WAX TABLETS by Cynwyl MacDaire

Wax tablets (Tabulae or Graphium) have a very long history. This history pre- dates other materials, like , and . They existed in one form or another until the 17th cent. In that time, they had a far reaching influence on all levels of society.

WHAT THEY ARE

Wax tablets are best described as a type of notebook, or sketchpad. They are flat, thin pieces of material that have a large shallow area carved out of them. This area is filled with colored wax, which was smoothed until a good writing surface is achieved. This is the writing surface. The device used for "writing" on the wax is a pointed instrument called a stylus. The tablets themselves come in a good variety. Very small ones, less than 3 inches long and wide, were common with Roman soldiers. They were called "pugillari", or "fist " (Rouse,1989. p.186) The largest I have found evidence of is 6” X 9”, with there being every size in between. They come in shapes from square, rectangle, and even in the shape of an arched window. One example from the 13th century in Cologne, France, had a long handle, similar to the horn books that children learned the alphabet from. (Toman, 1997. P.376) The tablets themselves are made from a variety of materials, wood being the most common. In the North Countries, beech was a common wood. It is from the German word for beech, "boc", that we get the term (Toman, p.376). Boxwood, fir, pine and maple were also woods used. Non wood materials are rarer. A tablet of cetacean bone (whale bone) was found in Blythberg, Suffolk. It had a carving on the cover and possibly had a bronze cross on it (Mac Gregor, 1985.pp.122-124). Tablets made of elephant ivory were made in 13th century France. They were the favorites of higher ranking clergy. (Mac Gregor, p.124). Tablets made for students sometimes had the alphabet carved into the edges. An example of this comes from 700 B.C., with the Etruscan alphabet carved on it. Such tablets were called "abcedarium". (Ullman, 1969. p.33). Most of the time, there were 2 tablets joined together, and folded like a book. They were called "diptychs" or "". Each individual tablet was called a leaf. It was the Romans, it was thought, that first came up with this type (Toman, p.1997). Some times there were 3 tablets (triptych) or more. There were other ones of 5 leaves (pentaptych) to 8 leaves. (octoptych). Generally, the more leaves, the thinner the leaves. Specimens as thin as 0.4-0.6 cm have been found. The wax was about 0.1 cm thick at this point (Direnger). Baudry of Bourgeil in the early 12th century wrote a poem about his wax tablets. When he was done, he had an 8 leaf, 14 surface codex that held 112 verses. (Rouse, p.187). Sometimes the tablets were simply bound together in a leather case. In one 14th century example, there is one with 6 leaves and raised borders all bound into a leather case. In the fancier ones, hinges were made. The most common material for hinges was

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 1 Cynwyl MacDaire ivory. Considering the difficulty of working with ivory, to make functioning hinges for the tablets must have been quite a skill. Heavily carved covers were also common (Mac Gregor, p. 124). Thomas Astle in "The Origin and Progress of Writing" described how early writing was done on wax tablets, called "table books". They were held together with string, whose knot was sealed with wax. It is from the breaking open of this knot that we get the term "breaking open a letter" (Petroski. p. 28). The wax in the tablet was usually colored. This was to make the writing easier to read, as well as its esthetic value. Black was common, using lampblack for the coloring. Yellow was achieved by using orpiment (yellow sulphide of arsenic). Other colors mentioned include red and green. The stylus, at its simplest, was simply reed or a piece of wood with a sharpened point on it. Iron styli were common in Roman finds. Bone was also common. At first, they were primitive. After the 11th century, lathe-turned bone styli started to be common. They were generally incised with parallel lines, not only for decoration, but for a good grip (Mac Gregor, 124). Often, these styli had needle thin metal points in the tips. These were commonly iron or brass. Other common materials for the styli were bronze, brass and in some cases in Rome, solid silver. Examples found show that some of the styli were quite elaborately carved. One example from York was carved in the shape of a dragon, the tail being the writing point, and the head was used for the eraser. At the other end of the styli was an "eraser" used for eliminating the writing (Mac Gregor, pp. 122-124). There were two types of these, either a ball, or a shallow, spoon like end. In both cases, they were used the same. You would rub it over the area to be erased. You wanted to generate a little heat, so the wax would re-melt. The term for this is "Stilum Vertere", turning of the stylus (Toman, p.97). At one point, iron styli were actually illegal in Rome. There was an incident in the Roman Senate where one Senator attacked the other with his styli. The offender was immediately beaten to death by the other Senators with their styli and tablets.

THEIR USES

Every level of society had the wax tablet, from the common soldier, to scribes, to royalty. The Roman soldier carried a pugillari, while on duty, for writing down orders, passwords, and other things pertaining to their duties. In Northern England, they were invaluable to the procurators. Procurators were taxmen, charged with looking after the Emperor's interests, such as mines and estates. They basically ran everything. Accurate record keeping is essential in any well run organization. Wax tablets found in London and other areas of Britain bear the official stamp, " PROC AVG DEDERVNT BRIT PROV", or "The imperial procurators of the province of Britain issued this". It was branded right into the wooden covers. Other tablets found in Britain frmm the Roman period contain first drafts of love letters, number calculations, and children's lessons (British Museum).

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 2 Cynwyl MacDaire Scholars carried tablets with them when attending lecture, to write down what is said. Later, they could be put down onto parchment, if needed. It was the same with composing. Corrections could be made easily, without the waste of expensive parchment. Quintillian, the Roman rhetorician, champions this method in his work "Institutio Oratoria". He recommends having a codex, or just 2 separate tablets if need be. One was for the writing and correcting, the other for final drafts (Rouse, p. 179). Perhaps their biggest use was the education of schoolchildren (and others). Well- educated children (and clergy) were required to learn to write. Wax tablets provide the ideal medium for the practice of letters (Rouse, p. 176). Surviving tablets from contain spelling exercises, versed from Menander, as well as corrections by the teacher. The Regula Magisri say that "young boys should assemble by groups of ten to practice letters on their tablets, under the direction of a literate monk. We also advise that older monks up to fifty years of age who are unlettered, to practice their letters" (Rouse, p.176). Isadore of Seville said that "Wax is the substance of letters, the nurse of the young. It gives boys wisdom, the beginning of understanding" (Rouse, p. 176). So great was the respect for wax tablets that the pictorial personification of Grammar is usually depicted with a tablet.

A new system of writing had to be developed in order to use the tablets. Wax is a very pliable surface, and some difficulty can happen when trying to write on it. The stylus uses a quick downward stroke that pulls rather than pushes the wax. Round parts on letters are handled either with the use of short, straight lines, or quick semi-circular strokes. Using a pushing motion on the wax simply made the stylus imbed itself. Speed was achieved with practice. People of the had two forms of handwriting, anyway. One was the informal, used for speed, like a stenographer's shorthand. The other was the formal, slow hand used for final copies later. The system of writing on the tablets was meant for the informal, speed writing. Everyone, from kings to clerks to monks used the tablets. Artisans could use them for sketching and copying. Alexander Neckham, (1157-1217) wrote a book on artisan work called De Utensilibus, where he has his students use the tablets to copy down different varieties of . There is a curious surviving diptych from the late Middle Ages that reflects the scholarly use. On one side is the wax, and on the other is parchment (Rouse p. 176). Tablets had a history of consistent use from antiquity until at least the Elizabethan era (Singman, p. 43) and perhaps beyond that.

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 3 Cynwyl MacDaire ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

The main problem with dealing with archeological evidence of wax tablets is they are by nature perishable. Often, only fragments of the tablets survive. Also, the wax is sometimes missing. Despite that, archeologists have unearthed good evidence of them. Perhaps the greatest find was from 14th century Novgorod, Russia. They were found in 1951, in an area called Kholop'ya Street (Street of the Serfs). Along with the tablets, there were over 700 rolls of birch bark for writing. The tablets themselves were wood, and in the shape of an arched window. They also contained an area, "wax wells", for storage of extra wax. One of the tablets had an alphabet carved in it (Scientific American, 1990). In 1994, a shipwreck dating to the 13th or 14th century B.C. was found off the coast of Turkey. The books, in the form of diptychs, had well preserved ivory hinges. , , yielded wax tablets with orpiment-colored wax in them. Dozens have been found in Northern England, dating from the time of the Roman occupation. Tablets from the later Middle Ages have been found in Italy and Germany. The National Museum of Ireland has one example in wood with letters in Irish and still on it. The Bodleian Library in Oxford has a rather unusual bit of evidence. It is the autograph of Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) preserved in a wax tablet (Bodleian Library MS lat.class.f.10) (Rouse, p.185). The other problem is that sometimes only the stylus is found. This is the case in a find from 14-15th century Bordesley Abbey in Worchester, and 16th century Ospringe in Kent. Many times these lone styli have been mistaken for parchment "prickers", used by the writers to help line up letters.

GRAPHIC/WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Since the wax tablet was so commonplace, it was mentioned in and was depicted in . In the manuscripts, it is usually shown in the hands of the writer, showing that they are composing. One example is from the Paris Bibliotheque Mazarine MS 753. It is a picture from the works of Bernard of Clairveax. He is depicted sitting in bed with a polyptich of 8 tablets. The earliest depiction I have found yet is from the tomb of a Roman soldier in Corinth. He is holding in his hand a wax tablet. This is dated to 100-200 B.C. (Sumner, 2002, pp.14-15) Another is from Heidelberg Universitatsbibliothek. It is the Manesse Codex, MS. Germ. 848. It shows the author Reinmar von Zweter (circa 1320) orating something to a young man, who writes it down on wax tablets. Gregor Reische's book Margarita philosophica (Strassberg, 1512) shows an interesting picture. It depicts Lady Grammatica standing before the Castle of Learning. In one hand she holds a wax tablet that she is showing to a boy. On the tablet is the alphabet. In the other hand is the key to the castle door. Clearly this is a metaphor for the importance of learning your letters. Probably the oldest reference comes from the Iliad, Book VI, line 169: "He sent him to Lycia, and gave him baneful signs in a folded wooden tablet."

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 4 Cynwyl MacDaire The 6th century Rossano Gospels shows a clerk using a wax tablet. The entire leaf depicts Pontius Pilate presiding over the trial of Christ. This was made in 6th century Syria or Constantinople (Holmes, 1988). An often-quoted bit of evidence comes from the Rules of St. Benedict, Chapter 55: "In order that private ownership be completely uprooted, the abbot is to provide all things necessary. That is, cowl, tunic, sandals, shoes, belt, knife, stylus, needle, handkerchief, and writing tablets” (Fry, 1981, pp. 263-265). Adamnon of Iona (d. 704), tells of representations of the Holy Sepulchre and other churches on wax tablets. They were given to him by the Pilgrim Arculf (Alexander 1992. p. 35). A depiction of a tablet is in the Registrum Gregorii from 983 A.D. It was given as a gift to the Archbishop Egbert to the Cathedral of Trier. It is now in the Stadtbibliothek. Othloh of St. Emmeran, writing in the 11th century, reports that Bishop Wolfgang of Regensberg (972-994) would "Frequently examine his students dictations on their tablets" (Rouse, p.176). From the Summoner's tale in the Canterbury Tales: His fellow had a staff was tipped with horn a set of ivory tablets and stylus that was elegantly polished and wrote the names down, always as he stood of those that gave him something good."

DISCUSSION

The project of making and researching wax tablets has given me a great respect for them. When I started to make the tablets, I had ideas about smoothing the wax. I wanted a perfectly smooth, glass-like surface. Of course, a project sometimes has a way of bringing you down a notch or two. I spent quite a while experimenting, trying to smooth the wax. I tried heating it in the oven. I tried using wax paper and an iron (disaster). I tried smoothing it with knives and frosting spreaders (messy). Finally, I broke up the wax and re-heated it until it was liquid. I poured the wax through a tight screen to get out any unmelted clumps. It was smoothed out in the tablets as best as I could. Placing tape on the border, I placed the tablets on a level surface, and held a heat gun about 2 feet over the surface. It re-melted the wax. I pulled the gun away from the surface (the breeze from the gun created waves in the wax as it cooled. Pulling the gun away slowly allows the waves to smooth out while the wax is still liquid.) Then I waited for the surface to cool completely. What I got was a decent surface for writing. The channel that the wax is in was left rough on the bottom, to help the wax grip better. Many period pieces have a cross-hatched bottom that served that purpose.

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 5 Cynwyl MacDaire CONCLUSION

Considering their broad range of uses and the people that used them, it gives us an appreciation for the wax tablets. From composition of poetry and letters, to keeping figures, to simple jottings, they have left their marks on history. People probably loved their tablets, much like we love our computers and other instruments. Wax tablets were hung on the belts, a constant companion. It is not hard to imagine a scholar or clerk saying that " they couldn't live without them."

It is the common, everyday objects in life that yield the most information about history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wax Tablets printed in the Journal of Language & Communication. Richard & Mary Rouse 1989 Pergamon Press Vol. 9 no.2/3 pp.175-191

Bone,Antler,Ivory & Horn Arthur Mac Gregor 1985 Croom Helm,Ltd. Australia pp.122-126

Scientific American Archeology of Novgorod Feb.1990 pp.84-91

National Geographic Vol. 172 No. 16 Dec.,1987 pp.693-792

Romanesque Rolf Toman 1997 Konnemann pub., Koln Germany pp. 200 and 376

Ancient Writing and Its Influence B.L. Ullman. M.I.T. Press 1969 p. 33

Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work Jonathan J.C. Alexander Yale University Press 1969 p. 35

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 6 Cynwyl MacDaire The Lindisfarne Gospels Janet Backhouse Phaidon Press, Ltd. Oxford 1987 pp. 31-32

Imperial Rome Moses Hadas Time-Life Books 1965

Canterbury Tales Translated by J.V. Nicolson Garden City Books Garden City, New Jersey 1934 p.358

Daily Life in Elizabethan Times Jeffrey Singman Greenwood Press London `1995 p. 43

Early Medieval Art John Beckwith Praeger Pub., New York 1964 p. 100

Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe George Holmes. Oxford University Press 1988

Roman Military Clothing 100B.C.-200B.C. Graham Sumner Osprey Men- At -Arms series 2002 pp. 14-15

The Henry Petroski. Alfred A. Knopf 2000 pp. 28-30

Online The Compass--The Online Magazine of the British Museum British Museum 2001 www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass

Wax Tablets (Ice Dragon 04) Page 7 Cynwyl MacDaire