MAKING A MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT: THE BESTIARIE

In the Middle Ages, 90% of the population was illiterate, so religious centres were responsible for preserving and spreading the culture of books. The monks, in the silence of the monasteries, were responsible for copying the texts with exquisite calligraphy, as well as producing the illustrations and miniatures that decorated the pages of the manuscripts.

We, the groups of monks/nuns of 2AB,2BC,2CD have focused on making a Medieval Bestiary inside the monastery Pedro de Atarrabia. This has been their process:

• 1º We select the animal/beast we want to represent. We choose it according to the meaning it had for the medieval Christian culture (closer to Christ or to the Devil).
• 2º We practise with the Gothic letter Rotunda.
• 4º We transform a bird feather (synthetic) into a writing pen.
• 3º We transfer the information to the parchment with a pencil. After that, we start to go over the letters with Chinese ink (with the bird feather or with bamboo feather).
• 4º We draw with pencil the drawing on the parchment.
• 5º We choose the colour according to its symbolism (which is related to the animal we have chosen) and we paint the animal.
• 6º We decorate the parchment with gold paper and perfect its presentation.
• 7º We bind the parchamets in a book for each class