2002 British Museum Colloquium Archives -

Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018

May 1, 2019 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, British Museum, Conference, Manuscript Studies, The British Library, Uncategorized

Revisiting Beloved Ground

[Published on May 1, 2019] A personal post by our Director.

A New Look

© The British Library Board, Royal MS 1 E vi, folio 4r. Reproduced by permission

We have returned from a trip to London for multiple views of the exhibition of Anglo-Saxon and related manuscripts at The British Library, and for a visit to its companion set of conferences to showcase work by selected elder and younger scholars.

My review does not have the purpose of providing a purview as such of the exhibition or the conferences. Other venues have provided more-and-less expert evaluations of the exhibition and its scholarly events.

It was lovely to see the manuscripts — in most cases, again, for I have seen them in person in their current collections. It took decades of travel, decades of dedication, and worth the view.

#turnedthepages

Suffice it to say that I, for one, can state accurately as well as precisely that, with determination, time, travel funding, part-time work, and perseverence, topped by a deep and abiding love of the subject, along with permission by the custodians, I have been able to examine closely and directly, and to turn the pages of almost all the manuscripts (and many of the documents) on display. A labour of love.

Having the opportunity to view the gathered manuscripts of course demands praise for the organisers of the exhibition and the enlightened donors for its accomplishment. Having the opportunity to attend the conference and to view the exhibition of course commands recognition that I have myself had to pay for that privilege, in travel, housing, conference dues, exhibition entrance, and the like. It is important to record, with thanks, the generous donation of 2 tickets for attendance by a Research Group Associate, which made it possible to continue to view the exhibition in company.

I talk about logistics because these matters, also, matter.

You all who talk, and with reason, about the need to have funding in order to persist and persevere with this and or that field of study, I hear you. Funding applications, part-time jobs, free-lance work, supposedly ignominious independent scholarly endeavors all must hold their place. Sometimes hard work.

Center Stage

For me, it was important to see, in person, again, some manuscripts which I love deeply. That comes from close and appreciative knowledge. Did I mention my favorite hashtag. #turnedthepages. Here, aplenty, in this exhibition, it applies. And then some.

Plus, the exhibition is nontrivial. See here: Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts.

It was a special delight to see as the first images for the concluding plenary lecture such a view, from “my thesis manuscript”, and from such an excellent speaker.

The Thesis is available without charge via British Library Manuscript Royal 1 E.vi: The Anatomy of an Anglo-Saxon Bible Fragment (1985) or ethos.bl.uk (order no. thesis00342356)

Julia Smith introduces The Royal Bible of Saint Augustine's Anbbey Canterbury in her Plenary Lecture December 2018. Photograph by Mildred Budny

Julia Smith introduces The Royal Bible of Saint Augustine’s Abbey Canterbury in her Plenary Lecture December 2018.

Revisiting the Territory

Interesting, isn’t it, that there remain on the scene in this new “international conference” at The British Library so many Anglo-Saxonists that participated in the 2002 British Museum Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence?

The 2002 BM Symposium:

Form and Order in the Anglo-Saxon World

Its Program:

2002 BM Program

Its Program Booklet, with Abstracts of Papers:

British Museum Colloquium Booklet

Reception at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Instructive, don’t you think, that the speakers and presiders from that Colloquium in 2002 are mostly represented among the speakers, presiders, and attendees of the 2018 British Library International Conference? Here, in the order in which they appeared on our 2002 Program, they are:

Dáibhí Ó Cróinin
Richard Gameson
Rosamond McKitterick
Andy Orchard
Simon Keynes
Helen Gittos
Alan Thacker
Carol Neuman de Vegvar
Michael Ryan
Susan Youngs
James Graham-Campbell
Jane Hawkes
Carol Farr
Nancy Netzer
Mildred Budny
Michael Wood
Elizabeth M. Tyler
Leslie E. Webster

Coffee Break at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Coffee Break at our 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Some others on our 2002 Program could not be present in 2018 because they had died. We remember them with esteem.

A few others on our 2002 Program did not, alas, feel included sufficiently in 2018 to attend the British Library event.

We remember both events with appreciation for the conversations, presentations, and collegiality.

At our 2002 Colloquium.

Reception at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

At our 2002 Colloquium Reception: Sue Youngs and Joyce Hill. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Tags: 2002 British Museum Colloquium, 2018 British Library Symposium, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, British Library MS Royal 1 E. vi, Manuscript Illumination, Manuscript studies, Research Group Symposia
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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 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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A Leaf from the Office of the Dead

March 15, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition

A Part of the Office of the Dead

from a 15th-century Book of Hours
made in Flanders
(perhaps at Bruges or Antwerp)
circa 1470

A single leaf, trimmed down in spoliation
to produce a decorated tidbit on its own
Circa 135 mm × 100 mm
< written area circa 66 × 50 mm >
Single column of 17 lines

Budny Handlist 12

Our series of posts by Mildred Budny on Manuscript Studies continues with a somber view of a detached leaf from the Office of the Dead in a gracefully decorated Book of Hours from Flanders. With this post, given the subject of the manuscript text, we also reflect wistfully on the passing of some friends, colleagues, and others dear to us. The occasion prompts us to offer a personal recollection of Jennifer O’Reilly (1943–2016).

Text and Layout

Manifestly the text on this detached leaf demonstrates that it forms part of the Office of the Dead. On its own, it is not exactly clear for which part of that Office this part of the text was intended to serve, mainly because there are no indications upon the leaf, and because the assigned practices for liturgical observance could vary considerably from place to place, custom to custom, and time to time.

Such is the nature of Books of Hours, a widely popular and personal genre of manuscripts or printed books in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. At least we know which part of that set of texts, that is, the Office of the Dead, to which this leaf pertained in its original setting, although we cannot be certain of its specifically intended purpose, that is, which part of that particular Office. Discovery of other parts of the original book might reveal such features more precisely. Meanwhile, let us see what we can see.

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Tags: 2002 British Museum Colloquium, Book of Hours, Detached Leaves, Jennifer O'Reilly, Josephine Edmonds Case, Manuscript Conservation, manuscript fragments, Manuscript Illumination, Office of the Dead, Swimming Lessons, Wedding Present
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Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018

Revisiting Beloved Ground

A New Look

#turnedthepages

Center Stage

Revisiting the Territory

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)

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

The Plan

A Leaf from the Office of the Dead

A Part of the Office of the Dead

A single leaf, trimmed down in spoliation
to produce a decorated tidbit on its own
Circa 135 mm × 100 mm
< written area circa 66 × 50 mm >
Single column of 17 lines

Text and Layout

Featured Posts

Archives

Revisiting Anglo-Saxon Symposia 2002/2018

Revisiting Beloved Ground

A New Look

#turnedthepages

Center Stage

Revisiting the Territory

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)

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

The Plan

A Leaf from the Office of the Dead

A Part of the Office of the Dead

A single leaf, trimmed down in spoliation to produce a decorated tidbit on its own Circa 135 mm × 100 mm < written area circa 66 × 50 mm > Single column of 17 lines

Text and Layout

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

A single leaf, trimmed down in spoliation
to produce a decorated tidbit on its own
Circa 135 mm × 100 mm
< written area circa 66 × 50 mm >
Single column of 17 lines