This study advances and adds detail to our history of the reading of verse in England c.1350-1500. Scholarship has established major twelfth- and thirteenth-century changes in reading, and linked these changes to manuscripts containing the modern Middle English verse canon. Historians of early modern reading have also argued for distinctive changes in their own period. But the examination of reading between these two clusters of change has been limited. This study therefore asks how later medieval Middle English verse was read. The surviving copies of The Prick of Conscience and Speculum Vitae, two hugely successful religious instructional poems, form the primary body of evidence. This body is augmented by reference to hundreds of other manuscripts containing Middle English verse. Together, these can reveal much about what was normal and abnormal in reading. They are also an important part of the context for the reading of more canonical Middle English verse. Manuscript studies often proceeds through case studies of individual books and unusual evidence such as marginalia. This thesis turns to codicology to understand more widespread evidence for reading, combining qualitative case studies with quantitative techniques borrowed and developed from continental scholarship. The first chapter examines evidence of provenance, revealing that both The Prick of Conscience and Speculum Vitae were read by an impressive range of people and remained current into the sixteenth century. The second chapter considers the navigational aids used in copies of both poems. Reading in this period has been characterised as 'discontinuous', but it could be discontinuous in diverse ways, and readers also read continuously. The third chapter is a large-scale study of books' size and shape, showing how these features can reveal books' reading histories, sometimes in counterintuitive ways. The fourth chapter contends that readers in this period attended closely to rhyme and probably read for balanced rhyme structures. The fifth chapter uncovers the ways in which these poems were rewritten for new readers and investigates the composition of the Southern Recension of The Prick of Conscience, arguing that this new text was partly a formalist intervention. The conclusion summarises the new 'baseline' history of the reading of Middle English verse which is offered here, and gestures towards implications for our reading of the Middle English poems which are canonical today.

Orientador: Leandro Karnal / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T11:32:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Montoro_GlauciaCristiani_D.pdf: 22830964 bytes, checksum: e613e57bfd246ad0dad6ec74eb7778c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Este trabalho enfoca um manuscrito de tradição indígena, chamado Códice Telleriano Remensis, confeccionado em meados do século XVI na região central do México. Trata-se de um documento de patronagem européia composto por um sistema de notação indígena basicamente pictográfico e por textos em caracteres latinos. Foram realizadas análises do documento original com o auxílio da Codicologia, uma disciplina especializada no estudo dos manuscritos do ponto de vista material, e um estudo pormenorizado dos escribas/ pintores ou tlacuilos. O trabalho é focado, portanto, nas características materiais do códice (suporte, organização material, encadernações, restaurações, etc), visando à reconstrução de sua história de confecção, com enfoque no conteúdo imagético. A pesquisa trouxe dados importantes sobre a confecção e formação do manuscrito, que foi realizado por vários tlacuilos, os quais se vinculam estilisticamente a distintas tradições do México Central e mostram diversas formas de adaptar os conteúdos tradicionais indígenas ao papel e formato de livro europeu e às necessidades dos novos usuários. O códice é um material fascinante, de grande heterogeneidade, e as análises permitiram demonstrar suas diversidades internas, que refletem a complexidade e pluralidade das tradições indígenas e algumas formas de adaptá-las a materiais, convenções e concepções ocidentais / Abstract: The present work focuses on a manuscript of indigenous tradition called Codex Telleriano Remensis, created in the mid sixteenth-century in the central region of Mexico. It is a work of European sponsorship which is composed of a native notation system, basically pictographic, and through texts in latin characters. An analysis of the original manuscript was carried out with the help of Codicology, a discipline that specialises on the study of manuscripts from a material perspective, as well as a detailed study of the scribes/ painters, the so-called tlacuilos. The research is hence focused on the material characteristics of the Codex (support, material organization, binding, restorations, etc). The main objective of this analysis was to re-construct the history of its creation, with special emphasis on its pictographic content. The work developed brought important data into light regarding the history of the creation and development of the manuscript. The task was undertaken by several tlacuilos, which a related to different style traditions of Central Mexico and who show various forms of adapting the traditional indigenous contents to European paper and book formats, as well as to the needs of the new users. The Codex itself is a fascinating working material, with a great level of heterogeneity and, the analysis undertaken gave the opportunity to demonstrate its internal diversity, reflecting the complexity and pluralism of indigenous traditions and some of the forms used to adapt them to Western materials, conventions and concepts / Doutorado / Historia da America / Doutor em História

This dissertation is the first book-length study to analyse the production and patronage of Islamic illuminated manuscripts in late medieval RÅ«m in their fullest cultural contexts and in relation to the arts of the book of neighbouring regions. Although research concerning the artistic landscapes of late medieval Rūm has made significant progress in recent years, the development of the arts of the book and the nature of their patronage and production has yet to be fully addressed. The topic also remains relatively neglected in the wider field of Islamic art history. This thesis considers the arts of the book and the part they played in artistic life within contemporary scholarly frameworks that emphasise inclusivity, diversity and fluidity. Such frameworks acknowledge the period's ethnic and religious pluralism, the extent of cross-cultural exchange, the region's complex political situation after the breakdown in Seljuk rule, and the itinerancy of scholars, Sufis and craftsmen. Analyses are based on the codicological examination of sixteen illuminated Persian and Arabic manuscripts, none of which have been published in depth. In order to appropriately assess the material and to partially redress scholarly emphases on the constituent arts of the book (calligraphy, illumination, illustration and binding), the manuscripts are considered as whole objects. The manuscripts' ample inscriptions also help to form a clearer picture of contemporary artistic life. Evidence from further illuminated and non-illuminated manuscripts and other textual and material primary sources is also examined. Based on this evidence, this dissertation demonstrates that Rūm's towns had active cultural scenes despite the frequent outbreak of hostilities and the absence of an effective centralised government. The lavishness of some manuscripts from this period also challenges the often-assumed connection between dynastic patronage and sophisticated artistic production. Furthermore, the identities and affiliations of those involved in the production and patronage of illuminated manuscripts reinforces the impression of an ethnically and religiously diverse environment and highlights the role that local amīrs and Sufi dervishes in particular had in the creation of such material.

This thesis undertakes a close study of a single manuscript of the early 1320s, written at the priory of Fineshade, Northamptonshire. The manuscript contains a short chronicle and several documents related to the failed baronial rebellion of 1321-22. I argue that, in collaboration with the priory’s patrons, the Engayne family, the chronicler responds to the current situation with an attempt to create meaning from a time of crisis. In the process, he attempts to shape his material through patterns of style and thought inherited from both chronicle and hagiographical traditions, to make the present conform to the known and understood shape of the past. His success is limited by his inability to establish sufficient distance from traumatic events, a difficulty that many chroniclers seemed to encounter when they attempted to turn current events into meaningful historical narrative.

Robert Thornton of East Newton, Yorkshire (c.1367-c.1465) is the most important scribe of late-medieval England: the only amateur scribe we know to be responsible for the concurrent production of multiple manuscript anthologies. This project constitutes the first extended study devoted exclusively to Robert Thornton and his books that treats them both as independent and as in conversation with each other. By uniting the concerns of codicology and cultural history, we can gain new insights into the effect of each manuscript’s textual sequences while also considering the effect of the distribution of texts among both manuscripts. Moreover, by examining Thornton’s romances in their original material and social contexts, we can read them as they would have been encountered by Thornton and his intended readers, and gain insight into the social and cultural anxieties that may have led to their organization and distribution among his two books. Chapter 1 compares Thornton’s compilations to those of analogous manuscripts, and demonstrates that Thornton took a more active role than most contemporary compilers did in rearranging and editing his texts in order to emphasize shared themes and interests within his books. Chapters 2 and 3 of this dissertation examine the nature of each of Thornton’s manuscripts in turn. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91 is a book meant to be used in the maintenance of social, spiritual, and physical health, written to be a useful tool for as wide a range of people as possible. Chapter 3 demonstrates that British Library MS Additional 31042 is a history book that traces the development of Christian civilization from its beginnings in the Holy Land to its present form in Thornton’s England. This dissertation then assesses Thornton’s whole library. Chapter 4 examines the literary contexts of Thornton’s romances, demonstrating that they are divided into thematic groups that emphasise conflict between the interests of individuals and the interests of the individual and communal identities with which they associate. Chapter 5 examines the social context of Thornton’s romances, demonstrating that Thornton employs the discourse of English nationalism produced during the Council of Constance (1414-1418), and that he therefore distributed his romances in order to emphasize England’s superiority to France.

Cette thèse propose une approche globale des Déserts de l’Amour de Rimbaud. Étant donné les nombreuses incertitudes véhiculées par l’œuvre, une étude de son manuscrit autographe s’impose tout d’abord, étude visant à établir l’ordre des feuillets, l’établissement du texte, la date de transcription par une expertise en écritures, mais encore à évaluer son degré d’achèvement, l’éventualité de détenir en l’état un manuscrit complet et déterminer enfin l’auteur de la numérotation atypique des feuillets. L’approche générique, après être revenue sur la notion même de genre et ses implications, s’appliquera à définir le caractère générique du récit de rêve puis problématisera le genre formel des Déserts de l’Amour à partir d’une réflexion sur le poème en prose. Dans le souci d’une approche générique contextuelle seront abordés plusieurs auteurs représentatifs de nos deux genres (Nodier, Bertrand, Nerval) et plus particulièrement le Baudelaire des Petits Poëmes en prose. Nous proposerons enfin une lecture, un commentaire littéraire détaillé des Déserts de l’Amour. / This thesis proposes a global approach to The Deserts of Love. Given the many uncertainties surrounding this text, the prerequisite for its analysis is the exploration of Rimbaud’s manuscript, to prove the order of the folios, to provide an accurate text, to establish its date of transcription by a diachronic study of the poet’s handwriting ; the ambition is also to judge the extent to which this is a finished work, whether the known text is complete and, lastly, to determine the source of the untypical numbering of the folios. After examining the concept of genre and its implications, the generic approach will seek to define the generic status of the dream narrative and then problematise the formal genre of The Deserts of Love on the basis of a reflexion on the subject of the prose poem. The need to contextualise this generic approach requires the analysis of several representative authors in the two generic fields involved (Nodier, Bertrand, Nerval) and in particular of the Baudelaire of the Petits Poëmes en prose. The thesis concludes with a detailed literary commentary of The Deserts of Love.

This dissertation engages with the production and use in late medieval England (c.1200–c.1500) of manuscript codices copied, in whole or in part, on offcuts: cheap, low-quality parchment scraps created as a byproduct of parchment manufacturing. After presenting a method for identifying offcuts, it explores the material through statistical techniques and case studies. Applying this mixed methodology to a corpus of 140 offcut-bearing production units spread across 75 handwritten books, it delineates a range of manuscript production stages, examining the sociocultural contexts of books recruiting offcuts as writing support. The dissertation pursues this study in four chapters. Opening with a terminological discussion, chapter one describes medieval parchment-making, clarifying how offcut traits arose during manufacture, distinguishing offcuts from similar types of parchment, and describing medieval uses for offcuts. Chapter two discusses quantitative codicology, justifying the mixed quantitative–qualitative approach, then delineates its dual-stage methodology: (i) establishing offcut diagnostic traits via linear regression analysis; (ii) assembling the corpus and analyzing it via a descriptive statistical lens. It finishes with an overview of the analysis’ main findings, noting that the corpus is dominated by Fachliteratur; lacking in texts often regarded as ‘popular’ (e.g., vernacular romances); and largely copied for personal consultation in professional, educational, or domestic contexts. Chapters three and four take up the primary subcorpora—one comprising common law books; another, miscellaneous, but chiefly theological and medical, provisionally sorted based on the medieval division of disciplines, quadrivium and trivium—engaging each via descriptive statistical overviews and case studies of representative books: London, British Library, Harley MS 912, Harley MS 1261, Harley MS 6644; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Ashmole 1378, Digby 2, Digby 24. / Graduate / 2023-09-09

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em entender-se como ocorreu a escolha, por volta do ano 1000, dos textos em inglês antigo reunidos no manuscrito conhecido como Nowell Codex ou manuscrito de Beowulf. O manuscrito aqui enfocado é a parte chamada de Nowell Codex, que somado ao Southwick Codex, integra o Cotton Vitellius A.xv, hoje em poder da British Library, em Londres. O Nowell Codex é composto pelos seguintes textos: Vida de São Cristovão, em prosa; Maravilhas do Oriente, em prosa; Carta de Alexandre para Aristóteles, em prosa; Beowulf, em poesia e Judite, em poesia. Ao buscar-se entender a unidade temática do manuscrito, é fundamental tocar em questões codicológicas juntamente com as textuais, isto é, questões materiais acerca da produção do codex. Esta abordagem foi muito pouco explorada pelos estudiosos que já se dedicaram aos textos do Nowell Codex, especialmente àqueles que se dedicam ao poema Beowulf. Defende-se aqui que os textos foram escolhido devido a uma semelhança em um arco maior de ideias que abarca todos os conteúdos do manuscrito: o Oriente. Não somente um Oriente geográfico, mas um Oriente como origem ancestral para os anglo-saxões. A palavra Níðwundor (terrível maravilha) resume todos os paradoxos e semelhanças deste Oriente construído pelos anglo-saxões e escolhido como tema para unir estes textos no manuscrito / The aim of this study is identify how happened the choice, around the year 1000, of Old English texts gathered in the manuscript known as Nowell Codex or Beowulf manuscript. The manuscript focused on here is the part called Nowell Codex, which added to Southwick Codex, includes the Cotton Vitellius A.xv, now held by the British Library in London. The Nowell Codex consists of the following texts: Life of Saint Christopher, in prose; Wonders of the East, in prose; Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, in prose; Beowulf, and Judith, in poetry. By be sought for understanding the thematic unity of the manuscript, it is essential to touch codicológicas issues along with the context, that is, material issues regarding the production of the codex. This approach has been very little explored by scholars who have devoted themselves to the Nowell Codex texts, especially those engaged in the poem Beowulf. It is argued here that the texts were chosen because of a similarity in a larger arc of ideas which all the contents of the manuscript: the East. This East is not only a geographical East, but it is an East as ancestral origin to the Anglo-Saxons. The word Níðwundor (terrible wonder) summarizes all the paradoxes and similarities of the East as is thought by the Anglo-Saxons and chosen as a theme to unite these texts in the manuscript

Considered one of the pinnacles of the arts of the book in the entire history of Persian art, the life of the Timurid prince, Bāysunghur (1397-1433) and his royal library-atelier have been studied for more than a century. Yet previous scholarship, although solid on it own terms, has not combined study of the entirety of production with sustained analysis of individual productions of Bāysunghur’s atelier. Prior to this study, a number of manuscripts were completely neglected, and several others were studied only briefly. What is more, the single extant document describing procedures and progress in the atelier, although well known, demanded further clarification on various levels. This dissertation discusses in six chapters the operation and productions of the library with particular attention paid to its highlight, Bāysunghur’s famous Shāhnāma. After an introduction to the field and an overview of previous studies, I turn to the report of the head of the atelier, clarifying some technical terms and establishing the date of the report. Secondly, the corpus of Bāysunghurī productions is examined chronologically and in relation to the librarian’s report, with individual manuscripts analysed with regard to their textual and aesthetic traits and their placement in an art historical context. Next, the Shāhnāma of Bāysunghur, which for many years has been inaccessible for close scholarly study, receives extended treatment. The final chapter presents a discussion of the textual and aesthetic content of the corpus and reconsiders the role of the atelier supervisor. The overall aim is to enhance and extend understanding of the arts of the book in a unique royal library, that of Prince Bāysunghur.

The Conduct of Life, also known as the Poema Morale, is a verse-sermon that has been largely ignored by literary histories, and despite the longevity of its textual tradition its various texts have never been the subject of extended study. This dissertation brings together the seven manuscript versions of the text, which date from the end of the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth centuries, and re-examines them individually and as a cohort exhibiting variance. It therefore offers a revealing indicator of how continuity and change actually operated through the interaction between preceding tradition and scribes and audiences. This is achieved through a three-fold analysis of the verse sermon which highlights the fluidity of the manuscript culture during this period and the willingness of scribes to adapt texts to suit new purposes, to create differences due to dialect and comprehension, or copy variants from a now lost exemplar. First, an edition of the text, based on the version found in Cambridge, Trinity College MS B. 14. 52, folios 2r-9v , explores, through the accompanying notes, the themes, style and phraseology which not only reflect the influence of earlier English literary and hortatory texts but also represent a living tradition which found popularity within diverse writing and social environments. Secondly, a diplomatic edition of each text is presented, preceded by an introduction to the text, grammar and dialect, with full codicological and palaeographic notes. Finally, a parallel text edition bears witness to the copying and reshaping of the text throughout its history. It is accompanied by extensive linguistic notes which highlight the adaptation and textual variance between each version of the Conduct of Life. Each new variant has not only been read in relation to the other versions of the same work but also in relation to the manuscript context it newly occupies as a result of its transmission. Each copy reshapes the material within an established structure of rhythm and metre and, therefore, the dissertation concludes that the sermon is recreated as a series of individual texts, which might be individually analysed, because each is different, particularly within their specific physical and historical moments. This fluidity or mouvance suggests for the Conduct of Life and, for that matter, the texts that preceded it in the historical narrative of the twelfth century that there is no authentic text; that the instability of the manuscript 'tradition' moves from manuscript to manuscript.