A chained library is a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

where the books are attached to their bookcase by a chain, which is sufficiently long enough to allow the books to be taken from their shelves and read, but not removed from the library itself. The practice was usual for reference libraries (that is, the vast majority of libraries) from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

to around the 18th century. This would prevent theft of the library's materials.Weston, J. (10 May 2013).
The Last of the Great Chained Libraries
. Since the chaining process was also expensive, it was not used on all books, only the more valuable books such as reference works or large books in a collection were chained.Byrne, D. "Chained libraries". History Today, May 1987, 37, pp. 5–6. Librarians in the Middle Ages often invoked curses as well to keep books from being stolen. Once such curse written into the books was, It is standard for chained libraries to have the chain fitted to the corner or cover of a book. This is because if the chain were to be placed on the spine the book would suffer greater wear from the stress of moving it on and off the shelf. Because of the location of the chain attached to the book (via a ringlet) the books are housed with their spine facing ''away'' from the reader, with only the pages' fore-edges visible. This is so that each book can be removed and opened without needing to be turned around, hence avoiding tangling its chain. To remove the book from the chain, the librarian would use a key.Lopez, B. "New Chained Library of Hereford Cathedral Takes Royal Prize". American Libraries, 1997, p. 22. Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods Figure 4

Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods Figure 4

The earliest example in England of a library to be endowed for use outside an institution such as a school or college was the Francis Trigge Chained Library in

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, established in 1598. The library still exists and can justifiably claim to be the forerunner of later

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

systems. Marsh's Library in Dublin, built 1701, is another non-institutional library which is still housed in its original building. Here it was not the books that were chained, but rather the readers were locked into cages to prevent rare volumes from 'wandering'. There is also an example of a chained library in the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, as well as at Bolton School.

Hereford Cathedral Hereford Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Hereford, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Hereford and the principal church of the diocese of Hereford. The cathedral is a grade I listed building. A place of wors ...

has the largest surviving chained library. While chaining books was a popular practice throughout Europe, it was not used in all libraries. The practice of chaining library books became less popular as printing increased and books became less expensive. Wimborne Minster in Dorset, England is yet another example of a chained library. It is one of the first in England and the second (demoted to third after Wells Cathedral chained library re-chained a number of their books) largest. It dates from 1868 and has 150 titles wrapped in lambs skin. Another interesting example of a chained library is Florence's sixteenth-century Laurentian Library, designed by Michelangelo for Lorenzo de' Medici. Hereford Cathedral, in Hereford, England, has one of two chained libraries that still have chained books on its shelves. The books in this library date mostly from the 12th century and are therefore handwritten as they predate the printing press. The book pages were said to be made of cowhide, wood, leaves, clay, cloth, bark, metal, and unbleached animal skin, and was written in the language of the people. Under-privileged scholars settled for columns of text bounded between boards and papyrus. Papyrus was cheaper but could easily be destroyed and written over. In the Middle Ages, books were expensive and for the privileged, but they were highly valued. Books were the prime target for thieves and impoverished students to steal and sell. As a result, books were chained to shelves to preserve information.

Recent interest in saving and preservation

Recently, there has been increased interest in reconstructing chained libraries. Worldwide, only five chained libraries have survived with their original furniture, chains, and books. This includes the library built in the Church of

Saint Walpurga Walpurga or Walburga (; ; ; 71025 February 777 or 779) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May c. 870 by Pope Adrian II. Walpurgis Night, Saint Walpurgis Night (or "Sankt Walpurgisnacht") is the name fo ...

, located in the small town of

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...

in the Netherlands. This library was built in 1564. The library is now part of a museum that allows visitors to tour and view the library's original books, furniture, and chains. Another chained library is the

Malatestiana Library The Malatestiana Library (), also known as the Malatesta Novello Library, is a public library in the city of Cesena in northern Italy. Purpose-built from 1447 to 1452 and opened in 1454, and named after the local aristocrat Malatesta Novello, it i ...

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

near

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in Italy, dating back to the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

. A lot of work has gone into rebuilding and preserving these great libraries. For example, many workers, over a decade, and massive monetary donations were spent to restore the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library museum located in Hereford, England. Built over 900 years ago, the library fell into disrepair and faced destruction. The oldest chained book found in the library is the Hereford Gospels.Hereford Cathedral. "The Chained Library". 2009. Received from Written in the eighth century, it is one of 229 chained books located in this great library. The Hereford library is the largest surviving chained library with its chains and books intact. The library is now open to the public as a tourist attraction and museum. The chained library in Wimborne Minster in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

is the second-largest chained library in the UK. The first donation came from Revd William Stone. These were theological books, used mainly by the clergy and therefore were not chained. When another local donor, Roger Gillingham, gave another 90 books in 1695, he insisted that the books be chained up, but also that the Library should be opened, free, for the people of the town, providing they were 'shopkeepers or the better class of person'.

Surviving examples

* Basilica of St. John, Oleśnica, Poland * Bolton School, Bolton,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England * Chelsea Old Church, London, England * Chetham's Library, Manchester, England houses the chained parish library of

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

* Church of All Saints, Wrington,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England * Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury, England * Francis Trigge Chained Library, Grantham, England * Hereford Cathedral Library, Hereford, England *

, Cesena, Italy * Royal Grammar School, Guildford, England * St Peter's Church, Wootton Wawen,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England * St Walburga's Church,

, The Netherlands *

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

, England * Wimborne Minster, England *

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

, Somerset, England

In popular culture

*In

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

series of comic fantasy novels, the library of the magical Unseen University also has a number of chained books—however, in this case, the purpose of the chains is to prevent the more vicious magical books from escaping or attacking passers-by. * David Williams has written a mystery, ''Murder in Advent'', that features a chained library. *In the film ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who disco ...

'', the Restricted section of the library features chained books. *In the season six finale of

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

, Samwell Tarly is granted access to the Citadel Library where many of the books are chained. *In the film ''

Doctor Strange Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as ...

'', the library of Kamar-Taj is home to countless ancient books, but some books are forbidden and on chains and watched over by the librarian, Wong. * Charlie Lovett has written a fiction book, ''The Lost Book of the Grail'', that features a chained library.

References

Bibliography

* William Blades
''Books in Chains: and other bibliographical papers.''
London: Elliot Stock, 1892. * John Charles Cox & Alfred Harvey
''English church furniture.''
Chapter XI: 'Church libraries and chained books.' Second edition. London: Methuen, 1908. *B. H. Streeter, ''The Chained Library: a survey of four centuries in the evolution of the English library.'' London: Macmillan, 1931. *Philippe Cordez
Le lieu du texte. Les livres enchaînés au Moyen Âge
In: Revue Mabillon 78, 2006, ISSN 0035-3620, p. 75–103.

External links