Medieval Writing Materials Archives -

2019 Anniversary Symposium: The Roads Taken

March 29, 2019 in Anniversary, Announcements, Conference, Conference Announcement, Manuscript Studies

The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

Challenges and Opportunities for
Assessing the Origins, Travels, and Arrivals
of Manuscripts and Early Printed Materials

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Co-Sponsored by The Bibliographical Society of America

Rejoined Pieces of a Leaf from a Book of Hours. Private Collection.

The Plan

In 2019 the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence celebrates 20 years as a nonprofit educational corporation based in Princeton, and 30 years as an international scholarly society founded at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Across the years, we have engaged in multiple events in many places, over multiple manuscripts and other original sources, and on a broad range of subjects. We celebrate our friends, colleagues, hosts, donors, volunteers, and subjects of study.

As part of these celebrations, we announce our Anniversary Symposium at Princeton University, host of many of our events over the years. This event takes place on Friday afternoon 26 April and Saturday 27 April 2019.

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Tags: Book of Hours, Early Printing, History of Paper, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Manuscript studies, Medieval Writing Materials
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Vellum Bifolium from Augustine’s “Homilies on John”

November 27, 2018 in International Congress on Medieval Studies, Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

Recycled and Reclaimed
Large-Format Vellum Bifolium
from a Discarded Medieval Copy
of Saint Augustine’s Sermons
on the Gospel of Saint John
In Double Columns of 47 Lines

Measuring at most circa 384 mm high × 523 mm wide
< text block circa 274 × 180 mm, with columns circa 80 mm wide and intercolumn circa 20 mm >

Now in a Private Collection

[Published on 28 November 2018, with updates, continuing our series of Blogposts on Manuscript Studies, for which see the Contents List]

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Tags: Augustine of Hippo, Büdingen, Homilies on John the Evangelist, Isenburg, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Medieval Writing Materials, Rotulus, Saint John the Evangelist
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Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)

September 20, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials and Practices”
The Parker Library
11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for 11 January 1992

In the Series of Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation in pdf, with 1-Page Invitation Letter and 1-page RSVP Form

The previous meeting of the seminar considered

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 383”
The Parker Library, 16 November 1991

[Published on 20 September 2016 by Mildred Budny]

The Plan

From the moment of the First Seminar in the Series, devoted to “Manuscript Illustrations as Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Life”, and taking inspiration from it, the subject for this Seminar emerged naturally, early in the Series, as part of a Research Project at the Parker Library designed to examine “The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts” and to integrate expertise in a variety of disciplines.

The Brandon Plaque. 9th-century Anglo-Saxon gold and niello. The British Museum, via Creative Commons.

The Brandon Plaque. © Trustees of the British Museum.

The design of the Project flowed, in no small part, from the work for a Ph.D. dissertation (University of London, 1985) which focused on an integrated study of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and was supervised by an archaeologist, David M. Wilson, the Director of the British Museum and author of the catalogue of Ornamental Anglo-Saxon Metalwork, 700–1100, in the British Museum (1964). That authoritative catalogue contains some of the materials considered at the Seminar.

For the Seminar, the 1-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here, with the RSVP Form), dated 15 December 1991, lays down the cloth for the repast.

We will hold the next meeting of this seminar on Saturday, 11 January.

The subject will be: Anglo-Saxon writing materials and practices. We wish to look at the evidence for manuscript production in the Anglo-Saxon period, especially

1) the archaeological record of writing materials, tools, processes and book bindings;

2) the linguistic and literary evidence for writing and making manuscripts from both Old English and Latin sources; and

3) the evidence of the manuscripts themselves.

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Tags: 'Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts', 'The Making of England' Exhibition (1991), 2002 British Museum Colloquium, Apotropaic, Brandon Plaque, British Library Additional MS 89000, British Museum, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Chester-le-Street, Christine Fell, Corpus Christi College MS 183, Corpus Christi College MS 23A, Corpus Christi College MS 286, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Ernst Kitzinger, Flixborough, Kevin Leahy, King Athelstan, Leslie Webster, Lindisfarne, Manuscript Illustrations, Medieval Writing Materials, Parker Library, Saint Cuthbert's Coffin, Saint Cuthbert's Gospel, Saint Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross, Saint Cuthbert's Relics, Scribal Portraits, Scribal Practices, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Stonyhurst Gospel, Thomas Julian Brown, Vivien Law
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Call for Papers for 2017 Congress

July 8, 2016 in Conference, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Uncategorized

Sessions
Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers
(Deadline 15 September 2016)

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies, we give both a 2016 Congress Report and a special Behind the Scenes Report (Also Known As “Doctor Who Done It”). Now we proceed to preparations for the 2017 Congress. Some of our Session Proposals have been accepted, so that we progress to their Call for Papers.

The Congress now publishes the full 2017 Call for Papers for 52nd ICMS, with the list of Session Titles and Sponsors. Here we announce our 5 co-sponsored Sessions and describe their aims.

As in recent years, we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions) and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (2 Sessions). It will be the 12th year of co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, and the fourth year with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. This year, for the first time, we also co-sponsor a Round-Table with a community of 5 other Co-Sponsors (including the Societas Magica), headed by AVISTA.

Also, like the 2016 Congress, we plan for

an Open Business Meeting and
a co-sponsored Reception with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

Glimpses of our co-sponsored Receptions at the Congress appear in the souvenirs of our Celebrations and in the Reports for the individual Congresses (2016, 2015, and 2014 Anniversary).

The Agendas for our Open Business Meetings in both 2015 and 2016 serve as concise Reports for our Activities, Plans, and Desiderata.

We look forward to your contributions.

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Tags: AVISTA, Center for Medieval and, History of Magic, History of the Crusades, Ideal Rulership, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Islamic Magic, Manuscript studies, Medieval Military Orders, Medieval Tools, Medieval Writing Materials, Societas Magica
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Doctor Who-Done-It

June 24, 2016 in Conference, Events, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reception, Reports

Behind the Scenes
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

Who Done It? We Did Good!

(With the Useful Discovery that Our Director Apparently Drives a Tardis)

Our Director continues the Reports for our Activities at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, starting with the 2016 Congress Report.

Now, as a second installment for the Report, for the first time in our history, we tell about some experiences Behind the Scenes. With Thanks, Naming Names.

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Tags: Archaeology of Manuscripts, Bembino Digital Font, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Magic, History of Paper, Index of Christian Art, Manuscript studies, Manuscripts & Early Printed Books, Medieval Writing Materials, Pont Neuf, Societas Magica
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2016 Congress Report

May 19, 2016 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, ICMS, Kalamazoo, Reception, Reports

Jesse Meyer demonstrates the squirrel parchment prepared for the Research Group's Session, at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies. 13 May 2016. Photography © Mildred Budny

Show & Tell. Photography by Mildred Budny

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Report

[Published on 18 May 2016, with updates]

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence reports its activities accomplished at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies, held at Kalamazoo, Michigan.

After the completion of

our Congress Planning, which reported the Sessions selected by the Congress Committee,
our 2016 Congress Call for Papers, which described the aims of the Sessions, and
our Congress Program, which set forth the schedule for our Sessions and other Activities
(together with the Abstracts of some Papers),

we now Report its achievements. They include the notice of a couple of late changes to the Program of individual Sessions, the unveiling — with the publication here — of both the Posters for our multiple activities at the Congress and an illustrated Program Booklet for a pair of co-sponsored Sessions, and other developments. These publications, as is our practice, are set in our copyright multilingual font Bembino and laid out in accordance with our Style Manifesto. You may view them below.

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Tags: Balkan Studies, Bembino, Business Meeting, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Paper, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, magic in manuscript, Medieval Writing Materials, Parchment making, Reception, Societas Magica
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2016 Congress Program

January 11, 2016 in Business Meeting, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Reception

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Program

[Published on 11 January 2016, with updates]

After the completion of the 2016 Congress Call for Papers, which described the aims of the sessions, and the Congress Planning, which reported the Sessions selected by the Congress Committee, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence advances with the planning for its 4 sponsored and co-sponsored sessions for the next International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Now we announce the programs. The Congress Schedule reveals the time- and room-assignments. Also, we begin to publish Abstracts of the papers, as their authors might wish.

*****

The next Congress will be the eleventh year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, the third year of co-sponsorship with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, and the second year of co-sponsorship with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

Our 2014 and 2015 sessions and receptions with these organizations are illustrated in the 2014 Congress Report and 2015 Congress Report. The history of our sponsorships and co-sponsorships at the Congress is recorded for our Sponsored Sessions and Co-Sponsored Congress Sessions, and in our blog.

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Tags: Balkan Studies, Byzantine Studies, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Magic, History of Paper, History of the Crusades, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Medieval Studies, Medieval Writing Materials, Mirror as Image, Mirror as Other, Ottoman Studies, Parchment making, Societas Magica
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2016 Congress Call for Papers

June 29, 2015 in Call for Papers, Conference Announcement, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo

Call for Papers

for Sessions Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May

[Updating our Post of 10 June 2015, now with the Call for Papers for Our Sessions on 29 June 2015, and additionally with further updates after the timely links regarding the Congress have become obsolete]

For the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies [“http://wmich.edu/medieval/congress/sessions.html” link no longer valid] at Kalamazoo next May, the Research Group will sponsor and co-sponsor Sessions, as part of our continuing activities at this Congress. For example, at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, the Research Group had 2 sponsored and 3 co-sponsored Sessions.

As before, we co-sponsor sessions with the Societas Magica (since 2006) and with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (since 2014). Here we announce the Call for Papers for all our Sessions for the 2016 Congress.

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Tags: Balkan Studies, Byzantine Studies, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, Editing Magical Texts, History of Magic, History of Paper, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Medieval Writing Materials, Shaping Identity via the 'Other', Societas Magica, The Late Crusades
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2014 Congress Report

June 25, 2014 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Conference Announcement, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies
An Anniversary Year

8-11 May 2014

[Published on 25 June 2014, with updates]

David Sorenson and Donncha MacGabhann examine manuscript materials

Photography by Mildred Budny

Our sessions at the 2014 Congress formed part of the celebrations for our anniversary year. 2014 marks our 15th anniversary as a nonprofit educational organization and our 25th anniversary as an international scholarly society. At the Congress, we both sponsored sessions and co-sponsored sessions, as before, with the Societas Magica, in the eighth year of this co-sponsorship, and, for the first time, with the Center for the Study of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida. As is our practice, various of our Trustees, Officers, and Associates participated in these and other sessions at the Congress.

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Tags: Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, Assenids, Book of Kells, Carolingian Manuscripts, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, Datini Archives, Early Ottoman Empire, Ethiopic Manuscripts, Gems, History of Canon Law, History of Magic, History of Paper, House Style, Individual Style, Islamic Manuscripts, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Medieval manuscripts, Medieval Music, Medieval Writing Materials, Palaeography, Second Bulgarian Empire, Societas Magica, Talismans
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2013 Congress

January 1, 2014 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Conference Announcement, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo

48th International Congress on Medieval Studies

9-12 May 2013

[First published on our first website on *6 December 2012, with updates there and here]

With its mission to “apply an integrated, holistic approach to manuscripts and texts in all forms,” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in 2013, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence held sponsored and co-sponsored sessions examining the material culture, production, and purposes of written records in Western Europe and beyond, and the dispersal, recovery, and study of those works in various forms and widespread locations. Besides these interlinked subjects, the year’s highlighted genres were astrology, the material technology of magic, and the symbolism of water in the Middle Ages.

As before, we co-sponsored sessions with the Societas Magica and King Alfred’s Notebook LLC (respectively in the eighth and second years of this co-sponsorship). Also, three of our Trustees and many of our Officers, and Associates presented papers at the Congress in a variety of sessions.

Here we report the Programs for our Sessions, publish the Abstracts of their Papers, and illustrate the Posters for the Sessions. For the first time, we designed Posters for all of our Sessions at the Congress, Sponsored and Co-Sponsored. At the 2011 Congress we had one Poster, and two Posters at this 2013 Congress for our Sponsored Sessions, all with images courtesy of David W. Sorenson, whose donation of images inspired their creation. The series of Posters now stand exhibited in our Gallery of Posters on Display. The Posters are set in our own multi-lingual digital font Bembino, available for download for FREE here.

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Tags: 'Huntingdonshire Scribe', Adam Pinkhurst, Artists' Recipe Books, Astrology, Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms Latin 16714, British Library Cotton MS Faustina C i, Datini Archive, Digital Imaging, Ducal Charters, History of Paper, Islamic Paper, Late Medieval English Scribes Project, Manipulus Florum, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Collecting, Medieval manuscripts, Medieval Music, Medieval Writing Materials, Middle English, Orpiment Pigment, Palaeography, Peter of Blois, Picatrix, Pigment Analysis, Popular Magic, Rhygyfarch ap Sulien, Scribe B - Pynkhurst Debate, Sigillum Dei, Silesia, Societas Magica, Textual Amulet, Thomas of Ireland, Welsh-Latin Poetry
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The Roads Taken, Or, The Obstacle Course

Challenges and Opportunities for Assessing the Origins, Travels, and Arrivals of Manuscripts and Early Printed Materials

2019 Anniversary Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Co-Sponsored by The Bibliographical Society of America

Sponsors

The Plan

Recycled and Reclaimed Large-Format Vellum Bifolium from a Discarded Medieval Copy of Saint Augustine’s Sermons on the Gospel of Saint John In Double Columns of 47 Lines

Now in a Private Collection

“Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials and Practices” The Parker Library 11 January 1992

The Plan

Sessions Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies 11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers (Deadline 15 September 2016)

Behind the Scenes at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

Who Done It? We Did Good!

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Report

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Program

Call for Papers

for Sessions Sponsored and Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies An Anniversary Year

8-11 May 2014

48th International Congress on Medieval Studies

9-12 May 2013

Challenges and Opportunities for
Assessing the Origins, Travels, and Arrivals
of Manuscripts and Early Printed Materials

2019 Anniversary Symposium
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Princeton University
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019

Recycled and Reclaimed
Large-Format Vellum Bifolium
from a Discarded Medieval Copy
of Saint Augustine’s Sermons
on the Gospel of Saint John
In Double Columns of 47 Lines

“Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials and Practices”
The Parker Library
11 January 1992

Sessions
Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
11–14 May 2017

Call for Papers
(Deadline 15 September 2016)

Behind the Scenes
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

for Sessions Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies
An Anniversary Year