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544
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
together they seem to have been written with surprising uni/
fbrmity throughout its whole extent. After that, barbarian ins
vasions and the decline of the Roman imperium in western
Europe slowly brought to birth a new world. The widespread
secular culture of Rome was replaced by a society in which
writing (together with learning) inevitably became the special'
ized function ofthe Church. Writing, in consequence, began
to show more and more regional variations, associated for the
most part with important monasteries, which appear to us now
as islands ofcivilization in the general welter ofthe times. The
importance of Christian literature, and more especially of the
Bible increased, and decisive changes occurred in both the
form and materials of writing. In classical antiquity the normal
writing material was papyrus, a material manufactured from the
plant and made up in the form ofa roll (yolumeri). By the fourth
century papyrus was giving way to sheepskin or parchment,
and there was a growing tendency more and more to substitute
for the roll the codex or book, made up in quires. The replace/*
ment of the papyrus roll by the parchment book effected a
revolution in the history of writing. Parchment gives a better
surface than papyrus for writing, and gradually a new pen
made from goose quills took the place of the reed pen of the
and much
classical world. Parchment, moreover, is tougher
more durable than papyrus, and to this fortunate fact we owe
the survival of our medieval books. Hence our knowledge of
writing steadily increases as the use of papyrus declines. For
instance, the papacy, always a conservative institution, re'
tained papyrus as the material for its 'bulls' or letters until the
eleventh century, and so few originals have survived, that we
are today better informed about the charters ofthe Carolingian
or the French monarchy, than about the more sophisticated
products ofthe papal chancery.
By the eighth century the majuscule scripts were dying out.
All over Europe their place was being taken by new and
smaller book hands, generally described as minuscule. Among
the complex causes ofthis transition must certainly be included
the need for economy, which could best be achieved by getting