| Circa 400 |
The Vergilius
Vaticanus or Vatican Vergil (Cod. Vat. lat. 3225),
containing fragments of Virgil's Aeneid and Georgics is
produced in Rome about this time.
It is one
of the three oldest surviving sources for the text of the Aeneid,
and is " the oldest and best preserved extant illustrated
manuscript of classical literature. . . . There are 76 surviving
leaves in the manuscript with 50 illustrations. If, as was common practice
at the time, the manuscript contained all of the canonical works of Virgil,
the manuscript would originally had about 440 leaves and 280 illustrations.
The text was written by a single scribe in capitales
rusticae. As was common at the time, there is no separation between
words. The scribe worked first leaving spaces for the illustrations.
The illustrations were added by three different painters, all of whom
used iconographic copybooks. The illustrations are contained within ornate
golden frames and include landscapes and
architectural and other details. The human figures are painted in classical
style with natural proportions and drawn with vivacity. The style of
these miniatures has been compared to the frescoes found
at Pompei.
"The manuscript was probably made for a pagan noble. Annotations in
the manuscript indicate it was in Italy until the seventh century,
and in Tours in the
second quarter of the 9th. A French scribe made further notes around 1440." |
| Circa 400 |
Some authorities believe that positional
arithmetic begins with the wide use of the abacus in China.
The earliest written
positional arithmetic records seem to be tallies of
abacus results in China around this time. |
| |
The transition
that began in the first century CE from
the scroll to the codex form of
the book is thought to be complete around this time. As the popularity
of the codex format spreads, the use of parchment or vellum
for the writing surface also gains popularity over papyrus. In addition
to its greater longevity, parchment or vellum may be made wherever cows
or goats can be raised. Thus its production is not dependent upon suppliers
in Egypt. |
| 406 |
Probably the earliest bookbindings that
exist in any quantities are Consular Dipychs made
of ivory, of which the earliest dated example is that of Phobus from this
year, preserved in the cathedral of Aosta in Piedmont. The association
of these bindings with known personalities make it possible to date
examples which do not contain dates within their designs.
"A diptych is a sort of notebook, formed by the union of two tablets, placed
one upon the other and united by rings or by a hinge. These tablets were
made of wood, ivory, bone. or metal. Their inner surfaces had ordinarily
a raised frame and were covered with wax, upon which characters were scratched
by means of a stylus. Diptychs were known among the Greeks from the sixth
century before Christ. They served as copy-books for the exercise of penmanship,
for correspondence, and various other uses. The Roman military certificates, privilegia
militum, were a kind of diptych. Between the two tablets others were
sometimes inserted and the diptych would then be called a triptych, polyptych,
etc. The term diptych is often restricted to a highly ornamented type of
notebooks. They were generally made out of ivory with carved work, and
were sometimes from twelve to sixteen inches in height. In the fourth and
fifth centuries a distinction arose between profane and ecclesiastical
(liturgical) diptychs, the former being frequently given as presents by
high-placed persons. It was customary to commemorate in this way one's
elevation to a public office, or any event of personal importance, e.g.
a marriage. The consuls, on the day of the installation, were wont to offer
diptychs to their friends and even to the emperor." Notable examples are
the two panels of an ivory diptych announcing the Consulship
of Justinian (521) in the Metropolitan
Museum, and a very unusual diptych
with circus scenes in the Heritage
Museum, St. Petersburg. |
| Circa 410 |
By this time monasticism has spread from
Egypt to Europe, with early monastic groups around Rome. St.
Honoratus establishes a monastery at Lerins, on the Mediterranean coast of France. |
| |
"An enormous amount of Latin literature
was lost in ancient times, much of it through natural selection and changes
in taste, some through the limited efficiency of the ancient book trade
or the hazards of fire and war. The renewed interest in Republican authors
which was a feature of the age of Fronto and Gellius, like the pagan revival
of the late fourth century, must have helped to save some authors from
oblivion, but change in the literary language, the narrowing of the educational
curriculum, and increased reliance on epitomes and secondary sources took
their toll. However complex and ambivalent the attitude of the Christian
Church to pagan learning may have been, the triumph of Christiantity and
the degree to which it gradually and surely absorbed more and more of the
intellectual drive and emotional commitment of the West could only have
been at the expense of pagan literature and values. Much will have perished
before the parchment codex merged as the vital instrument of survival,
and the very transference of literature from roll to codex involved an
element of selection which could in some cases have been fatal. Finally,
pagan literature, if it was to survive, had not only to withstand the battering
which the private and public libraries of the Empire must have suffered
during the centuries of collapse but also succeed in finding a refuge within
the walls of the monasteries and cathedrals which were to carry forward
the traditions of learning." (Reynolds, Texts
and Transmission [1983] xiv). |
| 414 |
Of the writings of Augustine
of Hippo
who preached in Roman North Africa, 5,000,000
words have survived to the 21st century--more than any
other author of the period. These include his Confessions and
the City
of God,
written in 414 and 426-27. At the end of his life (426-28) in his Retractions Augustine
will review his previous works and consider what he should have written
differently. |
| Circa 425 |
The Emperor Theodosius II enlarges the
Imperial Library at Byzantium to about 100,000 volumes. He also founds
at Constantinople a university or academy of philosophy with its own library.
During the reign of Zeno (474-91) the library will by partially destroyed
by fire but rebuilt with copies of manuscripts gathered from other libraries.
At this time it is estimated to contain over 100,000 volumes, the majority
of which are codices. |
| 449 |
Beginning of
the Anglo-Saxon occupation
of Britain. In 410 Roman
forces withdrew from Britain for the last time. Roman Britain had faced
increased invasion threats, both from the Saxons and from the Picts and
Scots of Scotland and Ireland, over the previous century. After the Roman
withdrawal, Romano-British aristocracy ruled what is now England and
Wales for the 40 years before the Anglo-Saxon invasion. They became increasingly
troubled by raids by the Picts and Scots, and Vortigern employed Anglo-Saxon
mercenaries to fight the Picts in exchange for the Isle of Thanet..
The Anglo-Saxons, after defeating the enemies they had been paid to fight,
then chose to conquer England. A peace-treaty was arranged around 455,
in which the Saxons betrayed the attending Britons, killing the majority
of the country's leaders. After this, many surviving Romano-British,
many of whom were Christian, fled Britain, crossing to France and founded
the province of France now known as Brittany. These events occured over
an extended period of around 100 years. |
| Circa 450 |
The Vergilius
Romanus or Roman Vergil (
Cod. Vat. lat. 3867) is produced around this time. Preserved in the Vatican
Library, it is one of very few surviving illustrated classical
manuscripts, and of considerable importance for art history. "The Vergilius
Romanus was produced in an undetermined province. Based on the style of
some aspects of the illumination it has been suggested that it was produced
in Britain. If this
is true it would make it the oldest surviving British codex. It was at
theAbbey of St. Denis in the 15th century. It is not known how it came
to be at St. Denis or in the Vatican." |
| 475 |
The Imperial
Library of Constantinople includes 120,000 volumes at this
time, including "the famous parchment, 120 feet long, upοn
which were inscribed Homer's Iliad and Odyssey." The library will be destroyed
by fire, and rebuilt in the sixth century. |
| 485 |
Nestorian Christians, having been driven
from Syria by the Emperor Zeno, establish a library of Greek culture at
Nisibis in Persia. |
| 496 |
The Decretum
Gelasianum de recipiendis et non recipiendis libris attributed
to Pope Gelasius contains
a list of recommended works and a list of apocryphal works. This decree
has sometimes been cited as an example of an early list of prohibited works.
However, the decree may be later and falsely attributed to this
pope. |
| 5th century |
Estimated date of production of The Codex
Alexandrinus (London, British
Library, MS Royal 1. D. V-VIII)
a manuscript written in uncial script of the Bible in Greek , containing
the majority of the Septuagint and the New Testament. It derives its
name from Alexandria where it is believed to have been made. In 1627 it
will be presented to King Charles I of England in by the Patriarch
of Constantinople. |
| 5th Century |
It is thought that the earliest use of
inked seals--inked with red cinnabar and stamped on paper-- may occur about
this time in China. This is the origin of block printing on paper. |
