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From Parchment to Cyberspace: How manuscripts help us to think about medieval culture, politics, & society
- 1. From Parchment to Cyberspace: How Manuscripts help us think… (about History, Literature, Books, People, Animals) Pomona College March 28, 2013
- 2. 2 London, BL, Harley 4431, f. 3r Paris, 1410 or 1412 Christine de Pizan presents her treatises to Queen Isabeau This is a medieval manuscript folio (page). It‟s much more complicated than it seems. What is it? & Why?
- 3. 3
- 4. Complex handwritten artifacts 1. What are Medieval Manuscripts ? 4 Christine de Pisan MS BL 4431, f. 4 Paris, 1410
- 5. 5 Manuscript as “generative" or productive space Illumination/image: Poet/Christine de Pisan rubric decorated initial Decorated initial Marginal decoration: Vineleaf/fleur-de-lysText Column delineators Text in elegant scribal hand Collaborators: scribe, illuminator, decorator Christine de Pisan MS BL 4431, f. 4 Paris, 1410
- 6. 6 BnF fr. 565, f. 1, Nicole Oresme, Traité de la sphère (translation of Aristotle‟s De caelo et mundo) Paris, 1410. Nicole Oresme (1320-1382) Translated Aristotlean philosophy for King Charles V Manuscript as cognitive space reading & thinking Treatise on the Sphere = universe “visual sign” of Subject of work (like shop signs In Paris)
- 7. 7 Manuscripts as visual choreography: reading-as-viewing Isabeau of Baveria Queen of France Christine de Pizan Presents her oeuvre To Queen Isabeau, c. 1410 Christine de Pisan MS BL 4431, f. 3 Paris, 1410 Image-as-text Text-as-image
- 8. 8 Manuscripts as historical event, political instrument Roman de la Rose MS Morgan 948,f. 4 Gérard Acarie p r e s e n t s « h i s » b o o k t o F r a n c o i s 1 er « i l l u m i n a t i o n » o r m i n i a t u r e S h o w i n g b o o k a s s y m b o l o f p r i n c e l y p o w e r 1 5 2 0 Background & foreground = “iconic text” portraying symbols of kingdom & images of roya power conveyed by book-as-icon-of-king’s-realm & thus of his power
- 9. 9 2. Manuscripts = books with a difference What difference? “manuscript” human activities writing, painting, editing viewing, reading, thinking manuscript page = a space of social media a. Religious texts b. Secular moral works
- 10. 10Making Parchment Codex links humans & Nature Parchment = animal Inks = vegetable/mineral Pigments = minerals/ plants etc.
- 11. 11 Treating animal skin to make parchment Manuscripts = social & economic network: Butchers Tanners Parchment makers Writers Scribes Artists Ink & paint makers Booksellers Patrons Readers
- 12. Bible (England, 1265) H i s t o r i a t e d I n i t i a l « h » o f E x o d u s 1 . 1 M o r g a n , M S G . 4 2 f o l . 2 1 r 12 What kinds of books? a. Sacred
- 13. Morgan MS G. 42, f. 21r. Exodus1:1 haecsuntnomina .XII.filiorumIsrahelquiingressisuntinEgyptumcumIacobsingulicumdominibussuis introierunt. Historiatedinitial«h»:Moseswithnimbus&horns,removing sandals. ChristLogos,cross- nimbed,risingfromburningbushholdingtablesoftheLaw (historiatedinitialconflatesEx.3:2-16; Exodus24:15-17; &Exodus31:17-18) 13
- 14. 14 Dant e Wr i t i n g I n f e r n o MS Morgan 2 8 9 fol . 1 r ( F l o r e n c e , 1 3 3 0 - 1 3 3 7 ) What kinds of books? b. Secular moral literarure
- 15. 15 MS Morgan 289 fol. 1r ( Flor enc e, 1 3 3 0 - 1 3 3 7 ) Dante Writing Commedia (detail)
- 16. 3. Medieval Scribes vs. Modern Digital Scribes 16
- 17. 17 Gospel of Henry III ( O t t o n i e n , c . 1 0 3 9 - 4 0 ) Ecthernach Abbey Br emen, Staats bibliothek , MS b21, f. 124v Monas tic Libr ar y ( note Lay Sc r ibe)
- 18. 18 Scriptorium Scribes and Master of Workshop
- 19. 19 Jean Miélot ( d . 1 4 7 2 ) in his Scriptorium r eplete w ith c odic es & ( a n a c h r o n i s t i c a l l y ) s c r olls Paris, BnF MS fr. 9198, f. 19
- 20. 20 British Library, MS Harley 4431, f. 4 The Queen’s Manuscript Christine de Pisan, Scribe Paris, 1405-1404 Christine de Pizan = Professional court poet & first professional woman writer
- 21. 21
- 22. 22
- 23. 23 Digital Architect (Tim DiLauro) & Team for Rose Digital Library
- 24. 24 Sayeed Choudhury, Director Digital Curation Center, & « Rose Programmers »
- 25. 4. Thinking with Manuscripts: a digital research project King Charles V‟s Library, Authority, & Christine de Pizan 25
- 26. Bibliothèque nationale de France
- 27. 27Bibliothèque nationale de France
- 28. 28 Musée Condé Chantilly MS 65, f. 10v Palais du Louvre Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Paris, c. 1412-1416
- 29. 29 Aristotle‟s Phyics, translated by Nicole Oresme for Charles V as Le Traité de la ssphère BnF fr. 1082, f. 3r. Paris, 1370-80 Christine > „Le sage roy Charles‟ Charles V institutes a “politics of knowledge” via moral & natural philosophy from the ancient world for his court
- 30. 30 Raoul de Presle‟s translation of Saint Augustine‟s De civitate Dei, Paris, 1375-1377 BnF MS. fr. 22912, f. 3r Saint Augustine presents Raoul de Presle (kneeling) to King Charles V to whom Raoul offers his book
- 31. 31 Le livre des faits et Bonnes meurs du sage Roy Charles V fait et compilé par Christine de Pisan; damoiselle, elle etait fille de Thomas de Pisan, Dit de Bologne medecin du Roy Charles V. Le der novembre 1404 Le livre des faits et Bonnes meurs du sage Roy Charles V fait et compilé par Christine de Pisan; damoiselle, elle etait fille de Thomas de Pisan, Dit de Bologne medecin du Roy Charles V. Le der novembre 1404 BnF fr. 10153, Paris 1404 Christine de Pizan Le livre des fais et bonnes moeurs du Sage Roy Charles V
- 32. 32 BnF fr. 10153, f. 2r Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 vre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Cy commence la premiere partie du livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles – Et premierement prologue .I.
- 33. 33 BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 ivre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Cy dit comment le roy Charles approuva la pac- ience qu’il vid avoir à un de ses gens. .xxj. Charles V glosses the stoic virtues of his librarian, Gilles Malet Christine’s narrative logic.: 1. Story of wise king Charles 2. Charles = wise because of books/translations of Aristotle, Romans, etc. 3. Wise king <> library of “wise books” 4. Wise king <> wise librarian & therefore 5. Story of the librarian
- 34. 34 [In the 1360s], King Charles was particularly attached to one of his gentlemen for his moral virtue. In particular, this man read and wrote superbly, and possessed uncommon understanding. One day, tragedy struck this man – Gilles Malet by name –when one of his small sons was killed by falling on a knife he was holding while running. This blow caused great grief to the father, Gilles Malet. And yet, on that very same day he came to the King at the usual hour and read aloud to him for a long while with his accustomed demeanor. When the wise king – who appreciated virtue in all matters – learned of the death of Gilles‟s son (after he‟d departed), he said: “If this man did not have stronger moral qualities than Nature grants to most men, paternal grief would not have suffered him to conceal his misfortune with such self-control.” Christine de Pizan, The Book of Deeds and Moral Virtue of Wise King Charles V, III, c. 21
- 35. 35 Aristotle interested in showing how individuals could enact their capacity for arete (ἀρετή) or virtue. Since arete (ἀρετή) connotes “striving to achieve one’s potential,” it conveys perfectly the intention of the politics of knowledge espoused by Charles V as portrayed by Christine. Aristotle –in translation ordered by Charles V – defines the fortitude the king perceives in Gilles Malet as that which a librarian, like a king, must possess
- 36. 36 BnF fr. 10153, f. 75a (detail) Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 ivre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Valerius Maximus’s account of the death of the sons of Anaxagoras (end) Christine adds an anecdote of Saint Augustine’s about Anaxagoras Saint Augustin dit que cellui Naxagoras fu condemnez a Athenes por ce que il disoit que le soleil n’estoit autre chose que ainsi que une pierr ardent et ceulz d’Athenes aouroient le soleil comme die
- 37. 37 BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 ivre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Cy dit comment le roy Charles approuva la pac- ience qu’il vid avoir à un de ses gens. .xxj. Christine adds anecdotes about Anaxagoras from Valerius Maximus & Saint Augustine
- 38. 38 BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 ivre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Cy dit comment le roy Charles approuva la pac- ience qu’il vid avoir à un de ses gens. .xxj. Christine adds anecdotes about Anaxagoras from Valerius Maximus & Saint Augustine
- 39. 39 Valerius Maximus BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r (detail) Paris, 1375 Valerius Maximus Writes Latin work c. 14-37 C.E. Simon de Hesdin Makes French translation 1375 C.E. French transation of Valerius in Charles V‟s Library used by Christine Simon de Hesdin presents Valerius Tranlation to Charles V
- 40. 40 Raoul de Presle’s trans. of St. Augustine’s De civitate Dei for Charles V Paris, 1375-1377 BnF MS. fr. 22912, ff. 2v-3r / Christine uses this copy from Charles’s Library
- 41. 41 Saint Augustine presents Raoul de Presle (kneeling) to King Charles V to whom Raoul offers his book which Christine uses in her book
- 42. 42 The Future of Medieval Manuscripts is Digital Media ( & vice versa ) Thank You !
- 43. 43
- 44. a. Complex handwritten artifacts • Parchment (animal skin) b. Intricately organized “generative” space = • folio conceived as matrix c. Visually “choreographed” • Image space • Rubric space • Decorative space • Text space d. Collaborative effort ≅ “social media” • Master scribe • Scribes • Rubricators • Artist 1. What are Medieval Manuscripts ? 44
- 45. Rubric Decorated Initials (note alternating colors) “Visuality” of MS folio reading-as-viewing Dartmouth College, Rauner Codex 3206, f. 5r Ci parole Oiseuse Ci paro[le] l’amant
- 46. 46 En ce livre moral sont conte- eneus pluseurs notables et bons livres, et est à nous Charles, le Ve de notre nom, roy de France, et le fimes escrire et parfere l‟an mil CCC LXXII. CHARLES [This book of moral topics, containing various noteworthy and uplifting books, belongs to us, Charles, the fifth king of France with our name, and we had it copied and completed in the year CCC LXXII. CHARLES] Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon MS français 434
- 47. 47 BnF fr. 10153, f. 2a (detail) Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 livre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V Cy commence la premiere Partie du livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles – Et premierement prologue .I.
- 48. 48 BnF fr. 10153, f. 1r Christine de Pizan Paris 1404 e livre des fais …u Sage Roy Charles V Cy commence la table des rubriches de cest present volume appellé le livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles .V.e Iycellui nom. Fait et compilé par Christine de Pizan damoiselle; acompli le desrenier iour de novembre l’an de grace mille .iiij. c. et quatre. Et est parti le dit livre en troys parties. Cy s’ensuivent les rubriches de la premiere partie et premierement prologue .J.
- 49. 49 Valerius Maximus BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r Paris, 1375 Ci commence la translation du premier livre de Valerius Max- imus avec la declaration d’iceli & addicions plusieurs faite & compilée l’a mil .ccc.lxxv. ar frere Symon de Hesdin de l’ordene de l’h pital de St. Jehan de Jherusa lem docteur en theologie Simon de Hesdin creates French translation 1375 C.E. Valerius Maximus creates Latin work c. 14-37 C.E. Simon de Hesdin presents book to Charles V
- 50. 50 Frontispiece Raoul de Presle’s translation of Saint Augustine’s De civitate Dei, Paris, 1375-1377 BnF MS. fr. 22912, f. 2v
Editor's Notes
- London, British Library, MS. Harley 4431, f. 3r. Presentation copy of Christine de Pizan’s works, copied between 1406-1410. Christine, kneeling, presents her book – this manuscript – to Queen Isabeau of Baviaria, wife of King Charles VI. Paris, 1410 or 1412. King Charles VI was intermittently “mad” and Christine urged Queen Isabeaufot play a role in governing. Some of Christine’s works suggest political actions that the Queen, with Christine’s help and that of other women of the court, might undertake. So this image suggests far more than the image might suggest to someone who did not know the contents of the book of treatises Christine offers to the Queen.
- Manuscripts contain a vision of a world of their time, and that record has a story to tell:1) The story of the manuscript as a complex object produced collaboratively by several individuals with their own thoughts & worldviews; (2) MS as a complex object with a story to tell about its history and the historical context that produced it; (3) a story to tell about manuscripts as visual objects, manuscripts meant to be viewed (like paintings) rather than simply “read”; (4) manuscripts as objects that contain a program for “visual reading” that integrates word and/as image = a graphic reading system.
- Manuscripts contain a vision of a world of their time, and that record has a story to tell:1) The story of the manuscript as a complex object produced collaboratively by several individuals with their own thoughts & worldviews; (2) The story of a complex object with a story to tell about its history and the historical context that produced it; (3) a story to tell about manuscripts as visual objects, manuscripts meant to be viewed (like paintings) rather than simply “read”; (4) manuscripts as objects that contain a program for “visual reading” that integrates word and/as image = a graphic reading system.
- Paris, BnFfr. 565, f. 1, Nicole Oresme, Traité de la sphère = Translation of Aristotle’s Du ciel et du monde (De caelo et de mundo), Paris, 1410. Image shows Nicole Oresme translating the treatise with a sphere of the universe in the foreground on a stand by way of a title. This reminds us that shops in Paris at this time had enseignes, or 3 dimensional images of their principal product hanging outside their shop on a metal bracket.
- London, British Library, MS. Harley 4431, f. 3r. Presentation copy of Christine de Pizan’s works, copied between 1406-1410. Christine, kneeling, presents her book – this manuscript – to Queen Isabeau of Baviaria, wife of King Charles VI. Paris, 1410 or 1412. King Charles VI was intermittently “mad” and Christine urged Queen Isabeaufot play a role in governing. Some of Christine’s works suggest political actions that the Queen, with Christine’s help and that of other women of the court, might undertake. So this image suggests far more than the image might suggest to someone who did not know the contents of the book of treatises Christine offers to the Queen.
- From Peter van der Sluijs, February 2, 2012, Wikimedia Commons. “Making Parchment.” This file is licensed under the Creative Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Making_parchment.jpg
- Peter van der Sluijs, 30 September 2012. Licensed under the Creative Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_who_parchment_modified.jpg
- Bible, Oxford, England, c. 1265. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, MS G.42 fol. 21r. Historiated initial “h” of Exodus 1.1: “haecsuntnominafiliorumIsrahel qui ingressisuntAegyptum cum Iacobsinguli cum domibussuisintroierunt.” (Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob). Moses: Burning Bush and Moses: removing Sandals -- Moses, pearled nimbus, horned, is seated on cushioned bench, left foot pulled up onto bench, removing left shoe with both hands. He is looking at Christ Logos, cross-nimbed, emerging from bush holding Tables of Law in raised right hand. Scene on blue patterned background decorated within initial H with ascender decorated with foliate ornament and either lion or dog.
- Bible, Oxford, England, c. 1265. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, MS G.42 fol. 21r. Historiated initial “h” of Exodus 1.1: “haecsuntnominafiliorumIsrahel qui ingressisuntAegyptum cum Iacobsinguli cum domibussuisintroierunt.” (Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob). Moses: Burning Bush and Moses: removing Sandals -- Moses, pearled nimbus, horned, is seated on cushioned bench, left foot pulled up onto bench, removing left shoe with both hands. He is looking at Christ Logos, cross-nimbed, emerging from bush holding Tables of Law in raised right hand. Scene on blue patterned background decorated within initial H with ascender decorated with foliate ornament and either lion or dog.
- Description of MS M.289 fol. 1r:Dante: Text, Divina Commedia, Inferno, Canto 01 (Dante as Scribe) -- Dante, wearing cap, holding knife in left hand and with right hand holding pen to open book with pseudo-inscription, sits at lectern, all within decorated initial N.Margins decorated with foliate vinestem borders, with Alighieri arms (per pale sable and or, a fess argent, surmounted by a crown) at center lower margin.
- Dante: Text, Divina Commedia, Inferno, Canto 01 (Dante as Scribe) -- Dante, wearing cap, holding knife in left hand and with right hand holding pen to open book with pseudo-inscription, sits at lectern, all within decorated initial N.Margins decorated with foliate vinestem borders, with Alighieri arms (per pale sable and or, a fess argent, surmounted by a crown) at center lower margin.
- Christopher de Hamel, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts (2nd edition, London: Phaidon Press, 1994), p. 64.The Ottonian emperors commissioned their manuscripts from many different places. This illustration from a Gospel Lectionary made for Henry III, c. 1039-40, was illuminated at Echternach Abbey. The picture shows the work taking place in the cloisters of the abbey , but note that only one of the two craftsmen is a monk. Perhaps lay scribes and artists were more common than we might have guessed. From: Bremen, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, MS b21, f. 124v
- Christopher De Hamel, Scribes & Illuminators (Toronto: U of Toronto Press, 1992), p. 36.Jean Miélot (d. 1472) was a canon of Lille and secretary to two Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the God and Charles the Bold. He was also a notable translator and scribe. He appears in this celebrated miniature as the idea scholar-scribe in a study filled with manuscripts and the implements of his labor.
- BnFfr 1082, f. 3r. Aristote, Du ciel et du monde, traduction du latin en français par Nicole Oresme. Commissioned by Charles V. Paris, 1370-80.
- BnF MS fr. 22912, f. 3r. . Paris, 1375-77, Raoul de Presle’s translation of St. Augustine. Augustinus (saint ; 0354-0430). Auteur du texteSaint Augustin , De Civitate Dei , traduit en français par Raoul de Presles (Livre I-X). Dedication scene: Raoul de Presles, presented by Saint Augustine, offers his book to Charles V.
- CP, BnFfr. 10153, f. 74v. = passage from Book 3, ch. 21 concerning Gilles Malet
- CP, BnFfr. 10153, f. 74v. = passage from Book 3, ch. 21 concerning Gilles Malet
- CP, BnFfr. 10153, f. 74v. = passage from Book 3, ch. 21 concerning Gilles Malet. Valerius Maximus: Memorable Deeds and Sayings (ValeriMaximiFactorum et dictorummemorabiliumlibrinovi) =exempla as moral philosophy and “mirror” of great men.
- BnF MS fr. 22912, ff.2v- 3r. . Paris, 1375-77, Raoul de Presle’s translation of St. Augustine.Augustinus (saint ; 0354-0430). Auteur du texteSaint Augustin, De Civitate Dei , traduit en français par Raoul de Presles (Livre I-X). Dedication scene: Raoul de Presles, presented by Saint Augustine, offers his book to Charles V.
- Dartmouth Library, Rauner Codex MS, f. 5r. If there’s no “picture” does that mean that there’s nothing visual happening other than the text? That’s a big difference between manuscripts and printed works. Non-illuminated folio, but with rubrics and decorated initials as aids to readers. Get quotation from Hugh of Saint Victor’s Didascalicon about the “technology” of page division as aid to reading.
- The manuscript is now in the Bibliothèquemunicipale in Besançon, MS français 434. At some point the inscription was semi-erased, but deciphered at the end of the nineteenth century by AugusteCastan. See Delisle, I, p. 259.
- BnFfr. 9749, f. 1r. Paris, 1375. Valère-Maxime, Facta et Dicta memorabiliatraductionfrançaiseSimon de Hesdin (Livres I-IV). Entièrementcopié par Henri du Trevou un des copistesattitrés de CharlesV. - Le manuscrit a étéillustré par deux artistes: Le maître du Couronnement de Charles VI, appeléainsid'après la page frontispice des GrandesChroniques de France de Charles V (BNF, Fr. 2813). - qui estresponsable de l'illustration des ff. 1, 13, 20v, 24, 26, 32v, 33, 39v, 47, 50v, 56, 58, 59, 64v, 67v,69v, 76v etc.; Le Maître du Policratique de Jean de Salisbury appeléainsid'après le manuscrit BNF, Français 24287, qui estresponsable des ff. 44, 76v, 84v, 162, 176. grandespeintures au début de chaqueLivre: f. 1, 76v, 181. - F. 1: ValèreMaximeécrivant; Simon de Hesdinécrivant; présentation du livre. -
- BnFfr. 22912 f. 2v. Saint Augustin, De Civitate Dei, traduit en français par Raoul de Presles (Livre I-X). Un seulcopiste identifiable avec Raouletd’Orléans, un des copistesfavoris de Charles V (Sur la carrière de Raouletd’Orléans, voir Rouse, t. I, p. 273-279 et t. II, p. 121-122 ; surl’écriture de Raouletd’Orléans, voirOeser). Titresrubriqués. Foliotationmoderne. Le f. 2 estblanc. - Décoration :Plusieursenlumineurs se sontpartagésl’illustration des deux volumes manuscrits, sous la direction de Raoul de Presles qui estvraisemblablementl’auteur du programmeiconographiqueaccompagnant la traduction. Le Maître du Couronnement de Charles VI (appeléainsid’aprèsl’illustration du manuscrit BNF, Français 2813, f. 3v) estresponsable de la majorité des miniatures : feuillets 2v, 3, 8, 41v, 94v, 178v, 303v, 342v. Le Maître du Sacre de Charles V (appeléainsid’aprèsl’illustration du manuscritLondres, British Library, ms. Tiberius B VIII) estl’auteur des illustrations des feuillets 227v et 278v. Le premier Maître de la Bible de Jean de Sy a peint les enluminures des feuillets 384 et 407v. F. 2v: Page frontispiceévoquant les deuxcités, en 3 registres. Au registresupérieur, la Rédemption : Jésustrône entre la Vierge et saint Jean, entouréd’anges et de docteurs. Au registremédian : à gauche, les païensadorentleursidoles ; àdroite les hébreuxoffrent un sacrifice devantl’Arche ; au centre, le sacrifice de la messe. Au registreinférieur : la gueule du Léviathanenserreunecuveoùbrûlent des damnés ; des diables y jettent de nouveaux venus ; un angepèse les âmes. F. 3, Scène de dédicace : Raoul de Presles, présenté par saint Augustinoffresatraductionà Charles V.