What was an illuminated manuscript written on?

Answer 1

The finest medieval manuscripts were made on vellum, which is a membrane on the inside of a mammal skin and was usually made from cattle or sheep. Paper, for most of the middle ages, was made of vegetable fibers that did not last as well as vellum, but some of the less expensive manuscripts were made on it. During the late middle ages, and abundance of linen rags lead to the invention of rag paper, which was far more durable than either earlier papers or vellum, and also had much better burst strength.

The Wikipedia article on vellum (link below) says that vellum is more durable than paper, but it certainly is nowhere nearly as durable as neutral rag content paper. I have handled paper from the Gutenberg Bible, the Nuremberg Chronicle, and other books of that time, that are without any obvious indications of deterioration.

Answer 2

If you are asking for the name of a typical manuscript, there are thousands to choose from. One of my personal favourites is the Saint Albans Psalter, a book of psalms written and illuminated by monks at St Albans in around 1135.

Although it began as just another book for the monks' own library it was decided to give it as a gift to the female hermit Christina of Markyate and towards the end of the book certain changes were made to make it more personal to her; her favourite saints were added to the litany, her favourite story of St Martin and the beggar was included and Christina herself appears in some of the illuminated capital letters.

This manuscript is now held at the cathedral library at Hildesheim in Germany, but it is a part of medieval English art and culture and we would very much like to have it returned.

The link below takes you to an on-line version of the St Albans Psalter: