Lay Scribes before c. 1100. Books, Texts, Scripts.

This paper investigates the activity of lay scribes of manuscripts in the High Middle Ages until the end of the eleventh century. After a survey of the scholarly literature on this topic and a review of the chances to identify lay scribes (colophons or other explicit mentions; iconographic, literary and documentary sources; content of the manuscripts), it focuses on three manuscripts carrying a colophon by a lay scribe (MSS Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 8658A and 4632; Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 183), discussing their common features as well as the different situations and contexts they seem to refer to. The famous Law book Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731 is also discussed as a case study in which the presentation of the text offers some hints for tracing the activity of lay scribes or of scribes working in a non-ecclesiastical center of book production.