Hands-On Activities

Make a penner to hold medieval writing utensils with me. Also, look at my page Practical Homeschool Writing Curriculum from Pre-K To High School for more tips. And look at my 4 Week Free Middle Ages Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas for more activities.

The penner activity is fun. It can get your child interested in medieval writing or writing in general.

You can absolutely sew your penner together and use real leather to make it more realistic if you prefer.

I opted for an easier and less expensive glued version.

And I think it still came out really cool and nice enough to be an accessory for a medieval costume.

Leather penners were used to hold medieval scribes writing tools such as quill pens, penknives, bone folders.

Too, they were often strung together with an ink well.

The term penner can refer to both the leather tool holder as well as the scribe that did the work themself.

A medieval penner’s work was highly valued.

MEDIEVAL WORK BY PENNERS

They were most often used to illustrate religious texts and to add beauty to secular works.

 Some of the works they would write were:

• Religious texts- such as bibles, prayer books, and missals.
• Secular texts-chronicles, histories, and legal documents.
• Literary texts- poems, plays, and romances.
• Scientific texts- medical treatises and alchemical texts.
• Philosophical texts-commentaries on Aristotle and Plato.
• Musical texts- manuscripts of music.

Many penner’s were scholars and intellectuals who played an important role in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge during the Middle Ages.

MEDIEVAL WRITING UTENSILS AND THEIR USES

Medieval traveling scribes used a variety of tools to create their beautiful works. The first was a leather penner to hold the tools, which of course we will be replicating today.

Look at the tools found inside of the penner:

• Quills: Quills were the most common writing implement used by medieval penner’s. They were made from the hollow shafts of feathers. Typically made from geese or swans. Quills were sharpened to a point. Then dipped in ink to write.
• Ink: Medieval inks were made from a variety of materials, including soot, berries, and plant extracts. Inks were often colored to create different effects, such as red for headings and initials.
• Parchment: Parchment was the most common writing surface used by medieval penner’s. It was made from the skin of animals, such as sheep, goats, and calves. Parchment was expensive, but it was also durable and long-lasting.
• Bone Folders: Bone folders were made from the bones of cows or deer or even elk. They were used to create sharp creases in fold pages.

Scribes often wrote in a Scriptoria, which were workshops where penner’s worked, typically located in monasteries and cathedrals.

The workshops were equipped with desks, chairs, and tools.

Then, look at more activities.

MORE HOMESCHOOL WRITING CURRICULUM & TIPS

Finally, look at how to make a penner.

HOW TO MAKE A PENNER FOR MEDIEVAL WRITING UTENSILS

You will need:

• 2 8 x 12 faux leather sheets
• Scissors
• Permanent marker
• 3 empty paper towel or toilet paper tubes
• Pens with nibs or feather quills
• Leather string or cording
• Jumbo craft stick

First, I used a couple of taped empty toilet paper tubes to give our holder a little more structure.

You want to make sure that you make the overall length of your tubes, including the lid a little longer than your supplies, for me 2 rolls was perfect.

Cut another tube about 3” tall to create the lid.

I happened to end up with one roll that was slightly larger than the others, making it the perfect size to slide over the holder.

If yours are all the same you can cut the lid one from one end to the other and tape it together just slightly larger than it was.

Cut two circles from your faux leather a bit larger than the circumference of your rolls.

Use hot glue to secure one end of the holder and place the other on one end of the lid. Trim off excess so that it is the exact same size as the roll.

Wrap the leather around the holder about 3” down on one end and secure in place with hot glue.

Roll the leather around your lid and again trim it to the exact length.

Your lid should now slide right over the holder perfectly.

Now cut 4 small rectangles, about ¾ of an inch long, these hold the cording in place.Add hot glue to either end, bend them a bit and place on either side of the lid and holder, lined up.

Slide a 20”-24” piece of leather cording through each side, through the channels you made and tie a knot in each end, secure with hot glue inside the small leather looped pieces.

The lid will now be able to slide up and down the length of the cord to open it without it being lost.

Just like scribes would have done back then.

Slide your tools inside, I used a jumbo craft stick as a bone folder and some of the dip pens from a calligraphy set.