Make Your Own Medieval Manuscript!

Directions: use two sheets of 9" x 12", 8-1/2" x 11" or A4 paper (newsprint, drawing paper, typing paper or printing paper). Fold each sheet in half and nest one inside the other. You will have an 8-page codex on which you can write and draw. If you'd like to make a cover for your manuscript, use a piece of heavier paper like construction paper or cover stock.

Design your own page layout based on your favorite manuscript page seen in the slides, a book, or an exhibition, or you can use one of these downloadable page templates. The amount of text, the number and size of miniatures, margins and decorated letters should be determined before you begin. You can do this by making an exemplar using plain lined paper, or use the two downloadable templates linked below.

Page Template #1 -- two pages per 8-1/2" x 11" sheet, with labels for page parts

• As an image file (for previewing)
• As a .pdf file (for printing; requires Adobe Acrobat reader)

Page Template #2 -- fulll 8-1/2" x 11" sheet, blank

• As an image file (for previewing)
• As a .pdf file (for printing; requires Adobe Acrobat reader)

(page templates and instructions created by Diane Victoria Horn, Museum Educator)

Before beginning to make your own manuscript, be sure to visit the section on how medieval manuscripts were made.

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