IMC 2023: Sessions
Session 740: Codex Communities?: Book-Use in Late Medieval Urban Administrations
Tuesday 4 July 2023, 14.15-15.45
| Organiser: | Hanna Nüllen, Institut für Geschichte, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Christian Liddy, Department of History, Durham University |
| Paper 740-a | Civic Memory or Civic Administration?: Rolls and Books in English and Irish Municipal Archives, c. 1300-1500 (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Literacy and Orality, Political Thought |
| Paper 740-b | Custumals, Cartularies, and Council Minutes: Books as Tools of Knowledge Production in Late Medieval Urban Administrations (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Literacy and Orality, Local History |
| Paper 740-c | Are Town Books Reliable Witnesses of the Past?: Critical Considerations on the Categories 'Note', 'Transcript', and 'Fair Copy' Based on the Libri Civitatis and Libri Obligationum of Görlitz, c. 1300-1500 (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Literacy and Orality, Local History, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
| Abstract | From the 12th and 13th centuries onwards town clerks and other urban officials increasingly used books and book-like formats to document and communicate information pertaining to the administration of their communities. The proliferation of books (and rolls) as media of pragmatic literacy is a phenomenon that became especially prevalent in urban settings across Europe. It enables us to ask questions about the materialities of administration and their influence on urban communities. This session will combine comparative approaches to the use of books and rolls in cities across the British Isles as well as close examinations of the production of books in several German cities. |