Latin Paleography

Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world (Call for papers)

by Daniel Roach

9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham

Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April... more Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham)

The organising committee of the Durham University Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies conference 'Orderic Vitalis: New Perspectives on the historian and his world' invite abstracts from prospective speakers. This event, funded by the Durham University IMRS, will provide a forum for the dissemination of new research into the life and works of the monastic scholar, Orderic Vitalis. With plans already in place to publish a 'companion' volume on Orderic, this conference will aim to re-invigorate existing work and open new lines of research around a figure whose legacy has proven vital to scholars of the Anglo-Norman world.

While the conference welcomes papers on a wide scope of topics, we particularly invite abstracts for papers relating to the following areas:

•The manuscript history of Orderic's Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic's scholarly and scribal career away from the Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic’s travels, administrative activities, and studies away from Saint-Évroul.

•Orderic’s world view and his networks of knowledge-exchange and transfer.

•The 'rediscovery' of the Historia ecclesiastica by early modern audiences, and Orderic's subsequent influence on the development of Anglo-Norman studies.

Prospective speakers are invited to submit abstracts of between 250-300 words, and should also include their contact details (name, affiliation, e-mail address). The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2012. Limited bursaries towards travel costs will be offered to postgraduate speakers. If you wish to apply for one of these, please indicate this when submitting an abstract.

For further information about Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world or to submit an abstract, please email Charlie Rozier, at: c.c.rozier@durham.ac.uk or Dan Roach at: dr229@exeter.ac.uk, or visit:
www.dur.ac.uk/imrs/conferences/orderic_vitalis/

Bishop on bishop: Critical review of the Fosco's analysis and transcript of the will made by Ivan Tomko Mrnavić / Biskup o biskupu: Kritika Foscove analize i transkripcije oporuke Ivana Tomka Mrnavića

by Iva Kurelac

Co-authored with Tamara Tvrtkovic, PhD, published in Historical Journal, vol. 64, no. 1, 2011, pp. 29-46.

The research is founded on the work of Bishop of Šibenik Giuseppe Antonio Fosco, "Vita di Giovanni Tonco... more The research is founded on the work of Bishop of Šibenik Giuseppe Antonio Fosco, "Vita di Giovanni Tonco Marnavić", published in 1890 in Šibenik. Fosco used a 1639 copy of Mrnavić's will made by notary from Šibenik Mihovil Parčić, now kept in the Zadar State Archives (collection: Notary Archives of Šibenik). Due to Fosco's inadequate knowledge of Latin, this paper offers a comprehensive and detailed analysis of all legatees and properties based on the copy of Mrnavić's will held in the State Archives in Zadar, as well as a more correct and contemporary transcript of the will, including notes and linguistic analysis of Fosco's transcript. The paper analyzes Mrnavić's will according to the most significant categories of legatees, and those are family, clergy and religious orders, religious institutions and charity institutions.

Key words: Ivan Tomko Mrnavić, Antonio Giuseppe Fosco, will, Zagreb, Zagreb Diocese, Šibenik, church history, Early Modern period

Aganone vescovo e la scrittura carolina a Bergamo alla metà del IX secolo: dinamiche ed eredità di un'innovazione culturale

by Gianmarco De Angelis

The long-lasting episcopate of Aganone (837-867), a learned Frankish bishop strictly connected to the imperial court... more The long-lasting episcopate of Aganone (837-867), a learned Frankish bishop strictly connected to the imperial court and to some of the most important intellectual of his time, represented a real turning point in Bergamo's history during Early Middle Ages, both in political and social fields, and for a whole regarding cultural expressions. The paper aims at pointing out the connections between the process of the definitive strengthening of Carolingian power in town and the innovations verifiable in the local literacy, which since the very first times of Aganone is characterized by a sudden and uniform adherence to the Caroline minuscule canon, so overcoming the graphic particularism and the cursive writing tendencies of the previous period. The hypothesis that Aganone's and his entourage's installation in Bergamo coincided with the formation of a graphic 'school' (or, at least, with the strong affirmation of an unitary cultural trend) seems to be confirmed by the appearance, in the subscriptions, of notae tachigraphicae and other special chancellery signs, which from bishop's curia will spread later on also among notaries and other outstanding laymen, as a distinctive mark of urban élites.

La cultura grafica di Andrea Lancia, in: Rivista di Studi Danteschi, 10, fasc. 2 (2010), pp. 351-367

by Irene Ceccherini

Per una storia del libro latino antico. I papiri latini di contenuto letterario

by Serena Ammirati

Su due famosi documenti pisani dell'VIII secolo

by Antonella Ghignoli

Published in in «Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo», 106/2 (2004), pp. 1-69. ISSN 1127 6096.
Review in: «Deutsches Archiv für Ersforschung des Mittelalters», Bd. 61 (2005), p. 636.

The lombard document of the year 748 (a cartula testamenti written by a bishop of Pisa) and the lombard text (a list)... more The lombard document of the year 748 (a cartula testamenti written by a bishop of Pisa) and the lombard text (a list) attributed to the period before the year 769 (breve de moniminas) – both originals from Pisa – have been the subject of several studies – in particular during the 20th century –, they are also published in critical edition and in paleographical transcription (respectively in Codice diplomatico longobardo 93 /ChLA 803 and Codice diplomatico longobardo 295 / ChLA 808) and they have been dated and interpreted in divergent ways by several historians and scholars of palaeograhy and diplomatics (among them, Luigi Schiaparelli, Armando Petrucci, Jan-Olof Tjäder). With the present work, which is composed of two parts (I. Due vescovi per un testamento, pp. 2-38; II. Il breve de moniminas per Ghittia, pp. 38-69), the Author aims to present further argumentations (both from the point of view of the history and of the palaeography and diplomatics) and finally a new interpretation (and a new critical edition too, in the case of the breve de moniminas) of these two texts, which are not only exceptional sources for the history of Pisa in the lombard period, but also 'model texts' and significant sources to understand the documentary heritage of the Lombards and their written world.

Spunti archivistici per la biblioteca medievale dell’Abbazia di Nonantola. I frammenti membranacei (sec. X ss.) e un elenco di codici liturgici (sec. XV) dell’Archivio Storico Abbaziale. I frammenti greci (sec. XIII-XIV) e gli altri frammenti (sec. IX ss. ) dell’Archivio Storico Comunale

by Riccardo Fangarezzi

in Sant’Anselmo di Nonantola e i santi fondatori nella tradizione monastica tra Oriente e Occidente. Atti della Giornata di Studio. Nonantola, 12 aprile 2003, a cura di Riccardo FANGAREZZI - Paolo GOLINELLI - Alba Maria ORSELLI, Viella, Roma 2006, pp. 287-319

Review: Albert Derolez, The palaeography of gothic manuscript books, from the 12th to the early 16h century (Cambridge, 2003)

by Marc H. Smith

Scriptorium, 58 (2004), p. 274-279

Un autografo dell’‘Esortatione de la pace tra l’Imperadore e il Re di Francia’ di Pietro Aretino, in «Filologia e Critica», XXXI, 2006, f. 1, pp. 88-105

by Paolo Marini

Pietro Aretino, in Autografi dei letterati italiani. Il Cinquecento, vol. I, diretto da Matteo Motolese ed Emilio Russo, a cura di Matteo Motolese - Paolo Procaccioli - Emilio Russo, con la consulenza paleografica di Antonio Ciaralli, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2009, pp. 13-36

by Paolo Marini

De la cire au papyrus, de la cire au papier: deux mutations de l'écriture?

by Marc H. Smith

Gazette du livre médiéval, no 43 (2003), p. 1-13

Les “gothiques documentaires”: un carrefour dans l’histoire de l’écriture latine

by Marc H. Smith

Archiv für Diplomatik, Schriftgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde, 50 (2004), p. 417-465

Forme et fonction des écritures d’apparat dans les manuscrits latins (VIIIe-XVe siècle)

by Marc H. Smith

(avec Patricia Stirnemann), Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes, 165-1 (2007) p. 67-100

Display scripts are a neglected phenomenon, a blind spot at the intersection of palaeography, epigraphy and art... more Display scripts are a neglected phenomenon, a blind spot at the intersection of palaeography, epigraphy and art history. They are, however, one of the medieval book’s fundamental contributions to the expressiveness of words as drawn objects and to the hierarchical structure of page layout. Display scripts are distinguished by their form, their ornamentation, and their colour, and their permutations illustrate a constant interaction between the different levels of script, from the decorated initial to the minuscule. From the outset, the ineffable inventions of the Irish, Hiberno-Saxon and Merovingian artists prefigure all the potentialities of these scripts. The Carolingian scribes and artists develop a new amalgam that combines the insular heritage and the epigraphic capital of classical antiquity, as well as imposing a visual order on the text that echoes the majesty of the sacred word. In the Romanesque period, a golden age for display scripts, the relentless quest for variety mixes or fuses the different forms of the alphabet, and ornamental expressiveness takes precedence over typology. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the serial, commercial production of books practically stifles the tradition. Two new inventions, however, are developed in Italian legal manuscripts: very elongated and compressed penwork initials and « juridical letters », which are composed of dissociated pen-strokes and decorated in fine-line brown ink. The resurrection of the Roman capital by the humanists in the mid fifteenth century and the invention of the printing press open a new chapter where a simple bi-cameral structure (uppercase and lowercase) replaces the complex hierarchies of medieval scripts.

Les écritures d’apparat sont un objet méconnu, un angle mort au croisement des perspectives de la paléographie, de l’épigraphie et de l’histoire de l’art. C’est pourtant là une contribution fondamentale du livre médiéval à l’expressivité du verbe graphique ainsi qu’à la structuration hiérarchique de la mise en page. Elles se distinguent aussi bien par la morphologie que par l’ornementation et la couleur, et leurs transformations illustrent une constante interaction entre les différents degrés de l’écriture, de l’initiale peinte jusqu’à la minuscule.Dès l’origine, les ineffables inventions des artistes insulaires et mérovingiens pressentent toutes les potentialités de ces écritures. À leur tour, les copistes et artistes carolingiens élaborent en une combinaison neuve l’héritage insulaire et la capitale épigraphique antique, outre une disposition du texte qui fait écho dans l’ordre visuel à la majesté du verbe sacré. À l’époque romane, âge d’or des écritures d’apparat, une recherche systématique de variété mêle ou fusionne les différentes formes de l’alphabet, et l’expressivité ornementale l’emporte sur la typologie. Aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles, la production commerciale des livres, en série, met pratiquement fin à cette tradition ; deux inventions sont cependant issues des livres de droit italiens: une initiale filigranée fortement étirée et les « lettres juridiques » en traits dissociés et finement agrémentées à l’encre brune. La reprise de la capitale romaine par les humanistes au milieu du XVe siècle et la naissance de l’imprimerie ouvrent un nouveau chapitre, où une structure simplement « bicamérale » (majuscules et minuscules) remplace les complexes hiérarchies de l’écriture médiévale.

L’écriture de la chancellerie de France au XIVe siècle. Observations sur ses origines et sa diffusion en Europe

by Marc H. Smith

Régionalisme et internationalisme: problèmes de paléographie et de codicologie du Moyen Age: actes du XVe Colloque du Comité international de paléographie latine (Vienne, 13-17 septembre 2005), éd. Otto Kresten et Franz Lackner, Vienne, 2008, p. 279-298

Du manuscrit à la typographie numérique : présent et avenir des écritures anciennes

by Marc H. Smith

Gazette du livre médiéval, no 52-53 (2008), p. 51-78

A palaeographical, socioeconomic and technological essay on 20th (and 21st)-century type based on historical scripts,... more A palaeographical, socioeconomic and technological essay on 20th (and 21st)-century type based on historical scripts, from Antiquity to pre-copperplate (18th century). With a typological catalogue of ca 400 typefaces.

Essai paléographique, socio-économique et technologique sur les caractères typographiques du XXe(-XXIe) siècle inspirés d'écritures historiques, depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'à l'apparition de l'anglaise du XVIIIe siècle. Avec un catalogue typologique d'environ 400 caractères.

Etruscan Glossary A (spreadsheet containing 2,300 Etruscan words that relate to Latin, French & Italian) Update 04.25.12

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file of Etruscan GlossaryA.xls an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,300 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians , Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary between Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

"The Italian Giant Bibles, Lay Patronage, and Professional Workmanship (11th-12th Centuries)," Les usages sociaux de la Bible, XIe-XVe siècles, CEHTL, 3, 2010, Paris, LAMOP (1re éd. en ligne 2011).

by Lila Yawn

The links below take you to the equivalent of PAGE PROOFS of the article, which still contains quite a few typographical and formatting errors. The editors will correct them anon. In the meantime, please note that my main academic affiliation is that listed in academia.edu, rather than the one that the editors mistakenly inserted. The article is divided between four links:

Article text: http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/IMG/pdf/Lila_Yawn.pdf

Appendix: http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/IMG/pdf/Lila_Yawn_-_Giant_Bible_-_Appendix.pdf

Figure 2: http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/IMG/pdf/Lila_Yawn_Giant_Bibles__Figure_2.pdf

Figure 7: http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/IMG/pdf/Lila_Yawn_Giant_Bibles__Figure_7.pdf

Abstract : Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay patrons (and not only... more Abstract : Eleventh-century Umbro-Roman Giant Bibles were commissioned by varied church and lay patrons (and not only by Roman reform party adherents) and crafted by ad hoc assemblies of paid craftsmen using methods of carefully calibrated, synchronous copying to reduce production time for the single commission.

Résumé : Les Bibles géantes ombro-romaines, commanditées par différents patrons ecclésiastiques et laïcs (et non par les seuls adhérents du parti réformiste romain), furent réalisées par des équipes d’artisans salariés spécialement constituées dans ce but. Ils utilisaient des techniques de copie synchronisée soigneusement calibrées pour réduire les temps de production de chaque commande.

Exvotum

by Joaquín L. Gómez-Pantoja

Co-authored with ISABEL VELÁZQUEZ SORIANO and first published in P. P. CONDE PARRADO, Y I. VELÁZQUEZ SORIANO (eds.), La Filología latina, mil años más — Actas del IV Congreso de la Sociedad de Estudios latinos (Medina del Campo, 22-24 de Mayo 2003), Burgos 2009 [ISBN 978-84-936383-9-9], 289-301.

This paper presents several instances of the use of exvotum in inscriptions, stressing how epigraphic texts show the... more This paper presents several instances of the use of exvotum in inscriptions, stressing how epigraphic texts show the lexical juncture already well established by the middle of the Third century A.D.

Candid Minutiae in a Colossal Codex: Texts, Scripts, and Other Revealing Details in the Illustrated Romanesque Bible of Perugia

by Lila Yawn

Fellow’s Shop Talk, The American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, Mar. 26, 1998.

Demonstrated new method for the study of the Italian Giant Bibles (Bibbie atlantiche, Bibles atlantiques,... more Demonstrated new method for the study of the Italian Giant Bibles (Bibbie atlantiche, Bibles atlantiques, Riesenbibeln), integrating broad comparions of text and gathering assembly, and presented the initial findings brought to light by that method:  construction of the Bibles in semi-independent, textually coherent groups of gatherings; regional differences discernible from prefatory texts and capitula; new localization of facture of the Giant Bibles of Perugia (Biblioteca Augusta, Ms. L. 59; Perugia, Archivio di S. Pietro, Cod. 1) in northern Umbria or southern Tuscany; the intimate relationship of those Bibles with Tuscan-attributed manuscripts, especially the Edili Bible (Florence, Bibl. Med. Laurenziana, Edili 125-126).

Toward a New Topography of the Italian Giant Bibles

by Lila Yawn

Public lecture, New York Group on Liturgy Lecture Series, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, 28 February 2008.

Formal version published as "The Italian Giant Bibles" in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages, ed.... more Formal version published as "The Italian Giant Bibles" in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages, ed. Susan Boynton and Diane Reilly, Columbia University Press, 2011:  http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14826-9/the-practice-of-the-bible-in-the-middle-ages