What is medieval library?

Answer 1

One Answer:

The only libraries that existed were kept by monks. They collected books and also wrote books, but the general population couldn't read nor would they have used a library.

A Different Answer:

The most important library of the Middle Ages was the Library of Constantinople, which had been founded during the 4th century by Emperor Constantius II, who reigned from 337 to 361, and it continued operation until it was mostly destroyed in 1204 by crusaders. This library was state run. It was associated with an important scriptorium, where books were copied, and was intended, at least partly, as a place where books were preserved for copying. Since it was in the same city as the University of Constantinople, which opened in the year 425, it doubtless served that institution and its students as well.

Most monasteries had libraries, and copying the books was both an important work for monks and an important source of income for monasteries. Bibles were the books most commonly produced, primarily to be sold to churches, but the monasteries also copied a large number of other books, including secular books.

Monastic libraries also loaned books. In 1212, the Council of Paris issued a condemnation of any monasteries that failed to loan books because this was one of the most important acts of charity they could provide.

I see records of libraries that rented books out, but without any reference to the nature of the organization or person doing this. Since the records relate to books rented in cities where there were state run universities, I would assume that the renting libraries could have been commercial or private.

There was an active book trade copying and selling literature that might have included books never copied in monasteries, and these may have had libraries associated with them. Some of these shops might even have lent or rented books. The artist, Anastasia, worked for such trade, as did an unknown number of others. Christine de Pizan, the famous author, is also thought to have worked in such a shop as a copyist. Later, she had her own copyists working for her, though in her case, the books that were copied may all have been books she wrote.

Educated people, who might have been members of the royalty, nobility, or wealthy middle class, sometimes had their own libraries. I see prices of books at a rate about equal to a year's wages for a working man, 200 pence or so, so I would assume that the library of a wealthy man would have been very small by modern standards.

(Other important libraries may have existed in the Middle Ages, but not for a long time. The Vatican Library was established during the Middle Ages, but was not unified until 1448, when Pope Nicholas V collected the various books together from various places, including both Rome and Avignon. And the Alexandrine Library may have existed during the Middle Ages for a time. Some early sources say it was destroyed by a mob of fanatic Christians in the 4th century, but various Arab sources say it was destroyed by Muslims in the 7th century.)

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