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Diplomas were seldom written in gold or colored inks; but some charters of the German Emperors are known, not only in gold, but on purple vellum; and Leukfeld mentions one of the year 912, ornamented also with figures; while several early English charters have gold initial letters, crosses, &c. The black ink that has kept its color best, in mediaeval manuscripts, is that used from the tenth to the thirteenth century. The signatures of the Eastern Emperors are frequently in red ink.

Colored inks were common in mediaeval manuscripts,—the red being most usual for titles, which has given rise to the term Rubric. The writers of books (that is, the copyists,) often appended their names to the end of the work, generally in ink of a different color from that of the body of the work, stating the time and place in which the work was executed.