Seminar on the Evidence Of Manuscripts (December 1989)

August 23, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

2. “Legal Manuscripts, Their Make-Up and Contents”

In the Series of Seminars on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
(16 December 1989)
Invitation in pdf.

The previous — the first— seminar in the Series considered
“Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Illustrations as Evidence for Daily Life”
(Parker Library, July 1989).

[First published on 22 August 2016]

“We hope by choosing this topic to interest those whose concern is with texts as well as those who are primarily interested in manuscript make-up and lay-out”

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Tags: Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, Archbishop Wulfstan, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Corpus Christi College MS 173A, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 265, Corpus Christi College MS 383, Corpus CHristi College MS 398, Corpus Christi College MS 96, Legal History, Legal Texts, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Chronicle and Laws, Parker Library, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Textus Roffensis
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Our Logo

August 18, 2016 in Design, Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

The Design

We progress with writing the history of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, aided by materials in the Archives. While we prepare interviews with people who have contributed to its origins, survival, and accomplishments — soon comes the Interview with our Layout and Font Designer (responsible, for example, for our multilingual font Bembino), then an Interview about the choices for the design of the Illustrated Catalogue, with others to follow — we advance with showcasing some more highlights.

Now is the turn of our Logo, with reflections about its Origins, its Design, its Evolution, its Uses, its Intentions, and its Meanings. We still think that it’s beautiful. No wonder we haven’t felt any need to change it. Do you like it, too?

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Tags: design layout, History of the Research Group, Logos, Research Group Logos
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More Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 51’

August 10, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Detached Leaves from Otto Ege’s
Erfurt Manuscript of
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
in Latin Translation on Paper

Continuing our series on Manuscript Studies, Mildred Budny newly identifies 2 detached leaves, in separate collections, from a paper manuscript dispersed by Otto F. Ege (1888–1951). Containing parts of the text of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics in medieval Latin translation, the leaves formerly belonged to a copy prepared at Erfurt in Thuringia in Germany, and dated by colophon to 1365 C.E.

Detached leaves from this book were distributed, in part, through one or another of Ege’s series of Portfolio editions of individual specimen leaves extracted from manuscripts and printed books. Earlier blogposts have examined cases from Ege’s Portfolios of Fifty Original Leaves (1930–1950) and Famous Bibles (1938 and 1949). They report the discoveries of a New Leaf respectively from Ege Manuscript 41, from Ege Manuscript 8, from Ege Manuscript 61, and from Ege Manuscript 14. Now it is the turn of “Ege Manuscript 51” and the Portfolios of Original Leaves from Famous Books (1923 and 1949), in which its Aristotelian specimens normally appeared as their Leaf Number 2.

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Tags: 'Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts', 'Original Leaves from Famous Bibles', 'Original Leaves from Famous Books in Eight Centuries', 'Original Leaves from Famous Books in Nine Centuries', Aristotle, Beauvais Missal, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Briquet Filigranes, Briquet Number 5726, Burgunsius Pisanus, Erfurt, Germany, History of Paper, History of Watermarks, Johannes Gutenberg, Kent State University Special Collections and Archives, Lisa Fagin Davis, Manicula, Manuscript Road Trip, Martin Luther, Nichomachean Ethics, Nurenberg Chronicles, Otto Ege, Otto Ege MS 51, Otto F. Ege, Robert Grosseteste, Royal MS 6 E V, The British Library, University of Erfurt, Vladimir Nabokov, Wilhelm von Mörbeke, Wilton Processional
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Italian Notarial Roll of 1305 from Cesena

July 10, 2016 in Documents in Question, Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Italian notarial roll of 1305 unrolled, face. Photography © Mildred Budny

Italian notarial roll of 1305, face unrolled

Italian notarial roll, dorse unrolled. Photography © Mildred Budny

Italian notarial roll of 1305, dorse unrolled

Scrollwork

Notarial Document Roll of 1305
in Latin
with Docketing in Italian

Budny Handlist 20

Mildred Budny continues our blog on Manuscript Studies with the publication of a Latin document recording one transaction (a sale of land) on a single sheet of vellum in roll form, issued by the notary Johannes in 1305 at C(a)esena in Emilio-Romano in Italy, and provided with a docketing inscription in Italian on the dorse. This document joins the cases from Preston in Suffolk, from Grenoble, and from somewhere presumably in France already brought to light in our series.

For a change in this blog, here we place a few bibliographical references at the end. They provide the fuller citations for sources mentioned along the way in concise form — as with ‘Roschach (1867)’ — as well as a few suggestions for further reading.

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Tags: Armando Petrucci, Budny Handlist, Cesena, Documents from 1305, Ernst Roschach, Imperial notarial aula, Italian notarial documents, Medieval Latin documents, Notarial Sign, Scheide Library
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Lillian Vail Dymond

July 6, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

All In A Name — Or Some Other Name

Our guest blogger Linde M. Brocato (University of Memphis) serendipitiously reflects on the conditions, and, it may be, contradictions, relating to the several names which official documents might perforce adopt at various times when referring to a single individual. Particularly an individual whose history also passes through various times and, it may be, places of different forms of record.

Her own experiences, energetically related here, may allow us to consider — as she encourages us to do — how medieval cartularies (among other forms of records) might sometimes reflect personal conditions (and contradictions) in their naming patterns. A companion post for our blog on Manuscript Studies will describe these reflections about medieval cartularies in their own terms.

As she remarks in sending this essay for our blog, “The other aspect that intrigues me is how we tend to judge medieval habits of re-inscription (in cartularies) as though we were innocent of the same habits in the case of a high-stakes issue like renaming an adopted child to erase any other origin for the child.”

It can always be important to think about the person behind, within, or beyond, the official record. And to be aware that the documentary evidence might not always be transparent. Hence our respect for Linde’s willingness to share her experiences with us, devoted to the manuscript record — fragile or tremulous as it can, or must, be.

Over to her:

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Tags: adoption, birth certificates, Cartularies, Documentary Studies, documents in question, Name Changes
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Cover-Up

June 17, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

The Medieval-Psalter-Covered French Notebook in course of photography, archivally-sensitive equipment in place. Vire from the front cover, with untied ties. Photography © Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.

Photography © Mildred Budny

A Medieval Bifolium
From a Medium-Format Vulgate Latin Psalter
Reused as the Cover
of the Binding
of an 18th-Century Paper Notebook
With Receipts in French

Budny Handlist 5

Continuing our reports of discoveries about manuscripts and written materials in our blog on Manuscript Studies,
Mildred Budny examines a reused medieval fragment in its reused state, still attached to its modern notebook containing many receipts in French. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Breviary, Dijon, French Notebooks, French Revolution, Fructidor, Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Medieval manuscripts, Napoleonic Wars, Psalter Manuscripts
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Center Fold

May 21, 2016 in Conference, Events, Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

CopyCat Editor

Our Editor in Chief, also our Principal Blogger (see Her Page), gives credit to an expert adviser, who shows paws-on attention, even while lying down on the job.
P.S. That’s some of our text that she’s working on. You could view and download its completed version below.

Published on 21 May 2016 (with a couple of updates in April 2017).

We pause (paws) for an exclusive interview with our CopyCat Editor In Residence. She gives expert advice and encouragement for the preparations of our Events.

Recently, we have begun to gather interviews with experts who help — pro bono, of course — with our activities, events, publications, and other productions. (Starting here.) A series of interviews with our Graphic & Layout Designer is in the course of preparation. (He is shy, and works at many tasks, so it takes time to find the right time. Update: Now here.)

That our blog on Manuscript Studies may allow for some light-hearted views can be seen already, for example, in the installment on Manuscript Groupies.

Wonderful to learn about the people behind the scenes. Critters too.

Cats first. Cats as Cats Can. And Will.

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Tags: 2016 Symposium, 2016 Words & Deeds Symposium, Bembino Digital Font, Cat-a-Lan, CopyCat Editor, Interview, Mistie
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Spoonful of Sugar

April 27, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

A Reused Medieval Bifolium from a
Latin Treatise on Medicinal Substances

13th Century?

Double columns of 57 lines
with rubricated headings
and
initials and paraph marks
rendered in alternately red or blue pigment
and embellished with extended penline-flourishes in the contrasting pigment

Continuing our blog on Manuscript Studies, we illustrate a fragmentary medieval bifolium, much damaged, from a large-format manuscript retrieved (without recording the contextual information) from its long-term reuse as the vellum cover of an unknown book with a thick back. The reuse, at an unknown stage, presumably took advantage of an out-of-date medicinal textbook. Shame on the retrievers for not recording and letting us know the location from which the bifolium was removed.

Whereas many reused medieval manuscripts survive from discarded religious texts rendered obsolete by changes in liturgical practices and religious beliefs, for example during the Reformation, the French Revolution, or less catastrophic (r)evolutions, this case represents a relic, or battered fossil, of advances — or anyway transitions — in scientific, medical, pharmaceutical, and related spheres of knowledge in Western Europe. Some of our posts describe the former; now we turn to the latter. Here, we mainly allow the pictures to do the talking.

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Tags: Manuscript Fragments Reused in Bindings, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, medieval medicinal treatises
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Written in the Stars

April 21, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Breviary Fragment with Latin Lections on Astrology
from Sermons by Patristic Authors,
plus a Prayer

Detail of Folio Ivb, with the top of the column, within the first set of lections extracted from Homily 10 on the Gospels by Gregory the Great. Reproduced by permission.

Private Collection, Roman Breviary Fragment, Detail of Folio Ivb. Reproduced by permission.

[Published on 21 April 2016, with updates]

Our blog on Manuscript Studies observes a pair of consecutive leaves on vellum from the end of a 15th century Latin Breviary, possibly Italian, with a series of lections concerned with the nature of stellar determinism. All in favor of its rejection, all in favor of divine essence instead.

The Patristic authors of these extracts are by Pope Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and Augustine of Hippo. Heavy hitters when it comes to rhetoric and theology, that’s for sure.

In a nutshell: The readings maintain that first Christ came to earth, and the stars followed. Not vice versa. So much for astrology, huh?

That a scrawling entry following those lections records a prayer for an unknown dead individual adds an extra resonance to the awareness of the fate of human beings on this earth. The original and added texts thus enter into a tacit form of dialogue on the themes of divine and human destiny.

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Tags: Astrology, Augustine of Hippo, Gregory the Great, Lectionary, Leo the Great, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, Medieval manuscripts, prayers for the dead, Roman Breviary, stellar determinism
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Part-Leaf from a Large-Format Lectionary

April 12, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

Parts of I Maccabees 10 and
Homily 38 on the Gospels by Gregory the Great

Fragmentary leaf probably from a large-format Lectionary
Parts of I Maccabees 10 and
Homily XXXVIII on the Gospels by Gregory the Great
Reduced to the lower part of the former leaf
for reuse as a wrapper or binder for unknown materials

Budny Handlist 2

Here is the next in our series of blogposts on Manuscript Studies, which have an updated Contents List. This time, Mildred Budny reports on another item in her Handlist of a set of materials in manuscript and print. Earlier posts considered its Numbers 4, 7, 9, 11, and 13. This time, we visit a 12th-century fragment found in Italy and published here for the first time. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Basilica of San Clemente, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Dot Porter, Gregory the Great, Homilies of Gregory the Great, Homily XXXVIII on the Gospels, Lectionary, Lisa Fagin Davis, Maccabbees I, Manuscript Leaf Reused as a Wrapper, Manuscript studies, Medieval Academy of America Meeting, Medieval Manuscript Fragments
1 Comment »

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Seminar on the Evidence Of Manuscripts (December 1989)

2. “Legal Manuscripts, Their Make-Up and Contents”

Our Logo

The Design

More Leaves from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 51’

Detached Leaves from Otto Ege’s
Erfurt Manuscript of
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
in Latin Translation on Paper

Italian Notarial Roll of 1305 from Cesena

Scrollwork