Page Dimensions

Let us start with the basics: the size of the manuscript. We can learn a great deal about the context of a book’s use simply by examining its dimensions. If a book is very small, for example, it was probably meant to be portable; if it is very large, it was more likely to remain stationary, perhaps displayed and read from a lectern. As such, the study of a manuscript’s size is a sensible place to start our investigation into the physical aspect of lectio divina.

Taking a random sample of fifteen manuscripts from the Fécamp corpus, the average page dimensions measure 309 x 214 mm.² If we compare these measurements to the average page sizes of books owned by neighbouring Norman Benedictine institutions (Jumièges, St-Èvroul, and Mont-St-Michel), we find roughly the same dimensions, though the Fécamp books tend to be slightly larger (by about 1-2 centimeters). The following table presents the average dimensions of a selection of fifteen books from each of the four Norman Benedictine houses (measured in situ): ³

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 This average is based on the dimensions of the following manuscripts from the Fécamp corpus:

Rouen 28 (355 x 275); Rouen 29 (350 x 265); Rouen 30 (218 x 124); Rouen 41 (290 x 205); Rouen 86 (265 x 178); Rouen 116 (280 x 185); Rouen 313 (285 x 195); Rouen 424 (355 x 240); Rouen 444 (275 x 180); Rouen 445 (368 x 275); Rouen 448 (260 x 180); Rouen 451 (270 x 180); Rouen 469 (320 x 210);

Rouen 477 (335 x 230); Rouen 478 (408 x 290). For a discussion of the sizes of original skins used and the size of parchment sheets in different regions in the Latin West, see J. P. Gumbert, ‘Size and Formats’, in Marilena Maniaci and Paola F. Munafo, eds., Ancient and Medieval Book Materials and Techniques, Studi e testi 357 (Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1993), 227-263. Similar average dimensions (310 x 210 mm) can be found in a study of mid-eleventh-century Latin manuscripts from Worcester, England, see Richard Gameson, ‘Book Production and Decoration at Worcester in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries’, in Nicholas Brooks and Catherine Cubitt, eds., St. Oswald of Worcester:

Life and Influence (London: Leicester University press), 194- 243, at 217.

3 All manuscripts were measured in situ. Jumièges: Rouen 8 (486 x 342); Rouen 23 (362 x 240); Rouen 55 (300 x 200); Rouen 141 (298 x 222); Rouen 151 (348 x 250); Rouen 177 (370 x 245); Rouen 479

!

Table 1: Average Page Dimensions of Benedictine Books

!

Institution Average Height Average Width

Fécamp 309 mm 214 mm

Jumièges 301 mm 207 mm

St-Èvroul 289 mm 196 mm

Mont-St-Michel 285 mm 209 mm

The majority of books produced at Fécamp (and at neighbouring institutions) were of a size that could be picked up and carried without difficulty. The ease at which a book can be carried also depends on the weight of the book, however. Although some of these volumes contain up to 300 folia, the average number of folia in the Fécamp corpus is 124.⁴ Although it was not possible to weigh the manuscripts while examining them in situ, I can confirm that when transferring the books from the manuscript box to the table during research at the municipal library of Rouen, the majority of manuscripts can be picked up and carried without trouble.

The size of these books may also tell us something about their use in the monastery and the practice of lectio divina. Although there is no medieval source that I know of that explicitly states where lectio divina was to take place in the cloister, there are some indications in the Rule of St Benedict that this type of reading happened in various locations. We know, for example, that private reading was permitted in the dormitory after meal-times at which time the monks were allowed to either rest on their beds or read quietly to themselves.⁵ There are some indications to suggest that

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(245 x 170); Rouen 488 (290 x 190); Rouen 536 (243 x 178); Rouen 551 (245 x 170); Rouen 522 (286 x 197); Rouen 536 (243 x 178); Rouen 758 (275 x 193); Rouen 1333 (318 x 210); Rouen 982 (205 x 125).

St-Évroul: Rouen 24 (245 x 174); Rouen 31 (320 x 200); Rouen 455 (275 x 182); Rouen 456 (340 x 232); Rouen 461 (334 x 240); Rouen 467 (370 x 270); Rouen 484 (315 x 220); Rouen 486 (292 x 185);

Rouen 507 (265 x 168); Rouen 508 (275 x 185); Rouen 661 (200 x 115); Rouen 665 (205 x 144); Rouen 1174 (298 x 210); Rouen 1343 (315 x 215); BnF, lat. 12131 (290 x 195). Mont-St-Michel: Avranches 48 (265 x 155); Avranches 52 (365 x 265); Avranches 70 (290 x 220); Avranches 74 (275 x 215); Avranches 97 (400 x 305); Avranches 110 (315 x 245); Avranches 225 (260 x 205); Avranches 70, part 2 (290 x 225); Avranches 159 (300 x 215); Avranches 26 (290 x 220); Avranches 221 (250 x 190); Avranches 32 (285 x 215); Avranches 232, part 2 (220 x 155); Avranches 232, part 5 (220 x 155); Avranches 235, part 1 (255 x 150).

4 This is based on averages calcuated from the database.

5 ‘Rising from the table after Sext, they should rest in their beds in complete silence, and those who want to read to themselves should do so as not to disturb others’. [Post sexta autem surgentes a mensa, pausent in lecta sua cum omni silentio aut forte qui voluerit legere sibi sic legat ut alium non inquietet]

(The Rule of St Benedict, ed. and trans. Venarde, Chapter XLVIII, 160-161).

reading also happened in the church and chapter-house.⁶ It is also possible that at certain times of the day the monks were spread-out in the monastery as they engaged in lectio divina, with some perhaps reading in the chapter-house and others in the dormitory, for example. This is suggested by a passage in the Rule that stipulates that two senior monitors should ‘go around the monastery at the hours when the brethren’s occupation is reading’ to make sure that everyone is focusing on their task, which implies that at certain times of the day the monks were reading in different locations in the cloister.⁷ Moreover, during the period of Lent, each monk was given a single book from the library to read completely over the course of the year.

Lanfranc’s Monastic Constitutions describes how, at the beginning of this season, the monks were to collect the books they had been given during the previous Lent and return them to the chapter-house:

!Before the brethren go into chapter, the librarian should have all the books save those that were given out for reading the previous year collected on a carpet in the chapter-house; last year’s books should be carried in by those who have had them, and they are to be warned of this by the librarian in chapter the previous day.⁸

From Lanfranc’s description it is clear that not all of the books destined for lectio divina were kept in a centralized location nor did reading happen in one place. Instead, the books were given out to the community and were carried from place to place. As such, it makes sense that the scribes who designed and produced the Fécamp manuscripts ensured that most of the books intended for lectio divina would be of a size that could be easily carried.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6 It is clear that reading took place in the church during the celebration of the liturgy (Chapter IX); the refectory at meal-times (Chapter XXXVIII); and in the chapter-house or church during Collation (Chapter XLII). However, it is not known if lectio divina as a specific mode of reading took place in these locations.

7 ‘Ante omnia sane deputentur unus aut duo seniores, qui circumeant monasterium horis quibus vacant fratres lectioni, et videant ne forte inveniatur frater acediosus, qui vacat otio aut fabulis et non est intentus lectioni, et non solum sibi inutilis est sed etiam alios distollit’ (The Rule of Saint Benedict, ed. and trans. Venarde, Chapter XLVIII, 162). Kardong similarly suggests that the patrol of the lectio readers

‘indicates that the monks did lectio alone and in various places. There were no private cells, and the cloister was the usual place for lectio, but no doubt this varied greatly from place to place and from season to season’ (Benedict’s Rule, 393).

8 The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc, ed. and trans. Knowles, 28-31.

Not all of the books from the Fécamp corpus are of a size that could be picked up and carried with ease, however. There are a small number of books, for example, that greatly exceed the average page dimensions mentioned above, including BnF, lat. 1992, Rouen 1, Rouen 7, Rouen 464, Rouen 491, and Rouen 1400.⁹ These books are not only very tall and wide, but they also feature a higher-number of folia than the rest of the Fécamp manuscripts, making them heavy and difficult to move.

Some of these large-format books will be addressed in detail in the following chapter.

!

!