Manuscripts, Market and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany

Diane E. Booton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780754666233
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351920025
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Manuscripts, Market and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany surveys the production and marketing of non-monastic manuscripts and printed books over 150 years in late medieval Brittany, from the accession of the Montfort family to the ducal crown in 1364 to the duchy's formal assimilation by France in 1532. Brittany, as elsewhere, experienced the shift of manuscript production from monasteries to lay scriptoria and from rural settings to urban centers, as the motivation for copying the word in ink on parchment evolved from divine meditation to personal profit. Through her analysis of the physical aspects of Breton manuscripts and books, parchment and paper, textual layouts, scripts and typography, illumination and illustration, Diane Booton exposes previously unexplored connections between the tangible cultural artifacts and the society that produced, acquired and valued them. Innovatively, Booton's discussion incorporates archival research into the prices, wages and commissions associated with the manufacture of the works under discussion to shed new light on their economic and personal value.

1

The Economics of Manuscript-Making

In 1424, Nicolaus de Launey, prior at Mont Dol, copied Le Tombel de Chartrose et autres poèmes mystiques en français, and at the end of his 244-page manuscript (Avranches, BM, ms 244, f. 122^r), he wrote his name and dated his work:

Scriptum in Villa Dolensi, per me fratrem Nicholaum de Launey prior [sic] de Monte Dolis, anno Domini M^mo IIII^cmo visecimo [sic] tercio, mense februarii. [Written at Dol, by me, brother Nicolaus de Launey, prior of Mont Dol, in the year of the Lord, February 1424 n.s.].

The personalization of Nicolaus de Launey’s transcription of saints’ lives and other moral tales exemplifies the historical significance of colophons that identify the copyist, his origin, and the terminal date of a work. Such scribal inscriptions are instrumental in recognizing manuscripts written in the late medieval duchy of Brittany. Additional Breton manuscripts can be identified in ducal tax registers, ecclesiastical payment ledgers, and municipal account books, but many of these manuscripts do not survive or have yet to be traced to their current whereabouts. The historical record, however, does provide noteworthy details on the cost of parchment and paper, as well as the wages paid to manuscript-makers. Together, extant manuscripts and archival records help to distinguish centers of manuscript-making by parchment-makers, scribes, decorators, and illuminators. These sources also inform us about contractors and booksellers in the trade, and the marketing ties between suppliers in the duchy and those in neighboring regions.

This chapter examines the labor and products of manuscript-makers in late medieval Brittany. First, we look at the manufacture of parchment and paper as writing support for Breton manuscripts. Where was it made? How much did it cost? Second, manuscript-makers working in Brittany—scribes, illuminators, and bookbinders—are identified and discussed chronologically and, where possible, are associated with their manuscripts, regional location, working wages, and the names of their patrons or employers. We also identify dated or datable manuscripts that can be localized to Brittany; these manuscripts cover an array of literary genres and show ownership among the lay and ecclesiastical community. Nobles and clerics commissioned manuscripts to their specifications, but they also purchased ready-made manuscripts, prepared as a speculative gamble by a bookseller. As we shall see in the final section, prices for commissioned and ready-made manuscripts varied considerably.

To understand the prices, wages, and market influences in late medieval Brittany, it is important to recognize that various currencies circulated in the region. The dukes of Brittany minted both gold and silver coins at Nantes, Rennes, and Vannes.¹ The Breton gold coin was the franc, in circulation during the reigns of Jean IV (1364–99) and Jean V (1399–1442); after about 1422, the franc was superseded by the écu de Bretagne, averaging 22 sous (s.) 9 deniers (d.). Silver coins were le gros (10d.), le demi-gros, blancs, and deniers. Other (non-Breton) currency included the French écu (= 22s.), the livre parisis (1 livre (ℓ) = 20s.; 1s. = 12d.) and the livre tournois, valued at about 25 percent less than the livre parisis, which it superseded as the preferred coinage in France during the fifteenth century. Gold saluts circulated mainly in English-occupied areas; dauphine moutons, Dutch plakken, and Italian florins and ducats were also exchanged or used as systems of accounting in trade. Multiple currencies underscore commercial diversity in the duchy, which enjoyed a relatively strong maritime trade, particularly in salt and cloth.²

Our understanding of the economic panorama in medieval Brittany remains fragmentary due to the irregular remains of the historical record. Medieval account books rarely specify a particular monetary system, recording instead nominal amounts, rather than real values. Moreover, monetary fluctuations occurred at varying rates in different regions of France, and the changing rates of coinage were generally not registered. Late medieval Brittany, however, appears to have suffered shorter periods of monetary fluctuations than France, for only after about 1467, during the reign of François II, did the Breton écu experience significant depreciation, dropping thereafter from 25s. to 16s. 8d. in relation to the livre tournois. This study presents prices and currency as found in historical documents; Breton currency is assumed, unless otherwise indicated.

Parchment and Paper as Writing Supports

According to archival records, the duchy of Brittany produced both parchment and paper for local and regional markets, as well as for export to neighboring French provinces. The same archival evidence allows us to chart the changing monetary values of writing support in the later Middle Ages and its comparative value in cost in northern France.

PARCHMENT-MAKERS

The primary centers of parchment-making in medieval Brittany were Rennes and Lamballe. The earliest reference to an organization of parchment-makers in Rennes occurs in 1340, when their Confraternity of St-Michael joined with other religious trade groups (bakers, weavers, leather-workers, fullers, saddlers, butchers, cobblers, and others) in contributing to the foundation of the hospital and chapel of St-Anne for poor people and itinerant pilgrims (“pour reception ces poiuvres personnes malades et les pelerins passons”).³ The contributions to the hospital foundation charter by the ten trade confraternities point to a robust and diverse economy in Rennes before the mid fourteenth century. During the fifteenth century, Rennes had nearly 30 religious and trade confraternities in a population estimated at 13,000–14,000.⁴

The confraternity of parchment-makers in Rennes represents an early instance of the trade’s growth as a professional organization.⁵ Although no statutes survive for this group, Duke Jean V confirmed unspecified privileges and exemptions to the Rennais parchment-makers in 1407, implying that trade regulation and promotion existed in some form before that date.⁶ Sometime before 1487, the parchment-makers of Rennes were accorded exemption from the coutume, a tax levied on trade merchandise paid equally in thirds to the bishop, the abbess of St-Georges in Rennes, and the baron of Fougères; they were still liable, however, for the lesser vepry tax. In 1491—following Brittany’s loss of independence to France—King Charles VIII reconfirmed “plusieurs beaux et grands privileges, franchises, libertés et exemptions avec plusieurs frairyes et mestiers jurés” [several good and important privileges, franchises, liberties, and exemptions with several confraternities and sworn trades] in Rennes, without identifying the confraternities by name or specific privileges.⁷

Maps of medieval Rennes also reflect the presence of the parchment trade. Two adjoining streets were named after parchment-makers and mentioned in documents from 1395—rue de la haute parcheminerie (old town) and rue de la basse parcheminerie (new town)—which suggests not only collocation but also growth of the profession.⁸ The leather trades in Rennes also grouped themselves geographically, for near the parchment-makers’ street we find the leather-workers’ rue de la basse baudrairie (from baudroyer, meaning a piece of leather). Regional animal markets were apparently unable to supply all their needs, for both parchment-makers and leather-workers are known to have imported raw materials from Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries.⁹ Town tax registers, which are organized by neighborhood and sometimes record a taxpayer’s occupation, identify book tradesmen living in or near rue de la parcheminerie and the marke...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Map of the Duchy of Brittany
• Introduction
• 1 The Economics of Manuscript-Making
• 2 The Illuminated Page
• 3 Printing and the Market
• 4 Ducal Patronage and Ownership
• 5 Breton Book Collectors
• 6 Readership and Patterns of Collecting
• Conclusion
• Appendix A Book Artisans Working in Brittany, c.1340–1535
• Appendix B Early Books and Manuscripts in Breton Private Libraries, c.1350–1535
• Bibliography of Works Cited
• Index of Archive, Manuscript and Early Books Cited
• General Index