Department of French and Italian

Studies in Medieval French Literature

The medieval manuscript is a witness to unique versions of texts, a cultural artifact with an idiosyncratic logic and unique history. This seminar initiates students in the main fields of manuscript studies (paleography and codicology) as well as early book history and textual scholarship. Our approach privileges hands-on experiences in the Lilly Library, but prepares students for archival work of all kinds. Exercises offer students the opportunity to confront and manipulate manuscripts in person and via cutting edge digital viewers and transcription/annotation tools. Course readings and activities examine the medieval book in its own right, as well as considering books as cultural objects and bringing books into dialogue with current theory, including animal studies, environmental studies and ecocriticism, object-oriented ontology, gender studies, and digital humanities. We will focus predominantly on manuscripts produced in the Latin West, with comparative discussion of contemporary Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, and Ethiopic materials. Our work will also concern mainly the manuscript codex, though some attention will also be paid to manuscript texts in other formats. Fluent reading knowledge of Latin is not necessary but basic knowledge of Latin is strongly recommended. Students are encouraged and expected to collaborate and share their language expertise.

Image attribution: Anoniem (middeleeuws) [Public domain]