IMC 2026: Sessions

Session 536: Medieval Fragments, I: Lives and Afterlives

Tuesday 7 July 2026, 09:00-10:30

Sponsor:	Invisible East, University of Oxford / Middle East Medievalists / Institute of Medieval & Early Modern Studies (IMEMS), Durham University
Organisers:	Arezou Azad, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INaLCO), Paris / Oxford Lifelong Learning, University of Oxford Manuel Muñoz García, Institute of Medieval & Early Modern Studies (IMEMS), Durham University
Moderator/Chair:	Manuel Muñoz García, Institute of Medieval & Early Modern Studies (IMEMS), Durham University
Paper 536-a	A Case of 19th-Century Biblioclasm and the History of Medieval Aristotelianism in Britain (Language: English) Pieter Beullens, De Wulf-Mansion Centrum voor Antieke, Middeleeuwse en Renaissancefilosofie, KU Leuven Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Philosophy
Paper 536-b	The Fragmented Afterlives of a Late Medieval Bible (Language: English) Renske Hoff, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 536-c	Recycling, Repurposing, and Reviving in 15th-Century Bookbinding (Language: English) Jemima Bennett, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS), University of Kent / Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford Index terms: Economics - Urban, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract	Fragments, whether of parchment, paper, textiles or architecture, are unique and tantalising windows to the past. The use, reuse, dispersal, creation and collecting of fragments across the medieval world give us unique opportunities to engage with and question the past. From identifying fragments to understanding their original and later purpose(s); from the survival of unique texts to evidencing multiculturalism and to patterns of gathering, collecting and disseminating, Fragmentology has emerged as an interdisciplinary discipline that analyses the minute without losing sight of the bigger picture. In these sessions – sponsored by Invisible East at the University of Oxford; Middle East Medievalists and the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) at Durham University – we explore Fragmentology in a wide sense, from methodology applied to manuscripts to case-studies on textile fragments or pieces of relics. From Latin to vernacular, early to late medieval, East to West, the papers in these sessions offer exciting glimpses of new discoveries, attributions and re-attributions, and reconstructions, across different materials and across time and space. Session I will explore the lives and afterlives of medieval fragments, taking us on a fascinating journey from Berlin to Utrecht to Oxford and Puerto Rico. We will encounter philosophical fragments and pieces of the Bible, and we will get new insight into the practices of late-medieval bookbinders. The three papers in this session will provide diverse yet complementary views on the study of those fragments that gained an afterlife and have come down to us as part of other manuscripts.