Medieval Writing Materials: Texts, Transmission, and the Manifestation of Authority
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Organizer Name
Mildred Budny
Organizer Affiliation
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Presider Name
Alan M. Stahl
Presider Affiliation
Princeton Univ.
Paper Title 1
The Transmission of the Welsh-Latin "Lament" of Rhygyfarch ap Sulien in British Library, Cotton MS Faustina C.i, Part II
Presenter 1 Name
Sarah Zeiser
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Harvard Univ.
Paper Title 2
Ducal Charters and the Transformations of the Written Word in Silesia, 1200–1327
Presenter 2 Name
Sébastien Rossignol
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Dalhousie Univ.
Paper Title 3
Paper Used in Trade in the Datini Archive (Prato)
Presenter 3 Name
Eleanor A. Congdon
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Youngstown State Univ.
Paper Title 4
Islamic Paper: A Closer Look
Presenter 4 Name
David Sorenson
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Start Date
11-5-2013 3:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1140
Description
The study of writing materials is of value not only as a subject in its own right, but also as a source of information regarding the texts and images associated with them, the methods of their production, and the authority of their testimony as records of whatever sort. Continuing our series of sessions on this theme, from year to year, this session aims to explore, develop, and advance these interlinked subjects, and to disseminate the results among many relevant (but seemingly unrelated) areas of study.
The contributions examine materials used for preparing written texts and forms of evidence for authenticating them. We will consider, for example, the evidence for trade in writing materials as demonstrated in Italian merchantile archival resources preserved in Prato, and unexpectedly useful methods for establishing the “authority” of “marginalized” – that is, isolated and often disregarded – texts and fragments as sources, through careful study of the dating criteria of the Islamic paper itself on which many of them are written, in different languages and regions. Other reports present case-studies of Silesian ducal charters and of the complex context for the transmission of Rhygyfarch's "Lament" of 1094 on an intrusive leaf in a twelfth-century Welsh manuscript of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. Our explorations across a wide range of texts, periods, and lands offer scope for interdisciplinary discourse and feedback for the development, refinement, and exchange of significant methodologies in manuscript, documentary, and related studies.
Mildred Budny
Medieval Writing Materials: Texts, Transmission, and the Manifestation of Authority
Schneider 1140
The study of writing materials is of value not only as a subject in its own right, but also as a source of information regarding the texts and images associated with them, the methods of their production, and the authority of their testimony as records of whatever sort. Continuing our series of sessions on this theme, from year to year, this session aims to explore, develop, and advance these interlinked subjects, and to disseminate the results among many relevant (but seemingly unrelated) areas of study.
The contributions examine materials used for preparing written texts and forms of evidence for authenticating them. We will consider, for example, the evidence for trade in writing materials as demonstrated in Italian merchantile archival resources preserved in Prato, and unexpectedly useful methods for establishing the “authority” of “marginalized” – that is, isolated and often disregarded – texts and fragments as sources, through careful study of the dating criteria of the Islamic paper itself on which many of them are written, in different languages and regions. Other reports present case-studies of Silesian ducal charters and of the complex context for the transmission of Rhygyfarch's "Lament" of 1094 on an intrusive leaf in a twelfth-century Welsh manuscript of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. Our explorations across a wide range of texts, periods, and lands offer scope for interdisciplinary discourse and feedback for the development, refinement, and exchange of significant methodologies in manuscript, documentary, and related studies.
Mildred Budny