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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 655: In the Chancery and in the Archives of the European Middle Ages

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Moderator/Chair:Paul R. Dryburgh, The National Archives, Kew
Paper 655-aMoving Boundaries: Between Archaeological and Historical Context - New Light on the Princely Chancelleries in Early Medieval Poland
(Language: English)
Monika Stelmasiak, Institute of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Archaeology - General
Paper 655-bRed Lines in Breve Pisani Communis
(Language: English)
Anastasiia Savina, Department of Medieval History Lomonosov Moscow State University
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Daily Life, Law, Social History
Paper 655-cText and Context: Fragment Collections and Their Origin
(Language: English)
Arnold Otto, Erzbischöfliches Generalvikariat Erzbistumsarchiv, Paderborn
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 655-dElemental and Isotopic Analysis of Dust for Authentication of Historic Manuscripts
(Language: English)
Patricia Engel, Department für Bauen und Umwelt, Zentrum für Kulturgüterschutz, University for Continuing Education, Krems
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Science
Abstract

Paper -a:
In this paper I would like to focus on the yet unsolved question on the beginnings of the princely chancelleries in Poland. Historians set those on 12th-13th centuries, basing only on documents written on parchment while it is well known that before any such document could have existed, it must have had an early draft which was, mostly, made on the wax tablet. This paper is to present the results of moving boundaries in historical and archaeological interpretation obtained through the use-wear analysis of artifacts connected with functioning of the princely chancelleries, which were yet omitted in the historical discussion.

Paper -b:
The Pisa Statute, more precisely Liber Tertius of Breve Pisani Communis, dates from 1287. However, later additions and corrections are found in the text of the statute, so scholars cannot date the text accurately. It contains extremely detailed list of all types of crimes and criminals who, in the opinion of the commune, deserve punishment. We will consider all categories of people who, in the opinion of the city government, are unreliable or even dangerous and try to determine where goes the line between proper behavior and deviation from the norm. Having clearly defined what is prohibited by the medieval statute, we can also understand the boundaries of freedom of a resident of Pisa from the 13th to 14th centuries.

Paper -c:
Many archives and libraries have fragment collections. Especially when it gets hard to identify a fragmented text it also becomes likely to have a rare version of a text or even a hitherto unknown one. The interrelation between text and handwriting may offer information about the relevance and durability a certain text had through the ages. As a third layer of information we may consider contexts of fragments: book cover or end paper, single layer of a volume or other forms of use. The paper investigates the interrelation of text, handwriting and context for fragment collections in Westphalia.

Paper -d:
Dust is an indicator of the time and place where a certain manuscript was made. A team from University of Continuing Education, Krems and Montanuniversität, Leoben received permission to collect dust from early documents from the Monastery of Kremsmünster and Zwettl Monastery. Dust samples were analyzed for their elemental composition as well as strontium isotope ratio signatures as intrinsic indicators to study the authenticity and origin of historical parchment and paper documents. In this paper, we present preliminary results and discuss the potential and limitations of the method.