| Abstract | Paper -a:
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Lat. 114 appears at first glance to be a well-executed luxury English Psalter. It contains illuminated letters, historiated initials, ornamented borders, copious line-fillers, and pen flourishes. The majority of the manuscript was produced around Oxford in the 13th century and the beginning and end of the text were added in the mid-15th century by which point the codex was in the possession of the Augustinian canonesses of Lacock Abbey. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes apparent that the text of the Psalter has been corrected in many places. Erasures, struck through words, and inserted text can be found on folios throughout the manuscript. By analyzing the corrections and changes made to the text, I will make suggestions as to the possible creation of the manuscript, its history, and its use.
Paper -b:
The Middle Ages has gone down in history as a period determined by a succession of war and social conflicts that would form the shape of Europe. But parallel to these events spread across the continent a series of manuscripts representing the practical result of the exchange of cultures on medieval knowledge, and become graphic support seeking the welfare of citizens through elements like food, surrounding environment, or music. This presentation will try to analyse the iconographic features of these works, focusing on their production from the 13th century, and their role in transformation of the mindset of European man from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
Paper -c:
This study compares two northern French manuscripts of Aristotle's Organon, the earlier never before examined, both containing the Pseudo-Aristotelian Liber sex principiorum and Boethius' translation of the De interpretatione. After situating the earlier fragment, Columbia's Smith 27 (c. 1255-75), in relation to its former codex, it compares the curriculum suggested by the fragment to that of MS X88.Ar512 (c. 1300-1315). The comparison shows, in contrast to the received historiography of the shift from the 13th to 14th century, that authority and authenticity of text become not less, but more important as a principle of the organization of the codex.
Paper -d:
Preserved at Nijmegen University Library, the Soeterbeeck Collection consists of hundreds of late medieval manuscripts and early printed books from the library of the convent of Soeterbeeck (the Netherlands). These books, which have been together for hundreds of years and contain countless traces of use, practically invite an approach based on stratigraphy and the interpretive principles of post-processual archaeology. Making use of the notes that Rector Arnoldus Beckers (1772-1810) left in Soeterbeeck's liturgical books, this paper will discuss how an archaeological approach to book collections can help us understand the meaning these books had for the people who used them.
|
|---|
