[Flower logo of the Medieval History Course]Scribe and inkpot


A scribe cannot write without ink. Miniatures of St John recording the Book of Revelation (this example is from a Rouen Book of Hours of about 1480). The painter illustrates the legend that the Devil tried to steal the evangelist's portable inkpot and pencase to prevent him from writing this last book of the Bible.


Christopher De Hamel:"Medieval Craftsmen. Scribes And Illumunators"
(London:British Museum Press,1992,1999 Sixth impression.)p.31