The Cambridge Companion to Medieval British Manuscripts

Explains the methods and knowledge required to understand how, why, and for whom manuscripts were made in medieval Britain.

Orietta Da Rold (Edited by), Elaine Treharne (Edited by)

9781107102460, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 December 2020

340 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.6 kg

The scholarship and teaching of manuscript studies has been transformed by digitisation, rendering previously rarefied documents accessible for study on a vast scale. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval British Manuscripts orientates students in the complex, multidisciplinary study of medieval book production and contemporary display of manuscripts from c.600–1500. Accessible explanations draw on key case studies to illustrate the major methodologies and explain why skills in understanding early book production are so critical for reading, editing, and accessing a rich cultural heritage. Chapters by leading specialists in manuscript studies range from explaining how manuscripts were stored, to revealing the complex networks of readers and writers which can be understood through manuscripts, to an in depth discussion on the Wycliffite Bible.

Introduction. The matter of manuscripts and methodologies Orietta Da Rold and Elaine Treharne
Part I. How Do We Study the Manuscript?: 1. Describing and cataloguing medieval English manuscripts: a checklist Richard Beadle and Ralph Hanna
2. Reading a manuscript description Donald Scragg
3. Reading and understanding scripts Julia Crick and Dan Wakelin
4. Working with images in manuscripts Beatrice Kitzinger
5. The sum of the book: structural codicology and medieval manuscript culture Ryan Perry
Part II. Why Do We Study the Manuscript?: 6. Networks of writers and readers Elaine Treharne and Orietta Da Rold
7. The written word: literacy across languages Jane Gilbert and Sara Harris
8. The Wycliffite Bible Elizabeth Solopova
9. Editing medieval manuscripts for modern audiences Helen Fulton
10. Where were books made and kept? Tessa Webber
Part III. Where Do We Study the Manuscript?: 11. Charming the snake: accessing and disciplining the medieval manuscript Sian Echard and Andrew Prescott
12. The curation and display of digital medieval manuscripts Suzanne Paul
13. The trade A. S. G. Edwards
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Medieval history [HBLC1], European history [HBJD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Palaeography [history of writing CFL]