Parchment derives its name from the city of Pergamum, in Asia Minor. According to the tradition reported by Pliny the Elder, parchment was invented here around the second century before Christ, as a substitute for papyrus. In Pergamum there was a big library that competed with the famous Library of Alessandria. When Egypt stopped exporting papyrus, because of the cultural competition between the Egyptian king Ptolemy V and the king of Pergamum Eumenes II (196-158 BC), Pergamum replied by inventing parchment.

From the fifth century, parchment seemed to spread increasingly, until it became the main writing medium during the Middle Ages. Its decay started with the coming of paper, but it continued to be used long after the end of the nineteenth century, in particular areas such as public documents issued by kings, emperors and popes