The price of books in twelfth-century Denmark

 
In a recent blogpost, I wrote about an episode from the Danish town of Ribe which occurred in the twelfth century. The episode is recorded in the Chronicon Ripense, or the Ribe Chronicle, from c.1230. This brief chronicle is a treasure trove of information about medieval Denmark, and although a lot of its details should be accepted only with great caution, it does shed light on several interesting aspects of its time. One such aspect is the value of books. 

Chronicon Ripense is known in modern Danish as "Ribe bispekrønike", i.e., the chronicle of the bishops of Ribe. As is often the case with texts composed in the Middle Ages, we cannot be sure how they were referred to by their authors or by others in their time, and even the Latin title is a modern appellation. The Danish title is perhaps the most accurate, as the book is predominantly concerned with the reigns of the various bishops of Ribe. 

One of these bishops was Homer, who was ordained in 1186. It was customary for newly-appointed bishops to bestow gifts on their new churches, and Bishop Homer turned out to be a lavish gift-giver. The chronicler records a chalice made of gold, a censer or a thurible made of silver, various vessels or bottles made of silver, and a collection of books in six volumes. It is not specified which books these were, but it is likely that they were books of the Bible, as one-volume bibles were rare at this time and the individual biblical books were often bound together according to their connection with one another. It was common, for instance, to group the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. It is possible that this book collection also contained liturgical books, such as breviaries and psalters, but it would be more probable, and more practical, for these books to be bound in single volumes since they were used more frequently during the divine services. 

The chronicler adds that the preparation of this six-volume collection required sixty marks in gold. Thanks to a number of other sums recorded throughout the chronicle, we are able to better understand just how much money this was in medieval Denmark. For instance, it is also recorded that the same Bishop Homer donated one mark in gold for the adornment of the altar of the parish church of Hellevad.

In another section, the chronicler records that after the burning of Itzehoe in Holstein, King Valdemar II (r.1202-41) donated thirty marks - it is not specified whether it was in gold or in silver - to the rebuilding of the Church of Saint Lawrence. In the same period, 700 marks in silver was the ransom demanded for Bishop Tuvo. 

A mark is a notoriously imprecise unit of currency, as it depends on the material and also the measurement, since various cities, city-states or kingdoms could have different definitions of marks. This becomes clear when the chronicler records how King Valdemar II was taken captive together with his son, and ransomed for 60 000 Lübeck marks of silver.  

Together, these instances provide some points of orientation for understanding the price of books in twelfth-century Denmark. Granted, these points are vague and imprecise, but the chronicle does offer an interesting insight into the cost of binding books, and the value of such books as gifts bestowed by a newly-ordained Danish bishop.