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Scriptorium , writing room set aside in monastic communities for the use of scribes engaged in copying manuscripts. Scriptoria were an important feature of the Middle Ages, most characteristically of Benedictine establishments because of St. Benedict’s support of literary activities. All who worked in scriptoria, however, were not monks; lay scribes and illuminators from outside the monastic foundation reinforced the clerical scribes.

scriptoriumMonk working in a scriptorium, engraving after a 15th-century manuscript.Photos.com/ThinkstockThis article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen , Corrections Manager.Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

United Kingdom: Government and justice

This scriptorium was the source from which all writs (i.e., written royal commands) were issued. At the start of William’s reign the writs were in English, and by the end of it, in Latin.…

Western painting: England and Ireland, c. 650–850

In their scriptoria (writing rooms) manuscripts were written and decorated in increasingly elaborate fashion. In the Northumbrian double monastery of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, Italian books and their illustrations were imitated extraordinarily faithfully ( the Codex Amiatinus, a great Bible,

history of publishing: Greek books

The large libraries maintained scriptoria in which extensive copying was done. However, survivals are scanty and there is no group of extant examples that bears such close resemblance to each other as to indicate that they were the product of the same scribe or scriptorium. Some surviving rolls bear…

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