They kept the tricks of their trade strictly under wraps — and, for the past 700 years, most historians and others have believed that 13th century ultra-fine parchment makers must have used the skins of rabbits, squirrels and new born, still born and even aborted calves to make their super-thin products. But now, 700 years after deteriorating economic conditions forced Europe’s craftsmen to stop producing super-thin parchment, scientists have discovered that they hardly ever used such young calves, let alone rabbits and squirrels, but instead developed a method of making skin from adult sheep, adult goats and young eight-week-old cattle look like the skins of newborn calves.
In a series of tests carried out by British scientists on 72 lightweight parchment Bibles, made in various areas of medieval Europe, the scientists have discovered that 68 per cent were made of calf skin (many from France and probably some from England), around six per cent from adult sheep (mainly from England) and 26 per cent from adult goats (mainly from Italy and southern France).