Inside the Collector's Mind: Exploring Carolingian Cultures of Collecting
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Network for the Study of Late Antique and Early Medieval Monasticism
Organizer Name
Matthieu van der Meer, Albrecht Diem
Organizer Affiliation
Syracuse Univ., Syracuse Univ.
Presider Name
Rutger Kramer
Presider Affiliation
Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Paper Title 1
Benedictine Dissections: Textual Triage in the Carolingian Age
Presenter 1 Name
Scott G. Bruce
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Colorado-Boulder
Paper Title 2
Serial Hagiographies: MS Montpellier H.55
Presenter 2 Name
Gordon Blennemann
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. de Montréal
Paper Title 3
Carolingian Collectors of Texts and Their Classical Predecessors: Continuities, Innovations, and Omissions
Presenter 3 Name
Matthieu van der Meer
Start Date
11-5-2017 10:00 AM
Session Location
Bernhard 211
Description
Collections of extracted texts (florilegiums, glossaries, martyrologies, libri comites, biblical commentaries, juridical compendiums, etc.) are a crucial link in the transmission of knowledge in the early middle ages. They arguably constitute the largest part of the early medieval manuscript tradition. These collections call to be understood as a genre of itself, that, having its roots antiquity, became a dominating form of literature in the Carolingian age. Even many a work with an apparent ‘individuality’ such as a title, an author, a clear content, and intended audience, consists upon closer inspection of concatenations of excerpts from other texts. In this session, we will reflect on the following questions: How should we understand the rapid increase of major collection projects (e.g. Liber glossarum, the so-called Collectio dacheriana)? Do we have reflections on the art of collecting? Which collection-projects were initiated by the court and why? What is the relationship between text-collections and projects to standardize grammar, unify the script, develop ordering principles (like alphabetization, systems of abbreviation), to standardize the Bible, legal practices, and monastic life? Is it justified to speak of a ‘culture of collecting’ as a distinct feature of the Carolingian period? What were the methods that Carolingian monks applied in their searches for materials? What innovations, impacts, successes and failures can we discern? What types of classical knowledge escaped the Carolingians’ collection efforts?
Matthieu Herman van der Meer
Inside the Collector's Mind: Exploring Carolingian Cultures of Collecting
Bernhard 211
Collections of extracted texts (florilegiums, glossaries, martyrologies, libri comites, biblical commentaries, juridical compendiums, etc.) are a crucial link in the transmission of knowledge in the early middle ages. They arguably constitute the largest part of the early medieval manuscript tradition. These collections call to be understood as a genre of itself, that, having its roots antiquity, became a dominating form of literature in the Carolingian age. Even many a work with an apparent ‘individuality’ such as a title, an author, a clear content, and intended audience, consists upon closer inspection of concatenations of excerpts from other texts. In this session, we will reflect on the following questions: How should we understand the rapid increase of major collection projects (e.g. Liber glossarum, the so-called Collectio dacheriana)? Do we have reflections on the art of collecting? Which collection-projects were initiated by the court and why? What is the relationship between text-collections and projects to standardize grammar, unify the script, develop ordering principles (like alphabetization, systems of abbreviation), to standardize the Bible, legal practices, and monastic life? Is it justified to speak of a ‘culture of collecting’ as a distinct feature of the Carolingian period? What were the methods that Carolingian monks applied in their searches for materials? What innovations, impacts, successes and failures can we discern? What types of classical knowledge escaped the Carolingians’ collection efforts?
Matthieu Herman van der Meer