Waxed Tablets from Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

	Waxed Tablets
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This page combines views of waxed tablets in art as well as extant related artifacts (panels and stylii) into a unified timeline. For more information on constructing or using waxed tablets, see the articles by Ranthulfr Asparlundr, Ulf, Al Schlaf, Early Period, Hippodromus, of Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson, Þóra Sharptooth, and Arval Benicoeur; or these additional links. For more Roman-era waxed tablets, see A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities or The Roman Era in Britain. The finds at the Shipwreck at Uluburun (1306 B.C.) include a boxwood writing tablet with a three-piece ivory hinge and a wooden leaf from a writing tablet. Writing materials: tablet, stylii, seal, inkwell, and compass found in France, c. 100 B.C. - 50 B.C. Terentius Neo and his wife, fresco from Pompeii The wife of the magistrate holds a set of two waxed tablets which are joined together in the middle; she also holds a stylus. Mural from Pompeii ("Sappho") A girl holding a stylus and a set of four waxed tablets which seem to be tied together along one side. (This fresco comes from the same house as the portrait of Terentius Neo and his wife.) A Roman will found in Wales, dated to A.D. 75-125 Pine writing-tablet and another writing-tablet, an iron stylus, another iron stylus, and yet another iron stylus, and even more iron stylii, found in excavations of a Roman fort at Newstead, Roxburghshire, dating from around A.D. 80-100 Roman tablet found in London, dating from around A.D. 80-120, recording the deed of sale of a slave named Fortunata. There are actually three tablets of silver fir bound together. The Vindolanda tablets, from around A.D. 97-103, date to the Roman occupation of Britain. These can also be found via the British Museum Collection Database Search. A wooden (fir) writing tablet inscribed with the word 'LONDINIO' on the outside, 1st-2nd century Romano-British; interior features a partially legible message ('Rufus, son of Callisunus, greetings to Epillicus and all his fellows. I believe you know that I am very well. If you have made the list, please send it. See that you do everything carefully so as to extract the last coin from that girl.') Preparation of the heart is the unlearning of the prejudices of evil converse. It is smoothing the waxen tablet before attempting to write on it. St. Basil the Great, Epistle II Copper alloy and iron stylus, Roman Britain (found in Winchester), A.D. 180-220 There are tablets and some stilii at The British Museum, including the wood from waxed tablets (sometimes with still-visible writing) Wooden writing tablets made in Byzantine Egypt, c. 500-700 Middle Anglo-Saxon writing tablet made of whalebone, probably end of the 8th century, with a knot design carved on the front, and traces of runic lettering on the back [Charlemagne] also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life, they met with ill success. Einhard's Life of Charlemagne Luke (fol. 42v) and John (fol. 66v), The Judith of Flanders Gospels (PML M.708), c. 1051-1064 St. Gregory from an 11th century Benedictine missal The scribe in the lower left-hand corner uses a stylus on a wax tablet. Contemporary illustrations of Hildegard von Bingen depict her using a waxed tablet. Her vision of a tree in Scivias (1165) includes a small self-portrait in one corner. A biography of Hildegard started during her own lifetime has an illustration in which she is having a vision; she is poised to write on a waxed tablet, and it appears her scribe (possibly the monk Vollmar) is writing on one as well. A bone stylus found at Jedburgh Abbey in Roxburghshire, dating from the 12th-15th centuries The naming of John the Baptist, the Huntingfield Psalter (PML M.43, fol. 18v), c. 1210-1220 The birth and naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.92, fol. 110r), second quarter of the 13th century The wax tablets of the city of Torun, c. 1250-1530 (thanks, Brian!) Heinrich von Morungen in the Weingartner Liederhandschrift (HB XIII 1, fol. 80), early 14th century Writing styluses and board for wax writing tablet from medieval Novgorod His felawe hadde a staf tipped with horn, A peyre of tables al of yvory, And a poyntel polysshed fetisly, And wrooth the names alwey, as he stood, Of alle folk that yaf hym any good, Ascaunces that he wolde for hem preye. The Summoner's Tale from The Canterbury Tales, ll. 76-81 Writing tablet and leather case (front, back), c. 1300-1390 Ivory writing-tablets with ecclesiastical scenes made in either Paris or Liege, 14th century Writing tools (an ivory waxed tablet with a leather case), 14th century; found in London. See Leather case for writing tablets for additional information. 14th century wax writing tablets from Back Swinegate in York. “These are match box sized and are complete with an iron stylus and decorated leather case. Their owner used them to jot down a curious mixture – a document in Latin, a set of accounts and a love poem in Middle English.” York Archaeology also has a children’s webpage about these tablets. Set of six ivory tablets in a cuir-bouilli holster, 14th century Ivory writing tablets made in 14th century France at the British Museum with scenes related to games and/or courtly love (1856,0509.2, 1878,1101.40, 1881,0802.12, 1888,1217.1, 1877,0706.1 1856,0623.96, 1856,0317.1) or religious images (1856,0623.100, 1877,0706.2, 1856,0623.99, 1893,0901.1, 1881,0802.10, 1856,0623.95, 1902,1117.4) Ivory leaf of a writing tablet, made in 14th century Paris Ivory writing tablets, 1300-1320 Der von Gliers (fol. 66v), Herr Reinmar von Zweter (fol. 323r), and Meister Gottfried von Straßburg (fol. 364r), The Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848), c. 1300-1330 Birth and Naming of the Baptist, fresco in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence by Giotto, 1320 Ivory cover of a writing tablet, made in Paris c. 1325-1350 A man reads something written on a tablet in The Holkham Bible (British Library MS Add. 47680, fol. 27v), c. 1327-1335 Ivory cover of from a pair of writing-tablets: a hawking party, c. 1330-1350 Wax tablet with the story of the Prodigal Son, 1330-1350 Ivory tablet, mid-14th century Ivory tablet with young people playing games (hot cockles and frog?), 1340-1360 Ivory writing tablet, with Phyllis & Aristotle, and also Virgil in the basket, 1340-1360 Ivory writing tablet with sliding lid, France, c. 1340-1360: “The sliding cover depicts three ladies in the town, looking over its walls at two embracing couples seen to the left. The bottom of the box shows the same town at greater distance, a tent with two more lovers, a hawking expedition, and a hermit reading outside his rustic cell.” The birth of St. John the Baptist, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 241, fol. 141), 1348 Ivory waxed tablet, 1350-1360 The birth of St. John the Baptist, Les petites heures de Jean de Berry (BNF Latin 18014, fol. 207), c. 1375 Ivory writing tablets with carvings depicting children playing games, 1375-1380 Wax tablet with the lives of the Virgin and Christ, fourth quarter of the 14th century Wax tablet with the Coronation of the Virgin, late 14th century Ivory writing-tablet with a scene of courtly love, c. 1380-1400 Mary at the loom and The Holy Kinship in the frescoes at St. Vigil unter Weineck, c. 1385-1390 St. Matthew from a fresco at the Church of St. Helena at Deutschnofen, c. 1405-1415 The naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.27, fol. 15r), c. 1420-1430 The birth and naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 53r), c. 1425-1430 Two boys go to school, Livre des Vices et des Vertus (BNF Fr. 20320, fol. 177v), 15th century Allegory of Memory, The Twelve Dames of Rhetoric (BNF Fr. 1174, fol. 27v), second half of the 15th century An ape in a jester's ass-eared hood writes on a tablet in the margins of a book of hours (The Hague, MMW, 10 F 50, fol. 157v), c. 1460 An ivory writing-tablet with the Fountain of Youth within the Castle of Love, 15th or 16th century (reverse, open) Laborer, the Schwazer Bergbuch (ÖNB 10852, fol. 90v), 1561 A polyptych set of waxed tablets (twelve pages) with a leather case, from Germany, beginning of the 17th century Writing tablet bound in finely worked silver filigree, late 17th century

Waxed Tablets

Legitimacy and Law in the Roman World: Tabulae in Roman Belief and Practice

Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and Its People

This page combines views of waxed tablets in art as well as extant related artifacts (panels and stylii) into a unified timeline.

For more information on constructing or using waxed tablets, see the articles by Ranthulfr Asparlundr, Ulf, Al Schlaf, Early Period, Hippodromus, of Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson, Þóra Sharptooth, and Arval Benicoeur; or these additional links.

For more Roman-era waxed tablets, see A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities or The Roman Era in Britain.

The finds at the Shipwreck at Uluburun (1306 B.C.) include a boxwood writing tablet with a three-piece ivory hinge and a wooden leaf from a writing tablet.
Writing materials: tablet, stylii, seal, inkwell, and compass found in France, c. 100 B.C. - 50 B.C.
Terentius Neo and his wife, fresco from Pompeii
The wife of the magistrate holds a set of two waxed tablets which are joined together in the middle; she also holds a stylus.
Mural from Pompeii ("Sappho")
A girl holding a stylus and a set of four waxed tablets which seem to be tied together along one side. (This fresco comes from the same house as the portrait of Terentius Neo and his wife.)
A Roman will found in Wales, dated to A.D. 75-125
Pine writing-tablet and another writing-tablet, an iron stylus, another iron stylus, and yet another iron stylus, and even more iron stylii, found in excavations of a Roman fort at Newstead, Roxburghshire, dating from around A.D. 80-100
Roman tablet found in London, dating from around A.D. 80-120, recording the deed of sale of a slave named Fortunata. There are actually three tablets of silver fir bound together.
The Vindolanda tablets, from around A.D. 97-103, date to the Roman occupation of Britain. These can also be found via the British Museum Collection Database Search.
A wooden (fir) writing tablet inscribed with the word 'LONDINIO' on the outside, 1st-2nd century Romano-British; interior features a partially legible message ('Rufus, son of Callisunus, greetings to Epillicus and all his fellows. I believe you know that I am very well. If you have made the list, please send it. See that you do everything carefully so as to extract the last coin from that girl.')

Preparation of the heart is the unlearning of the prejudices of evil converse. It is smoothing the waxen tablet before attempting to write on it.

St. Basil the Great, Epistle II

Copper alloy and iron stylus, Roman Britain (found in Winchester), A.D. 180-220
There are tablets and some stilii at The British Museum, including the wood from waxed tablets (sometimes with still-visible writing)
Wooden writing tablets made in Byzantine Egypt, c. 500-700
Middle Anglo-Saxon writing tablet made of whalebone, probably end of the 8th century, with a knot design carved on the front, and traces of runic lettering on the back

[Charlemagne] also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life, they met with ill success.

Einhard's Life of Charlemagne

Luke (fol. 42v) and John (fol. 66v), The Judith of Flanders Gospels (PML M.708), c. 1051-1064
St. Gregory from an 11th century Benedictine missal
The scribe in the lower left-hand corner uses a stylus on a wax tablet.
Contemporary illustrations of Hildegard von Bingen depict her using a waxed tablet. Her vision of a tree in Scivias (1165) includes a small self-portrait in one corner. A biography of Hildegard started during her own lifetime has an illustration in which she is having a vision; she is poised to write on a waxed tablet, and it appears her scribe (possibly the monk Vollmar) is writing on one as well.
A bone stylus found at Jedburgh Abbey in Roxburghshire, dating from the 12th-15th centuries
The naming of John the Baptist, the Huntingfield Psalter (PML M.43, fol. 18v), c. 1210-1220
The birth and naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.92, fol. 110r), second quarter of the 13th century
The wax tablets of the city of Torun, c. 1250-1530 (thanks, Brian!)
Heinrich von Morungen in the Weingartner Liederhandschrift (HB XIII 1, fol. 80), early 14th century
Writing styluses and board for wax writing tablet from medieval Novgorod

His felawe hadde a staf tipped with horn,
A peyre of tables al of yvory,
And a poyntel polysshed fetisly,
And wrooth the names alwey, as he stood,
Of alle folk that yaf hym any good,
Ascaunces that he wolde for hem preye.

The Summoner's Tale from
The Canterbury Tales, ll. 76-81

Writing tablet and leather case (front, back), c. 1300-1390
Ivory writing-tablets with ecclesiastical scenes made in either Paris or Liege, 14th century
Writing tools (an ivory waxed tablet with a leather case), 14th century; found in London. See Leather case for writing tablets for additional information.
14th century wax writing tablets from Back Swinegate in York. “These are match box sized and are complete with an iron stylus and decorated leather case. Their owner used them to jot down a curious mixture – a document in Latin, a set of accounts and a love poem in Middle English.” York Archaeology also has a children’s webpage about these tablets.
Set of six ivory tablets in a cuir-bouilli holster, 14th century
Ivory writing tablets made in 14th century France at the British Museum with scenes related to games and/or courtly love (1856,0509.2, 1878,1101.40, 1881,0802.12, 1888,1217.1, 1877,0706.1 1856,0623.96, 1856,0317.1) or religious images (1856,0623.100, 1877,0706.2, 1856,0623.99, 1893,0901.1, 1881,0802.10, 1856,0623.95, 1902,1117.4)
Ivory leaf of a writing tablet, made in 14th century Paris
Ivory writing tablets, 1300-1320
Der von Gliers (fol. 66v), Herr Reinmar von Zweter (fol. 323r), and Meister Gottfried von Straßburg (fol. 364r), The Manesse Codex (UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 848), c. 1300-1330
Birth and Naming of the Baptist, fresco in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence by Giotto, 1320
Ivory cover of a writing tablet, made in Paris c. 1325-1350
A man reads something written on a tablet in The Holkham Bible (British Library MS Add. 47680, fol. 27v), c. 1327-1335
Ivory cover of from a pair of writing-tablets: a hawking party, c. 1330-1350
Wax tablet with the story of the Prodigal Son, 1330-1350
Ivory tablet, mid-14th century
Ivory tablet with young people playing games (hot cockles and frog?), 1340-1360
Ivory writing tablet, with Phyllis & Aristotle, and also Virgil in the basket, 1340-1360
Ivory writing tablet with sliding lid, France, c. 1340-1360: “The sliding cover depicts three ladies in the town, looking over its walls at two embracing couples seen to the left. The bottom of the box shows the same town at greater distance, a tent with two more lovers, a hawking expedition, and a hermit reading outside his rustic cell.”
The birth of St. John the Baptist, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 241, fol. 141), 1348
Ivory waxed tablet, 1350-1360
The birth of St. John the Baptist, Les petites heures de Jean de Berry (BNF Latin 18014, fol. 207), c. 1375
Ivory writing tablets with carvings depicting children playing games, 1375-1380
Wax tablet with the lives of the Virgin and Christ, fourth quarter of the 14th century
Wax tablet with the Coronation of the Virgin, late 14th century
Ivory writing-tablet with a scene of courtly love, c. 1380-1400
Mary at the loom and The Holy Kinship in the frescoes at St. Vigil unter Weineck, c. 1385-1390
St. Matthew from a fresco at the Church of St. Helena at Deutschnofen, c. 1405-1415
The naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.27, fol. 15r), c. 1420-1430
The birth and naming of John the Baptist, a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 53r), c. 1425-1430
Two boys go to school, Livre des Vices et des Vertus (BNF Fr. 20320, fol. 177v), 15th century
Allegory of Memory, The Twelve Dames of Rhetoric (BNF Fr. 1174, fol. 27v), second half of the 15th century
An ape in a jester's ass-eared hood writes on a tablet in the margins of a book of hours (The Hague, MMW, 10 F 50, fol. 157v), c. 1460
An ivory writing-tablet with the Fountain of Youth within the Castle of Love, 15th or 16th century (reverse, open)
Laborer, the Schwazer Bergbuch (ÖNB 10852, fol. 90v), 1561
A polyptych set of waxed tablets (twelve pages) with a leather case, from Germany, beginning of the 17th century
Writing tablet bound in finely worked silver filigree, late 17th century