from parchment to cyberspace: how manuscripts help us to think about medieval culture, politics,...

From Parchment to Cyberspace:How Manuscripts help us think…

(about History, Literature, Books, People, Animals)

Pomona CollegeMarch 28, 2013

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London, BL, Harley 4431, f. 3r

Paris, 1410 or 1412

Christine de Pizan presents

her treatises to Queen Isabeau

This is a medieval manuscript

folio (page).

It‟s much more complicated

than it seems.

What is it? & Why?

Complex handwritten artifacts

1. What are Medieval Manuscripts ?

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Christine de Pisan

MS BL 4431, f. 4

Paris, 1410

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Manuscript as “generative" or productive space

Illumination/image:

Poet/Christine de Pisan

rubric

decorated initial

Decorated initial

Marginal decoration:

Vineleaf/fleur-de-lysText Column delineators

Text in elegant scribal

hand

Collaborators: scribe, illuminator, decorator

Christine de Pisan

MS BL 4431, f. 4

Paris, 1410

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BnF fr. 565, f. 1,

Nicole Oresme, Traité de

la sphère (translation of

Aristotle‟s De caelo et mundo)

Paris, 1410.

Nicole Oresme (1320-1382)

Translated Aristotlean philosophy

for King Charles V

Manuscript as cognitive space reading &

thinkingTreatise

on the Sphere

= universe

“visual sign” of

Subject of work

(like shop signs

In Paris)

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Manuscripts as visual choreography: reading-as-viewing

Isabeau of BaveriaQueen of France Christine de Pizan

Presents her oeuvre

To Queen Isabeau,

c. 1410

Christine de Pisan

MS BL 4431, f. 3

Paris, 1410

Image-as-text

Text-as-image

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Manuscripts as historical event, political instrument

R o m a n d e l a R o s e

M S M o r g a n 9 4 8 , f . 4

Gérard Acarie p r e s e n t s « h i s » b o o k

t o

F r a n c o i s 1 er

« i l l u m i n a t i o n »

o r m i n i a t u r e

S h o w i n g b o o k a s s y m b o l

o f p r i n c e l y p o w e r

1 5 2 0

Background & foreground = “iconic text”

portraying symbols of kingdom & images of royal

power conveyed by book-as-icon-of-king’s-realm

& thus of his power

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2. Manuscripts =

books with a difference

What difference?

“manuscript” human activities

writing, painting, editing viewing, reading, thinking

manuscript page = a space of social media

a. Religious texts

b. Secular moral works

10Making Parchment

Codex links humans &

Nature

Parchment = animal

Inks = vegetable/mineral

Pigments = minerals/ plants

etc.

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Treating animal skin

to make parchment

Manuscripts = social &

economic network:

Butchers

Tanners

Parchment makers

Writers

Scribes

Artists

Ink & paint makers

Booksellers

Patrons

Readers

Bible(England, 1265)

H i s t o r i a t e d I n i t i a l « h » o f

E x o d u s 1 . 1

M o r g a n , M S G . 4 2 f o l . 2 1 r

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What kinds of books?

a. Sacred

Morgan MS G. 42, f. 21r. Exodus1:1 haecsuntnomina .XII. filiorumIsrahelqui ingressi sunt in Egyptumcum Iacobsingulicum dominibussuis

introierunt. Historiated initial «h»: Moses with nimbus & horns, removing sandals. Christ Logos, cross-

nimbed, rising from burning bush holding tables of the Law

(historiated initial conflates Ex. 3:2-16; Exodus 24:15-17; & Exodus 31:17-18)

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D a n t e W r i t i n g I n f e r n o

M S M o r g a n 2 8 9 f o l . 1 r ( F l o r e n c e , 1 3 3 0 - 1 3 3 7 )

What kinds of books?

b. Secular moral literarure

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MS Morgan 289

fo l . 1r ( F l o r e n c e , 1 3 3 0 - 1 3 3 7 )

Dante Writ ing

Commedia (de ta i l )

3. Medieval Scribes

vs.

Modern Digital Scribes

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Gospel of Henry I I I( O t t o n i e n , c . 1 0 3 9 - 4 0 )

Ecthernach AbbeyB r e m e n , S t a a t s b i b l i o t h e k ,

M S b 2 1 , f . 1 2 4 v

M o n a s t i c L i b r a r y

( n o t e L a y S c r i b e )

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Scr iptor iumScr ibes and Master o f Workshop

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Jean Mié lo t ( d . 1 4 7 2 ) i n h is Scr ip to r iumr e p l e t e w i t h c o d i c e s & ( a n a c h r o n i s t i c a l l y ) s c r o l l s

Paris, BnF MS fr. 9198, f. 19

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British Library, MS Harley 4431, f. 4

The Queen’s Manuscript

Christine de Pisan, Scribe

Paris, 1405-1404

Christine de Pizan =

Professional court poet

& first professional woman

writer

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Digi ta l Archi tect (Tim DiLauro) & Team fo r Rose D ig i ta l L ib ra ry

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Sayeed Choudhury,Di rec to r D ig i ta l Cura t ion Cente r,

& « Rose Programmers »

4. Thinking with Manuscripts:a digital research project

King Charles V‟s Library, Authority,

& Christine de Pizan

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Bibliothèque nationale de France

27Bibliothèque nationale de France

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Musée Condé Chantilly MS 65, f. 10v

Palais du Louvre

Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Paris, c. 1412-1416

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Aristotle‟s Phyics, translated by

Nicole Oresme for Charles V

as Le Traité de la ssphère

BnF fr. 1082, f. 3r.

Paris, 1370-80

Christine > „Le sage roy Charles‟

Charles V institutes a “politics

of knowledge” via moral & natural

philosophy from the ancient

world for his court

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Raoul de Presle‟s translation of

Saint Augustine‟s De civitate Dei,

Paris, 1375-1377

BnF MS. fr. 22912, f. 3r

Saint Augustine presents

Raoul de Presle (kneeling)

to King Charles V to whom

Raoul offers his book

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Le livre des faits et Bonnes meurs du sage

Roy

Charles V fait et compilé par Christine de

Pisan;

damoiselle, elle etait fille de Thomas de

Pisan,

Dit de Bologne medecin du Roy Charles V.

Le der novembre 1404

Le livre des faits et Bonnes meurs du sage

Roy

Charles V fait et compilé par Christine de

Pisan;

damoiselle, elle etait fille de Thomas de

Pisan,

Dit de Bologne medecin du Roy Charles V.

Le der novembre 1404

BnF fr. 10153, Paris 1404

Christine de Pizan

Le livre des fais et bonnes moeurs du

Sage Roy

Charles V

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 2r

Christine de Pizan Paris 1404

livre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V

Cy commence la premiere

partie du livre des fais et

bonnes

meurs du sage roy Charles –

Et premierement prologue .I.

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v


Le livre des fais …du Sage Roy Charles V

Cy dit comment le roy

Charles approuva la pac-

ience qu’il vid avoir à

un de ses gens. .xxj.

Charles V glosses

the stoic virtues

of his librarian,

Gilles Malet

Christine’s narrative logic.:

1. Story of wise king Charles

2. Charles = wise because

of books/translations of

Aristotle, Romans, etc.

3. Wise king <> library of

“wise books”

4. Wise king <> wise

librarian & therefore

5. Story of the librarian

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[In the 1360s], King Charles was particularly attached to one of his

gentlemen for his moral virtue. In particular, this man read and wrote

superbly, and possessed uncommon understanding.

One day, tragedy struck this man – Gilles Malet by name –when one of

his small sons was killed by falling on a knife he was holding while

running. This blow caused great grief to the father, Gilles Malet. And

yet, on that very same day he came to the King at the usual hour and

read aloud to him for a long while with his accustomed demeanor.

When the wise king – who appreciated virtue in all matters – learned of

the death of Gilles‟s son (after he‟d departed), he said:

“If this man did not have stronger moral qualities than Nature grants to

most men, paternal grief would not have suffered him to conceal his

misfortune with such self-control.”

Christine de Pizan, The Book of Deeds and Moral Virtue of Wise King

Charles V, III, c. 21

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Aristotle interested in showing how individuals

could enact their capacity for arete (ἀρετή) or

virtue.

Since arete (ἀρετή) connotes “striving to achieve

one’s potential,” it conveys perfectly the intention

of the politics of knowledge espoused by

Charles V as portrayed by Christine.

Aristotle –in translation ordered by Charles V – defines the fortitude the king

perceives in Gilles Malet as that which a librarian, like a king, must possess

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 75a (detail)



Valerius Maximus’s account

of the death of the sons of

Anaxagoras (end)

Christine adds

an anecdote

of Saint Augustine’s

about Anaxagoras

Saint Augustin dit que cellui

Naxagoras fu condemnez a

Athenes por ce que il disoit

que le soleil n’estoit autre

chose que ainsi que une pierre

ardent et ceulz d’Athenes

aouroient le soleil comme dieu

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v







Christine adds

anecdotes about

Anaxagoras

from

Valerius Maximus

&

Saint Augustine

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 74v







Christine adds

anecdotes about

Anaxagoras

from

Valerius Maximus

&

Saint Augustine

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Valerius Maximus

BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r (detail)

Paris, 1375

Valerius Maximus

Writes Latin work

c. 14-37 C.E.

Simon de Hesdin

Makes French translation

1375 C.E.

French transation of Valerius in Charles V‟s Library used by Christine

Simon de Hesdin presents

Valerius Tranlation

to Charles V

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Raoul de Presle’s trans. of St. Augustine’s De civitate Dei for Charles V

Paris, 1375-1377

BnF MS. fr. 22912, ff. 2v-3r / Christine uses this copy from Charles’s Library

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Saint Augustine presents

Raoul de Presle (kneeling)

to King Charles V to whom

Raoul offers his book

which Christine uses in her book

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The Future of Medieval Manuscripts

is Digital Media

( & vice versa )

Thank You !

a. Complex handwritten artifacts • Parchment (animal skin)

b. Intricately organized “generative” space = • folio conceived as matrix

c. Visually “choreographed” • Image space

• Rubric space

• Decorative space

• Text space

d. Collaborative effort ≅ “social media”

• Master scribe

• Scribes

• Rubricators

• Artist

1. What are Medieval Manuscripts ?

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Rubric

Decorated Initials

(note alternating colors)

“Visuality” of MS folio reading-as-viewing

Dartmouth College,

Rauner Codex 3206, f. 5r

Ci parole Oiseuse

Ci paro[le] l’amant

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En ce livre moral sont conte-

eneus pluseurs notables et

bons livres, et est à nous

Charles, le Ve de notre

nom, roy de France, et le

fimes escrire et parfere

l‟an mil CCC LXXII.

CHARLES

[This book of moral topics,

containing various noteworthy and uplifting

books, belongs to us, Charles,

the fifth king of France with our

name, and we had it copied and completed

in the year CCC LXXII.

CHARLES]

Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon

MS français 434

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BnF fr. 10153, f. 2a (detail)



Cy commence la premiere

Partie du livre des fais et bonnes

meurs du sage roy Charles –

Et premierement prologue .I.

48

BnF fr. 10153, f. 1r


Le livre des fais …u Sage Roy Charles V

Cy commence la table des rubriches

de cest present volume appellé le livre

des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy

Charles .V.e Iycellui nom. Fait et

compilé par Christine de Pizan

damoiselle; acompli le desrenier iour de

novembre l’an de grace mille .iiij. c. et

quatre. Et est parti le dit livre en troys

parties.

Cy s’ensuivent les rubriches de la

premiere partie et premierement

prologue .J.

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Valerius Maximus

BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r

Paris, 1375

Ci commence la translation du

premier livre de Valerius Max-

imus avec la declaration d’iceli

& addicions

plusieurs faite & compilée l’an

mil .ccc.lxxv. ar frere Symon

de Hesdin de l’ordene de l’hos

pital de St. Jehan de Jherusa-

lem docteur en theologie

Simon de Hesdin

creates French translation

1375 C.E.

Valerius Maximus

creates Latin work

c. 14-37 C.E.

Simon de Hesdin presents

book to Charles V

50

Frontispiece

Raoul de Presle’s translation of

Saint Augustine’s De civitate Dei,

Paris, 1375-1377

BnF MS. fr. 22912, f. 2v

from parchment to cyberspace: how manuscripts help us to think about medieval culture, politics,...

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