Before Class, Chapter 4 (pages 42-43)

This short section talked about the beginning of manuscripts. The gold leaf luminosity made the book look illuminated with the right light, thus its name. They were started in the Roman Empire until about 1450 when printed books took over. The manuscripts were very costly and time consuming. Black ink was made from soot or lampblack, red ink from gum and water mixed with red chalk, brown was from iron sulfate and oak apples, and even a vibrant blue was mixed from lapis lazuli, which is found in Afghanistan and sent all the way to Ireland. Gold was often applied by hammering it into a fine sheet of gold leaf and applyied with metalworking tooks. The books were bound with leather and had precious jewels on it, or gold or silver. Nearly all books were made in a monstary's scriptorium by a copisti. The colophon is an inscription at the end that contains facts about its production and would help identify the scriptor. It was during this time the monks also invented musical notation.

The most interesting thing I learned was that musical notation was invented in this time by the monks. I would have thought the bards would have begun musical notation.