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

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May 11th, 10:00 AM

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