These are sites I wish I had time to place into categories that would be more generally studied but regret to exclude, and refuse to lose entirely. Some of these sites are simply more obscure and place online manuscripts that are out of range of the mainstream preference for study, and some of them are too innovative to categorise in a general study.
Nevertheless, I place them before you. Hopefully this will be updated when more digitalisation projects make their way online, and technology advances to further allow us access to medieval manuscripts.
Showing posts with label summary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summary. Show all posts
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In Context
Obviously, the Latin language provided a huge background for medieval language, literature, and culture. It was the tie that bound so many cultures and countries together. It was the language of diplomats and that of intellectuals, who in turn controlled literacy and literature amongst the people.
References to history and older literature is often assumed natural in medieval literature, and those of us without a classical education feel bereft. In the next two posts I aim to give you basic resources that will allow you to find those references easily and learn more about the foundations of the medieval literature through the Latin language.
References to history and older literature is often assumed natural in medieval literature, and those of us without a classical education feel bereft. In the next two posts I aim to give you basic resources that will allow you to find those references easily and learn more about the foundations of the medieval literature through the Latin language.
Types of Digitalization
Even when manuscripts were being copied by hand in scriptoria, there was doubt as to how to transcribe them, and difficulty deciding exactly what processes should be used to preserve valuable meaning and artistic integrity. When printed transcriptions began to appear, we had the option os using runes or not, then using photographs or not, and with technology our options multiply into types of paper and ink, transcriptions, commentaries, interpretations, and more.
Most manuscripts that we find on the internet are being produced for the sake of scholars, or for the education of the general public. This means that there is a wide variety of digitalisation protocol, ranging from simple transcription of text to actual recreation and interpretation.
For ease of viewing here, I have divided them into four groups: those with solely transcriptions of text, those with selected images but no whole manuscripts, those with edited multimedia productions which are likely to be on a larger scale than the previous examples, and unusual or unorthodox examples of medieval manuscript reproduction on the internet.
Most manuscripts that we find on the internet are being produced for the sake of scholars, or for the education of the general public. This means that there is a wide variety of digitalisation protocol, ranging from simple transcription of text to actual recreation and interpretation.
For ease of viewing here, I have divided them into four groups: those with solely transcriptions of text, those with selected images but no whole manuscripts, those with edited multimedia productions which are likely to be on a larger scale than the previous examples, and unusual or unorthodox examples of medieval manuscript reproduction on the internet.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Where to Find Manuscripts Online
Literacy rates of higher socio-economic classes have always been greater than the lower classes. This is true today as well as in the Middle Ages. Though books are no longer status symbols
Medieval manuscripts are published online by many different entities, the chief of which belong to large groups of professionals working together: therefore we have national libraries, regional/national museums, university libraries, and religious institutions.
Each of these institutions has their own methods and motivations in producing these manuscripts, which affects exactly what they choose to put online. The Welsh National Library places its mythological texts online before it does the entire Chaucer manuscript they have, which would be of international interest, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art uses only brief sections of the book of hours of Jeanne D’Evreux to describe the wider area of manuscript illustration. Hopefully it will become clear just how the are related as you read further through these links.
Medieval manuscripts are published online by many different entities, the chief of which belong to large groups of professionals working together: therefore we have national libraries, regional/national museums, university libraries, and religious institutions.
Each of these institutions has their own methods and motivations in producing these manuscripts, which affects exactly what they choose to put online. The Welsh National Library places its mythological texts online before it does the entire Chaucer manuscript they have, which would be of international interest, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art uses only brief sections of the book of hours of Jeanne D’Evreux to describe the wider area of manuscript illustration. Hopefully it will become clear just how the are related as you read further through these links.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
What are they about?
The types of manuscripts that have been scanned and uploaded to the internet are various. There are complete manuscripts of highly artistic complexity that have been annotated by scholars and experts, and stubs of parchment without transcription or translation that have been scanned in a low-resolution setting. I have attempted to filter the less professional projects and introduce here only manuscripts that would be helpful to the widest range of study.
A large number of online manuscripts deal with different versions of the Bible, or even of the one book of Psalms, as well as other devotional literature like personalised books of hours. Others are stories of adventure, or moral tales about role models like saints or kings (called "lives" or "vitae"), and essays or sermons on how people ought to live. These tell us a lot about what types of ideals were very strong at that time. A number of musical scores from medieval manuscripts have also been put online, mostly in huge databases rich with information.
The literary subject of most of these manuscripts is philosophical or religious rather than fictional adventures or biography, but it should be recognised that the representation of manuscripts online is not necessarily representative of the sector as a whole: there are many different types of manuscripts, but the best projects online have dealt mainly with religious works. There were stories of adventure (King Arthur, Welsh mythology, Greek poets like Ovid and Vergil) but on the whole they are not well presented online by quantity or quality.
There are, of course, exceptions. However, to group these together would not have given them fair representation since they are not of the same genre. Instead of incorporating them here, I treat them individually, with separate entries as I will for some of the more elaborate or unusual projects.
Please keep this in mind when you read the larger articles I have linked to from this entry! I would not want to present an image that would colour your idea of medieval literature as a whole.
A large number of online manuscripts deal with different versions of the Bible, or even of the one book of Psalms, as well as other devotional literature like personalised books of hours. Others are stories of adventure, or moral tales about role models like saints or kings (called "lives" or "vitae"), and essays or sermons on how people ought to live. These tell us a lot about what types of ideals were very strong at that time. A number of musical scores from medieval manuscripts have also been put online, mostly in huge databases rich with information.
The literary subject of most of these manuscripts is philosophical or religious rather than fictional adventures or biography, but it should be recognised that the representation of manuscripts online is not necessarily representative of the sector as a whole: there are many different types of manuscripts, but the best projects online have dealt mainly with religious works. There were stories of adventure (King Arthur, Welsh mythology, Greek poets like Ovid and Vergil) but on the whole they are not well presented online by quantity or quality.
There are, of course, exceptions. However, to group these together would not have given them fair representation since they are not of the same genre. Instead of incorporating them here, I treat them individually, with separate entries as I will for some of the more elaborate or unusual projects.
Please keep this in mind when you read the larger articles I have linked to from this entry! I would not want to present an image that would colour your idea of medieval literature as a whole.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Viewing Medieval Manuscripts Online
When people first see a medieval manuscript, often the first things they notice are how difficult (or impossible) they are to read, how different the figures and illustrations are from modern art, and how distant they seem from our world of iPods, magazines, and airplanes. They are, after all, written in ancient languages, illustrated with a heavy emphasis on symbolism that seems obscure to us, and even written with different materials than we use today.
Reading small, sometimes cryptic descriptions on display cards at museums and libraries is a difficult way to be introduced to manuscripts. To those without a ready interest in history or literature it can seem useless and impossible to even try to understand the past by peering through glass panes at illegible scribbling.
Whatever it seemed like before, the world of museums and manuscripts is changing: the internet has created thousands of new opportunities for students and professionals alike to study the past through art, literature, and science. Now, you can take advantage of these opportunities simply by surfing around the internet and being interested in what you see. Today, you do not have to pay a lot of money to learn how to understand ancient cultures: you simply have to know where to find the information you want to know.
To help you start reading medieval manuscripts, I’ve put together two sets of links: one on picking up some basic Latin and the other on the study of ancient handwriting (palaeography). For a general overview, here are some links to other tutorials or digital projects introducing you to the study of medieval manuscripts. Not all manuscripts are written in Latin, but many of them are: feel free to skip that if you don’t need it. I wouldn’t try memorizing everything about palaeography either; just get a taste of it and come back when you have questions!
Reading small, sometimes cryptic descriptions on display cards at museums and libraries is a difficult way to be introduced to manuscripts. To those without a ready interest in history or literature it can seem useless and impossible to even try to understand the past by peering through glass panes at illegible scribbling.
Whatever it seemed like before, the world of museums and manuscripts is changing: the internet has created thousands of new opportunities for students and professionals alike to study the past through art, literature, and science. Now, you can take advantage of these opportunities simply by surfing around the internet and being interested in what you see. Today, you do not have to pay a lot of money to learn how to understand ancient cultures: you simply have to know where to find the information you want to know.
To help you start reading medieval manuscripts, I’ve put together two sets of links: one on picking up some basic Latin and the other on the study of ancient handwriting (palaeography). For a general overview, here are some links to other tutorials or digital projects introducing you to the study of medieval manuscripts. Not all manuscripts are written in Latin, but many of them are: feel free to skip that if you don’t need it. I wouldn’t try memorizing everything about palaeography either; just get a taste of it and come back when you have questions!
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