Medieval Manuscripts Research Articles

The manuscript diagrams of Theodosios’ Spherics

This paper is a study of the visual characteristics of the medieval manuscript diagrams found in Theodosios’ Spherics. It provides a new taxonomy of eight types of diagrams found in the manuscript sources, and examines the way in which geometric information is encoded in the manuscript diagrams using a number of visual encodings. It then argues that these diagrams can be used to address ongoing research debates about whether the striking visual characteristics of medieval diagrams in mathematical texts are the result of deliberate choices by the premodern authors, the result of accidents of transmission, or both. Along the way, the paper identifies a further type of transmission error that is prevalent in the medieval transmission of mathematical diagrams.

Medieval reading in the twenty-first century?

Abstract Reading practices in medieval manuscripts have often been the subject of critical analysis in the past. Recent technological developments have extended the range of analytical possibilities; one such development is that of eye tracking. In the present article, we outline the results of an experiment using eye tracking technologies which were carried out recently in Spain. The analysis points to particular trends in the ways in which modern readers interact with medieval textual forms and we use this analysis to point to future possibilities in the use of eye tracking to broaden and deepen our understanding of the workings of the medieval page.

The Medieval Slavonic Reception of Maximus the Confessor’s Circle – Center – Radii Analogy

The paper contends that certain circle diagrams discovered in 14th-century Slavonic medieval manuscripts of Dorotheus of Gaza’s Instructions, crafted during the Palamite controversy, are influenced by the concepts of Maximus the Confessor. The paper offers an in-depth analysis of select Slavonic diagrams originating from Serbian monasteries in the final decades of the 14th century. It begins by examining simple diagrams wherein the circle’s center represents God, and the radii represent created beings moving towards God, then progresses to investigate more intricate diagrams. These complex diagrams include circle or square shaped center, outer circumference, concentric rings, multicolored radii and twisted cruciform bands. It is further argued that these new diagramatic elements are employed to visualize complex ideas such as the Holy Trinity as differentiations in unity, the ontological limit of creation set by divine providence, the triadic structure of logoi of beings and the double movement of procession and reversion.

NOTE: A newly discovered and identified bilingual Targum manuscript

In memory of Geza Vermes ל"ז This note announces and publishes for the first time a heretofore unknown and unidentified fragment of a medieval codex manuscript that presents consecutive verses of Gen. 15 and 16 in alternating Hebrew (Scripture) and Aramaic (Targum). It discusses the significance of this manuscript for our knowledge of the codicology of Targum as it relates to the tandem performance of biblical text and its translation.

Color Symbolism in Medieval and Safavid Manuscripts and in Islamic Aesthetics: A Historical and Comparative Analysis

The inquisitive nature of mankind is always looking for ways to explore things of its interest. It is interesting to write about art, architecture and artefacts but without consulting about color; the study remains incomplete. Color symbolism in manuscripts has always been a rich source of studying diverse cultural and religious history. In the art of manuscripts, colors were not solely used to create an ideal reality but also gave meaning to the illustrations. Color symbolism is an essential part in every religious as well as secular art but the meaning and symbology may not be similar. The aim of this research paper is to draw attention to the color symbolism of Christian Medieval period and ‘Safavid’ Period manuscripts. The study provides that the metaphorical use of colors, their similarities, comparisons and expressionist style having different impacts in two diverse art works belong to mystical, religious and emerging time periods. Moreover, the paper is based on hermeneutic exploratory and descriptive research using the technique of innate expressionism.

On determining of the protograph features based on the graphic-orthographic systems of manuscripts

This article is concerned with the study of medieval manuscripts and the determining of the features of protographs based on the graphic and orthographic systems of their scribal copies. The study involves three manuscripts created in Nuremberg in the 15th century. The texts of the mentioned manuscripts are copies from the first two complete translations of one of the medieval treatises. Based on the study of the graphic and orthographic systems of these texts, as well as some of their morphological features, the author of the article makes an attempt to establish the relationship between the texts under study, as well as to restore some of the features of their protographs. The sources of influence on the formation of the graphic and orthographic portrait of the scribe were identified as a result of the study of the graphic and orthographic features of the texts. Among them the author identifies the written tradition of the scriptorium, features of the local dialect and dialect areas, as well as characteristic features of the protograph. A separate group includes such a source of variability as the individual preferences of the scribe. Analysis of the graphic and orthographic portrait of each of the scribes who participated in the creation of the texts under study allows us to determine the approximate time and place of creation of the protograph, as well as changes characteristic of each stage of conscious processing of the text. As a result of the study, a diagram was drawn up that clearly demonstrates the relationships between the texts under study.

Fragments in Cyberspace: The Ohio State University’s Digital Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Fragments

Making pre-modern European manuscript fragment collections accessible to students and researchers virtually is essential due to the nature of book-breaking and the for-profit manuscript fragments trade, which has led many fragments to traverse large distances. However, effectively conveying information on these context-dependent materials presents various challenges. This article chronicles efforts to digitize, describe, and structure materials in Ohio State University Libraries’ (OSUL) Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Fragments Collection to make the collection accessible to researchers virtually through OSUL’s Digital Collections platform and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Records in this collection use a customized set of Dublin Core metadata elements and have a parent-child record structure to illustrate relationships between fragment leaves. Primary challenges included establishing intellectual control of the materials, implementing consistent access points for contributors, and conveying approximate information, such as the date of production. Contributing to DPLA, limitations, and next steps are also discussed.

Constructed Rivalry

The majority of contemporary critical editions of the text of Hebrew Bible are based on one of two mediaeval manuscripts: the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex. Various claims have been made on the relative merits of each of these two codices. While these claims are often grounded in the language of textual criticism, there is a good deal more at play. The two codices have come to be constructed by some as oppositional artefacts. This article seeks to better understand this constructed rivalry by utilizing Watts’ conception of the relic text. It is proposed that the status of the Aleppo Codex as just such as relic text has been enhanced by diminishing the status of the Leningrad Codex. This oppositional relationship has been utilized by the state of Israel which currently houses the Aleppo Codex in the Israel Museum to enhance its status as the custodian of Jewish material culture.

ДИГИТАЛИЗАЦИЈАТА НА МАКЕДОНСКОТО РАКОПИСНО НАСЛЕДСТВО И РАЗВОЈОТ НА НАУЧНИТЕ ИСТРАЖУВАЊА

In the era of globalization, the digitization of literary heritage is a priority task in cultural policy, as it allows for the affirmation and validation of cultural identity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of digital culture in the study of Macedonian medieval literary manuscripts. Manuscripts available online through digital libraries, both inside and outside of Macedonia, are of particular importance to us. Our goal is to prove that a long-term digitization strategy is necessary to ensure quick access to the entire manuscript heritage.

Painting the Past in the 19th Century: Materials, Methods, and Perspectives in Watercolour Replicas

This study focuses on the material characterisation of a collection of 19th-century watercolour replicas that reproduce ancient Egyptian mural paintings and illuminated decorations from medieval manuscripts. Non-contact analyses, including macro-X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), were employed to examine the composition of the painting materials, particularly the pigments. The findings are contextualised through archival research into 19th-century technical sources on historical painting and illuminating practices, as well as contemporaneous pigment catalogues that reported commercial prices. Ultimately, this research aimed to explore whether 19th-century artists engaged with historical material practices beyond mere visual representation in their depictions of historical subjects. The results obtained from the replicas of medieval illuminations are groundbreaking, as they challenge prevailing scholarly assumptions. Notably, the use of pigments such as minium and ultramarine blue, which were held in high regard during the Middle Ages, along with the use of chalk in the preparation of the support, suggest that, in an industrialised world where engagement with material culture was increasingly driven by commercial profit, some academic circles still sought to explore and preserve selected historical material practices in the art of painting.

Aproximación estadística al reparto de <b> y <v> en manuscritos latinos de autores hispanos

Abstract This paper studies the graphemes <b> and <u, v> in a corpus of medieval Latin manuscripts from the 8th to the 12th centuries, containing texts by three Hispanic writers: Isidore of Seville († 636), Braulio of Zaragoza († 651), and Ildefonso of Toledo († 667). The manuscripts written in Hispania are compared with those produced outside the Iberian Peninsula to extract data about the graphic distribution of <b> and <u/v> in the textual transmission. After data annotation and statistical processing, the results are analyzed with two complementary objectives. Firstly, the mentioned graphemes are studied as evidence of the geographical distribution of the geographical distribution of the velar semiconsonant and the sonorous bilabial stop, and their Romance outcomes. Secondly, the results contribute to the phonetic and graphic characterization of Hispanic medieval Latin in the context of the emergence of Romance languages.

Bringing Protection Home: Spatially Mapping the Performance of Medieval Charms Against Thieves

This article examines charms against thieves in medieval English manuscripts that make explicit mention of the domestic residence and its environs. In doing so, it considers a particular medieval anxiety around transgression of the property’s boundary lines. By identifying instructions for the practitioner contained within the texts and their associated rubrics, the article imagines how the performance of these charms may have looked in practice, and how, in some cases, there is a parallel with the parish ritual of ‘beating the bounds’. It argues that the performance of these charms creates a relationship between the practitioner, the words of the invocation, and the space in which the charms are recited, and that this performance is a means of asserting ownership and exerting control over the domestic residence, as well as averting the danger posed by potential thieves.

Sedurot in orientalischen Bibelhandschriften

Abstract The text of the Hebrew Bible is divided into sections, which are marked by Petuhot and Setumot. The Mishna prescribed their correct identification to the scribes (2nd century AD). Some medieval manuscripts also exhibit a third structural sign, the Sedura. Its form is described in detail in the Ashkenazi “Machsor Vitry,” but its function is not defined. This note proves that, contrary to popular belief, the sedura also occurs in oriental manuscripts, and I propose that it functions as a kind of “placeholder” in cases of uncertain transmission of the Petuhot or Setumot because its form allows the reciter to read it as Petuha or Setuma or to ignore it. Therefore I call for the correct identification of the Sedura in the Hebrew editions of the Bible which reproduce the text of the Codex Leningradensis.

The creed “al-‘Aqaid al-nasafiyyah” as a standard of Sunni doctrine

The subject of the article is the medieval manuscript “аl-‘Aqaid an-nasafiyya” and aspects related to its compilation. The article contains the data about the earliest version of the manuscript and its textual features. Some discrepancies with modern editions of the treatise text are revealed, the historical motive for compiling the work, as well as its connection with the main theological works of major scholars of the Hanafi madhhab are considered. The colophon of the manuscript, which provides valuable information about the date and place of composition of this theological treatise, is examined separately.

Transcribing Medieval Manuscripts for Machine Learning

This article focuses on the transcription of medieval manuscripts. Whereas problems of transcription have long interested medievalists, few workable options in the era of printed editions were available besides normalisation. The automation of this process, known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), has made new kinds of digital text creation possible, but also has foregrounded the necessity of theorising transcription in our scholarly practices. We reflect here on different notions of transcription against the backdrop of changing text technologies. Moreover, drawing on our own research on medieval Latin Bibles, we present general guidelines for customizing transcription schemes, arguing that they must be designed with specific research questions and scholarly end use in mind. Since we are particularly interested in the scribal contribution to the production of codices, our transcription guidelines aim to capture abbreviations and orthographic variation between different textual witnesses for downstream machine learning tasks. In the final section of the article, we discuss a few examples of how the HTR-created transcriptions allow us to address new questions at scale in medieval manuscripts, such as textual variance across witnesses, the prediction of a change in scribal hands within a single manuscript as well as the profiling of individual and regional scribal characteristics.

Figura solida in the Early Medieval Manuscripts of "De natura rerum" by Isidore of Seville as a Circular Diagram According to the Geometric Ratio

Figura solida in the Early Medieval Manuscripts of "De natura rerum" by Isidore of Seville as a Circular Diagram According to the Geometric Ratio

Medieval Manuscript Layouts: A Cognitive Journey through the Page

Abstract Page layouts affect our reading and interpreting of texts. The paper proposes that in designing the mise-en-page of medieval manuscripts, scribes made choices and selected various visual tools which played specific roles and induced different cognitive processes. It explores the structure and the cognitive signposts in detail through a close analysis of a large number of manuscript layouts of different textual genres and supplies images to illustrate the points. It looks at the archaeology of the text and the creativity with which medieval readers engaged with the folio through their contributions of glossing and building a many-layered, instantly available dialogue with the text and each other. The paper introduces the concept that the folio acts as a work surface within which instances of visual thinking and experimenting emerge and supports the claim through case studies of diagrammatic thinking. Based on comparison, it argues for the similar nature of medieval folio layouts and modern webpage design through an analysis of their shared cognitive tools and overall impression. A summary table of the cognitive tools of the folio layout gives an overview of the main areas and tools of the design and use of the mise-en-page. Reading is a personal experience and the cognitive elements of the medieval folio layout even today contribute to one’s approach to and interpretation of the text making it a journey of discovery and self-discovery.

Text, Materiality, and Practice

What can textual combinations, format, and size tell us about the worldviews of the donors, scribes, and readers of medieval Chinese Buddhist manuscripts? How can material sources inform us about the ways adherents both perceived and actively shaped their traditions? This essay offers answers to these questions through analysis of several manuscripts of the Scripture on the Cause and Effects of Wholesome and Unwholesome Acts (Shan’e yinguo jing 善惡因果經, T no. 2881), discovered in the Dunhuang Library Cave. The text was likely composed in Chinese, and it first appears in Buddhist catalogs in the year 695 ce. Extant manuscripts of Cause and Effects appear in both scroll and booklet formats and number at least fifty-two in total, a significant number that attests to the popularity of the text. This essay analyzes the textual content and literary techniques, relating both to physical aspects of the manuscripts. It examines the textual and the material together through the mediating concept of practice—in this case, medieval Chinese reading practices.

Resonet Vox Fidelis: Scribal Colophons and Ecclesiastical Reform in Medieval Iberia

ABSTRACT A remarkable number of early medieval manuscripts produced in the Iberian Peninsula preserve scribal colophons recounting the circumstances of their production and naming their makers. Because of their highly unusual level of detail, these statements offer invaluable evidence to understand the individuals and communities who produced them, as well as the broader religious and cultural environment in which they originated. Focusing on the corpora of the Beatus manuscripts and Iberian Latin Bibles, this article considers patterns of colophon use amongst Christian monastic communities in the north-central and western regions of Iberia between the tenth and the mid-thirteenth century. This article argues that significant changes to colophon composition and use coincide with, and were related to, wider ecclesiastical reform and political transformations in the Peninsula in the late eleventh century, which promoted the abandonment of native ecclesiastical practices and critical shifts in monastic culture.

Characteristics of Sizing Materials Used in Persian Medieval Manuscripts: Physical, Optical, Spectral Imaging, and Fungicidal Properties

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the diverse range of materials used for sizing in Iranian paper manuscripts during the Timurid (fifteenth century) to Safavid (sixteenth century) and Qajar (nineteenth century) periods. Our approach combined historical analysis with scientific examination of reconstructed sizings. We reconstructed 15 sizing materials based on identified Persian historical recipes and analysed their physical, optical, and spectral characteristics. Additionally, we assessed their behaviour against the mould fungus Aspergillus flavus. The results revealed distinctive properties for each sizing material, shedding light on their potential applications in paper preservation. Furthermore, our investigation demonstrated variations in hygroscopicity, thickness, grammage, and ash content post-sizing. The sizing materials also exhibited different effects on paper reflectance properties. Additionally, our study revealed insights into the impact of sizing on burnished papers, indicating that the mechanical process of burnishing did not significantly alter the chemical composition or spectral properties of the paper, with only minor changes in brightness observed in specific cases. All tested sizing materials supported varying levels of mould growth, indicating potential implications for paper conservation. Our findings provide valuable insights into the historical practices of Iranian paper sizing and offer practical considerations for the preservation of paper manuscripts.