Medieval scriptoria

An essay on disciplinary change, incremental and foundational, with special attention paid to the structures within which knowledge is produced, designed, and disseminated. Within this overall framework, the essay recounts the story of the Stanford Humanities Lab and metaLAB (at) Harvard, while arguing for the virtues of (dislocated) disciplinarity.

p r z e g l ą d z a c h o d n i o p o m o r s k i r o c z n i k X X X i (l X) r o k 2016 z e s z y t 1 s t U d i a i r o z p r a W y Agnieszka Gut Uniwersytet Szczeciński rytm pracy w kancelarii kSięcia wSchodniopomorSkiego, mściwoja ii (1266–1294) Słowa kluczowe: Pomorze Wschodnie, dyplomatyka, średniowieczne kancelarie Uwagi wstępne Rytm pracy średniowiecznej kancelarii nie jest zagadnieniem, które pojawia się szczególnie często w kwestionariuszu polskich badań z zakresu dyplomatyki. Można nawet powiedzieć, że ugruntowana w historiografii teza o permanentnym (stałym) działaniu kancelarii władcy w średniowieczu, powodowała rezygnację z zajmowania się tą problematyką, zwłaszcza przy niewielkiej ilości dokumen-tów wystawianych przez książąt w XIII wieku. Pojawiały się jednak w literatu-rze głosy o wpływie pewnych zjawisk sezonowych (zima, żniwa) na rytm prac kancelaryjnych, które nie zostały podjęte w badaniach analitycznych 1. Jedynym znanym mi badaczem, który dokonał takiej analizy na gruncie czeskiego doku-mentu władcy końca XIII i początku XIV wieku, jest Ivan Hlavaček 2. Doszedł on 1 W.

This chapter, an appendix within "Reykholt: The Church Excavations" (Guðrún Sveinbjarnardóttir, ed.), describes the largest and most diverse assemblage of lithic objects known from archaeological excavations in Iceland. This assemblage was recovered from floor and fill deposits associated with the medieval and post-medieval churches at the elite center of Reykholt, and is particularly distinguished by a clear selection for stones in a range of related green and green-blue colors. Their deposition within the physical boundaries of the church's sacred space documents a pattern of color-based selection, use, and controlled sequestration that extended for at least 450 years.

Green shades of jasper, opal, and chalcedony are among the least common color variants at geological sources in Iceland; green-colored lithic artifacts are, consequently, rarely present in more than trace levels (9.6%) within other analyzed Icelandic archaeological lithic assemblages. However, in the deposits associated with Reykholt's churches green and blue-green shades account for 91% of the lithics recovered. Proximity to green jasper and opal sources cannot explain this preference, which extends only to deposits within the space occupied by the church's consecrated ground and not even to deposits associated with the adjacent, contemporary, residential complex of Reykholt's chieftains and priests, where red jasper, black obsidian, and white chalcedony objects were used and discarded.

An explanation for this color preference within Reykholt's churches is found in medieval lapidary texts and in the color symbolism associated in medieval sources with this church's patron saint. This interpretation suggests not only that trans-European perspectives on medieval science were current in medieval Iceland but also that they may were expressed here through a localized form of veneration, communication, or propitiation with the saint in which gifts of stones associated with him and with the color of penitent belief were carried to the church, left there, and, at times, shattered to reveal the colors at their core.

An additional group of scraped and ground green opal objects within the assemblage are identified as pigment stones, and provisionally associated with manuscript illumination. If this interpretation is accurate, their temporal distribution suggests that manuscript production and illumination was most intense at Reykholt during the time it was Snorri Sturluson's home, and that manuscript illumination continued there until the Reformation. These humble objects, if accurately identified, also provide the first archaeologically recovered material cultural evidence for manuscript production in the North Atlantic and suggest a form of material culture that can be used to document manuscript production at other sites in Iceland and, potentially, beyond.

В статье рассматривается ряд вопросов, касающихся организации работ мастеров Оружейной палаты над украшением книг во второй половине XVII в. Выявляются особенности творческого метода миниатюристов, что отчасти позволяет раскрыть специфику отношения к лицевой книге в эпоху русского Позднего Средневековья.

Colophons of Armenian manuscripts are replete with yet untapped riches. Formulae are not the least among them: these recurrent stereotypical patterns conceal many clues as to the schools and networks of production and diffusion of books in Armenian communities. This paper proposes a methodology for exploiting these sources, as elaborated in the framework of a Ph.D. research project about Armenian colophon formulae. Firstly, the reader is briefly introduced to the corpus of Armenian colophons and then, to the purposes of our project. In the third place, we describe our methodology, relying on lemmatization and modelling of patterns into automata. Fourthly and finally, the whole process is illustrated by a basic case study, the occasion of which is taken to outline the kind of results that can be achieved by combining this methodology with a philologico-historical approach to colophons.

Pronounced at the XIXe Colloque international de paléographie latine in Berlin on 16 – 19 September 2015. Abstract: After the extinction of the Czech native Premyslids´ Dynasty, many scribes, active until this time in courtly services, have found new position in cloisters and monasteries all over the Czech lands and in its scriptoriums. The old monastic scriptoriums used the pre-Gothic Minuscule with many archaic elements. In fact, very often the incoming scribes were the holders of the tradition of the new book script, characteristic of the entrance of early Gothic Minuscule. The forwarded Gothic Minuscule has succeeded in the Czech Kingdom in about the half of the 14. C. It evolved in many new varied conditions in the second half of the 14. C. The multi-level development of the graphic changes should be presented in the paleographical study of the manuscript collection from the Benedictine Cloister of St. George at the Prague Castle. First of all, it should be presented on the case of manuscripts from the epoque of the abbess Cunegunde (1265-1321, the daughter of the Czech King Přemysl Otakar II.), written in cloister´s scriptorium.  In a short period of about one century, there was variety of scribes’ combination active. The study offers fast and excellent view into this exciting time of paleographical changes at one place.

Codex 1380 of the Jagellonian Library at Cracow is a hagiographic and homiletic lectionary of the 14th century.  It is peculiar in that it is preceded by a prologue which uses that of a martyr’s Passion (BHL 400 or 1787) as do two legendaries of the southern Low Countries, those of Saint-Trond and Rouge-Cloître.  Its sanctorale makes it possible to state that it originated in the diocese of Utrecht, probably at Deventer.  An elaborate table which involves also another volume reestablishes the order of the calendar which was jumbled by the frequent recourse to variant exemplars.

The Latin MS Charleville-Mézières BM 177 is an abridged legendary of Metz which originates from Saint-Arnoul, where it was copied in about 1300.  It was designed to serve as a manual for hagiographic preaching: the excerpts taken from the Legenda aurea are accompanied by many other abridged Vitae, in part taken from Jean of Mailly and in part directly compiled from the Vitae of local saints.  The legendary is remarkable in that it has two unedited Vitae of the bishops Clou and Arnoul of Metz and also because of a strange collection of hagiographic tales destined to be used and elaborated upon by the preacher.

Résumé :
Le recueil factice Paris, BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 2389 contient, aux fol. 33 et 34, deux fragments d’un nécrologe copié à la fin du XIe siècle puis enrichi tout au long du siècle suivant. Signalé dans le premier supplément de son répertoire par J.-L. Lemaitre, ce document méconnu a été attribué à l’abbaye du Bec. La reconstitution du réseau de confraternité de l’abbaye de Fécamp amène à rejeter cette attribution et à restituer ces deux feuillets à ce dernier monastère. Ces fragments présentent un intérêt considérable : ils proviennent du plus ancien nécrologe normand conservé et précisent l’origine de nombreux moines associés ; ils prouvent la survivance du réseau spirituel volpianien bien après la mort de son fondateur, l’abbé réformateur Guillaume de Volpiano, et de ses disciples ; ils offrent enfin un témoignage exceptionnel des relations étroites établies entre l’abbaye de Fécamp et plusieurs monastères bénédictins situés en Bourgogne, en Normandie, en Angleterre, en Lorraine, en Picardie, en Île-de-France et en Flandre aux XIe et XIIe siècles. À cette époque, la production du scriptorium de Fécamp est à son apogée et les associations spirituelles jouent un rôle essentiel pour la transmission des textes et l’enrichissement des bibliothèques monastiques.--------------------------------------
Abstract :
The composite miscellany Paris, BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 2389 contains, on folios 33 and 34, two fragments of a necrology copied at the end of the 11th century, which was then added to throughout the following century. First noted by J.-L. Lemaitre, this little-known document has long been attributed to the abbey of Bec. However, the reconstitution of the network of confraternity of Fécamp reveals that this necrology should instead be assigned to this abbey. These fragments are of considerable interest: they belong to the oldest surviving Norman necrology and preserve the names of numerous monks linked with the abbey of Fécamp, thus demonstrating that the spiritual network established by William of Volpanio survived long after his death and those of his disciples. They also offer unparalleled evidence of the close bonds established between the abbey of Fécamp and various Benedictine monasteries in Burgundy, Normandy, Picardy, England, Lorraine, the Île-de-France and Flanders during the 11th and 12th centuries. The scriptorium of Fécamp was, at this time, at its height, and spiritual links played an essential role in the transmission of texts and the enrichment of monastic libraries.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riassunto :
La raccolta fittizia Paris, BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 2389 (nuova acquisizione) contiene, ai fol. 33 e 34, due frammenti di un necrologio copiato alla fine dell’undicesimo secolo, quindi arricchito durante tutto il secolo successivo. Menzionato da J.-L. Lemaitre nel primo supplemento del suo repertorio, questo documento misconosciuto è stato attribuito all’abbazia "du Bec". La ricostituzione del legame di confraternita dell’abbazia di Fécamp porta a respingere quest’attribuzione e a restituire questi due fogli a quest’ultimo monastero. Questi frammenti sono degni di un interesse notevole: provengono dal più antico necrologio normanno tramandato e precisano l’origine di molti monaci associati. In parallelo costituiscono la prova della sopravvivenza di una rete spirituale volpiniana ben dopo la morte del suo fondatore – l’abate riformatore Guglielmo da Volpiano – e dei suoi discepoli. Infine offrono una testimonianza straordinaria delle relazioni intense stabilitesi tra l’abbazia di Fécamp e molteplici monasteri benedettini situati in Borgogna, in Normandia, in Piccardia, in Inghilterra, in Lorena, in île-de-France e nelle Fiandre nel corso dell’XI e XII secolo. In quel tempo la produzione dello scriptorium di Fécamp raggiunge l’apogeo e le associazioni spirituali giocano un ruolo di prim’ordine nella trasmissione dei testi e l’arricchimento delle biblioteche monastiche.

Thèse téléchargeable sur HAL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/CRAHAM/tel-01572371v1

Au Moyen Âge, les réseaux de confraternité ont favorisé la circulation des hommes entre les communautés religieuses. La reconstitution du réseau de confraternité de l'abbaye de la Trinité de Fécamp – obtenue grâce à l'élaboration d'une méthode innovante ayant notamment permis de restituer à ce monastère un important fragment de nécrologe – confirme non seulement l'existence d'une circulation de moines, mais permet surtout de mettre en évidence la circulation des manuscrits et des textes entre les établissements les plus étroitement associés. L'étude des réseaux de confraternité constitue donc un champ de recherche particulièrement riche et prometteur pour la connaissance de l'histoire des bibliothèques anciennes ainsi que pour celle de la transmission et de la réception du patrimoine écrit. Elle mérite une attention spéciale lorsque le chercheur s'intéresse aux bibliothèques bénédictines constituées et enrichies entre le Xe et le XIIIe siècle, c'est-à-dire à l'apogée de l'activité des scriptoria monastiques et à une époque où les monastères étaient les principaux centres culturels et spirituels d'Occident. L'enquête est également l'occasion d'approfondir nos connaissances sur le réseau spirituel volpianien ainsi que sur la bibliothèque et le scriptorium de l'abbaye de la Trinité Fécamp sous les abbés Guillaume de Volpiano (1001-1028) et Jean de Fécamp (1028-1078). Elle a notamment permis d'attribuer à ce fonds 23 nouveaux manuscrits et d'en rejeter 9 autres. Une quinzaine de bibliothèques monastiques bourguignonnes, italiennes, lorraines, franciliennes, angevines et normandes, étroitement associées à Fécamp, font également l'objet d'une étude approfondie.

Medieval learning has often been judged as lacking originality: it has been dismissed as a limited canon of classical and Christian authorities handed down by medieval authors and scribes whose intellectual achievements did not go beyond the rather stiff and pedestrian reproduction of older knowledge and wisdom. Recent and current research focusing on manuscript evidence, however, has demonstrated that the originality of medieval authors and schools consisted in the ways in which ‘old texts’ were reshaped (in the various ways that fall under the category of réécriture), brought together and updated (with annotations, glosses, commentaries) to serve evolving purposes and needs. Earlier texts were thus adjusted and reshuffled to offer new products (compilations, books) fitting the demands of the various medieval audiences (religious, lay, scholastic, female communities, etc.).
The products of these writing and compilatory strategies are the focus of this workshop. Authorial vademecums, scholastic miscellanies, liturgical and canon law collections are but a few of the many fields in which we can appreciate the sophistication of medieval learning. Moreover, medieval miscellanies defy the sharp taxonomy of the typologies des sources inherited from nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship and urge us to rethink medieval learning as a much more polyhedric, permeable, informal and creative intellectual achievement.

AN ELEVENTH-CENTURY ILLUMINATED GREEK PSALTER
AT THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM (acc. no. BBСЕ-1309)

A small illuminated Greek Psalter, which is housed in the Byzantine Collection of the Hermitage Museum, was undoubtedly executed in one of the best Constantinopolitan scriptoria in the last quarter of the eleventh century. All aspects of the manuscript’s execution, such as its high quality parchment, superb calligraphy and exquisite decoration, indicate that the Psalter was commissioned by a highranking member of Byzantine society. Until 1945 the Psalter was kept in the University Library in Berlin and was known to scholars under the call number 3807. The manuscript was thought to have perished at the end of World War II, but, in fact, it was brought to the Soviet Union as part of extensive reparations. After the war the Psalter was not available to scholars, and a description published in 1933 by George Stuhlfauth was the only source of information about this manuscript. Since Stuhlfauth’s
description scholars of Greek paleography, codicology and art history have made significant progress in the study of manuscripts, and our use of contemporary advances has been fruitful in evaluating and supplementing previous findings and conclusions about this remarkable Psalter.
In this article the authors describe and analyze the Hermitage Psalter, applying modern criteria and techniques, such as the Leroy classification of ruling patterns and systems and the identification of the scribe’s handwriting to locate and date the codex. We contend that this Psalter was executed in a Constantinopolitan workshop (ergasterion) in the last quarter of the eleventh century by anonymous
craftsmen, a scribe and an illuminator, who probably executed several other Gospels and Psalters – for
example, Athens, National Library of Greece, MS Constantinopolitanus Metochii Sancti Sepulcri 375
and MS 57; St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, gr. 214; and Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 320 and Vat. gr. 342. Codex Metochii Sancti Sepulcri 375 was executed in 1077–1078 for the renowned historian and patrician Michael Attaliates, and the St Petersburg codex gr. 214 was commissioned by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Dukas (reigned 1071–1078).
The authors plan to publish a detailed description and analysis of the Hermitage Psalter in a monograph dedicated exclusively to this exceptional manuscript and its extraordinary history.

В статье подробно анализируется древнейший памятник книжной культуры Беларуси — Туровское Евангелие. Автор рассказывает об истории находки этого памятника, характеризует его содержание, язык, шрифт, художественное оформление и т. д. Особое внимание уделяется выяснению происхождения этой книги. Отмечается, что Туровское Евангелие является не только древнейшей книгой, найденной на территории современной Беларуси, но и одним из наиболее древних книжных памятников, созданных в Восточной Европе. Художественное оформление и особенности языка книги свидетельствуют о том, что она могла быть создана в середине ХІ в.

The most ancient monument of book culture of Belarus — the Turau Gospel — is analyzed in detail. The history of a find of
this monument, its contents, language, script, decorating, etc. is discussed. Special attention is paid to clarification of the origin of this book. The fact is noted that the Turau Gospel is both the most ancient book found in the territory of contemporary Belarus, and one of the most ancient book monuments created in the Eastern Europe. The decorating and specifi c features of language of the book testify that it could have been created in the middle of the 11th century.

Суша, А. А. Тураўскае Евангелле – самая старажытная кніга Беларусі / Алесь Суша // Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. – 2015. – № 8. – С. 22–32

Many of the books come from the hundred or so dependencies of Iveron Monastery throughout the Balkans, Asia Minor, Russia and Western and Central Europe. They are votive offerings of pious Christians, donations of rulers, acquisitions by Monastery monks who toured entire provinces carrying holy relics for veneration, or by Iveron monks who served as priests in Greek parishes abroad. Many books were taken by monks to the dependencies or by priests in the parishes for local consultation. Sometimes the books were returned to the Monastery, sometimes not. This traffic of books led to a considerable osmosis of learning and thinking between Iveron Monastery and the area of the Near East or the Greek parishes in the West. We believe that there was an important and fruitful contribution to Modern Greek culture by the brotherhood of Iveron who assimilated Greek culture and erudition and used it within the framework of Orthodox tradition.

Hagiographical texts in the following libraries:

Bassano del Grappa (Museo Biblioteca Archivio) / Belluno (Biblioteca Capitolare Lolliniana) / Berlin (Staatsbibliothek) / Cortona / Kraków (Biblioteka Jagiellionska) / Luzern (Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek und Staatsarchiv) / Mantova (Biblioteca Comunale Teresiana) / München (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek) / Princeton (University Library) / Trento (Città e provincia) / Veneto (Biblioteche del)...

En el periodo de transición entre la Tardoantigüedad y la Edad Media, Gran Bretaña, Irlanda y las islas circundantes estaban comenzando a recibir la influencia del cristianismo y a exportar de forma temprana su propia corriente insular de esta fe. Sea por la entrada del cristianismo en las islas o sea por la exportación del cristianismo insular, cobraron importancia nombres como San Patricio, San Columba, San Agustín, San Columbano o San Aidan.
Poco a poco, se irá desarrollando una nueva forma de aprendizaje, arte y literatura, estilo que ha sido denominado “celta”, "insular" o recientemente "hiberno-sajón", caracterizado por emplear la decoración de entrelazados, nudos, triquetas y abstracciones zoomórficas, tan características de los pueblos celtas autóctonos, en consonancia con un lenguaje cristiano de raíz continental.
Dentro de la gran producción libraria de impronta celta que se genera en los monasterios insulares, merece una especial mención el Libro de Kells, tema principal de este trabajo, por su contexto específico, su decoración, iconografía y excepcional habilidad técnica.

During the time of transition between the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Great Britain, Ireland and the surrounding islands started to get the influence of the christianism, as well as to do the early export of its own insular current of this religion. Either from the access and diffusion of the christianism through the islands, or from the export of the insular christianism, it started to appear outstanding names as Saint Patrick, Saint Columba, Saint Augustine, Saint Columbanus or Saint Aidan.
Little by little, a new form of learning, art and literature will be developed. This new style, called "Celtic", "Insular" or recently "Hiberno-Saxon", is characterized by using the ornamentation of interlaces, knots, triquetras and zoomorphic abstractions -typical patterns of the indigenous Celtic peoples, along with a christian language rooted in the continental culture.
Within the great production of books of Celtic mark, generated on the insular monasteries, a main masterpiece is the Book of Kells, which will be the focus of this paper, due to its specific context, ornamentation, iconography and outstanding technical skill.

The royal monastery of San Salvatore on Mount Amiata was founded, according to tradition, in the eighth century on the wishes оf Lombard kings in the vicinity of papal lands. In the last decades, it has been the focus of many researches, dedicated not only to some famous manuscript codes stored for centuries in its library, but also to its documentary records from the middle of the eighth century, kept in the Diplomatico collection of Siena State Archives. In this volume, the paleographical and diplomatic research about the writings of Amiata Scriptorium results into a complex reconstruction of practices of power, considered not only in their local context, but also in their broader relation with popes and emperors.
(www.ebook.retimedievali.it)

Philology and History in the editions of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica from Theodor Sickel to Paul Fridolin Kehr (1879-1940).

A strict relationship was conceived between philology and history by the Monumentisten: it can be observed in the ecdotic methods and criteria employed for the editions of the series Diplomata of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica published during the period from 1879 and 1940, and in particularly by Theodor Sickel and Paul Fridolin Kehr, as this essay shows.

Marín Pina, M.ª Carmen, y Alberto Montaner, «Estado actual de los estudios sobre la vida y la obra de Juan Fernández de Heredia», en Juan Fernández de Heredia y su época: IV Curso sobre lengua y literatura en Aragón, Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico», 1996 [ISBN 84-7820-375-3], pp. 217-83 y 357-68.

Talk at the "Xth Academic sessions of the AECTH: Places of Writting: The Cathedral":

Written has been de base of the Liturgy, Pedagogy and the Administrative management of the temporal goods and rights of the Medieval Churches. In this case, the Cathedrals of Jaén, Spain (erected at XIIIth c.) and of Málaga (re-erected on 1487) in the South of Spain, the old roman and visigothic land of Betica, later occupied by Islam, and renamed al-Andalus.
We will talk about several topics in relation to the Medieval culture at the Medieval Western in the Cathedrals:

1. The Cathedral chapter as an institutional organization related with the production, management an access control to the Written memory.

2. The Production of Written memory: documents for the Temporary management and books for the divine Liturgy and for the Study:
2.1. The Chapter Chancery, Notary and the management of the Cathedral burocracy.
2.2. The 'Scriptorium'.

3. The Preservation of the Written memory: Chests, Wardrobes and Libraries. The Medieval World of the Archives and of the Libraries:
3.1. The Record-keeping memory.
3.2. The Librarian memory.

4. The Transmission of the Written memory: Grammar school and Teaching into the Cathedrals.

Selected Bibliography.