Publishing in a Medieval Monastery | Hacker News Reader

Publishing in a Medieval Monastery

cambridge.org

40 pointsTomte6 comments

>> In a monastic community like Engelberg, the production of books was subject to the superior’s permission and approval. For each volume, singular provision had to be made, a capable workforce assembled, tasks assigned, materials resourced, time carved out from the daily routine, and licence granted, typically on a case-by-case basis. The Rule of St Benedict stipulates that monks must not be given writing or bookmaking implements without abbatial permission, ‘no book, no wax tablets, no stylus, nothing whatsoever’ (‘neque codicem, neque tabulas, neque graphium, sed nihil omnino’), at the same time as obliging the abbot to keep a list of whatever is distributed and allocated with his authorisation

Interesting to compare this with a modern enterprise

>> the picture that emerges with increasing clarity is one of relatively free and open access to books facilitated by large transinstitutional networks and publishing communities.

The Protestant Reformation was in many ways a publishing revolution, where we went from the medieval production style to the modern one, courtesy of the Gutenberg printing press. I think the Internet is basically doing the same thing, albeit a little faster.

Information warfare starts at the level of controlling access to the ability to multiply information, such as presses, copying machines, internet routers and apparently medieval monks.

Highly recommend playing Pentiment. Good mystery adventure set in the backdrop of medieval Bavaria. Large part of the story happens in a monastery (and the surrounding town).