Trade and Parchment Making
Melrose Abbey in the Borders
The Parchment Industry
The earliest examples of parchment making can be traced back to early medieval Scottish monasteries. Later on, during the late medieval period, there was an increase in demand for parchment. This increase in demand was due to the development of education and bureaucratic systems, which placed a higher value on the written word. Economic industries in Scotland shifted from monastic and domestic settings to the professional sphere of marketplaces, burghs and guilds. Parchment became an essential tool for the clergy, secular elite, government officials, and scholars.
The growth of towns and markets allowed for animal-based industries to develop and establish a presence in marketplaces. One of Scotland's biggest exports during the Middle Ages were skins and hides. Skins were incredibly useful for a variety of things, but they were specifically useful in the making of parchment for charters. Sheep and cattle skins were common, but other skins such as foxes, squirrels, deer, martens, hares, lambs, goats, and rabbits also appear to have been traded.
Map of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Towns and Trade
The towns and burghs of Scotland played an important role in the parchment trade. One such town was Berwick-upon-Tweed, a coastal town now located in the northern county of Northumberland, England. However, its strategic location along the border meant that control of the town shifted several times, and during the Middle Ages it was a trading capital of Scotland. Berwick-upon-Tweed had originated as a small fishing village, but by the 12th century it had grown into a larger town. Its location along the English border allowed it to bring in a large number of consumers, with little to no competition.
As the town grew in size, it became famous for exports of salmon, wool, woolfells, and hides. Animals were raised in the countryside but burghs and marketplaces played a key role in processing and distributing these products. By the 12th century, the market reached its peak, and Berwick-upon-Tweed was named one of the four original Royal Burghs of the kingdom, but was later ceded to England during the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Illustration of a parchmenter preparing the surface of the parchment with a lunellum. Opera varia mit sogenanntem Bamberger Schreiberbild, c.1150. Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, Msc.Patr.5.
Parchment Making
XS5 MS A001 MS-4
Precept of Sasine from Duncan Campbell of Loch Awe to Dugald Campbell. Scotland, 20 December 1432. In Latin. Ink on parchment. University of Guelph, Archival and Special Collections (XS5 MS A001 MS-4).
XS5 MS A001 MS-3
Resignation of lands by David Menzies and regrant by King James I to John Menzies. Scotland, 4 September 1430. In Latin. Ink on parchment. University of Guelph, Archival and Special Collections (XS5 MS A001 MS-3).
This royal charter records a grant to John Menzies of lands that had previously belonged to his father, Sir David Menzies. It describes various conditions, such as how ownership of the land would be transferred back to David if John died without heirs. The clauses regarding “legitimate” heirs are noteworthy, since illegitimate children experienced disadvantages regarding land inheritance under Scottish law, and the document states that David Menzies had no “legitimate” sons at the time. The resignation was agreed upon not through coercion but out of free will—a vital component of the validity of land resignation in medieval Scotland.
Biocodicology—the study of biological data stored on parchment—can be applied to the study of this charter. Such research can show what species of animal was used to produce this charter, or possibly even provide evidence of traces of historic diseases. These findings may thus further the understanding of various events that occurred in the centuries prior to 1430, such as the Black Death or the Great Famine.