Pictures From The Gothic Grandur Exhibit at the Getty Center

Owners of the Manuscript

Owners of the Ellesmere Manuscript

Who were the earliest

owners of the Ellesmere Chaucer,

and—more frivolously—which

of them scribbled in the

preliminary flyleaves,

“Margery seynt John

ys a shrew”? (Robertson, p. 5)

By looking at the owners of the Ellesmere manuscript, one can begin to see why it was valuable, the people who cherished it, what the text is worth, and the location in where it was housed. All of these aspects are parts of the book’s history. There is not much evidence for early owners of the manuscript, but in Herbert Shultz’s book The Ellesmere Manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, there seems to be speculation as to the identity of possible early owners of the manuscript. Beginning in the early 17^th century, the manuscript comes into the possession of different royal families and neighbors in high classes—dukes and earls.  

1.)   There is a poem written on flyleaves 2 to 4, written as a tribute to the De Vere family, the earls of Oxford (Shultz, p. 46).

2.)   On the first flyleaf of the Ellesmere Chaucer are the names Sir Robert Drury, of his sons, William and Robert, and of his daughters, Anna, Bridget, and Ursula. Also on the same page is written the name of Edward Waldegrave (Shultz, pg. 47).

3.)   On folio 130, there is an inscription “per me Henricum Payne” which refers to Henry Payne, a wealthy lawyer.  Payne was a friend of the Drurys, and had inherited properties from Robert Drury.

4.)   In Payne’s will, a grandson from Ursula Drury Alington, named Sir Giles Alington  to whom Payne bequeathed “my Chaucer written on vellum an illumined w golde.” This is the first reference from sources outside the manuscript itself relating to ownership of the Ellesmere Chaucer (Shultz 48).

5.)   The manuscript then passed into the Egerton family, earls of Bridgewater. On a flyleaf at the beginning of the volume is the handwriting of the first earl—Sit Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley.

6.)   Sir Thomas was the founder of the Bridgewater Library—the oldest large family library in the United Kingdom. The books, manuscripts, and paintins wichi had been houses there were bequesathed to the third duke’s nephew, George Gower, second Marquess of Stafford, along with other estates including the Bridgewater House-Library. The future home of the Ellesmere became Bridgewater house and was known as the Stafford Chaucer. Stafford’s decendents continued possestion of the Bridgewater House Libraryuntil the first World War. During this time, the Earl of Ellesmere in 1914 aold the books and manuscripts to Sotheby & Co. to pay off taxes.

7.)   In 1917 Henry E. Huntington decided to purchase the entire Bridgewater Library, including the Ellesmere Chaucer. Huntington was developing his own library, which is know as The Huntington Library and is located in San, Marino, California. The Ellesmere Chaucer has been on exhibition for the public, inside the Huntington Library ever since it was purchased. It rests near another famous book—the Guttenberg Bible.

Thus the owners of the Ellesmere Manuscript were of royalty, so the manuscript must have been valuable because of its design. As mentioned, there were many textbooks being made during the Middle Ages by scribes for students in universities.

Script or Type of Writing

Script or Type of Writing

THE WRITING ON THE PAGE

“Paleography (literally, “ancient writing”) is the study of older forms of handwriting and their evolution over time. Expert paleographers recognize the personal characteristics of individual scribes, such as the idiosyncratic “double slash–dot–double slash” decorative flourishes used by Adam Pinkhurst in the Ellesmere Chaucer. Because most medieval scribes remain unidentified, scholars rely on paleography to establish the dates of manuscripts and the circumstances of their copying. Professional scribes could write in any of several styles of handwriting, depending on the type and content of the text required. The Ellesmere copy of the Canterbury Tales was a work of secular literature written in Middle English rather than Latin and planned as a large-format volume with miniature paintings and elaborate illumination. It uses a large, formal display script known as Anglicana formata.” (Robertson, p. 5).

By the late 13th century, cursiva anglicana was being used for books as well as documents and by the 14th century a relatively formal variant, angelicana formata had evolved for book production. Anglicana formata can be defined as formal cursive script; it is a gothic variation.   The gothic script is also known as the Caroline Minuscule; it has more spacing between letters. Later, the words became closer for more angular/distorted look.

The Anglicana Formata has long ascending and descending lines, that are similar to the Bastarda form of cursive writing. There were many different ways of writing manuscripts including the Romanesque and beneventan scripts, gothic scripts, and humanistic scripts. However, the gothic scripts were used for important display books and cursive scripts were used for works that were written more quickly, such as chronicles or histories (Harrison). With the increase in the use of the Middle English language in literary works, it was cursive script that was used for writing the vernacular. This is known as the Bastarda cursive script. This form was used for manuscripts intended for university study, for government and commercial documents, and vernacular literature (Avrin, p.192). The term Bastarda means “lowborn” and it was written faster and appreed more angular thatn standard Gothich (Avrin, p. 192). The type of script used also provides information on the Ellesmere’s history. Since the text is written in cursive script, we can acknowledge that the language of the manuscript is written in vernacular, which is Middle English. This is interesting that there is different writing technique depended on what the text of the manuscript is. The fact that Chaucer’s tales were written with a cursive script also indicate that the text was written quickly. This quickness implies that there were many documents that needed to be copied. Ths Bastarda cursive script writing was a way for scribes to copy works quickly. In another way, the cursive script is for works that need to be written fast. According to Avrin, the cursive script was everyday handwriting: “most people wrote their correspondence and family or public documents on was tablets…in their own everyday cursive script. The everyday “common” language of the text complements the writing of the text, but what does this mean when an ordinary text is embellished in decorative boarders? The decorative boarders suggest that the book is more than everyday vernacular literature.

Scriveners' Company

Scriveners’ Company in 1373

According to Moody, there was a Scriveners' Company after 1373. In the company there was a designated space that a scribe occupied as a shop, subject to guild authority, enforced by the London mayor and his aldermen. Pinkhurst's work was since then narrowly defined. Book-making, on the other hand, was not yet bound by regulation. Moody located documents in the London’s Mercer’s Hall and viewed that in the 1380's, Pinkhurst compiled accounts for the Mercer's Guild. The Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon was a meeting place for the Mercer’s Guild. Moody found that Pinkhurst was involved in a transaction over a tenement adjoining the hospital. Therefore, Mooney speculates that he may have conducted his scribal work out of the hospital (Cambridge). All of this leads to the conclusion that scribe Adam Pinkhurst was a busy freelance professional. He definatly copied Chaucer's works, but he also may have copied the works of other authors, and non-literary texts. We know that textbooks were of high need for the Cathedral schools. Perhaps, Pinkhurst scribed textbooks, because scribe work was his occupation. It is unclear, but it seems that Chaucer did not make his living from writing poetry, like Shakespeare. Therefore, during Pinkhurst’s relationship with Chaucer, he must have been employed by Chaucer, but also moonlighting another job by working for the Mercers’ Company. Chaucer’s poem about Adam could be his disappointment that Pinkhurst had other clients. However, how could Pinkhurst only work for Chaucer? For Pinkhurst, perhaps, he could not have only relied entirely upon Chaucer for his livelihood. Pinkhurst must have had another source of income from different employers requiring copies of a variety of different types of text.  (Moody).

Author and Scribe Relationship

Pinkhurst and Chaucer

Adam Pinkhurst is now known as the medieval scribe of London, who copied the work of Chaucer, including the Ellesmere Chaucer and the Hengwt Chaucer manuscripts. According to Mooney, Pinkhurst was Chaucer's copyist for many years. Pinkhurst wanted to join the Scrivener’s Company of London, to learn how to scribe. It has been considered that Pinkhurst may have been the son of a small landowner, brought up a short distance from London, because records exist of property transactions involving an Adam Pinkhurst (could be the scribe’s father) (Ezard).  If Pinkhurst’s father lived in London, then he was close enough to visit the city and begin to make a living, by learning the trade for becoming  a writer, or copyist.

A medieval scribe worked in the scriptorium--served as the monastic library, or in separate cells called carrels partitioned off of a large room (Avrin, p. 223). The scribe wrote for six hours a day in the daylight and stopped writing at sunset. Inside the scriptorium, silence was the rule, and the scribe made his need for additional materials known to the armarius by hand signals. (p. 223). This would be the normal workplace of the scribe. However, Mooney points out that Chaucer might have wanted to have a private scribe work on his manuscript so he would have creative control. This is similar to authors and illustrators for children’s books today. Some authors must send their written text into the publishing house, and any illustrator will place their artwork alongside the work. Sometimes authors never meet the illustrators, even though they collaborate on work together. This relationship between scribe and author is relevant in one of Chaucer’s poems, that was identified by Mooney as having Adam Pinkhurst as the subject. The poem is titled Chaucer's “Wordes Unto Adam His Own Scriveyne”. The poem focuses on Chaucer scolding Adam for all his errors in composing two earlier manuscript books:

“Adam scrivener, if ever thee befall

Boece or Troilus for to write new [again],

Under thy longe locks thow maist have the scall,

But [unless] after my makinge thou write mor trew,

So oft a day I mot [must] thy werke renewe It to correct, and eke to rubbe and scrape,

And all is thorowe thy necligence and rape [haste].” (Ezard)

The poem appears in only one manuscript, the Cambridge Trinity MS R. 3.20. It was copied in the 1430s by the scribe John Shirley, who gave it the title ‘‘Chaucers Wordes Unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn” (2010, Cambridge). In the poem, Chaucer complains about 'the rubbe and scrape'—he amount of correction that is required on account of Adam's negligence and quickness. He even threatens him with 'scalle', which is a scabby disease of the skin and scalp,  if Adam should ever copy Boece and Troilus and Criseyde again in such a way(Cambridge). The poem indicates the practice of scribes, and includes the process where, the work was returned to the author for correction. Since scribe work was in high demand, the fact that 'Adam' worked quickly, could also indicate that he had also other assignments as a scribe.

This poem is historical in which it comments on the possibility that scribes could mishandle the work of author’s. This is a concern for writers of the period, because they had to trust that scribes would not deliberately change/edit the words. This poem also highlights that there was a relationship between author and scribe. Scriptoriums seemed to be used after Chaucer’s death in 1400s, but before writers could work closely with scribes (Ezard). Thus, Adam Pinkhurst was close to Chaucer. In composing the manuscript, Pinkhurst may have discussed the order of the tales with Chaucer, he might have known how Chaucer wanted the work to flow. Thus, because he had contact with Chaucer, the Ellesmere and Hengwt were written by someone who knew and worked directly with the author over many years. These two works are the closest to being accurate. In this case, Pinkhurst knew Chaucer's habits or intentions and therefore reconstructed a manuscript from Chaucer's incomplete work.

Occupation for Scribes

Copyist—A Medieval Occupation

A scribe is not going to spend three years working on a manuscript if Chaucer was not well known, or well respected. The copies of Chaucer’s drafts for the Canterbury Tales were completed quickly and with great care and with beautiful illustration, which suggests that Chaucer may have been well-known in the Middle Ages. Why was the work finished so quickly during a time where few books were available? Did Chaucer have a good reputation, or was his work needed? There is not much history about Chaucer’s involvement with his own people in England, because he was mostly traveling to other countries as a diplomat. According to Avrin, in the Late Middle Ages, there was a need for textbooks: the growth of the cathedral schools and universities created a need for many more texts than ever before. City workshops of scribes and artists began to meet this demand.” (p. 227). The high demand for books to be copied, implies that there was a new job market available for men. The scribe was a trade that many men during the Middle Ages could learn and be hired to do and be paid. It is unclear why Chaucer wrote drafts of his tales, or for whom they were meant, but the fact that during his time there was a high demand for scribes, and books, it is not impossible to think that Chaucer’s tales may have been included as literature of the period. The best question is: who needed books during the Middle Ages? According to Avrin, it was students.

Large Size

Size of Manuscript

Reading was not the only way a person could learn stories in the Middle Ages. Anyone who could not read could always listen to an oral storyteller. The peasants could hear the story from someone who could read to them. Chaucer's theme is storytelling, which suggests that only one person has to read the work aloud. People can hear the story told, like a sermon in church. This is a possible explanation for the large size of the manuscript--it is meant to be read aloud on a podium. Only one copy is needed. The size of the manuscript fits into the Middle ages context because people were attending church regularly so they already aware of preachers, and the idea of oral traditions. People did not have to read for themselves, because they were used to having a priest read to them and interpret sermons. Therefore, people who cannot read can still understand the story if it is read aloud. This idea of the sermon being read aloud relates to the storytelling theme amongst the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales. The era is a precursor to Shakespeare's time, when acting on stage became prominent. People did not have to own a copy of the play, or the poem, instead they would sit, and listen to the story.

Ellesmere Chaucer at Huntington Library

Language: Middle English

Language: Middle English

The Canterbury Tales is written in Middle English and it is important in understanding the development of the Modern English Language. Middle English was the common language spoken during the Middle Ages. Before Middle English, the language was Anglo-Saxon. When the Norman army invaded England, they changed the English language. Most documents were written in either Latin, French, or Italian, but Middle English drew from these languages with Anglo-Saxon as their root-language. It was Latin for clergy, French for the ruling classes, and English for the common man. Middle English, then, is a mixture of languages spoken. Because the British had contact with many people over the world, this contact effected language, including vocabulary, and pronunciation. It is interesting to see which culture dominated the language of other cultures, and which language was lost because of the conquest. Language can also help identify class status. For, French was only spoken in the court "upper class," and Middle English was the language of the "common" people. Many books were written in French and Italian because these were popular languages. Commoners would not be able to read these works. So including all these facts, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a work written in Middle English, which suggests that he wrote the work for the common man. Commoners who could read and write would be able to understand his work. However, there was not printing press available, so the cost of having a manuscript would be outrageous. A commoner would not be able to afford to read Chaucer's tales, despite the fact that they could read the manuscript in their own language. We must begin to ask the question, why was there a sudden need to write in English vernacular? Was it to preserve the English language? Were writers afraid that their language would be lost? was the manuscript written for? Writers in the 12th and 13th century decided to write in vernacular language, rather than in French and Latin. This idea of writing in common language became a tradition, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is the most popular work that showcases Middle English language. This could be one reason why the tales were written by hand so elaborately, and why so many of the manuscripts were written. The manuscript is a historical piece that shows the history of our English language--Middle English, before Modern English.

Why was the manuscript created if Chaucer died with it unfinished? One reason can be that the language structure during the Middle Ages was changing. There must have been a demand for texts to be written in English, which is why Canterbury Tales is so important, not only for its beautiful illumination, but for its written language. In The Ellemere Manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury tales, Schultz highlights the way in which a manuscript is written for a purpose: "the stationer would be compelled to minimize his dependence on artists and illuminators in the preparation of English manuscripts and would call upon their serious efforts only when a specially commissioned volume was planned for some person of wealth and importance" (p.40). Since a manuscript could take years to develop, the thought of writing and illuminating the Canterbury Tales, suggests that the story was important before the scribes began to prepare the manuscript.

Colophon

Colophon

I could not find a long list of colophon from the scribe, for the Ellesmere manuscript. Colophon is the inscription recording information relating to the circumstances of the production of a manuscript or printed book. They are generally located at the end of a book (Brown, p. 43). Since identifying Adam Pinkhurst from his signature alone, it is interesting that he did not sign his name at the end of the manuscript. If he had listed his name, then we would not have wondered who Chaucer's Scribe was for years. It has been noted that colophons were not added to every manuscript, or perhaps Adam did sign his name, but the pages were lost or damaged. The colophon usually includes the name of the copyist, title of work, date of completion of the copying, place where it was copied, name of the person for whom the work was copied or whether the scribe copied it for himself, and good wished for the owner and for the copyist (. These are examples of some of the details that could be included in a colophon. By having the colophon we would learn who the book was written for, the audience, when it was written, and more facts that would help us learn the history of the book. We do however learn that it is Chaucer's work. The scribe did not take it upon himself to steal Chaucer's work; instead he gave Chaucer full credit.

In Lelia Avrin's book Scribes, Scripts, and Manuscripts, she identifies the artist as a scribe/illuminator, and suggests that few scribes or illuminators left self-portraits as colophons (p. 224). Since there is a depiction of Chaucer drawn as a pilgrim at the beginning of the Canterbury Tales, this illumination can be considered a colophon. The picture is a replica of what Chaucer might have looked like during the Middle Ages. Since there is no description of the host in the General Prolouge to Canterbury tales, the illuminators drew Chaucer as the host. At the end of the Canterbury Tales is the phrase:

Here is ended the book of the Tales of Caunterbury complied by Geffrey Chaucer of whos soule Jhesu Christ have mercy. Amen.

Since the work mentions his name at the end of the tale, this can also be considered a colophon.

Original Binding

Original Binding
 

Primary Cover and Overcover

It is not certain the type of wood used for the boards or the material used for the primary covering. The over-covering is a typical English Romanesqe binding, made of a heavier substance (Cains, 145). Hadgraft believes that the over-cover is white alum-tawed leather, and that it would have extended beyond the edges of the boards to form a protective skirt for the edges of the text block.

Worm Holes

There was a wood-worm infestation of the original boards noted, because there was a pattern of small exit holes and a ramification of tunnels etched into the parchment's pasted surface (Cains, 146). This is interesting because this manuscript is very old, and the fact that insects might destroy the wood, suggests that there is another way of interpreting the materials within the manuscript--insects. Researchers believe that oak wood is less infested, by certain insects: " Harold Plenderleith has noted that wood-boring insects may be identified either by the size of the holes they leave on emerging to lay eggs, or by the material attacked" (Cains, 146). As the book history is researched the subject of science comes into play. How wood is infested may contribue to the question of board materials used in early history. Hadgraft believes that beechwood is not a likely wood used during the period, but possibly oak wood.

Clasps

Clasps are metal fittings that are attached to the boards at the edge of a binding in order to hold the book shut and preserve the parchment (Brown, 41). According to Cains, there is evidence of two clasps on the Ellesmere. On each pastedown there are two verdigris copper alloy-stained points about 25 to 30 mm inward. This stain indicated that there was a clasp or strap in that location, along with "catch-plate nails" (Cains, 146). The nail marks suggest that the clasp or strap plate has symmetry. The clasp and catch would have to pass through slots cut into the board. In the Hengwt the chemise remains under the catch plates, so it is clear that the clasps were mounted over the chemise, like in the following picture:

HM 35300, Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica (?)

.The HM 35300 is a model board for the Ellesmere manuscript. It is about the same general shape with the same width and thickness for the manuscript.

1995 Cover

Boards

For the repair of the manuscript researchers cushioned the spine edges, entry holes were drilled and tapereamed to produce a tight fit for the double cord. the boards were laced on (Cains, p. 155).

Cover

• No new parchment flyleaves would be added
• inside board surface would remain exposed
• cover material would be white tawed calf
• Thread used was more tight and thicker than the original thread
• Goatskin parchment used to line the spine ( to blend with the color of oak boards)
• boards were laced and pegged
• Endbands sewen through the lining and the sewing slips were laced in and pegged

Cover was adhered with cooked wheat-flour paste to the boards (Cains, p. 151).

1995 Binding of the Ellesmere Chaucer

Binding Repair

Disbinding the Ellesmere Chaucer

On April 4, 1994, Anthonoy G. Cains and his colleague Maria Fredricks (conservator of rare books at the Huntington Library) made leaf-by-leaf assessments of the parchment and pigment of the Ellesmere manuscript. Cains and Fredricks were preparing the manuscript for repair and treatment--a two week process. The goal of the disbinding was to observe and record evidence of earlier bindings of the manuscript and treatment and trimming of the leaves. They sought to disbind the manuscript to study the structure of the binding. The binding was redone in 1911, so my analysis of the binding will reflect the 1911 bindings, but also recount where the original binding might have been placed.

Riviere and Sons 1911 Binding and Sewing

• Cover: full, heavily grained used green goatskin (Cape Levant)
• Bands: 6 large raised bands on the spine, each 9mm wide
• Bifolia: three
• Book boards: laced on, and coinceded with the bands--for flexible sowing
• Endleaves: heavy clafskin parchment, two flyleaves and a pastedown.
• Gusset: the endleaves had to be oversewn onto the text block
• Flyleaves: two modern single-sheet, calf parchment flyleaves were left attached, held by the original tipping of animal glue applied by Riviere.
• Slips: sewing cupport, gap between text block and cover
• Spine Folds: good condition, perforations of an earlier sewing
• Pastedowns: parchment pastedowns and flyleaves must have been attached to the text block after gilding. Original pastedowns are gilded.
• Sewing: Riviere sewing through three holes, instead of one or two holes.
• Text: sewn by Riviere on six thin double cords. Sewn through three needle perforations at each station with a thick seaming twine.

Flexible sowing

A strong structure in which each folded book section, or quire, is sewn around single, or double-cord supports that rest on the spine. The ends of these supports lace the book boards onto the text block. When covered, the supports appear on the spine as raised bands (Cains, 130).

Gusset

Examining the inside of the binding included a gusset and the endleaves has been oversewn onto the text block after the text block has been sewn. The rebinding of an old manuscript, showed Cains that the condition of the parchment was good. By separating the manuscript, we learned about the development of all the original perforations, and the changes in sewing and binding.

Separating the Gatherings

The binding was gathered using animal glue and thred. Continuing with Cains' disbinging of the Ellesmere manuscript, first the animal glue and leather fiber was removed from the spinefolds. This was a dangerous process, because the glue could rip the entire manuscript when pulled apart.

Three interior bifolia were removed one at a time without difficulty. However, the researchers left one outer biolium attached to the adjacent quire. If the researchers hydrated the glue making it soft then they could damage the parchment. So, they decided to swab the spine fold with damp cotton wool and water on the glue line. The animal glue became softened and the researchers used a bone folder to separate the parchment.

Printing Press--William Caxton

William Caxton



William Caxton was known as the first English printer, translator, and importer of books to England.

According to BBC History: "Caxton was born in around 1422 in Kent. He went to London at the age of 16 to become an apprentice to a merchant, later moving to Bruges, the centre of the wool trade, where he became a successful and important member of the merchant community. From 1462 to 1470 he served as governor of the 'English Nation of Merchant Adventurers', which allowed him to represent his fellow merchants, as well as act as a diplomat for the king."

Caxton is similar to Chaucer because they were both diplomats and translators. They both traveled to different countries, spoke French & Latin, and they both worked for an English King. Chaucer worked for Richard II, and Caxton worked for Edward IV. In 1470, Caxton spent time in Cologne, and learned the art of printing (BBC). He returned to Bruges in 1472 where he and Colard Mansion, a Flemish calligrapher, set up a press (BBC). Caxton's own translation of 'The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye' was the first book printed in the English language. It appears that during the transition from the illuminaton era into the printing era, there were many people who knew different languages and chose to translate works into different languages so people could read books written by other ethnicities. For instance, a translation of a Latin story into English.    

The first printing press in England was established by Caxton in 1476. Among the first books to be printed was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,  Gower's 'Confession Amantis' and Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur' (BBC). He printed more than 100 books in his lifetime, books which were known for their craftsmanship and careful editing. Even with a printing press, the printers had to function as editors, which is interesting. The printing of Chaucer's tales, also shows that the work was of major importance to be among the first to be printed.


References

BBC History. William Caxton.  Accessed 23 March 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caxton_william.shtml

More on Caxton's Chaucer
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/caxton/printingtype.html

Artists

Artists

 1870, the work of more than one artist in the Pilgrims paintings was detected by an engraver named W.H. Hooper (Schulz, p. 16). Hooper was an engraver who cut the illustrations on wood for publication, in color, for the Chaucer Society. When he made the illustrations, he noticed that there were two groups of pilgrims drawn differently. One group of pilgrims had patches of grass beneath their feet, and the second group of pilgrims did not have any grass underneath their feet. On this account, researchers believe that there must have been three or four different artists. The skill level is different in the following portraits.

Artist 1: The portrait of Chaucer. The proportions of Chaucer in the picture are poor in comparison to the other pilgrims. However, the skill level is better than any other the other portraits. The upper portion of Chaucer is detailed, and the bottom portion is set to match the size of the horse. Chaucer's upper half is too big for the horse, but the artist might have run out of room to draw a bigger horse because the margin is on the left--with limited space. The skill level would have been greater, because the artist may have had an actual portrait of Chaucer to draw from, or the artist knows what Chaucer actually looked like. The pilgrims are fictional characters, so there is no portrait to copy from.

Artist 2: The portrait of the Monk, Nun's Priest, Second Nun, Canon's Yeoman, and Mancipile (approx. 2 3/4 to 3 7/8 inches). Artists 1 and 2 place patches of grass beneath the horses feel, but these are omitted by artist 3.

Artist 3: Includes all the remaining paintings made by a single artist, or by two working in similar styles (1 7/8 to 2 7/8, and the Knight 3 3/4) (Shultz). These portraits do not contain any grass beneath the horse. This suggests that there were two different artists.

 

The detail in the horses also show that there might have been additional artists. Of all the horses, Chaucer's horse is drawn the best. The next best horse is the Squire's horse. In addition, the squire's dress is eloquently designed. This could be a result of his station. According to Schulz, three of the paintings were traced. First the horse was traced, with a stylus, which is a pointed implement, of metal or bone, used for pricking and ruling a manuscript (Brown, 118). The stylus left a deep indentation in the vellum as an outline for the artist to follow. Next, the color was applied and the rider placed on top of the horse in freehand. The pressure from the stylus led researchers to identify whether the illustrations were drawn before binding took place.

Illustrations are important to book history, because it allows us to view depictions of people and clothing during history. The clothes drawn in these pictures represents the Middle Ages, from an illuminator who lived in that time. This is an authentic visual form, even though most of the pilgrims are fictional.

Illumination/ Incipit

Ellesmere Chaucer is the most elaborately decorated of all the manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. In addition, it is also among the largest of the manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. The height is 15 3/4 inches and its width is 11 1/8 inches.

Decorative Boarders

There is 71 pages of manuscript and a lavish use of three-quarter boarders (demi-vinets). These borders fill the left margin of the page and taper off horizontally into upper and lower margins, leaving the right margin blank. There is a lot of white space on the right margin. The boarders are made up of gold and colored branches that extends vertically. The vertical lines are like tree branches with "trefoil-like leaves" or flowers, such as daisys.

Incipit
The large initials, or the Incipit Page, are in gold and colors. There are a total of 225 incipits in the manuscript, and the size and height of the incipit varies from two to six lines in height. These large initials do not always start at the top of the page. The story might end in the middle of the page, and then the next story might appear in the middle of the page starting with an incipit.  So the incipit is like a page-break. It highlights the beginning of the new tale.

There are light display of paragraph marks, in gold or colors, with red or violet pen marks to make the text look extravagant.

Illuminator

The purpose of the illuminator is to make the pages stand out, to sparkle the pages with gold and color.
The illumination of gold leaf and colors seemed to be placed after an outline was sketched onto the page. There are subtle sketching lines underneath the color, where the outline was sketched.

Title(s): Canterbury, Ellesmere, Hengwrt

The Canterbury Tales
The title describes the journey that the storyteller will take as well as the tales they will tell. The pilgrims are journeying to Canterbury, which is a holy site in England. The journey is meant to be a spiritual journey to move from sin to salvation (Fischer, 2006).

Stafford Chaucer
Before the manuscript was named Ellesmere Chaucer, it was named Stafford Chaucer--as manuscripts were usually refered to stafford manuscripts from 1803-1833. (Schulz 50).

Ellsmere Chaucer
The Ellsmere Chaucer was named after an Earl--Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere. He obtained possesion of the Bridgewater House Library until the first World War (Schulz 50)

Codicology: Parchment/Pigments/Ink

At the Getty Center, there was a manuscript exhibit focusing on Medieval Manuscripts called Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination from 1200-1350. In the exhibit I viewed all 7 steps that the scribes and illuminators take to create the manuscript, including the tools used to make ink and pigments during the Medieval era. The videos and photos below are samples of my visit to the Gothic Grandeur exhibit at the Getty Center:

First Step: The Parchment is prepared

Skin of a slaughtered animal: sheep, calf, goat was sent to the parchment maker.



 Second Step: The Ink is prepared.

The Third Step: Writing the Text --->

To enrue straignt lines while writing, the scribe ruled the parchment using lead point or colored ink. The scribe prepared a pen by chaping the end of a feather with a penknife to form a gib, then cutting a slit to allow the ink to flow (Getty).

Fourth Step: Guilding, using Gold Leaf 

Fifth Step: Pigments --->

Pigments were made from plants, chemically produced substances and crushed minerals. Yellow was made from saffron, and green was produced from corroded copper. Ultramarine, a deep blue, was made from ground lapis lazuli (Getty).

Sixth Step: Painting

 

Seventh Step: Binding

 

 

Parchment

The Ellesmere Manuscript is written on 232 vellum leaves (calfskin parchment). The writing space is 12 3/3 by 6 1/8 inches, with ruling lines of light-reddish ink in single columns for 48 lines of text. Four rule-lined flyleaves are placed at the beginning and end of the volume. On the vellum leaf there is a horizontal crease about 4 1/2 inches from the bottom edge. This crease was made in the vellum before the writing and decoration were added. This suggests that the skins of the vellum were prepared by the medieval parchmentor for use by the scribe

Ink and Pigments

 

Pigment can be defined as the coloring agent in paint, and during the Middle Ages scribes of illuminators ground and prepared their own  pigments, with the help of an assistant, who helped to purchase their ingredients from an apothecary (1994, Brown).

In the disbinding of the Ellesmere manuscripts, in 1994, Cains defines the accurate pigments used on the manuscript:

Text ink:  transparent organic brown in a clear medium, with no crystalline or particlate matter present.

The ruling: is a transparent medium stained pink by an organic (crimson) red; fine amorphous clumps of the red pigment are irrgulary dispersed in the medium.

Decoration: 

• The blue pigment is ultramarine--either as a pure pigment or mixed with an inert white to give lighter shade.
• The orange-red pigment is red lead. It had darkened when overpainted onto the ultramarine and oxidizxed in some areas to a brown color--a typical characteristic of the aging of lead-containing pigments.
• The white pigment is a transparent white, suggesting that it chalk rather than lead white.
• Carbon Black
• Brown-black asphaltum
•  Transparent amorphous green: green particles with a transparent medium, Cains believe may be copper.
• Transparant crimson red-- an organic color from madder, kermes, or orchil
• Pink-- wa
  
  
  s created by mixing red lead, ultramarie and inert white
• Ruling Ink--may use the same crimson red color for the text
• Transparent amorphous purple red: folium or tunsole
• Gold leaf, the guilder's (person who applies gold or silver to a surface) decorations look neat and professional

Pilgrim Portraits Pigments

Various mixtures of pigments were used for the pilgrim portraits:

Amorphous red

Bitumous black and transparent red-brown

Opaque yellow

Some figures have point of goal leaf flaked applied to the parchment, perhaps  In these illustrations the gold was used as ink.

Between the design of the pilgrims and the decorations, there seems to be different skill levels, a team of people, perhaps scribes, who contributed to the manuscript. There seems to be a illuminator,  and illustrator, and a guilder who worked on the illustrations of the manuscript. There is a School of Illumination which is a group of artist who decorate the same manuscript (1994, Brown). These artist illuminate the manuscript by using luminous colors to enlighten readers.

The illuminator is an artist who mixes and uses colors

The scribe writes the text 

The guilder decorates the manuscript with gold or silver ink, or powder (1994, Brown). The guilder must be extremely skilled in his craft because his work is the most detailed. The guilder's part takes more crafting because he is decorating on top of the illustrators work.

Comparing the pigments suggests that the illustrators are less technical than the decorator and guilder.

References

Brown, P., Michelle. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1994.

Gothic Grander Exhibit at J.Paul Getty Museum

Context: Language

Language: Middle English

The Canterbury Tales is written in Middle English and it is important in understanding the development of the Modern English Language. Middle English was the common language spoken during the Middle Ages. Before Middle English, the language was Anglo-Saxon. When the Norman army invaded England, they changed the English language. Most documents were written in either Latin, French, or Italian, but Middle English drew from these languages with Anglo-Saxon as their root-language. It was Latin for clergy, French for the ruling classes, and English for the common man. Middle English, then, is a mixture of languages spoken. Because the British had contact with many people over the world, this contact effected language, including vocabulary, and pronunciation. It is interesting to see which culture dominated the language of other cultures, and which language was lost because of the conquest. Language can also help identify class status. For, French was only spoken in the court "upper class," and Middle English was the language of the "common" people. Many books were written in French and Italian because these were popular languages. Commoners would not be able to read these works. So including all these facts, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a work written in Middle English, which suggests that he wrote the work for the common man. Commoners who could read and write would be able to understand his work. However, there was not printing press available, so the cost of having a manuscript would be outrageous. A commoner would not be able to afford to read Chaucer's tales, despite the fact that they could read the manuscript in their own language. We must begin to ask the question, why was there a sudden need to write in English vernacular? Was it to preserve the English language? Were writers afraid that their language would be lost? was the manuscript written for? Writers in the 12th and 13th century decided to write in vernacular language, rather than in French and Latin. This idea of writing in common language became a tradition, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is the most popular work that showcases Middle English language. This could be one reason why the tales were written by hand so elaborately, and why so many of the manuscripts were written. The manuscript is a historical piece that shows the history of our English language--Middle English, before Modern English.

Why was the manuscript created if Chaucer died with it unfinished? One reason can be that the language structure during the Middle Ages was changing. There must have been a demand for texts to be written in English, which is why Canterbury Tales is so important, not only for its beautiful illumination, but for its written language. In The Ellemere Manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury tales, Schultz highlights the way in which a manuscript is written for a purpose: "the stationer would be compelled to minimize his dependence on artists and illuminators in the preperation of English manuscripts and would call upon their serious efforts only when a specially commissioned volume was planned for some person of wealth and importance" (p.40). Since a manuscript could take years to develop, the thought of writing and illuminating teh Canterbury Tales, suggests that the story was important before the scribes began to prepare the manuscript.

Chaucer the Linguist

English was not the primary language in the Middle Ages; in fact, it was a provincial language (Fischer, 2006). The primary languages were Latin, French, and Italian. Chaucer adapted the model languages to see if they would fit the English language. In this way, we can view Chaucer as a linguist. The newly developing English language must have been important enough to make demands on the talents of illuminators and artists to copy Chaucer's work onto the manuscript. The Guttenberg Bible was religiously important. Canterbury Tales, must have been an important language book.

 How does an author communicate to his or her audience through text? This is the question that Chaucer explores in The Canterbury Tales. The tales are about storytelling from different perspective of human nature. According to Fischer, Chaucer was self-conscious about the exploratory nature of his work and ...he was deeply engaged with issues of how author, audience, and text collaborate to make meaning" (p. 1). By developing different persona's through different storytellers, he was able to make meaning out of different characters. Characters in teh tale range from monks, to knight, to women. Therefore, a man writing from a woman's perspective, such as the "Wife of Bath" must have been challenging. Therefore, Canterbury Tales can be understood as an experiment of language and expressing meaning through different language models. Different storytellers/pilgrims represent each model of language. Chaucer was a writer who contemplated how author, reader, and text collaborate to make meaning.

 

Adam Pinkhurst The Scribe/Author:

 

Who Wrote the Ellesmere Chaucer?

            Chaucer did not finish writing the Canterbury Tales, because he died in 1400. There does not seem to be any existing documents written by his own hand, including his draft of the tales. So, the Canterbury Tales is an unfinished work, but a scribe chose to copy Chaucer’s drafts of Canterbury tales into a very elaborately decorated manuscript. The scribe who had access to Chaucer’s tales, must have been very close to him. The illuminators, as well.

Chaucer’s Scribe is Adam Pinkhurst

In 2004, a literary scholar and scribe professor named Linne R. Mooney was compiling a database of more than two hundred scribes working in England between 1375 and 1425, whose handwriting is found in more than one manuscript (2006, Mooney). Mooney is an expert on calligraphy of the Middle Ages, therefore, in comparing the hand of Scribe B on the manuscripts with the signatures from early records, in the year 1392, of the Scriveners' Company, in the city of London, she was able to locate a match that revealed the name: Adam Pinkhurst. This is the year that Chaucer lived and authored his work. Mooney identified Pinkhurst as the copyist of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt manuscript (Fisher, 1). This is important, because Pinkhurst’s work, as a scribe, still exists today. Since copyists/scribe was an occupation in the 1300s, was Pinkhurst paid for copying Chaucer’s tales? If so, by whom? Why was the manuscript so elaborately designed? Who read the manuscript? Since we know who the scribe of the Ellesmere and the Hengwrt are, we can begin to explore how Pinkhurst became a scribe. In researching Pinkhurst, we might be able to identify his relationship to Chaucer.