Books for professional use

Although every medieval manuscript was presumably made to be used, some were particularly “utilitarian” in that they presented pragmatic knowledge that was useful for readers with a certain professional occupation, such as merchants, notaries, and physicians. The texts in these manuscripts are sometimes referred to as “Fachliteratur,” or “professional” literature. Consulting a manuscript for a professional task often demanded specific design features, which impacted the way that scribes organized the information contained in the manuscript. The scientific and medical manuscripts in this section, for example, look very different from manuscripts used for religious purposes. Many have a more plain or even “scruffy” appearance, which is probably because they were made for personal use by the professionals themselves. The manuscript in the section also frequently present tables and schemes, or other tools to support the professional reader in his or her occupation. Like manuscripts made for education, books for professional use tended to be annotated more frequently. In general, the pragmatic objects available here often present an interesting puzzle: many of their pages contain subtle clues as to how they were handled by their original owners.