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The Genesis of a Medieval Manuscript

lquigley

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Decorated initial "E" (Ea tempestate), W.71, fol. 23r
Red rubrication striking through much of the text, suggesting importance.
The Walters Art Museum, W.71, fol. 23r
Rubrication:

After the scribe handed off the manuscript to an artisan or illustrator, the process of rubrication would begin.  Rubrication, literally from the Latin ruber, meaning red, is the process of imbuing titles, important letters, and even particular lines with color.  Rubrication was important because most bound manuscripts contain more than one text, requiring that each text begin and end with a title. A cheap and relatively easy method of rubrication involves writing a title in black ink "then [brushing it] over with color to make the title stand out from the text" (Graham and Clemens 24).  This method was favored on the Continent during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods; more common on the British Isles, however, was a method involving writing the title in ink then "[striking] through or [underscoring] the desired text with a line of red pigment" (Graham and Clemens 24). 

Far more common than either of these methods, however, is the practice of writing titles in red -- or occasionally blue.  These titles required the original scribe to leave space for the rubricator to work; occasionally, when scribes failed to leave enough space, the artisan would write the title in the margin or even vertically on the manuscript (Graham and Clemens 24). Most rubrications appear in blue or red; these inks were made from colored lead. Red lead in particular can darken over time, however, and frequently "initials and titles that were originally bright red have blackened in part or even wholly," darkening nearest the beginning and end of a manuscript, "where the leaves were more exposed" (Graham and Clemens 25).

Rubricators would also add in colored initials, but in the case of more elaborate illuminated initials, the manuscript would pass over to a more skilled artisan.
Opening of calendar, in main hand. Initial and rubrics.
Red rubrication that has darkened considerably due to age.
Spencer Collection Ms. 124
Text page with decorated initials and line-fillers, of Psalm 9:25-34.
Very bright red and blue rubrication.
British Library Harley 3557
Puzzle initial 'U'(t) and penwork initial 'D'(e).
Sections marked in red and blue.
British Library Harley 3290
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