Medieval Latin
Paleography: 1100-1500
Phil.
248, Green 351D
R.
Wood (rega.wood@stanford.edu)
Mondays,
A course in the history of writing and editorial
methods for medieval texts in philosophy, cosmology, physics, psychology, and
theology. Phil 248 prepares students
for research with original medieval manuscripts. Emphasis will be on distinguishing
characteristic letter forms and spelling
peculiarities which date and place medieval manuscripts.
Scripts considered will
include Carolingian, Romanesque or Protogothic, Gothic, Cursive chancery or
documentary scripts, Bastarda, and Humanistic.
Medieval abbreviations, punctuation, and codicology will be
introduced.
This year the class
project will focus on an encyclopedia or compendium composed about 1240 and
still considered a good basic introduction to everything there is in the
fifteenth century, when Pope Sixtus IV (Della Rovere) ordered his own special
copy. Intended for reasonably well-educated non-specialists,
the Compendium philosophiae is a good place to learn how medieval poets and physicians
believed the world worked -- about matter and form, virute and the persons of
the Trinity, but also about storms and earthquakes, pelicans and donkeys.
In addition to the class project, there
will be a final exam. Knowledge of
Latin is a pre-requisite.
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January 3:
Introduction to Paleography and reference resources
January 10: Dated French manuscripts
January 17 (?) – MLK: Abbreviations
January 24:
Dated German manuscripts
January 31:
Codicology
February 7: Dated
Italian manuscripts
February 14:
Punctuation
February 21 (?) – President’s Day:
Dated British manuscripts
February 28: Class project discussion
March 7: Dated Iberian manuscripts
March 14: Visit to Rare Book Room
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Course requirements: Transcription, Presentation, Edition, Examination
Required purchase: Course
Reader, "Medieval Latin Paleography."
Chambers
Recommended Books:
M. Brown: A Guide to Western Historical Scripts,
A. Derolez, The
Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: From the Twelfth to the Early
Sixteenth Century, Cambridge 2003.
F. Moreland & R.
Fleisher, Latin: An Intensive Course,
S. H. Thomson, Latin
Book Hands, Cambridge: Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1969.