Posts Tagged ‘Manuscripts and Palaeography’

Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts on display at The Met

Two important medieval Hebrew manuscripts—a Mishneh Torah made between 1300 and 1400 in Germany and an illuminated leaf from a prayer book made in Austria around 1360—are on display in New York City at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters, respectively, in conjunction with the Jewish High Holy Days this fall. The Cloisters is the Metropolitan’s branch museum dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The High Holy Days are ten days of penitence and prayer that commence with Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and end with Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the most solemn day of the Jewish year. This year, the High Holy Days begin the evening of September 8.

On view in the Gallery for Western European Art from 1050 to 1300 in the Main Building of the Metropolitan, and on loan from The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary, is a manuscript of the Mishneh Torah—the “Repetition of the Law”—a complete codification of Jewish law. Organized by subject matter, the Mishneh Torah was compiled by the renowned rabbi, physician, and philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) between 1170 and 1180. Written in Hebrew, it is organized into 14 books. The manuscript is open to the eighth book, or Sefer Avodah (the Book of Divine Service), which contains the laws of the Temple in Jerusalem. Its full-page diagram of the Temple is a particularly appropriate image at this season, because remembering the ancient sacrificial services of the Temple plays an important role in the observance of Yom Kippur. Made in tempera and ink on parchment between 1300 and 1400 in Germany, this copy of the Mishneh Torah is noteworthy for its precisely ruled and brightly colored drawings.

Maimonides’ text also provides crucial rules and regulations for an eventual rebuilding of the Temple. There are restrictions against building at night and specifications about appropriate building materials. Maimonides notes, moreover, that “Everyone is obligated to build and to assist both personally and financially; [both] men and women as in the [construction of the] Sanctuary in the desert.” Children, however, “are not to be interrupted from their studies.” Once the Temple is built, “Everyone who enters the Temple Courtyard should walk in a dignified manner…he should conceive of himself as standing before God.”

On display in the Treasury at The Cloisters is a beautifully illuminated leaf in tempera and gold on vellum, from the collection of Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn. Originally part of a mahzor (festival prayer book), the page was created in Austria around 1360. Drawn from the afternoon liturgy for Yom Kippur, this sumptuously decorated leaf would have been one of many in an oversize manuscript containing the prayers for the entire year, according to the Ashkenazic (Germanic) rite, as well as liturgical hymns, poems, and commentaries. The decoration draws attention to the first word of a piyyut or liturgical hymn, “Eitan hikir emunatekha” (The mighty [Abraham] recognized Your truth). Commentary on the hymn appears in the right-hand margin.

The leaf’s whimsical images of dogs, rabbits and birds, which are also seen in contemporary Christian manuscripts, suggest a shared aesthetic, an awareness of book culture between the two communities, and, possibly, a common workshop or an artist who worked in dialogue with members of a different faith community. The sheer size and splendor of the manuscript indicate that it was likely commissioned for use and display in a synagogue.

Featured on the Museum’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History are two essays on Jewish art co-authored by Barbara Drake Boehm and Melanie Holcomb of the Museum’s Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters: “Jewish Art in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium“and “Jews and the Arts in Medieval Europe”. Relevant works in the Museum’s collection are listed along with suggested further readings and additional resources. “Jews and the Arts in Medieval Europe” is produced in cooperation with and includes relevant works from The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary. Both curators have participated in the Institute in Jewish Art of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

The two images will remain on view through the High Holy Days. Afterward, the Mishneh Torah in the Metropolitan’s Main Building will be opened to another illuminated page, and a second illuminated leaf from the same manuscript will be displayed at The Cloisters.

Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

26 Aug 2010
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Lost medieval bibles found at Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Complete microfilms of two early medieval Spanish Bibles dating from the 9th and 10th century that were damaged or destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) have been found in the microfilm vault of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML), in Minnesota. Before the discovery of the microfilms, scholars thought the two Bibles, known as Codex Complutensis I and Codex Complutensis II, survived only in fragments or in one or two slides.

The two manuscript Bibles, which belong to the Library of the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, are considered important examples of Mozarabic art, a style that combined Visigothic and Muslim elements and was produced by Christian communities who lived under Muslim rule after the Muslims conquered Spain in 711. The decoration of the manuscripts shows such Arabic influences as zoomorphic initials and Arabic arches.

“Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros was one of the most learned persons of the Renaissance whose influence on biblical scholarship is immeasurable” said HMML’s acting director Father Michael Patella, OSB. “For HMML to have the world’s only known copy of a biblical text that played such an important role in his Complutensian Polyglot Bible exemplifies the unparalleled value of HMML’s mission. We are all proud and deeply happy to be a part of this important find.”

In addition to their artistic and cultural importance, the Bibles are two very important sources for the Latin Vulgate text of the Bible. The Vulgate, translated by Jerome in the late 4th-early 5th century, was the standard Latin version of the Bible used in the Middle Ages. Concerned that almost a millenium of copying had corrupted the text of the Vulgate, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros collected the oldest Latin manuscript Bibles he could find to prepare the Latin Vulgate text of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, one of the most important editions of the Bible ever printed. A team of scholars working under the direction of Cisneros collated and edited Latin, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts to publish a new version of the Bible for scriptural study. The Complutensian Polyglot, which was printed in 1514-1517, consisted of parallel columns of text in Hebrew, Latin and Greek (Old Testament) and Latin and Greek (New Testament). Codex Complutensis I played an important role in the creation of this new edition.

Cardinal Cisneros left his library to the Universidad Complutense. There the two manuscript Bibles remained until the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) overran the university’s Madrid campus. Many thousands of books were destroyed, including the two priceless manuscript Bibles. The Universidad Complutense had no visual record of the manuscripts. And that was all, until Hugh Houghton of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham, England, found that HMML listed among the microfilms in its collection, Madrid Complutense Codex 31, a 9th/10th -century Latin Bible. He wrote to HMML and asked if the microfilm showed a complete manuscript or a badly damaged one. HMML staffers checked the films and found not one but two complete manuscripts of Bibles that had been destroyed over 70 years ago.

“I was flabbergasted,” said Theresa Vann, curator of the Malta Study Center and director of electronic cataloguing at HMML . “First, these manuscripts had to have been photographed not only before HMML existed, but before it was standard preservation practice to microfilm manuscripts. Second, I couldn’t believe that HMML had the only surviving complete microfilm copies of two such important manuscripts.”

HMML exists to preserve ancient and endangered manuscripts for future generations to study. The library began microfilming manuscripts in Austrian and German monasteries in 1965; then expanded its preservation work to Spain, Portugal, Ethiopia and Malta. Since 2003, it has digitized the manuscripts of eastern Christian communities in the Middle East.

The library acquired the microfilms in 1979, when then director Julian Plante decided to purchase microfilms of all the significant liturgical manuscripts cited by Klaus Gamber in Codices liturgici latini antiquiores. Gamber cited Codex Complutensis I, by then known as Madrid BUC 31, so Plante wrote to the Library of the Universidad Complutense for a copy of the microfilm. The director of the Library, Fernando Huarte, replied that Ms. 31 had been almost totally destroyed during the civil war, and that it could be studied in the photographic copy made by the Benedictine monks of St. Jerome in Rome. Plante ordered the microfilm of Ms. 31 from the Centro Nacional de Microfilm in Madrid, anyway. The film arrived in three boxes, and Ms. 32, which was Codex Complutense II, happened to be on the end of the last reel of Ms. 31. For some reason, the National Microfilm service in Madrid can no longer provide microfilms of these two manuscripts.

Since microfilm was still an emerging technology during the Spanish Civil War, the HMML staff examined the films carefully to determine their origin. They found three rolls of positive safety film, dating from the 1950s. Each frame shows a negative image of one half of one folio of the manuscript. Closer examination revealed that the film is a microfilm copy of a series of 35-mm films. The staff suspects that the manuscripts were originally photographed with a large-format box style camera that used glass plate negatives; that someone photographed the glass plate negative (approximate size 5×7 inches) with a 35 mm camera, and that these negatives were later microfilmed.

Upon the request of Houghton and the Library of the Universidad Complutense, HMML digitized the microfilm using a custom rig that photographed each frame of the microfilm with a digital camera. It sent the digital copies to the Universidad Complutense and to Houghton, who plan to share this important manuscript with the world.

Source: Saint John’s University

29 Jul 2010
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Garima Gospels found to be oldest surviving Christian illustrated manuscripts

Radiocarbon testing has revealed that a pair of illustrated gospels kept in a remote monastery in Ethiopia may have been made as early as the 4th century and are perhaps the oldest surviving illustrated Christian works in existence. The Garima Gospels were first reported on in the 1950s, but it has only been within the last couple of years that scholars have been able to examine the work and help conserve it.

In 2006 the British-based Ethiopian Heritage Fund began a project to examine the Garima Gospels, which have been kept at the Monastery of Abba Garima in northern Ethiopia for hundreds of years. Scholars were allowed to take two parchment fragments from the manuscripts, and testing at Oxford University revealed that they date back to somewhere between 330 and 650 AD. It had previously been believed that the texts were no older than the twelfth century. According to legend, the manuscripts were brought to Ethiopia from Constantinople by Abba Garima in the year 494.

Jacques Mercier, a French specialist in Ethiopian art, believes that the manuscripts may have been created around 600. Both of them contain several pages of vivid illustrations typical of early Byzantine style, which include a depiction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, a portrait of Saint Luke, and images of over twenty different birds.

Michelle Brown, a former British Library curator, tells the Art Newspaper that, “the Garima Gospels case vital light upon early Christian illuminated manuscript production and upon the role of sub-Saharan Africa…It is the sort of model the inspired such vibrant later Ethiopic art and is an important witness to the way in which the churches of the Christian Orient both absorbed the courtly Christian culture of Constantinople and developed their own voices and styles.”

The texts also received some conservation work, which was done in the monastery, as the texts were not allowed to leave its premises. Blair Priday of the Ethiopian Heritage Fund explained to the Daily Mail, “all the work on the texts was done in situ and everything is reversible, so if in future they can be taken away for further conservation we won’t have hindered that. The pages had been crudely stitched together in a restoration in the 1960s and some of the pages wouldn’t even turn. And they were falling to pieces. The Garima Gospels have been kept high and dry which has helped preserve them all these years and they are kept in the dark so the colours look fresh.”

The Ethiopian Heritage Fund was established in 2005 to undertake conservation of manuscripts and paintings in churches. They have worked on other medieval treasures, including two 15th century paintings of St. Mary. Priday added: ‘Ethiopia has been overlooked as a source of these fantastic things. Many of these old Christian relics can only be reached by hiking and climbing to remote monasteries as roads are limited in these mountainous regions.”

Click here to read the article “Discovery of earliest illuminated manuscript” from the Art Newspaper

Click here to read the article “Extreme Bookbinding – A fascinating Preservation Project in Ethiopia” by Lester Capon

Sources: Ethiopian Heritage Fund, Daily Mail

5 Jul 2010
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Textus Roffensis: Law, Language and Libraries in Early Medieval England – conference at the University of Kent

A three-day conference on the Textus Roffensis, the priceless 12th century Rochester Cathedral manuscript which was named Britain’s ‘Hidden Treasure’ by the British Library, will take place at the University of Kent between July 25-27.

Textus Roffensis is a Rochester Cathedral book of the early 12th century that holds some of the most significant texts issued by England’s various early medieval kingdoms going back to the laws of King Æthelbert of Kent (c. 604). It also preserves abundant records from one of England’s earliest episcopal sees.

The conference, “Textus Roffensis: Law, Language and Libraries in Early Medieval England” will gather for the first time work in the disciplines of History, English, Linguistics, Political Science, Law and Codicology in order to address the context for the creation of Textus Roffensis, the language of its texts, English laws and their legal, political and cultural agendas, the relationship of the Church and royal government and the legacy of the book and its texts.

Kenneth Fincham, Professor of Early Modern History and Head of the University’s School of History, said, “Textus Roffensis holds some of the most significant texts issued by England’s various early medieval kingdoms going back to the laws of King Ethelbert of Kent. It also preserves abundant records from one of England’s earliest episcopal sees. Given that there is some important interdisciplinary research being conducted on areas of early medieval law, linguistics and codicology, it is a very timely moment to bring together some outstanding scholars in these fields and make the Textus the focus of their discussions. This international gathering over three days will review current scholarship and help shape the research agenda for the future.”

The conference will feature papers presented by many distinguished scholars, including Bruce O’Brien (University of Mary Washington), Martin Brett (University of Cambridge), Nicholas Brooks (University of Birmingham), Carole Hough (University of Glasgow) and Mary Richards (University of Delaware). Michael Wood, broadcaster and historian of early medieval England, will deliver a public lecture on the legacy of Textus Roffensis at 6 pm on 26 July in the Pilkington Lecture Theatre on the Medway campus. Titled ‘The Legacy of the Textus’, the lecture is free of charge and open to all.

Professor Sir Robert Worcester, Chancellor of the University of Kent, added, ‘This is the first occasion where scholars of medieval history and others who study the importance of this period have gathered anywhere in the world specifically to exchange knowledge about the role of the Textus Roffensis in the history of England. It can be argued that the history of England began in Kent over 1400 years ago. The history of English law began in the early seventh century. The arrival in 597 of St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory, with the mission to introduce the pagan people of Kent and nearby kingdoms not only to Christianity but also to written history; the mission and letters were directed at King Ethelbert to the people of Kent (in their own language, Cantwara). Before he died in around 617 he equipped his subjects with a codified statement of law, the first surviving text of any type written by as well as for Englishmen.’

Delegates will receive a private tour of Rochester Cathedral and Rochester Castle (led by the University of Kent’s Research Fellow Richard Eales), as well as a visit to the exhibition of Textus Roffensis itself and Rochester and Canterbury Cathedral papers of the same period in the Crypt of Rochester Cathedral, which will be open free of charge to the public 26-28 July.

The booklet The First Code of English Law by Patrick Wormald expands on the background to the Textus and will be available for sale at the public lecture and at the exhibition in the Cathedral Crypt (price £3.50).

Click here to go to Conference website

Click here to see a digital version of Textus Roffensis from the British Library

Source: University of Kent

30 Jun 2010
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Looking East and West : the reception and dissemination of the Topographia Hibernica and the Itinerarium ad partes Orientales in England [1185-c.1500]

Looking East and West : the reception and dissemination of the Topographia Hibernica and the Itinerarium ad partes Orientales in England [1185-c.1500]

David, Sumithra J.

University of St Andrews, 25-Jun-2009

Abstract

In this study the manuscript transmission, dissemination and reception of Gerald of Wales’ Topographia Hibernica (TH) and William of Rubruck’s Itinerarium ad partes Orientales (Itinerary) in England c.1185-1500 have been explored. The TH and the Itinerary are well known texts and have been carefully examined by modern scholars. Nevertheless, the afterlives of these two medieval texts have largely been neglected. Similarities in the authors’ approach and interests alongside the obvious difference in subject matter, i.e. the focus on two opposing ends of the believed peripheries of the world, have made the two texts worthy of consideration together. In chapters I and II, the extant manuscripts of each text have been been examined. As a consequence, the list of extant TH manuscripts, as provided by Robert Bartlett and Catherine Rooney, has been supplemented with two additional medieval manuscripts. The number of known medieval manuscripts of the Itinerary has also increased with the inclusion of one previously thought lost. In addition, through the examination of the manuscripts, the surviving attestations from catalogues and correspondence and through the subsequent re-use of the texts within other medieval narratives, this study offers a geographical and literary mapping of the dissemination of both works. It also examines the various uses to which the TH and the Itinerary were put, highlighting in particular the political significance of each text. Furthermore, in chapter III the contents of each manuscript containing the TH or the Itinerary are considered in order to explore the significance, if any, of the accompanying texts. The study culminates in chapter IV with an examination of three medieval bibliophiles: Simon Bozoun, John Erghome and John Gunthorpe, whose association with one or other of the text have offered a further contextualisation of the interest in the text, particularly in relation to their wider book collections. An approach which considers the text’s afterlife contextualises the work within its literary and socio-cultural milieus offering a wealth of information. By examining the availability of, and to a lesser extent the uses of, information regarding the Irish and the Mongols in England through these two specific texts, this study also hopes to help enhance our understanding of English attitudes to the two geographical extremities of the known medieval world.

Click here to read/download this article (PDF file)

25 Apr 2010
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Books, scribes and sequences in medieval Norway

Books, scribes and sequences in medieval Norway

By Åslaug Ommundsen

PhD Dissertation, University of Bergen, 2007

Introduction: The basic source material of this study is a selected group of manuscript fragments of Norwegian provenance containing a particular type of medieval chant, generally referred to as “sequences”. The emphasis here is not primarily on the sequences, but on the fragments transmitting them and the physical evidence of books which once existed in Norway in complete form.

This thesis explores how the fragments with sequences can be used to study a growing manuscript culture in the periphery and its innate European influences. The study of manuscript fragments is of immense importance in Norway to increase our knowledge of medieval book and scribal culture, as so little material is transmitted in the form of complete codices. In spite of this the fragments have attracted little attention, especially in the field of Latin philology.

In this study all Norwegian fragments with sequences are described in an illustrated catalogue. In addition, selected items are analysed to increase the knowledge of book and scribal culture in Norway and the influences upon it from other European regions in the twelfth and thirteenth century. The study also adresses the general challenge of fragment studies, and seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

How can fragments from Latin manuscripts, particularly liturgical, best be approached in a study of medieval book culture?

How can studies of such fragments shed light on the cultural transfer between European centres and the northern periphery in the Middle Ages?

Click here to read/download this thesis – Part 1 (PDF file)

Click here to read/download this thesis – Part 2 (PDF file)

29 Mar 2010
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The historic repair and reuse of Byzantine wooden bookboards in the manuscript collection of the monastery of St Catherine, Sinai

The historic repair and reuse of Byzantine wooden bookboards in the manuscript collection of the monastery of St Catherine, Sinai

By Andrew Honey and Athanasios Velios

Holding it all together: ancient and modern approaches to joining, repair and consolidation, ed. J. Ambers (London: Archetype Publications in association with The British Museum, 2009)

Abstract: This paper discusses the historic repair and reuse of wooden bookboards on Byzantine Greek-style bookbindings in the library of the monastery of St Catherine, Sinai. It is based on a detailed condition survey of the monastery’s manuscripts that also provided a comprehensive description of the materials and structures of these manuscripts. A total of 124 wooden boards with repairs to major splits was found on 101 manuscripts. These repaired boards have been categorised by damage to the boards, information about their repair techniques and materials and the time of repair. Finally it has been possible to compare those manuscripts with repaired boards to the rest of the collection and place the repairs into a wider context of eastern Mediterranean manuscript repair and rebinding. The study of early board repairs offers new approaches to the repair of split wooden bookboards by book conservators.

Click here to read/download this article (PDF file)

23 Mar 2010
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The uses of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, c. 1066-1200

The uses of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, c. 1066-1200

By Mark Faulkner

DPhil, Oxford University, 2008

Abstract: This thesis examines the uses of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the 150 years immediately following the Norman Conquest. By focusing on the most common types of use evident in the manuscripts, it explores how readers actually interacted with books. It also treats manuscripts as cultural artefacts through which it is possible to observe the literary and social consequences of the Conquest.

The Introduction summarises our current understanding of the literary culture of this transitional period. Chapter II, ‘Destruction and Conservation’, examines claims that Norman elites destroyed Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; finding these claims unjustified, it investigates the circumstances in which manuscripts were lost and identifies how readers evaluated the contents of pre-Conquest books.

Chapter III, ‘The Movement of Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, looks at the consequent loan, exchange and sale of pre-Conquest manuscripts after 1066. Chapter IV, ‘Updating Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, discusses difficulties which Norman readers encountered with pre-Conquest books, including script, abbreviation, orthography and textual redaction, and examines how these technical features could be modernised. It also investigates more practical modernisations to liturgical books, chronicles and cartularies.

Chapter V, ‘Glossing and Annotating’, concerns readers’ reactions to the texts found in pre-Conquest manuscripts, particularly vernacular homilies and translations. It argues that the post-Conquest classroom was essentially trilingual, though Latin became the lingua franca. Chapter VI, ‘Record-Keeping in Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, explores the use of pre-Conquest manuscripts – copies of the gospels, liturgical books and patristic texts – as repositories for records.

Chapter VII, ‘The Veneration of Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, continues this exploration of the symbolic capital of pre-Conquest books by examining how Norman churchmen supported the veneration of particular manuscripts as secondary relics, and introduced new traditions regarding other books. The Conclusion refocuses the findings of this thesis on two key issues: early medieval reading practices and English literature between 1066 and 1200.

Click here to read/download this thesis (PDF file)

20 Mar 2010
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Peering into the Middle Ages – Brock University Symposium on Medieval Documents

Peering into the Middle Ages – The Brock University Symposium on Medieval Documents

Peering into the Middle Ages Symposium - Brock University

Brock University in Canada showcased three incredible medieval documents Friday, March 19th, 2010 at a symposium on medieval documents;  featuring The Clopton Charter, a sheet of music and a Psalm from the Book of Job. Brock University also received two early modern English documents kindly donated by keynote speaker, Dr. David Caldwell, Keeper of Scotland and Europe and the National Museums of Scotland. A letter signed by King James of Scotland in 1579 and a Scottish legal document from 1490. The symposium was hosted by Professor Andrew McDonald, and professor David Sharron who discovered (and are currently working on) The Clopton Charter.

The university does not know how they came to possess The Clopton Charter. Professor David Sharron discovered the document in the archives on March 25, 2009. It was folded and placed in an archival bag with a note attached stating it was a document from the 16th century. The Charter had no

Professor Andrew McDonald

date on it; Professor Sharron sent a picture of it to Professor McDonald to see if he could provide any insight. Professor McDonald realized the document was far older and the investigative process began immediately. The document, appeared to be from the 13th century. The other two medieval documents had been purchased by the university in the 1960’s.

The Clopton Charter

Professor Andre Basson, a paleography expert, spoke about deciphering the Clopton Charter and shared some interesting points on medieval paleography. The Charter was written on parchment, which indicates that it was an official document. There were various medieval scripts during this period making it difficult to decipher the document. The hand writing style of the Charter was identified as “Gothic Cursive” which was a script used in formal documents between the 12th and 16th centuries. The script conforms to the first half of the 13th century. The Charter is a land grant from Robert de Clopton to his son, William de Clopton.

Professor Angus Somerville of the Department of English, spoke about the Charter and on the topic of digital

Book of Job

progress and its affect on medieval documents. While 90% of the work with manuscripts can now be done  online, manuscripts are not “passe”  and Professor Somerville asserts there is still a need to see documents in person.

Professor Michael Gervers of the University of Toronto and his DEEDS project team spoke about the dating and digitizing of The Clotpon Charter and other medieval documents. DEEDS (Documents of Early England Data Set) is a computer program produced with statistics that assists in dating undated medieval English documents. The DEEDS project began in 1992/1993. DEEDS uses a machine called D+MECH which dates English charters between 1072 – 1310. During the time of William the Conqueror, the Anglo-Saxon tradition of dating documents ceased. English documents were not dated from 1066 until the reign of King Richard I in 1189. The general public did not begin dating documents until approximately 1307. Professor Gervers and his team demonstrated how the DEEDS project dates these documents.

Scottish Legal Document 1490

The program is only interested in word order and sequence and ignores people and place names. An algorithm was designed to come up with possible words in sequence to arrive to a final date. The machine contains 814, 535 word patterns and is able to produce a date for 2 -32 word patterns. The program finds phrases that were used during a particular period of time as certain phrases come and go in popularity.  The program looks at the portion of time in which the phrase appears.

How accurate is this process? 48% of the documents were dated to within 5 years, and 15% were exact matches. Professor Gervers had several DEEDS team members explain the statistical process at which they arrive at the final date. They also explained how to search for documents on the DEEDS website. While working on The Clopton Charter, the DEEDS project found another document from Clopton dating to 1238. This document appears to have been written by the same scribe who wrote the Clopton Charter.  Another interesting discovery was that the family of Robert de Clopton appeared in several documents up to 1300. Robert had two sons, William and John. John received land in 1250 and in 1258, appeared again in a document for owing money to a Jewish money-lender. The document outlined the terms of repayment.

Sheet Music

Professor Brian Power of the Brock University Music Department spoke about the sheet music. It was acquired by the university in August 1967. The sheet is from the Gospel of Matthew from a notated Passional; a Christian liturgical book containing text of the story of the Passion of Christ. The text is written in Latin on high quality vellum parchment and is in good condition; however, the book may be of Spanish origin. The manuscript appears to have been taken from a fascicle or bound book. Professor Power explained the music of this period and demonstrated what the music would have sounded like by singing the Passional.

Special keynote speaker, Dr. David Caldwell spoke about medieval objects and documents and what they can tell us about history. He donated two documents to Brock University’s archives, a Scottish legal document from the 1490’s and a letter signed by King James VI (the future King James I of England) on July 12, 1579. Professor Matthew Martin, Department of English and Director or Medieval and Renaissance Studies, gave a little bit of a background to the rule of King James and the historical context of the letter. James did not write the letter, it was written in secretaries hand. An interesting note is that James’ signature remains the same throughout his reign and his writing is relatively clear, simple and easy to read. The letter grants safe passage to William of Hamilton and outlines the restrictions to his movement and activities. The letter is a business document.

What does the letter tell us about this period in history? The Hamilton clan was banned from being within 6 miles of the King’s body. The letter shows the tension of the time and that the Hamilton’s were deemed a threat to the King’s body, as control of the kingdom was control over the King’s body. The letter still awaits transcription and is still a work in progress.

Letter of King James VI of Scotland - 1579

Dr. David Caldwell spoke about how material culture research can improve Scottish history and the importance of not relying solely on documents as windows to the past.  Professor Caldwell went through slides of various objects, such as pendants, grave slabs, badges and statues. He stated it is important to learn from objects as objects can also be “read” as documents.

The symposium was sponsored by The Humanities Research Institute, the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Department of History and the James A. Gibson library.

Click here to read more about the discovery of  The Clopton Charter

-Sandra Sadowski

20 Mar 2010
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The Old English Charms and King Alfred’s Court

The Old English Charms and King Alfred’s Court

Nokes, Richard Scott

Medieval English Studies vol. 10, (2002) No. 1

Abstract

The extant corpus of Anglo-Saxon texts contains hundreds of Old English charms. Except for about a dozen “metrical charms” included in Dobbie’s sixth volume of the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, most scholars know little about the charms. With a few notable exceptions, the charms have been studied very little, though they have frequently found inclusion in Old English readers. For the Anglo-Saxons, however, these charms could represent the difference between sickness and health, between life and death. They were important to the Anglo-Saxons and, when we examine the manuscript evidence, we also find that they were probably of great importance to King Alfred the Great. One of the most important of the extant charm texts, Bald’s Leechbook, was compiled during the Alfredian Renaissance, and very possibly at the request of Alfred himself.

The Old English charms are scattered around about two dozen manuscripts, but most of these manuscripts are texts dedicated to some other subject, and the charms are found in the margins or the flyleaves. Fewer than half-a-dozen texts dedicated solely to charms still exist today, and these texts are found in only two manuscripts. The most important charm text is found in British Library, Royal 12 D.xvii, and is commonly referred to as “Bald’s Leechbook.” Royal 12 D.xvii contains three separate texts, of which Bald’s Leechbook usually refers to the first two texts, Leechbook I and Leechbook II. Leechbook III, while similar in structure and format to the first two books, is actually of a different origin than Bald’s Leechbook (Wright 14).

Click here to read/download this article (HTML file)

1 Jan 2010
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