Palaeography (Medieval)

Course goals

• read and transcribe medieval books and documents, date the script, and interpret their material features;
• work with manuscript collections and/or archives, and use catalogues and digital manuscript collections;
• describe medieval manuscripts.

Content

Medieval books and documents are handwritten. As such, they are objects that are interesting not only because of their content; their physical form itself also teaches us a great deal about what they are, when and where they were made, by whom, and for whom. They are objects that one can learn to observe, just as paintings are for art historians, or plants for biologists. In this course, we become acquainted with the fundamental disciplines involved in learning how to study medieval handwritten books and documents: palaeography (the study of the historical development of writing), codicology (the study of the material aspects of the book), and diplomatics (the study of the principal documents that have been preserved). We learn to recognize and interpret various features, practice reading and transcribing texts, and conduct research into later traces of use found in manuscripts. We also devote some attention to a new and groundbreaking trend in the field: the use of digital tools to make manuscript collections accessible and to further analyze them.

This course includes weekly meetings of 3–4 hours. In addition, we will visit an archive at least once and a manuscript collection once to examine medieval materials in person. The course concludes with an exam that tests skills in transcription, dating, and description. In addition, practical assignments assess various aspects of working with medieval handwritten material.

Additional information