Time and Location

M 7:20-9:20 PM
CBD 310

Description

This is an introductory course for graduate students with an interest in the history of the Middle Ages. During the first part of the course, students will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with some of the most important problems of identification, dating, and reading of early medieval documents. The hands-on exercise will involve extensive reading of facsimiles of medieval manuscript pages, charters, and letters, as an illustration of the main scripts mentioned and commented upon in lectures. During the second part of the course, the emphasis is on the description of manuscripts. Part of that emphasis is a thorough examination and description of manuscripts in the Rare Book Collection of the George A. Smathers Library at the University of Florida. By the end of this course, students should be able to recognize and date hands studied in class and should be able to transcribe them accurately, recognizing scribal conventions, especially abbreviations.

Why study paleography? Besides the ability to get access to various versions of a text that may have been circulating (given that scribes make mistakes or may try to “improve” something when they are copying it by hand), students will learn the basic skills enabling them to transcribe (i.e., to convert to modern letters) works that have only recently been discovered and have not been accessed before. Such skills are fundamental to those who want to specialize in the study of medieval texts, and therefore envisage publishing works of medieval authors that are preserved in manuscripts. There are other reasons for which paleography may be fun to do: one gets access to interesting notes in the margins or in other parts of a book that the scribe or the person who owned the book made, which may reveal a lot about how the work was read or interpreted. One also gains clarity about how old a manuscript might be, and under what circumstances it was copied. Paleography, in other words, is a great way to get a glimpse into the world of medieval texts and readers. Hands have a material context, and besides the study of scripts, this class will dedicate a signficant amount of time to the understanding of manuscripts, their creation, form, and layout. We will discuss the techniques of critical editing that are used for the production of texts of classical works, and problems involved in the approach.

The format of this course will a combination of readings and hands-on exercises on digital images of a variety of Latin manuscripts. You will be expected to digest a substantial amount of information in a fairly short period of time. The best way to do this is to keep a journal. Before every class meeting, you will post an e-mail message on my address (on top of this syllabus), in which you will discuss briefly the readings for the coming meeting, ask questions and/or make comments, raise issues that need clarification, etc. All e-mails should arrive at least 12 hours before class meetings. Be sure to keep your postings to a reasonable length (175 to 250 words long). I do not want you to spend too much time on them, but I expect you to give me an articulate presentation of your thoughts. Needless to say, I also expect you to check on correct grammar and spelling before clicking on “Send.” Because the journal is designed to demonstrate your efforts towards an initial understanding of the readings (especially those from your Bischoff  books), I must have in time one report for each class meeting, every week (except, of course, for the days without classes). The reading journal represents 40 percent of your final grade, 2.86 percent for each entry. Evaluation of your journal entries will take into consideration composition, grammar, and punctuation. Reading reports cannot be made up; you simply need to have a journal entry for every class meeting. Be aware that missed reports may result in a substantially lower grade. The final exam is worth 30 percent of your final grade, and will consist of 7 facsimiles for which you will have to supply the name of the script(s), the approximate date and place of origin, and a transcription. The remaining portion of your grade (30 percent) is based on the examination and description of a manuscript in the Rare Book Collection, either owned by the University of Florida, or on temporary loan. Before the middle of the semester, I will provide detailed instructions on how describe the manuscript, and what format the assignment will take. The description is due on the last day of class, December 7.

Beginning with October 12, instead of class meetings, we will work on a more individual basis. I will send out 4-5 facsimiles with the scripts for each particular meeting, provide a number of short explanations by e-mail, and you will be expected to give a transcription of each, the best you could. Those will be exercise transcriptions, and you will not be graded for any of them. They are meant to prepare you for the final exam, and to train your eye for the manuscript description assignment. After October 5, I will have office hours by Skype. I will provide my contact address, and you will have to call, if you would need assistance or have questions regarding the course.

Required Text

• Bernard Bischoff. Latin Palaeography. Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Translated by Dibh Crinn and David Ganz. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990  [on a two-hour reserve in Library West; also available as e-book through the George Smathers Libraries]