Manuscript "Fragmentology": Perspectives on the Scholarly and Pedagogical Value of Medieval Manuscript Fragments

Sponsoring Organization(s)

manuscriptlink

Organizer Name

Eric J. Johnson, Scott Gwara

Organizer Affiliation

Ohio State Univ., Univ. of South Carolina-Columbia

Presider Name

Eric J. Johnson

Paper Title 1

Berea College's Medieval Manuscripts: Challenges of a Small Collection

Presenter 1 Name

Katherine Christensen

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Berea College

Paper Title 2

Fragmentary or Incomplete? Iberian Epics

Presenter 2 Name

Heather Bamford

Presenter 2 Affiliation

George Washington Univ.

Paper Title 3

A Sole Witness from Monastic Glendalough to Ireland's Medieval Mathematical Participation: British Library, Egerton MS 3323, fol. 18

Presenter 3 Name

Mary Kelly

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. College Dublin

Start Date

17-5-2015 10:30 AM

Session Location

Fetzer 1035

Description

At the University of South Carolina’s 2011 “Understanding the Medieval Book” seminar, Dr. Christopher de Hamel remarked that the next generation of medieval manuscript studies would be dominated by manuscript fragments. Although tens of thousands of intact medieval codices can be found in collections worldwide, countless other manuscripts survive only in fragmentary form—whether as illuminations divorced from their original contexts, small constituents recycled as structural supports for later bindings, or single leaves and quires cut up by dealers for the collectors’ market. Regardless of their origins, these fragments represent an incalculable number of lost codices. They suggest evocative and meaningful ways for students and scholars to engage with the textual, literary, artistic, and religious culture of the Middle Ages, not to mention the antiquarian, bibliophilic, commercial, and pedagogical interests of subsequent owners.

Eric J. Johnson