Scriptorium

The rules of the scriptorium varied in different monasteries, but artificial light was forbidden for fear of injury to the manuscripts, and silence was always enforced.

Very soon, however, I hesitated. It was labour-intensive work, scriptorium-slow.

Nevertheless, Aland criticized Martin's suggestion that the codex was the product of the scriptorium attached to a monastery,⁵³⁶ on the grounds that there is no evidence for the existence of monasteries in the year 200, or for the existence of scriptoria at all connected with the Church at that early date.

Among the earliest Hiberno-Saxon illuminated manuscripts is the Book of Durrow, a Gospel book that may have been written and decorated in the monastic scriptorium at Iona, although its provenance is not documented.