Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (September 1990)
October 4, 2016 in Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
“Corpus Christi College MS 139”
A Twelfth-Century Historical Miscellany
Invitation Letter for 28 September 1990
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
29 September 1990
In the Series of Seminars (and Workshops) on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Invitation Letter (with no RSVP form or slip) in pdf
The previous seminar in the series considered
Sixteenth-Century Interventions in Anglo-Saxon and Related Manuscripts
Parker Library, 22 April 1990
[First published on 3 October 2016, with an update to add the diagram of sewing patterns]
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The Subject
The Invitation asks for collective help in guiding the course of the research work on one of the manuscripts selected for the Research Project proposal. It invites the selected specialists
to join us for a workshop consultation concerning our MS 139, a twelfth-century composite manuscript which includes the unique medieval copy of the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham. It also has an erased ex-libris inscription of the Cistercian abbey of Sawley, although it may not have been made there.
At present it is undergoing conservation and research while disbound. This has provided a unique opportunity for examining and comparing the different sections of the manuscript, some of which originated separately. Before it will be rebound in the autumn, we wish to discuss the evidence thus revealed with a team of specialists in various disciplines. For example, we would like to consider how the evidence modifies the existing historiography of this important manuscript. The script and decoration may help to determine the date and place of origin of the manuscript and its components more satisfactorily. The character of the texts included in the manuscript might have further implications worth exploring.
We would very much value your presence in these discussions. We hope that your expert knowledge might help provide some fresh evaluations of the evidence. In this way we hope to ensure that the research on the manuscript will be of the maximum benefit for future scholarship.
Ruins of the Chapel of Salley / Sawley Abbey, Lancashire. Photograph by Chris Heaton via Wikipedia Commons.
The Logistics
The time-frame for “the consultation over the disbound manuscript” was planned to begin at 11 a.m. and “to work until about 4:40 p.m. As for logistics:
Although we are unable to reimburse fares, we will provide a buffet lunch. We might also, depending upon availability, be able to supply overnight accommodation in College free of charge on the 27th or 28th, if you require it.
Some participants chose to stay in College for one night or the other.
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Participants
Invitations were, in the first instance, sent to:
Bernard Meehan, Patrick McGurk, Christopher Brooke, Christopher Norton, Anne Lawrence, Derek Baker, Tessa Webber, Ian Doyle, Alan Piper, Martin Brett, David Rollason, Simon Keynes, Julia Crick
Most of them attended. The Research Group Archives contain correspondence relating to the preparations and the follow-up of the “consultation workshop”.