Scriptorium: Inks

Inks

Now that we know what the scribes are writing on, let’s talk more about what they are writing with. We’re going to start with the inks that they used and will move on to the tools that they needed.

Don’t forget that, just as it was with the parchment, the inks were also mostly created with what they had to hand or things that they could get most often in trade situations. Some of the most common inks were made with ingredients common to the area in which the scribe would be writing, but there were other colors that were common throughout the medieval world due to the vast trade networks that would bring stones, minerals, and other necessary items into the scribe’s local area.

Inks were generally made with natural materials, such as minerals, that were mixed with a binding solution, such as egg whites (clarified and called glair), egg yolk (called egg tempura), or gum arabic. Binding solutions allowed colorants to adhere to the parchment, acting as a sort of glue for the ink to stick to the parchment.

Colors and Materials

♦ Black

Gall nuts (via)

Gallnuts (via)

Black ink was often made from gallnuts and called iron-gall ink. Although different scribes would have different ways of creating this ink, they most often included gallnuts, iron vitriol, and gum arabic. These items would be mixed with either water or wine (or other liquids, such as beer or vinegar) to create a more liquid ink. Here is a great page with pictures of each of the items needed to make gall ink.

  • Gall nuts are growths on a tree after a bug has laid eggs in the bark. Often, these were the result of the gall wasp laying eggs, and the growth would be cut from the tree after the insect had hatched and flown away.
  • Ferrous sulfate (also called copperas, iron vitriol, iron sulfate, or green vitriol) often came from Spain, and today is a mineral that often is used to treat low iron levels. The gallnut reacts with this mineral and turns black.
  • Gum arabic was created from the dried sap of an acacia tree. This was often exported to other countries from Turkey or Egypt. It helped ensure that the ink stayed on the quill pen, but was able to flow for writing.
  • The acidic quality of the gallnuts (from tannic acid) allows it to settle into the parchment, stick, and stay for a long time, actually burning into the page. If the conditions are too humid, however, this can be detrimental, as the ink can continue to eat through the page, making holes.

Another way to make black is from soot and gum arabic mixed together with water, creating carbon ink (also called lampblack). This type of ink did not actually bond with the paper as the gall ink did, so it was easier to scrap off in the case of writing errors.

♦ Red

Red inks were used not only in drawings, but also as headers and titles in manuscripts.

  • A scarlet color called cochineal was created by crushing the shells of dried bugs.
  • Vermilion is made from mercury sulfide that is ground and mixed with gum arabic and egg whites.
  • Red ink can also be made by taking wood chips (usually from brazilwood) and mixing them with vinegar and egg whites.

♦ Blue

Blue inks were used less than black and red inks were, but was the third most common color.

♦ Green (and yellow)

Recipes and Manuals

Scribes and artists might have their own recipes for making inks, and some recorded these recipes, so we can still learn how they created their inks. I’ll include links to recipes, so you can check them out in more detail.