Monks copied books by hand because printing technology was not yet available during their time. By copying books, they were able to preserve and spread knowledge, particularly religious texts. This painstaking process also allowed monks to meditate on the content they were copying, serving a dual purpose of study and devotion.
Books were copied by scribes. Most scribes were monks or nuns. There were also commercial scribes, such as the ones employed by Christine de Pizan to copy the books she sold.
In a typical day monks would read, write, study, pray, sing hymns, and worship. They didn't have printers and copiers back then, so it was up to the monks to hand copy and illustrate books. Monks specialized in calligraphy and worked hard as boys to be successful as a monk. They lived 24/7 in the Monasteries so that is pretty much all they could do.
The monks wrote their books in the Scriptorium.
Monks of the middle ages copied books by had, and in this way produced manuscript copies. This was the only way books were published at the time, and it was nearly always done by monks. The book they copied most was the Bible, but they did other works as well, and most surviving medieval literature was copied by monks at one time or another.
Monks and nuns copied books as a form of spiritual practice, to spread knowledge and preserve important texts. Monasteries served as centers of learning in the Middle Ages, and copying books was a way to study and meditate on the texts. Additionally, the act of copying books helped ensure that knowledge was not lost to future generations.
scriptorium is from latin, means a room where writing is done. in ancient times there was no automatized book printing so all books were copied bu hand by monks in scriptoriums
The bible.
Monks often wrote on parchment or vellum, which were made from animal skins. They used quills made from feathers and ink made from natural materials like charcoal or plant dyes. Monasteries had scriptoria where monks would copy and illuminate manuscripts by hand.
in thailand monks called fortune telling books us
A medieval scriptorium was the room, or building, usually part of a church or monastery where books and documents were copied by hand before the invention of a printing press or movable typeset. Usually an orator would read the book to be copied aloud and multiple writers would copy it. It was in these scriptoria that the most beautiful illuminated books were produced during the medieval period.
Before the printing press, books were reproduced by hand. Scribes would copy books by writing out each letter and illustration, making each copy unique and time-consuming to produce. This manual process limited the availability of books and contributed to their high cost.
This was known as the scriptorium.In this room monks would hand copy books - especially Bibles - before the days of printing. Therefore, in the middle ages Bibles were extremely expensive. They were so expensive that the large Bibles that were kept on the lecterns in churches were often padlocked there to prevent theft.Sometimes in a scriptorium highly trained monks would copy the bible for several hours every day. Occasionally in monasteries the scriptoria would hold many dozens of monks copying page after page on an 'assembly line' as in a factory. As each page was copied it would be checked and double checked and then passed on to the 'illuminator' who would decorate the page with real gold leaf illustrations. Finally, when all the pages were assembled in order, the book would be bound. In those days, therefore, the production of books was a labour-intensive activity, and extortionately expensive,