Material characterisation of the codices from the Monastery of Santa Maria de Alcobaca: Developing a new tool

This work presents the development of a material characterisation method for Medieval bindings. The method was designed to address issues highlighted by researchers worldwide. It aims at delivering a complete and objective record of the materials used in the codices produced in the Monastery of Alcobaca. It will contribute for binding sources, allowing researchers to draw more comprehensive bookbinding histories. The first stages of this study involved the conception of binding codicological characterisation tables, with a thoroughly compiled vocabulary. Three codices were selected as case-studies to establish characterisation criteria and evaluate the tables efficiency in recording and analysing data. Future steps include the method application to the rest of the Alcobaca collection in order to obtain more knowledge about the production context and making of these codices.