted with pegs at regular intervals. Next strands of gut were wound around the pegs to create a grid of parallel lines. According to Cole, the two rules would have been placed over a piece of parchment and the strands would have been rubbed with a thick piece of parchment or cloth, leaving an impression on the parchment. This method would have allowed scribes to rule the parchment relatively quickly and to reproduce the same line spacing for each page. The Medieval Manuscript Manual provided by the Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University in Budapest describes a similar device. (http://web.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/ruling.html)

Contributor: Hannah Moshier, from notes by Alan Cole

Contribution date: Winter 2014