A ''rotulus'' (plural ''rotuli'') or ''rotula'' (pl. ''rotulae''), often referred to as a "vertical roll," is a long and narrow strip of

writing material A writing material, also called a writing medium, is a surface that can be written on with suitable instruments, or used for symbolic or representational drawings. Building materials on which writings or drawings are produced are not included. ...

, historically

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

, that is wound around a wooden axle or rod. ''Rotuli'' are unwound vertically so that the writing runs parallel to the rod, unlike the other kind of roll, called a

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...

, whose writing runs perpendicular to the rod in multiple columns. ''Rotuli'' were used to house legal records in Europe (from which is still derived the title of the judicial functionary denominated the "

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

") and in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

Papyrus 136 Papyrus 136 (designated as 𝔓136 in the Gregory-Aland numbering system) is a small surviving portion of an early copy of part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Acts. The text survives on a single fragment of a r ...

(𝔓¹³⁶) is a rare example of a ''rotulus'' used, front and back, as a manuscript for a portion of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. ''Rotuli'' also have been used as

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

manuscripts, e.g., those used for

chanting A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of note ...

the ''

Exultet The ''Exsultet'' (spelled in pre-1920 editions of the Roman Missal as ''Exultet''), also known as the Easter Proclamation (), is a lengthy sung proclamation delivered before the paschal candle, ideally by a deacon, during the Easter Vigil in the ...

''. Additionally,

mortuary roll A mortuary roll (Latin: ''rotulus mortuorum'') was a rotulus composed in the scriptorium of a medieval Christianity, Christian monastic community to Memorialization, commemorate the death of a prominent person associated with the institution. Fun ...

s, i.e., documents memorializing the names of all the deceased members of a monastery or other institution, which were banded together and circulated so that they could mutually pray for the repose of each other's decedents.

References

;Attribution The entry cites: *

Léopold Victor Delisle Léopold Victor Delisle (24 October 1826, Valognes (Manche) – 21 July 1910, Chantilly, Oise) was a French bibliophile and historian. Biography Early life He was taken on as a young man by the antiquarian and historian of architecture, Charles ...

, (Paris, 1866); *____, in , series II, vol. III; ; *

Herbert Thurston Herbert Henry Charles Thurston (15 November 1856 – 3 November 1939) was an English priest of the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the Jesuit order, and a prolific scholar on liturgical, literary, historical, and spiritual matters. In ...

, ''A Mediaeval Mortuary-card'' in ''

The Month ''The Month'' was a monthly review, published from 1864 to 2001, which, for almost all of its history, was owned by the English Province of the Society of Jesus and was edited by its members. History ''The Month'', founded and edited by Frances ...

'' (London, Dec., 1896); *

John Gough Nichols John Gough Nichols (1806–1873) was an English painter and antiquary, the third generation in a family publishing business with strong connection to learned antiquarianism. Early life The eldest son of John Bowyer Nichols, he was born at his f ...

in Mem. Archaeolog. Institute (Norwich, 1847); *

Auguste Molinier Auguste Molinier (30 September 185119 May 1904) was a French historian. Biography Born in Toulouse, Auguste Molinier was a student at the École Nationale des Chartes, which he left in 1873, and also at the École pratique des hautes études; an ...

, (Paris, 1886); *

Adalbert Ebner Adalbert Ebner (16 December 1861 – 25 February 1898) was a German Catholic priest and liturgist born in Straubing, in the Kingdom of Bavaria. Ebner received his ordination in 1886 at Regensburg, mostly likely by Bishop Ignatius von Senestre ...

, (Freiburg, 1891); *

Wilhelm Wattenbach Wilhelm Wattenbach (22 September 181920 September 1897), was a German historian. He was born at Rantzau in Holstein. He studied philology at the universities of Bonn, Göttingen and Berlin, and in 1843 he began to work upon the ''Monumenta Ge ...

, {{lang, de, Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (3rd ed., Leipzig), 150-74. Documents Manuscripts

See also

References