The ‘Librije’ is a unique 16th century public library in the St. Walburga’s Church in Zutphen. The Church itself dates from the 11th century. The building and the interior of the library have remained almost unchanged throughout the ages. The greater part of the original collection of books is still in situ... Some books have been chained to the reading desks since the time of foundation...More information here, and more pix here. Via Erik Kwakkel.
The reason for chaining the books was a purely practical one. The ‘Librije’ was open to the general public. Anyone could obtain a key and sit and study the books for as long as the church was open. But the books had to stay where they belonged…
Particularly in the 15th and 16th century learned inhabitants of Zutphen left their books to the ‘Librije’. After the Reformation books from the dissolved monastries in and around Zutphen were added to the collection... The present collection contains books on theology, law, history and literature – works by Church Fathers, medieval commentaries on the bible, books on the lives of saints, legal commentaries, classical writers like Virgil, Horatius, Seneca, Homer and Herodotus and humanistic authors like the Dutch scholar Erasmus. The collection contains 5 manuscripts and 85 incunabula (books printed before 1500).
Addendum from a comment by reader Mel V:
The brass knobs and the clasps were for practical reasons, not decorative ones. Unlike modern books that would lie flat, the older ones would gape open unless they were latched. Latching them tightly helped preserve the shape of the pages and spine. The knobs are from an era when books would have been laid flat on shelves instead of stacked on edge. The raised metal protected the leather covers, presumably from being scuffed by the shelf and to make sure there was no moisture trapped between the cover and shelf. It'd be overkill for today's books, but when a book represented thousands of hours of a scribe's work and was expected to last for several hundred years, it starts to make sense.
It does make you stop and think about the amount of literacy in the middle ages. The chains imply that the books were being read regularly by people whom the curators didn't know well enough to trust they wouldn't remove the books. It wasn't just a small handful of literate people going into that library.
ReplyDeleteFun note: The brass knobs and the clasps were for practical reasons, not decorative ones. Unlike modern books that would lie flat, the older ones would gape open unless they were latched. Latching them tightly helped preserve the shape of the pages and spine. The nobs are from an era when books would have been laid flat on shelves instead of stacked on edge. The raised metal protected the leather covers, presumably from being scuffed by the shelf and to make sure there was no moisture trapped between the cover and shelf. It'd be overkill for today's books, but when a book represented thousands of hours of a scribe's work and was expected to last for several hundred years, it starts to make sense.
Very interesting - thank you, Mel. I've appended part of your comment to the blogpost itself.
DeleteWe have seen footprints in clay roof tiles in Central France.
ReplyDeleteAt first we had visions of a cat od dog running over the wet tiles but no.
Animal footprints were added to every firing to protect it from shattering or not cooking properly. These tiles are considered lucky and it is unlucky not to have at least one in the roof.
Is this post in the wrong place? I don't see its relevance to medieval libraries or books.
DeleteAs for this set of books in its library and times, I guess the monks figured that pliers or hacksaw blades had not yet been invented, so these flimsy chains were safe enough :)
It's not in the wrong place. Unlike you, Gelvan took the time to go to the original source and read the information there, which includes reference to animal footprints in the flooring.
DeleteThanks, Gelvan.