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Conversations Between Medieval Texts and Digital Editions: The Remediation of Harley 4205

Conversations Between Medieval Texts and Digital Editions: The Remediation of Harley 4205

By Danielle Grant

MA Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 2017

William the Conquerer, from British Library, Harley 4205

Introduction: Medieval manuscripts are a diverse and rich field of study, made particularly complex by the variety of historical, cultural, and technical elements they display. A manuscript codex that has received little scholarly attention is British Library MS Harley 4205, produced in the late medieval period. Yet it is a book worth studious consideration as it highlights the intricacies of the relationships between producer, reader, community, and history.

Central to this book is repetition, as is seen in the production methods and heraldic elements. The repetition of images and verses is a notable aspect that could make this book seem static, as though it is merely a recycling of past information without offering anything new to the reader.

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However, there are other elements that hint at interactions with the book’s original audience and with viewers through remediated forms. Thus, the book is dynamic, in that there is an interaction and exchange of information between the audience and the texts.


This study considers in detail the features of Harley 4205 that illuminate aspects of manuscript production, heraldry, and digital remediation. Further, this study contemplates the conflict of the static and dynamic elements within this book and how the repetitive elements reveal some uncommon features of Harley 4205.

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Click here to read this thesis from the University of Saskatchewan

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