That's my feeling too Don, that it may be a family project.
At first, I thought maybe the kids helping grandpa, and grandpa recording his trade secrets or travels (or something else)... but now I'm leaning more toward grandpa helping the kids. Not only by leaving behind knowledge (or possibly a puzzle-with-educational-value) but maybe also a manuscript that could be taken by a teenaged son to a scriptorium in another city to present as an example of basic skills: illustrations, plants (which were hugely popular as decorative items but which also required knowledge of plants by the latter 15th century), script, pilcrows and other decorative letters, rota (which require a compass), etc.
It might seem crude by scriptorium standards, but it would be a fine resume for a 16-year-old on his way to college in another town (the first years of college in those days were a bit like the last couple of years of high school these days), someone who normally would have little or no training.
There was a strong guild and apprenticeship system (some of the guilds were extremely powerful and even called their guild presidents "kings") and getting into them was difficult. But if you had a portable example of what you knew, what you could do, maybe it could get you a foot in the door.
Lately I've been trying to keep my eyes open for someone who might draw "sort of" like the illustrator of the VMS, but perhaps after 6 years of apprenticeship (they could last a long time in those days) and practice.
At first, I thought maybe the kids helping grandpa, and grandpa recording his trade secrets or travels (or something else)... but now I'm leaning more toward grandpa helping the kids. Not only by leaving behind knowledge (or possibly a puzzle-with-educational-value) but maybe also a manuscript that could be taken by a teenaged son to a scriptorium in another city to present as an example of basic skills: illustrations, plants (which were hugely popular as decorative items but which also required knowledge of plants by the latter 15th century), script, pilcrows and other decorative letters, rota (which require a compass), etc.
It might seem crude by scriptorium standards, but it would be a fine resume for a 16-year-old on his way to college in another town (the first years of college in those days were a bit like the last couple of years of high school these days), someone who normally would have little or no training.
There was a strong guild and apprenticeship system (some of the guilds were extremely powerful and even called their guild presidents "kings") and getting into them was difficult. But if you had a portable example of what you knew, what you could do, maybe it could get you a foot in the door.
Lately I've been trying to keep my eyes open for someone who might draw "sort of" like the illustrator of the VMS, but perhaps after 6 years of apprenticeship (they could last a long time in those days) and practice.