Something Old, Something Blue: Evidence of Women Scribes in Medieval Europe

Figure 1: Lapis lazuli particles present in Medieval woman's teeth (Source: C. Warriner)

 

Religion was of particular importance throughout Europe during the Medieval period.  Only the most trusted among the devout Church members were employed in composing and illustrating religious texts. Several of these texts have survived to modern day, and they are closely guarded for preservation purposes and studied to gain insights into religious ideals and culture of the Medieval period.  It is well known that Church scribes most often did not sign their work (as that would be a sign of pride, one of the seven deadly sins), but a handful of scribes did.  Of the signatures the majority are attributed to men, and while there were some that were penned by women most scholars assumed that scribe work was almost exclusively a trade for men.  There is, however, growing evidence that shows that women were just as commonly employed as men for such pursuits, and an archaeological study published in 2019 further adds a new dimension to this evidence.  This blog post will discuss this study and what it demonstrates not only about female scribes but advances in archaeological study.

 

In 2011 two women archaeologists began a study on an anonymous woman interred in a women’s monastery cemetery located in Dalheim, Germany.  Aside from the historical and archaeological contexts of the cemetery the archaeologists also confirmed the individual’s sex through osteological and genetic analyses, thereby using multiple lines of evidence to confirm that she was indeed a woman.  The archaeologists initially set out to study the tartar, the yellow substance on teeth left by food residues that hardens into plaque, and plaque, solidified tartar, to answer a series of questions pertaining to life among Medieval nuns, but upon initial examination of the tartar Anita Radini, principal author of the study, was shocked to see blue (Figure 1).  Blue is typically not a color found naturally in tartar and plaque residue, so she felt compelled to investigate the matter further.

 

This avenue of inquiry led to a new area of study, one that has expanded our knowledge of Medieval scribes and dental anthropology methods.  Ultimately, after much investigation, it was determined that the blue particles in the tartar and plaque were from lapis lazuli.  Lapis lazuli was mined in Afghanistan (one of the two countries in the world where it can be mined, with the other being Chile), and it was used exclusively by the most skilled scribes and illustrators because of its cultural value and steep monetary costs.  The team reached out to various other scholars to determine how and why the lapis lazuli particles got into the woman’s mouth, and it was study coauthor, Alison Beach, who identified its origins back to Medieval scribes.  Her work is focused in the role of women scribes in the Medieval period, and her work was instrumental in supporting the conclusion that the lapis lazuli was the result of the woman being employed as a scribe.  The team critically examined and ruled out other possibilities for how and why the lapis lazuli was present in the woman’s mouth, but they could not rule out the scribe hypothesis.  It appears that while she worked she licked her brush, thereby getting the lapis lazuli particles in her mouth and eventually trapped in her tartar and plaque deposits.

 

This is one interesting part of this study, however.  The presence of natural minerals in tartar and plaque also opens up new realms of study within the field of dental anthropology.  Previously such studies of tartar and plaque were used to understand diets and bacteria in the past, but now with the presence of hard minerals in such substance the possibility of understanding past people’s occupations is now open for investigation.  This study, however, is so far one of the first to pursue this line of inquiry.

 

Ultimately, this team made up of mostly women scholars and scientists confirmed the presence of women scribes in the Medieval period.  This contribution expands the historical knowledge of the past, showing that women were not passive but active agents in the creation and dissemination of culture and religion.  This team also identified a new area of study within archaeological and bioarchaeological research, which will allow future investigators more options in understanding the past.

 

Bibliography

Katz, B. (2019, January 10). Blue Pigments in Medieval Woman’s Teeth Suggest She Was a Highly Skilled Artist. Smithsonian Magazine.

Radini, A., Tromp, M., Beach, A., Tong, E., Speller, C., McCormick, C., . . . Warinner, C. (2019). Medieval women’s early involvement in manuscript production suggested by lapis lazuli identification in dental calculus. Science Advances.

Zhang, S. (2019, January 9). Why a Medieval Woman Had Lapis Lazuli Hidden in Her Teeth. The Atlantic.