The dark years following the collapse of the Northern Tynar witnessed an almost total eradication of literacy and classical learning. The end of antiquity in many ways meant the end of large cities, and an end to most of the educational institutions and public libraries which had been found there. The Tynan upper class—which had been the principle keepers and consumers of books—gave way to a largely illiterate, rural, "vulgar" culture, a mix of barbarian and lower-class Tynan cultures. Many great libraries in Northern Tynar were burned by ruck-man and Karg raider, or in some cases, by zealous Pentians. Much of the classical literate heritage was lost forever—histories, plays, poems, works of philosophy, and spell formulae.
Despite the Church's general condemnation of the Tynan state and its diseased culture, the Pentian fathers had been educated within a secular classical tradition, and they understood the value of preserving this heritage. Classical philosophers and rhetoricians had taught the Church fathers how to think critically and how to effectively frame arguments. Further, the Church of the Five required a literate clergy, who could properly understand and interpret the sacred writings. Thus, it was the Pentian Church which was paradoxically responsible for preserving classical Tynan culture.
In this task the monasteries, which sprang up in rural areas at the end of the third century, were an invaluable resource—often acting as sanctuaries of learning during the dark ages. The monasteries were devoted to contemplation of the Five and Their works, and the monks maintained continuous veneration and praise of Their Grace, day and night The monks were also dedicated to lives of rigorous physical labor, in addition to their intellectual and spiritual pursuits. Within this cloistered world, the monks successfully preserved literacy and literature; they were the sole custodians of many classical works. A book industry situated within the monasteries flourished, providing both sacred and secular texts for the consumption of the Church. The monasteries of Frilond helped forge an international literary culture, primarily religious in nature, but connected to the intellectual life of antiquity.
Of all the monastic orders, the Bergenians and Royans have been especially dedicated to the preservation of books. Their monasteries in Harplan were the chief refuge for classical learning during the dark years. However, when all Harplan monasteries were destroyed in the 6th and 7th centuries by Karg raiders, the center of learning permanently shifted to the south.
The monasteries were selective about what was preserved. Many of the more un-Pentian writings were suppressed or discarded: these included bawdy poets and works concerning paganism or diablerie. But as many works were lost out of benign neglect or simple error. Parchment was so valuable that many classical texts deemed unimportant were scraped away, and new texts written over them. The Five Alone know how many spell formulae or famed poems were erased to create these palimpsests.
Most monasteries continue to have their own scriptorium (which sometimes doubles as the library), dedicated to the manufacture of books. This is an extremely laborious but profitable industry: books are so valued that in monastic libraries the books are usually chained down to desks or lecterns. In the dark ages, most of the monastic scribes were devoted to copying important Pentian and classical texts. A few of the monks were engaged in original compositions—though little of their energies were devoted to works of creative imagination. The most common type of writing during the dark ages were exegeses or commentaries on the scriptures, but the monks were also able to continue many classical forms of literature, which were sometimes written for amusement or as writing exercises.
Within the scriptorium, scribes sit together or in separate, partitioned-off cells called carrels. In Bergenian monasteries the scriptorium is usually situated over the chapter house, and the carrels are at times open to the cloister walk. Absolute silence is the scriptorium rule, and the scribe makes his need for additional materials known to the supervisor by a series of hand signals.
In Frilond, most informal writing—personal notes, composition exercises, rough drafts—are done on a wooden tablet, as was the practice in antiquity. A sharp metal stylus is used to scratch words into the surface. Often the tablet is coated with wax: when the writer wishes to erase his work, he simply melts the wax. Parchment is too precious a material to be used for casual purposes.
The making of a single manuscript book is time-consuming and exacting. The required materials are expensive, and the process itself extremely labor intensive. The monastic scribes work only in the daytime due to the flammability of materials—although some few scriptoriums benefit from magical lighting. Most books are written on parchment; goatskin provided most parchment until 7th century, when sheepskin became popular. In parchment making, the animal skin is stretched and scraped and limed in preparation for writing. Vellum, made from the hide of young animals (usually calves) is especially fine and expensive, and is usually reserved for the most important works.
The design and layout of the codex is planned before any writing is actually done. The abbot is usually responsible for the programming of the codex, even if other monks are to do the actual design, or if there is a librarian to supervise the scriptorium, or if the manuscript on hand is to be reproduced without any changes or innovations. The rectangular parchment sheet, about 10 inches high and 18 inches wide, is folded in half, to make two folios, or leaves—in other words, four pages. Four sheets of parchment, folded once down the center, are placed one inside the other to make a quarto. This quire, or gathering of eight leaves is the standard in Frilond. If the text is longer than the space allotted for it, a stub can be added, with one page a little wider than the others so its edge can extend over the fold to be sewn with the rest of the quire by the binder. When more than one monastic scribe is to write the text—as is the common method—each scribe works on his own quire or quires.
There are subtle differences between the flesh and hair sides of a parchment skin, and the pages in a book are usually arranged so that flesh side will match flesh side, and the hide side will match hide side. In the dark ages, books intended for use by the Church (such as altar books) were sumptuously decorated. Gem bindings were especially popular: these consisted of flat wooden boards embellished with reliefs in ivory or in hammered silver and gold and sometimes with precious stones, pearls, and enamel work. Often the front side, which lay uppermost, was most richly decorated. Usually the motif was taken from the manuscript itself, or it represented stories from the scriptures. Today, the covers of books are usually made of beech, oak, maple, across which dark leather is stretched. Oftentimes this leather is decorated with inlaid or stamped designs. The corners of bindings are usually protected by brass mountings with bosses, and the book kept tightly closed by metal clasps. No importance is attached to decorating the spine of the book; the books usually lay on a desk. If books stand on shelves, it is with their spines toward the wall. The title of the book is therefore often written in ink on the bottom edge, where it may be seen when the book is lying down, or on the fore edge, where it may be seen when the book stands on the shelf.
The monks write with goose quills which have had their feathers removed. The work is slow and meticulous; scribes average from 2 to 20 pages a day—though the latter rate reflects a small manuscript, written in a careless cursive. Absolutely all of the space allocated to writing is filled, all of the way: words are crammed close together and are often abbreviated. The margins are kept straight with rulers and a set of guide marks.
Different sections within the manuscript are designated by colored and decorated initials (called versals). Pages are not generally numbered, and running heads are used at times. Quotations are usually identified by being underlined in red. Most texts begin with " incipit, "here begins" and end with Explicit or Finit. If there is a table of contents, it appears at the beginning of the manuscript, sometime with a summary of the work. In scholastic commentaries, or glosses (a recent innovation), commentaries are written in two columns flanking the central text, which is written in larger letters. Most books in Frilond end with a colophon, an inscription which identifies the title, author, and date of the work, as well as the scribe or scribes who copied the manuscript. Sometimes these colophons carry a curse ( anathema) against an unauthorized borrower or destroyer of the book.
The vast majority of books in Frilond are composed in Tynan. This is the universal language of the church, and the ability to read and write in Tynan is the sign of an educated gentleman. A few monks in Frilond have learned to read the Herachean language—although such knowledge is extremely rare. Increasingly, monks are writing in the vernacular, or spoken tongues of Frilond. The common language of Frilond is a hybrid of vulgar Tynan dialect and Kargish, with some minor Brynnac and orcish influences. Serious writing is traditionally done only in Tynan, but more and more use of the vernacular may be seen every day.
Scribes are trained to make no changes or "corrections" in the contents of what they copy. However, if the scribe notices an error of his own making, corrections are made by scraping away the parchment with a sharp knife. The scriptures state that man is fallible, and in the making of manuscript books, errors inevitably creep in—even though all texts are read by several proofreaders and the abbot himself.
There are various types of writing currently circulating in Frilond. Most books encountered will be miscellanies: amorphous collections of several different pieces of writing. Sometimes these miscellanies will have a general theme, but often the only unifying factor in a book's contents is the owner's tastes. The most common type of book is the liturgical manuscript, but collections of scriptures and other sacred writings are also common; these writings include missals, breviaries, and psalms. The classics remain popular—many readers treasure the famed poems and philosophical treatises from antiquity. Other types of books in Frilond include bestiaries, romances, herbals, travel books, medical books, and histories.
It is extremely important to emphasize the value of books in Frilond. The cost and labor of creating a manuscript book is quite extreme. There is no means of mass reproduction, so each and every book encountered is hand-made, and unique. This means that the text is often highly unstable; it is almost impossible to establish a standard version of any one text. As books are copied and circulate, often minute errors or differences creep into the process. Scholarship is not always exacting, and sometimes materials will be erroneously attributed to the wrong author. Sometimes disparate materials are improperly joined together under a single title, or whole works are broken into unrecognizable pieces. Even two books with the exact same title and author can vary greatly in content.
In Frilond there are almost no large libraries which are not ecclesiastical in origin or purpose. Private book-ownership has been a occupation solely for the upper-classes, which regards books as objects d'art. Many books designed for wealthy nobles and ecclesiastics are sumptuous creations, with elaborate gold illuminations and jeweled bindings. Yet within the last century or so, the middle class is becoming increasingly interested in such matters—this practice is thought to have originated in Rheme. For many burghers (even illiterate ones), book ownership has become an attractive sign of status. In addition, the new mendicants are under pressure to have their own books of scripture, to take with them as they travel the countryside. In response to this new need, Frilond is slowly beginning to see the appearance of lay scribes and illuminators in the larger towns, working independently of the monasteries.
At this time literacy remains uncommon outside of the clergy's ranks, and books continue to be rare and very precious. Most manuscripts books cost at least 200 silver pieces, or the same as a good draft horse—and more elaborate books could easily cost ten times that figure. The largest library in Harplan, at the monastery of Kilnary, has but 500 or 600 books. This is considered astoundingly large, as most smaller libraries contain about 100 books or so. It is important to note that these numbers do not reflect a title count, since most books are actually miscellanies, or collections of multiple titles.