This course combines scholarly research and practical experimentation to better understand the process of medieval writing and define the field of "practical paleography." Still today, nearly all research on medieval paleography involves little to no experimentation. Class activities depend largely on individual student projects. Term projects deal with specific questions related to any aspect of medieval writing on surfaces such as wax, parchment, paper or other historically attested materials. Activities cover all phases of writing, including the preparation of writing surfaces (e.g., preparing parchment by pricking, ruling or designing layout on wax), the preparation of writing utensils (e.g., sharpening quills), as well as the writing process itself (e.g., drafting text in wax, erasing script on parchment).