On this day, the 19th of the month of October, in the Year of our Lord, 1003, I shall begin my account of the copying of a manuscript. Brother Peter, the assistant librarian, informed me when I passed him on the way to the refectory at Nones, that he has been recording various activities that he performs in his day-to-day life, and that he believes the scholars of the future will cherish these details. While this seems to me an unusual use of our time, his idea appears to have promise, and I believe that this journal I am beginning to write will prove its worth in time. And so, with the help of God, I shall endeavour to remain factual and without pretensions.

The text I am copying is known collectively as the Codex Amiceticus*. The same Brother Peter recovered this text from a dying monk he encountered in the hills of northern Italy who had been waylaid by bandits. One must assume that the text is rare and perhaps even the only copy, as it had been hidden and sewn within his habit, and when shown to the librarian, Brother Johannes, who has a veritable treasury of extant knowledge in mind, knew nothing about it. The origin or destination of this traveling monk was unknown.

The Codex is not terribly large. In fact, I can see how the bandits may have overlooked such a valuable item. Each page is illuminated simply with blue and red inks consistently throughout the work though the details are rich and intricate. I still have some of the blue and red that I made for my last work, and will use these inks when it comes time to do the illumination. For parchment, I will simply be using the goatskins that have been prepared in the cloister by some of my fellow monks. Unfortunately, they have neither the time nor the skill required to reproduce the fineness and sleekness of the original manuscript. But let us praise God who has blessed our abbey with all the necessary gifts to do His work!

I expect the task to take no more than four or five months to complete.

The first gathering has been transcribed, and the outlines for the illumination of the text are complete. When I have finished copying these words, I will return and illuminate. These gatherings I have created consist of five parchments which are divided into halves. To begin, I smoothed out the writing surface with a pumice stone, then ruled the guiding lines on the parchment carefully with the back of my knife, so that the transcribed words may appear good and straight. I transcribe on the left half (on both the facing and back surfaces), until I return to the first parchment and continue on the right half. When all five parchments have been filled, they can be stacked and folded into a gathering, and all these gatherings are then bound into the finished codex.

Unfortunately, so early in this work, I've already come across a hole in one of the parchments, most likely caused during the preparation of the skin as it was stretched and dried. I have been forced to space the text around the hole. Also, Brother James interrupted me with an urgent whispered request, and, in my surprised haste, I made a blemish on the page. I scarcely noticed it at the time and when I returned from what turned out to be some insignificant matter, the ink had long-since soaked into the parchment and my ever-ready penknife (which I also use to sharpen my quill and steady the page) was unable to amend it.

There has been some degree of interest in this mysterious text since it has made its home here in our abbey. In this region, it is not often that such mysterious circumstances surround the origin of a text and our blessed abbot believes it may bring us fame. Soli Deo Gloria**.

There is some dissent stirring amongst some of the more conservative members of our abbey that the author or authors of this Codex were in league with wily devils who have machinations to subvert our faith. I do not know how they justify these suspicions as I have not actually read the text whilst copying, and have only captured fragments of meaning. Somehow, I doubt that they have read it either. But even if it is the work of pagans, our library is a repository of knowledge in all its forms and we cannot discriminate between what we do not yet understand. I will continue to work and also pray that peace may return to our humble abbey of the Order of St. Benedict.

It is already December, and the copying is not yet complete. I have been afflicted with an illness for nearly a week, and cannot continue work with the codex until I have regained the strength of my limbs and the steadiness of my eyes. Although our work is often difficult, I will not accept the appearance of errors, despite the allowances of some of the other monks.

I am well once more, and work continues. It is becoming cold in the scriptorium for those far from the fireplace, and my hands sometimes grow numb. The daylight hours through which we may work have naturally become so much shorter once again and I have also been experiencing some difficulty in reading the original text due to poor lighting or perhaps my eyes are not what they once were and have consequently slowed down the work. At any rate, it will not be long before I begin the illumination. Those dissident monks have lost interest in my work long ago and only Brother Peter and Brother Johannes ask me about it now and then.

The illumination has begun. With these weak eyes, I am progressing much slower than expected. It is March. I am tired. Our blessed abbot has recommended my sharing the work with another monk and perhaps not focusing so much on writing-intensive tasks. However, it will soon be Spring and I believe it will bring strength to my body.

I have asked Brother James to help me, as he has illuminated a most beautiful copy of The Rule of St. Benedict. First we will draw in ink and then add the blue and red colour.

With the aid of God, it is finally complete. Brother James was an enormous help and is also binding the gatherings. He will stitch the gatherings one by one onto a band which will be the spine. The back and cover are two oak boards cut from the nearby wood, between which the spine will be placed, held with a peg on the top and bottom. It has taken a long time and I believe this will be my last work, but it is truly beautiful.

An acquaintance in a neighbouring abbey arrived today to see the recently completed Codex Amiceticus. He left with the copy and will return it when another copy has been completed and added to the library there.

Word has come that my acquaintance was ambushed by bandits on his return journey. May God protect his soul.

*This is a fictional text.
**To God alone be the Glory.