IMC 2011: Sessions

Session 107: Strength in Numbers?: Towards Quantitative Analysis in Studies of Medieval Literacy

Monday 11 July 2011, 11.15-12.45

Moderator/Chair:	Anna Adamska, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Paper 107-a	Medieval Manuscripts and Their Owners: A Statistical Approach to the Evidence from Testaments (Language: English) Janika Bischof, Sonderforschungsbereich 496 'Symbolische Kommunikation & gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme', Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster Index terms: Daily Life, Economics - General, Language and Literature - Middle English
Paper 107-b	Scribes and Charters in Early Medieval Spain (Language: English) Graham Barrett, Balliol College, University of Oxford Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Literacy and Orality
Paper 107-c	Medieval Manuscripts and Their Owners: The Evidence of Colophons (Language: English) Marco Mostert, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht Index terms: Literacy and Orality, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract	Paper -a: Testaments are one of the main sources for book ownership during the Middle Ages. They provide evidence for the types of books owned and the authors and works known at the time. The bulk of data and randomness inherent in this type of source makes it an interesting object for statistical analysis. In this paper, the analysis will be focused primarily on the relation between gender (and possibly class) of the owner and the books they bequeathed, with special focus on the descriptions used by the testators to identify their books (or not, as may be the case). Paper -b: A remarkable 4,000 charters survive from early medieval Spain, and to contextualize the usages of the written word which these record, this paper will investigate who wrote them, and how. We shall first consider the identities of the scribes themselves, the extent of their bases of operation, and the nature of their employment. Next we shall study the actual work of these scribes, focussing upon their use of formularies and production of multiple redactions of charters. Finally, to bring together writer and written, we shall explore the temporal and functional relationship between the text itself and the transaction it signifies. Paper -c: Abstract to follow.