Manuscripts and Palaeography Archive
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Glossaries and Other Innovations in Carolingian Book Production
Posted on May 21, 2012 | No CommentsCarolingian book production needs to be understood within the context of the communication of knowledge, the transmission of ideas across time and space and the consequent formation of what can be described as a cultural map in Europe. -
The Uses of Pragmatic Literacy in the Medieval Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (from the State Foundation to the End of the Sixteenth Century)
Posted on May 20, 2012 | No CommentsThe aim of my thesis is to reveal and understand processes behind the appearance and dissemination of literacy in the medieval principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. I will focus on the social and cultural factors that contributed to the adoption and use of writing from the appearance of the state until the end of the sixteenth century. -
Thousands of Irish Medieval Documents now available online
Posted on May 15, 2012 | No CommentsTrinity College Dublin historians have reconstructed invaluable medieval documents destroyed during the bombardment of the Four Courts in 1922. -
The repair and rebinding of ‘The Pilgrimage of Human Life’ at the Bodleian Library
Posted on April 30, 2012 | No CommentsThe article gives a step-by-step description of the repair and rebinding project which, along with digitization, was funded by a donor to the library. -
Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries
Posted on April 29, 2012 | No CommentsThese arguments suggest that the number of manuscripts and printed books produced in a given society are complex measures of economic performance and societal capabilities, and are therefore a valuable guide to the study of long-term economic change. -
What can dirt on pages tell us about medieval manuscripts and their readers?
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsFor the first time a new scientific technique has allowed us into the minds and motivations of medieval people – through their dirty books. -
Dirty Books: Quantifying Patterns of Use in Medieval Manuscripts Using a Densitometer
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsAlthough it is often difficult to study the habits, private rituals, and emotional states of people who lived in the medieval past, medieval manuscripts carry signs of use and wear on their very surfaces that provide records of some of these elusive phenomena. -
British Library purchases the St Cuthbert Gospel for £9 million
Posted on April 18, 2012 | No CommentsThe British Library has announced that it has successfully acquired the St Cuthbert Gospel, a miraculously well-preserved 7th century manuscript that is the oldest European book to survive fully intact and therefore one of the world’s most important books. -
Medieval Monastic Library of Lorsch recreated online
Posted on April 10, 2012 | No CommentsThe unique holdings of the medieval monastic library of Lorsch, currently scattered over 68 libraries worldwide, are being re-compiled into a virtual library. -
The Illumination of the Worms Mahzor: Description and Iconographical Study
Posted on April 7, 2012 | No CommentsTo understand the decoration programme of the Worms Mahzor it is essential to comprehend the structure of the text of the Ashkenazi mahzorim, since the illumination bears a direct rela- tionship to it. -
Birds’ Head Haggadah – scholar gives new insights into Jewish medieval text
Posted on April 3, 2012 | No CommentsThe Birds' Head Haggadah, a manuscript dating from around the year 1300, is considered one of the most interesting and mysterious pieces of Jewish art from the Middle Ages. -
Alfred the Great’s Burnt Boethius
Posted on March 25, 2012 | No CommentsOne can trace the reason for these curious editorial developments to two factors: (1) the inaccessibility of the tenth-century manuscript, which everyone thought was destroyed in the 1731 fire, until its burnt remains were recovered at the British Museum in the 1830s; and (2) an overpowering edition-in-progress of the twelfth-century manuscript by the great seventeenth-century scholar Francis Junius, with extensive collations from the missing tenth-century manuscript. -
Story behind Faddan More Psalter discovery told at John Rylands Library
Posted on March 23, 2012 | No CommentsAs the first medieval manuscript ever found in a wetland environment, the Faddan More Psalter is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries ever made. -
Middle Earth from Middle Europe: Medieval Manuscripts and an Inspiration for Tolkien
Posted on March 22, 2012 | No CommentsSome may challenge the authenticity of Tolkien’s fiction, claiming it was merely that and never borrowed from medieval culture. A closer investigation will prove this false, as Tolkien’s writings are wrought with innumerable medieval cultural references and influences, some seemingly speculative, others still strikingly similar to original sources. -
Martinus Polonus’ Chronicle of the Popes and Emperors: a Medieval Best-seller and its Neglected Influence on Medieval English Chronicler
Posted on March 18, 2012 | No CommentsIn so doing I should like to begin by giving a brief account of Martin's life and of the structure and contents of his chronicle before examining how widely known it was in late medieval England. Then we will turn to the various ways in which it was 'adapted', i.e. translated and extended by continuations. Finally, particular emphasis will be given to Martins hitherto neglected influence on a number of English medieval chroniclers.
