In medieval Europe, what was parchment mainly made from?

The story behind the answer

Medieval scribes relied on a tough, reusable writing surface produced from processed hides. Craftsmen soaked skins in lime, scraped off hair and flesh, and stretched them on frames to dry, creating thin, smooth sheets that took ink and pigments beautifully and could even be scraped to correct mistakes. This durability far outclassed fragile papyrus and the wood‑pulp papers that wouldn’t become common in Europe until much later.

Top‑grade sheets from calf were known as vellum, while sheep and goat were widely used for everyday manuscripts. The expense of hides influenced book size and circulation, and led to palimpsests—older texts scraped and overwritten. Monasteries and scriptoria refined quire sizes and layout, enabling the illuminated bibles and scholastic works that defined Europe’s book culture before rag‑paper spread in the late Middle Ages.