HAPPY ST.PATRICK’S DAY: Books on all things Irish! Sláinte!
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with these great reads and some green beer!
Manuscript Variation in Multiple-Recension Old English Poetic Texts: The Technical Problem and Poetical Art
Twenty-six poems and fragments of poems are known to have survived the Anglo-Saxon period in more than one witness. These include poems from a variety of genres and material contexts: biblical narrative, religious poetry, riddles, charms, liturgical translations, proverbs, a preface and an epilogue, occasional pieces like ‘Durham,’ and historical poems like the Battle of Brunanburh.
Diagnostics in Late Medieval Sources
Medieval medicine as a scientific discipline was constituted generally in the 11th and 12th century on the basis of Latin translations of Arabic and Greek medical texts.
Relics, Religious Authority, and the Sanctification of Domestic Space in the Home Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of the Glory of the Confessors 20
With the rival clerics out of the way, Gregory still needed to solidify his new and publicly contested position with local elites and other powerful members of his new congregation. Thus, much of what Gregory did early in his episcopacy was intended to convince the community at Tours that he was their right man.
Arthurian Material in a Late-Medieval French Miscellany: Poitiers, Bibliothèque Municipale, ms. 215
The evidence concerning the ownership of this manuscript is tantalizingly fragmentary. Its beautifully decorated borders contain the initials AM in monogram and the Old French devise “Ie n’en voy nul jusques au trespas” in banderoles.
What We Know About The Voynich Manuscript
There are several reasons why the study of the manuscript is of interest to the natural language processing community, besides its appeal as a long enduring unsolved mystery.
Medieval garbage in Leiden University Library
Dr. Erik Kwakkel discovered a remarkable manuscript in the rich medieval book collection of Leiden University Libraries.
Jaunts, Jottings, and Jetsam in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts
In British Library, MS Egerton 1993, a collection of Middle English saints’ lives, a late hand has entered in ink a memorable drawing that proudly displays its own rubric: “this is man” (fig. 1). Precisely what manner of beast man was occupied the attention of a number of doodlers who laid hands on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
The Ars Moriendi: An examination, translation, and collation of the manuscripts of the shorter Latin version
The Ars Moriendi is a Mediaeval Christian death manual that appeared around the middle of the fifteenth century. Though no-one is certain who the author was, there is no doubt that Jean Gerson was the major inspiration through his Opusculum Tripartitum.
Theological Works of the Venerable Bede and their Literary and Manuscript Presentation, with Special Reference to the Gospel Homilies
Bede’s theology is complex and closely interwoven; as we can observe, the different themes are interleaved within the homilies. Though Bede was profoundly influenced by Gregory, Augustine and the other Church Fathers, he combined their theologies in a new way that has had a lasting influence.
The Urbanization of Hell in Medieval Infernal Literature: “WhenTungdali met Lucyfer”
Hell was considered a grim reality accessible in special circumstances to a chosen few, through various forms of journeys.
Old Irish words deciphered from Stowe Missal
Research into the Stowe Missal, an Irish manuscript written around 800 A.D., has led to the exciting discoveries of two new Old Irish verbs and several nouns from the text, which will help unlock mysteries in other Old Irish scripts.
The debate on the Epistolae duorum amantium. Current status
The methodological questions at stake are much more important and interesting. To quote the initial words of P. von Moos’ monumental article, these documents represent a real challenge for medievalism.
Recorda splendidissima: the use of pipe rolls in the thirteenth century
In this context, perhaps it is necessary to look in more detail at the function of the pipe rolls, and the way in which they were used by the exchequer.
U.S. National Archives releases videos on Magna Carta project
The National Archives in Washington D.C. has released a short documentary video, ‘The Encasement of Magna Carta.’ The video is part of the ongoing series Inside the Vaults.
‘Written in the Book of Life’: Building the Libraries of Medieval English Hospitals and Almshouses
Mindful of the fate awaiting them at the Last Judgement, the patrons of medieval hospitals and almshouses were understandably anxious that their good deeds should provide eloquent testimony on their behalf.
Colmcille and the Battle of the Book: Technology, Law and Access to Knowledge in 6th Century Ireland
Nowadays people can get heavily fined or even jailed for copyright infringement7 but it is not generally a capital offence. So how could a holy man, of all people, derive such a sense of righteousness and glory from the carnage of war, especially one apparently triggered by something as innocuous as the copying of a single manuscript?
Early Irish Law, Annals, and Computer Science
What I propose to do is establish the approximate number of people who died during the fighting by feeding the rules of Early Irish law into a computer program.
An Investigation into a French Fifteenth-Century Book of Hours
Louisiana State University proudly owns an authentic medieval manuscript called a Book of Hours. Celebrated as the university’s two millionth volume, this exquisitely illuminated manuscript is thought to be the only Book of Hours in a public collection in Louisiana.
The elements of abbreviation in medieval Latin paleography
Take a foreign language, write it in an unfamiliar script, abbreviating every third word, and you have the compound puzzle that is the medieval Latin manuscript.
Doubts and Ambiguities in the Transmission of Ideas in a Medieval Latin Bestiary: Canterbury Cathedral Archives Lit. Ms D.10
How did certain classical and early Christian ideas on nature and the visible and invisible worlds contest medieval cultural and literary norms in the medieval Latin bestiary? How does examining these tensions challenge our own perceptions?
Medieval Jewish manuscripts discovered in Afghanistan
Over 150 medieval Jewish documents have been discovered in Afghanistan. The works were found, purportedly by shepherds looking for sheep, in the mountains of Samangan province, which lies along the Silk Road trade route.
The Winter Solstice Season and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Does the season of the dark and the increasing day correspond to our own journeys into the dark and a celebration of light with new understanding and strengthened connectedness? Perhaps there is more than a bit of Pluto symbolism in our activities of the winter solstice.
Book Review: Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination makes for a good compliment to those who have had the chance to view the exhibition, adding indepth details about this collection as well as dozens of wonderful images from the Middle Ages.