A Legacy on Parchment
Medieval manuscripts were often created on parchment made from animal skins—durable, but vulnerable to time and the elements. These books were hand-copied by skilled scribes, often in monasteries, scriptoria, or royal courts, with ornate illuminations and marginalia that now provide rich insights into medieval life. They include not only religious texts like Bibles and Books of Hours but also medical treatises, court records, chronicles, letters, poetry, and early scientific works. In many cases, a single manuscript is the only surviving record of a particular event, philosophy, or author.
Europe alone holds hundreds of thousands of such texts in national, university, and private libraries. But the number is shrinking. Many manuscripts have been lost over the centuries due to fire, war, looting, and degradation. What remains is irreplaceable—and increasingly endangered.
Environmental and Biological Threats
One of the most silent yet deadly dangers to medieval documents is the natural world. Parchment and early paper are highly sensitive to humidity, temperature, and light. Poorly controlled storage conditions lead to mold, insect infestations, fading ink, and crumbling bindings. Climate change has only intensified these risks. As global temperatures rise and weather patterns become less predictable, archives in vulnerable regions are under siege. In places with no reliable climate control—particularly in parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—important collections face daily erosion.
Fungi and bacteria, which thrive in humid conditions, feed on organic materials in parchment and ink. Some manuscripts have been irreversibly stained or consumed by these microscopic invaders. Insect damage—especially from silverfish, beetles, and bookworms—can destroy entire sections of text. Preservation experts often face a race against time, forced to triage collections and prioritize which materials to save first. shutdown123