Bibliography
Codicology and palaeography
Results (56)
McLaughlin, Roisin, “Ornamental reader’s aids: a unique insight into illustrations”, Anne-Marie OʼBrien, and Pádraig Ó Macháin, Irish Script on Screen (ISOS) – Meamrám Páipéar Ríomhaire, Online: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2023–. URL: <https://www.isos.dias.ie/articles/ornamental_readers.html>
McLaughlin, Roisin, “Text run-over imagery and reader’s aids in Irish manuscripts”, Ériu 71 (2021): 69–115.
abstract:
The focus of scholarly comment on Irish manuscript illumination has been largely on letters. This paper examines the design and development of the text run-over symbol, a scribal device which has received relatively little analysis to date. It will be seen that the convention of using images to mark text run-overs, while not peculiar to Irish manuscripts (Brown 1996, 19, 192), persisted for a remarkably long time in the scribal tradition. Aspects of the wider manuscript context and function of marginal art, the use of reader’s aids and the relationship between text and image are also considered.
Stam, Nike, “Between innovation and tradition: code-switching in the transmission of the Commentary to the Félire Óengusso”, Medieval Worlds: Comparative & Interdisciplinary Studies 13 (2021): 120–146.
abstract:
This article presents a case study that explores the issue of code-switching in medieval text transmission with initial data mined in a three-year project run at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. The case study is based on a bilingual corpus of glosses and notes in Irish and Latin that accompanies the ninth-century Martyrology of Óengus. This collection of material is referred to as the Commentary to the Félire Óengusso and is found in ten manuscripts. This provides an excellent opportunity to compare different versions of a bilingual text in order to analyse the way in which different scribes dealt with the bilingual material that they copied. In my analysis, a twofold approach to the material will be adopted: first, from the perspective of linguistics, I examine whether the grammatical characteristics of a code-switch influence its transmission. For this, I use Pieter Muysken’s typology of code-mixing (2000) to distinguish between complex and simple code-switches. Secondly, from the perspective of palaeography, I examine whether highly abbreviated words that could be interpreted as either Latin or Irish (visual diamorphs) may cause so-called »triggered« code-switches in transmission. The aim of the comparison is to provide a window on scribal practice in bilingual texts.
Cleary, Christina, “Critical notes and signs in the Book of Leinster Táin bó Cúailnge”, in: John Carey (ed.), Táin bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster: reassessments, 32, London: Irish Texts Society, 2020. 90–121.
Tucker, Joanna, Reading and shaping medieval cartularies: multi-scribe manuscripts and their patterns of growth: a study of the earliest cartularies of Glasgow Cathedral and Lindors Abbey, Studies in Celtic History, 41, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2020.
Contents: Frontcover -- Contents -- List of Plates -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Conventions -- Introduction -- 1. Cartulary Studies -- An overview of the field -- What are cartularies? -- Why were cartularies created? -- What was the function of the cartulary? -- Analysis of cartulary manuscripts and their scribes -- Approaches in manuscript studies -- Conclusion -- 2. Analysing a Multi-Scribe Cartulary -- Introduction to Glasgow Cathedral and its archive -- The binding of the Glasgow RV -- The collation of the Glasgow RV; Rethinking the identification of scribes and scribal activity -- Dating scribal activity in multi-scribe cartularies -- Applying relative dating to multi-scribe cartularies -- Summary of the methodology -- Conclusion -- 3. The Creation and Growth of the Glasgow RV -- The creation and growth of the Glasgow RV by series -- Summary of the creation and growth of the Glasgow RV -- The institutional setting of the Glasgow RV -- The function of the Glasgow RV -- Conclusion -- 4. The Creation and Growth of Lindores Caprington -- Lindores Abbey and its archive -- The binding of Lindores Caprington; The institutional setting of the cartularies -- Conclusion -- 6. Conclusion -- The new methodology for multi-scribe cartulary manuscripts -- Cartulary scholarship and the 'genre' of cartularies -- Directions for the future -- Reading medieval cartularies -- Appendix: Contents of the two cartularies by 'series' -- Editorial principles -- The contents of the Glasgow RV by series -- The contents of Lindores Caprington by series -- Bibliography -- Index; The structure of Lindores Caprington: collation and series -- The scribal activity in Lindores Caprington -- The creation and growth of Lindores Caprington by series -- Summary of the creation and growth of Lindores Caprington -- The institutional setting of Lindores Caprington -- The function of Lindores Caprington -- Conclusion -- 5. Understanding the Patterns of Growth in Multi-Scribe Cartularies -- The initial creation of the cartulary manuscripts -- The growth of the cartulary manuscripts -- 'Repeats' in the cartularies -- Why did the cartularies grow?
abstract:
Medieval cartularies are one of the most significant sources for a historian of the Middle Ages. Once viewed as simply repositories of charters, cartularies are now regarded as carefully curated collections of texts whose contents and arrangement reflect the immediate concerns and archival environment of the communities that created them. One feature of the cartulary in particular that has not been studied so fully is its materiality: the fact that it is a manuscript. Consequently, it has not been recognised that many cartularies are multi-scribe manuscripts which grew for many decades after their initial creation, both physically and textually. This book offers a new methodology which engages with multi-scribe contributions in two cartulary manuscripts: the oldest cartularies of Glasgow Cathedral and Lindores Abbey. It integrates the physical and textual features of the manuscripts in order to analyse how and why they grew in stages across time. Applying this methodology reveals two communities that took an active approach to reading and shaping their cartularies, treating these manuscripts as a shared space. This raises fundamental questions about the definition of cartularies and how they functioned, their relationship to archives of single-sheet documents, and as sources for institutional identity. It therefore takes a fresh look at the genre of medieval cartularies through the eyes of the manuscripts themselves, and what this can reveal about their medieval scribes and readers. JOANNA TUCKER gained her PhD from the University of Glasgow.
Eska, Charlene M., “The paleography of the 11 Latin citations in TCD MS 1337, pp. 329c–330b”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 3:1 (2019): 47–54.
abstract:
This paper presents an edition and translation of the 11 Latin citations found in TCD MS 1337, pp. 329c–330b (CIH iii 847.8–36), and argues on paleographical grounds that it is possible to tell how the list of citations was constructed.
Stansbury, Mark, “Wandering hands: Usserianus Primus and the movements of scripts”, in: Rachel Moss, Felicity OʼMahony, and Jane Maxwell (eds), An Insular odyssey: manuscript culture in early Christian Ireland and beyond, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2017. 42–54.
Eska, Charlene M., “The abbreviation s.d. and patterns of ascription in the Corpus Iuris Hibernici”, Études Celtiques 42 (2016): 161–184.
Journal volume: Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 42, 2016: <link>
abstract:
[FR] L’abréviation s.d. et la typologie des indications de sources dans le Corpus Iuris Hibernici. Cet article étudie l’utilisation de l’abréviation s.d. telle qu’elle apparaît dans divers textes de loi irlandais anciens – comme ceux imprimés dans le Corpus Iuris Hibernici – et compare cette abréviation, du point de vue du contexte et de l’emploi aux autres formes d’abréviation utilisées dans les manuscrits juridiques irlandais. Les constantes qui apparaissent dans l’emploi de l’abréviation conduisent à supposer qu’elle renvoie au nom d’un manuscrit de droit, associé peut-être à la famille des MacEgan et dont on peut partiellement reconstituer le contenu.
[EN] This paper examines the use of the abbreviation s.d. as it appears in various early Irish law tracts as printed in the Corpus Iuris Hibernici and compares its context and use to that of other forms of abbreviations used in Irish legal manuscripts. The pattern that emerges from the evidence of the abbreviation’s context and use suggests that the abbreviation stands for the title of a legal manuscript, perhaps associated with the MacEgan family, for which the contents may be partially reconstructed.
[EN] This paper examines the use of the abbreviation s.d. as it appears in various early Irish law tracts as printed in the Corpus Iuris Hibernici and compares its context and use to that of other forms of abbreviations used in Irish legal manuscripts. The pattern that emerges from the evidence of the abbreviation’s context and use suggests that the abbreviation stands for the title of a legal manuscript, perhaps associated with the MacEgan family, for which the contents may be partially reconstructed.
Broun, Dauvit [princ. invest.], Peter A. Stokes, Tessa Webber, Alice Taylor, Joanne Tucker, and Stewart J. Brookes [co-investigators], Models of authority: Scottish charters and the emergence of government, Online, 2015–present. URL: <https://www.modelsofauthority.ac.uk>
abstract:
Models of Authority: Scottish Charters and the Emergence of Government is a resource for the study of the contents, script and physical appearance of the corpus of Scottish charters which survives from 1100–1250. Through close examination of the diplomatic and palaeographic features of the charters, the project will explore the evidence for developments in the perception of royal government during a crucial period in Scottish history. The project is funded by the AHRC (2014-2017) and is a collaboration between scholars from the Universities of Glasgow, Cambridge and King's College London.
Bronner, Dagmar, and Nathanael Busch, “Written apart and written together: placing spaces in Old Irish and Old High German”, in: Nievergelt Andreas, Rudolf Gamper, Marina Bernasconi Reusser, Birgit Ebersperger, and Ernst Tremp (eds), Scriptorium. Wesen – Funktion – Eigenheiten: Comité international de paléographie latine, XVIII. Kolloquium, St. Gallen 11.-14. September 2013, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015. 519–531.
Bischoff, Bernhard, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), ed. Birgit Ebersperger, vol. 3: Padua–Zwickau, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für die Herausgabe der mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014.
Breatnach, Pádraig A., The Four Masters and their manuscripts: studies in palaeography and text, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2013. xiv + 206 pp.
Breatnach, Liam, “Dinnseanchas Inbhear Chíochmhaine, ‘trí comaccomail na Góedelge’, agus caibidil i stair litriú na Gaeilge”, in: Eoin Mac Cárthaigh, and Jürgen Uhlich (eds), Féilscríbhinn do Chathal Ó Háinle, Inverin: Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2012. 37–55.
Duncan, Elizabeth, “Lebor na hUidre and a copy of Boethius’s De re arithmetica: a palaeographical note”, Ériu 62 (2012): 1–32.
abstract:
The purpose of this article is to lay out the striking palaeographical similarities between Hand M of Lebor na hUidre and a copy of Boethius's De re arithmetica preserved in TCD MS 1442 (H.2.12, pt 7). The resemblances between both script-specimens indicate a similar context for their executions.
Duncan, Elizabeth, “A history of Gaelic script, A.D. 1000-1200”, Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2010.
: <link>
abstract:
This dissertation provides a comprehensive account of the development of Gaelic script written in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the Gaelic world. This has involved palaeographical and codicological examinations of the surviving manuscripts and fragments. Most manuscripts which survive from this period were written in Latin; however, this period also signals the first surviving manuscripts produced entirely in Middle Gaelic (most notably, Leabhar na hUidhre, Leabhar na Nuachongbhála, and OBL Rawl. B.502 [B]). One purpose of this dissertation is to contextualise the Middle-Gaelic language manuscripts within their Latin background. Two script-types were used in this period in Gaelic manuscripts (Gaelic National minuscule and Insular Half-uncial) which are both discussed in this dissertation. Much fundamental palaeographical work on the manuscripts in question has not previously been undertaken. On a very basic level, this study therefore provides arguments for distinguishing between the number of hands in manuscripts based on palaeographical and codicological observations. As a result of close palaeographical analysis I have been able to argue a chronological development for Gaelic script situated within the few reliable arguments for dating and locating some manuscripts. The employment of some abbreviations, monograms, and ligatures, new to Gaelic scribes, has proven to be particularly significant in terms of distinguishing between the layers of palaeographical development. These palaeographical features examined in light of ascetic qualities of the script has allowed me to place many script-specimens in ‘groups’ or ‘styles’ which subsequently reveal some argument for dating and locating manuscripts. This study of Gaelic script reveals that big scribal changes were underway in the eleventh and twelfth century: new styles of script were developed and a wealth of new abbreviations were used by some scribes. However, the evidence indicates that these developments were not necessarily felt simultaneously across the Gaelic World.
Arbuthnot, Sharon, “Obscurities in Dúil Dromma Cetta: insights into a lost exemplar and form-oriented scribing”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 59 (Summer, 2010): 19–37.
Parkes, Malcolm, “The handwriting of St Boniface: a reassessment of the problems”, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 1976:98 (2009): 161–179.
Schmidt, Jürgen, “Zu Réidig dam a Dé do nim / co hémidh a n-indisin”, in: Gisbert Hemprich (ed.), Festgabe für Hildegard L. C. Tristram: überreicht von Studenten, Kollegen und Freunden des ehemaligen Faches Keltologie der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 1, Berlin: Curach Bhán, 2009. 211–287.
abstract:
Between 1953 and 1959 Seán Mac Airt published in Études Celtiques a long synchronistic poem ascribed to Flann Mainistrech, beginning Réidig dam a Dé do nim / co hémidh a n-indisin. Mac Airt’s early death in 1959, however, prevented the completion of the publication series. It lacks the final part which deals with the Roman emperors. Unfortunately, Mac Airt’s edition and translation is in many points unsatisfactory, as it contains a number of misreadings—due to both scribal errors and misinterpretation of some of the classical names by the editor — and false conclusions which were accepted by scholars up until the present day. In the following contribution I will attempt a new evaluation of the poem and its author, and will deal with its textual transmission and palaeography, structure, content and cultural background. This will be undertaken on the basis of a complete new collation of all versions, including the unedited part. Of the latter I add a computer facsimile of this poem in the Royal Irish Academy MS D iv 3 (1224) and will discuss the merits of such a device for scientific and didactic purposes. The present work is a by-product of an extensive investigation of the annals, synchronisms, Lebor Gabála and further related traditions, the starting point of which is my intension to prepare a future edition of the so called Annals of Tigernach contained in Rawl. B 502 (cf. SCHMIDT 1993).
(source: Curach Bhan, slightly redacted)
Parkes, Malcolm B., Their hands before our eyes: a closer look at scribes: the Lyell lectures delivered in the University of Oxford 1999, The Lyell Lectures, 1999, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008.
Charles-Edwards, Gifford, “The palaeography of the inscriptions”, in: Mark Redknap, and John M. Lewis, A corpus of early medieval inscribed stones and stone sculpture in Wales, vol. 1: South-East Wales and the English border, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007. 77–87.
Charles-Edwards, Gifford, “The origin and development of insular geometric letters”, PhD thesis, University of Wales, Bangor, 2006.
Brown, Michelle P., “Fifty years of Insular palaeography, 1953-2003: an outline of some landmarks and issues”, Archiv für Diplomatik, Schriftgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde 50 (2004): 278–325.
Bischoff, Bernhard, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), ed. Birgit Ebersperger, vol. 2: Laon–Paderborn, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für die Herausgabe der mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004.
Ganz, David, “Texts and scripts in surviving manuscripts in the script of Luxeuil”, in: Próinséas Ní Chatháin, and Michael Richter (eds), Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages: texts and transmissions / Irland und Europa im früheren Mittelalter: Texte und Überlieferung, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002. 186–204.
Bischoff, Bernhard, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), vol. 1: Aachen–Lambach, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für die Herausgabe der mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998.
Brown, Michelle P., The British Library guide to writing and scripts: history and techniques, London: British Library, 1998.
Gumbert, J. P., “The Irish Priscian in Leiden”, Quaerendo 27:4 (1997): 280–299.
English-language version of an article originally published in Dutch.
Jeauneau, Édouard, and Paul Edward Dutton, The autograph of Eriugena, Corpus Christianorum, Medieval Latin Series, Autographa Medii Aeui, 3, Turnhout: Brepols, 1996. 123 pp. + 99 ppl..
abstract:
The great paleographer Ludwig Traube was the first to suggest that the actual handwriting of John Scottus Eriugena could be identified. In this new study, the first full examination of the problem of Eriugena's handwriting, the authors not only systematically review the evidence, but suggest a solution. Their identification of the autograph is based upon a detailed palaeographical and philological examination of the surviving examples of the scripts of the two Irishmen who wrote in the twelve ninth-century manuscripts associated directly with Eriugena and his school.
(source: Brepols)
Gumbert, J. P., “De Ierse Priscianus te Leiden”, in: Rijcklof Hofman, Bernadette Smelik, and Karel Jongeling (eds), Kelten van Spanje tot Ierland, Utrecht: Stichting Uitgeverij de Keltische Draak, 1996. 73–91.
Cains, Anthony G., “The surface examination of skin: a binder's note on the identification of animal species used in the making of parchment”, in: Felicity OʼMahony (ed.), The Book of Kells: proceedings of a conference at Trinity College Dublin, 6-9 September 1992, Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1994. 172–174.
Mac Eoin, Gearóid, “The interpolator H in Lebor na hUidre”, in: James P. Mallory, and Gearóid Stockman (eds), Ulidia: proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8–12 April 1994, Belfast: December, 1994. 39–46.
Brown, T. Julian, “The Irish element in the Insular system of scripts to circa A.D. 850”, in: T. Julian Brown, A palaeographer’s view: the selected writings of Julian Brown, ed. Janet M. Bately, Michelle P. Brown, and Jane Roberts, London: Harvey Miller, 1993. 201–220, 284–287.
Brown, T. Julian, A palaeographer’s view: the selected writings of Julian Brown, ed. Janet M. Bately, Michelle P. Brown, and Jane Roberts, London: Harvey Miller, 1993.
Brown, Michelle P., A guide to Western historical scripts from antiquity to 1600, London: British Library, 1990.
Bischoff, Bernhard, Latin palaeography: antiquity and the Middle Ages, tr. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, and David Ganz, original title: Paläographie des römischen Altertums und des abendländischen Mittelalters, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Melia, Daniel F., “Further speculation on marginal .r.”, Celtica 21 (1990): 362–367.
Celtica – School of Celtic Studies: e-print: <link>
Byrne, Francis John, “Introduction”, in: Timothy OʼNeill, The Irish hand: scribes and their manuscripts from the earliest times to the seventeenth century with an exemplar of Irish scripts, Mountrath: Dolmen Press, 1984. xi–xxvii.
Sharpe, Richard, “Palaeographical considerations in the study of the Patrician documents in the Book of Armagh”, Scriptorium 36:1 (1982): 3–28.
Brown, T. Julian, “The Irish element in the Insular system of scripts to circa A.D. 850”, in: Heinz Löwe (ed.), Die Iren und Europa im früheren Mittelalter, 2 vols, vol. 1, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1982. 101–119.
Byrne, Francis J., A thousand years of Irish script: an exhibition of Irish manuscripts in Oxford libraries, Oxford, 1979.
Denholm-Young, Noël, Handwriting in England and Wales, 2nd ed., Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1964.
Contents: I. The history of palaeography -- How to begin -- Terminology -- Handwriting in the West to c. A.D. 800 -- Old English hands to c. A.D. 1200 -- Accents -- II. The Caroline minuscule to the development of the Gothic script -- III. The Gothic script -- IV. Court hands: Handwriting in Wales -- V. Localization -- The production of manuscripts -- Vi. Abbreviations -- VII. The secretary hand and the coming of italic -- VIII. Punctuation -- Numerals -- Mathematical symbols -- Musical palaeography -- Dating -- How to describe a manuscript -- Rules for transmission.
Bieler, Ludwig, “The palaeography of the Book of Durrow”, in: A. A. Luce [ed.], Evangeliorum quattuor codex Durmachensis: The Book of Durrow, 2 vols, Olten: Graf, 1960. 89–97.
Bieler, Ludwig [introd.], Psalterium Graeco-Latinum: Codex Basiliensis A. VII. 3, Umbrae codicum occidentalium, 5, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1960.
Denholm-Young, Noël, Handwriting in England and Wales, 1st ed., Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1954.
Bieler, Ludwig, “Insular palaeography, present state and problems”, Scriptorium 3 (1949): 267–294.
Persée: <link>
Bieler, Ludwig, “The Irish Book on hymns: a palaeographical study”, Scriptorium 2:2 (1948): 177–194.
Persée: <link>
Leroquais, Victor, Les psautiers manuscrits latins des bibliothèques publiques de France, 2 vols, Mâcon: Protat frères, 1940–1941.
Gallica – vol. 1: <link> Gallica – vol. 1: View in Mirador Gallica – vol. 2: <link> Gallica – vol. 2: View in Mirador
Bains, Doris [author], A supplement to ‘Notae Latinae’: abbreviations in Latin mss. of 850 to 1050 A.D., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1936.
Internet Archive – available on loan only: <link>
Supplement to Lindsay, Notae Latinae (1915).
