What writing tools did people use in the middle ages?

Answer 1

1st AnswerThey used quills. A quill is a sharpened feather and it was dipped into a mixture of walnut oil, soot and turpentine for ink. There was one involved ink recipe that was used using hawthorn branches that were left to dry, the bark was pounded and soaked for 8 days. After that it was put into water and boiled until it turned thick and black. Wine was added and this mixture was poured into bags to hang in the sun. Once this dried it was mixed with a bit of wine and iron salt to make ink. The problem with the ink is that it smeared when used and it wasn't until the invention of the printing press that ink was made that didn't smear. 2nd AnswerPeople of ancient times developed several different kinds of pens. The most common of these were made from reeds of a type that seems to have been grown in Africa, and was in use in the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Other types were made of quills or constructed using a copper nib. In the Middle Ages, access to the preferred reeds vanished and the most common type of pen was the quill pen.

It seems that the first fountain pen was invented in Egypt in 953, something I did not know until I did some research for this answer.

Writing was done in other ways. One was by using a scribe on a wax tablet. Another was to use ink with a brush. Inscriptions were also made in clay, which could then be hardened, just as it was in Sumerian times, or carved in stone. People also wrote with dark wax on light colored stone (which, long after the Middle Ages, became the basis of the invention of lithography).

Please see the link provided below for an article on pens, which includes a section on the history.

A note on ink: I have used quill pens extensively and am familiar with the inks, including the formulations of ancient times. I have also used old style printing presses and am familiar with the inks used on them. The pen ink smeared until it was dry, which took a few seconds, because it was usually water based. The printer's ink also smeared until it was dry, which took as long as it took for the oil based vehicle to polymerize, which would be a day or two.

Answer 2

Most medieval writing was done with pens. Fountain pens were invented in the 10th century, but were never widespread in Europe until long after the Middle Ages ended.

There were different kinds of paper used, including the papyrus of ancient Egypt, which was imported into Europe, and vellum or parchment, which were membranes from the inside of the hides of sheep or cattle. Rag papers were introduced in the Middle Ages, and these have a much longer life than most other types.

Inks were of many types and recipes, but India ink was used, among others. Natural inks include the ink of octopus, ink made from barks of hawthorn bushes, but there were many other recipes commonly used.