Medieval Books Were Covered in Exotic Sealskins

Archaeology Magazine ^ | April 11, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Hundreds of years ago, Cistercian monks in France protected their treasured literary works with covers made from exotic animal skins, Science News reports. Clairvaux Abbey was founded in 1115 and its literary collection today contains over 1,000 medieval books. Most of these were wrapped with deer, sheep, or boar skin, but ancient DNA analysis of several perplexing furry volumes from the twelfth and thirteenth century revealed that they had been covered with seal hides. "I was like, 'that's not possible. There must be a mistake,'" said researcher Élodie Lévêque. "Seals didn't frequent France's northern coast at the time. I sent it again, and it came back as seal skin again." The skins were proven to come from harbor seal populations living along the shores of Scandinavia, Denmark, Scotland, and even Iceland or Greenland. Norse hunters may have caught the seals and brought their pelts to northern France for trade, although the researchers suggest that the monks may not have been aware of their origins. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Royal Society Open Science.

[Stanwood_Dave]

"Seal skin has a unique structure making it stronger and more pliable and more waterproof compared to other leathers."

FYI you do know about foot wear by native Alaskans known as Mukluk (Pronounced like: Mud-luc's)

Mukluks or kamik are soft boots, traditionally made of reindeer (caribou) skin or sealskin, and worn by Indigenous Arctic peoples, including Inuit, Iñupiat, and Yup'ik.

Just something I learned from a native Alaskan friend I have. I'll leave out the part about soaking in urine to make the sealskin softer to work with, i.e. sewing.

[Albion Wilde]

The reference to sealskin, and the seals native to Scotland and Scandanavia, is putting me in mind of The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry [Wikipedia], the old Scottish ballad, adapted and covered by many, many recording artists in the 20th century. Here is a particularly beautiful rendition done more recently:

OLD CELTIC & NORDIC BALLADS : The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
Joanne McIVER : Vocals
Aliocha REGNARD : Nyckelharpa
Jean-Luc LENOIR : Guitar, CelticHarp, Kravik Lyre, Dulcimer, Arrangement