ABSTRACT
The script used in medieval German manuscripts changed in style in the course of the Middle Ages. From the end of the ninth to the late eleventh century, documents were written primarily in Caroline minuscule. Starting around the end of the eleventh century, the Caroline minuscule was replaced by Gothic script. Gothic minuscule is popularly regarded as the typical medieval script. In the Middle Ages, the most common writing material was parchment made out of the skin of calves, goats, or sheep; and ink that was often made from a mixture of oak gall and copper vitriol. German medieval literary patronage was marked by the intersection and mingling of value systems—the ethical, the economic, the sociological, and the religious. The systematic study of German medieval literary patronage began in the 1970s, when critical attention turned to conditions giving rise to the flowering of the arts. The moral-didactic nature of Peter von Staufenberg attracted writers beyond the medieval period.
