Doing things with manuscripts: CLIR post doc-seminar, Bryn Mawr College 7.31. 2013

Doing Things with Manuscriptsn

Manuscripts Frame 14th – century literary culture

CLIR Postdoctorql Fellowship Seminar

July 31, 2013

Curating & Using Data:

Collaboration between IT specialists & scholars

• 1995 – 2010 – Gathering Data & establishing

Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts: Sheridan

Libraries (JHU) & Bibliothèque nationale

• 2010 – 2013 – Making an interoperable repository

• 2010 – 2013 – Cluster Research Groups create

innovative research protocols using digital

resources

2

Manuscripts & the Framing of 14th–century

Vernacular Courtly Culture

3

Roman de la Rose

Düsseldorf,

Kunstakademie,

MS. AB 142, f. 1r

(Paris, c. 1350)

Principles of Knowledge Politics of

14th –century French Manuscript Culture

1. Vernacular literature circulates knowledge by mediating philosophy

(and theology) in terms of contemporary politics & culture.

4

BnF MS fr 22912, f. 3

Saint Augustin,

Cité de Dieu;

Raoul de Presles

Paris, 1375-77

5

BnF MS fr 2813, f. 4r

Grandes Chroniques de France,

personal copy of

King Charles V

with insertions reinforcing

Valois legitimacy by

Raoulet d’Orléans

& othersParis, 1375-80

From Troy to Paris:

1. Greeks land at Troy

2. Siege of Troy

3. Francien founds

Sicambre (Syria)

4. French defeating

enemies

The first chapter tells how

the French descend from

the Trojans

1. Mediate philosophy

& Theology

6

BnF MS fr 22912, f. 2v

Saint Augustin,

Cité de Dieu;

Raoul de Presles

Paris, 1375-77

Frontispiece

The Two Cities:

Redemptions in Paradise,

Three kinds of sacrifice:

Pagan, Christian, Jewish


& Theology

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BnF MS fr 22912, f. 3

Saint Augustin,

Cité de Dieu;

Raoul de Presles

Paris, 1375-77

Saint Augustine

Sponsors Raoul de

Presles who offers

his translation to

Charles V


& Theology



2. Vernacular manuscripts initiate dialectical exchange between past and

present, history, tradition, and memory so as to participate in

contemporary political & social debates.

8

BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357v


personal copy of

King Charles V Paris, 1375-80

9

BnF MS fr 2813, f. 5r


personal copy of

King Charles V





The .iiii. Chapter. How

the city of Paris was

founded and about the

first king of France

(rubric on previous folio)

Of the second king,

named Clodio. The

.v. chapter

2. Past & present engage

Social & political

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BnF MS fr 2813, f. 353v


personal copy of

King Charles V





Coronation of Philippe VI

(of Valois) in 1328.

Valois succession to Capetian

dynasty = a cause of the

Hundred Years’ War

“First Chapter. How Philip,

Count of Valois, obtained

the governance of the kingdom

and of his coronation.”

( = rubric substituted by

Raoulet d’Orléans for the

Original by Henri de Trévou)


Social & political

11

BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357r


personal copy of

King Charles V





How the King of England traveled

by sea to the city of Amiens where the

aforementioned King of England had

to (devoit) …

…Perform [liege] homage to the King

of France for the Duchy of Aqui-

taine and the County of Ponthieu

as vassal (homme) of the King of

France

Homage of Edward III

to King Philip VI at Amiens

In 1329 (Part 1)


Social & political

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Homage of Edward III

to King Philip VI at Amiens

In 1329 (Part 2)

BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357v


personal copy of

King Charles V





How the King of England performed

homage to the King of France at

Amiens for the Duchy of Aquitaine

and the County of …

…Ponthieu, just as he was bound to do

Here follows the tenor of the officially

sealed letter that the King of England

sent and which contains the form

of the homage that the King of

England performed at Amiens to

the King of France for the above-

named lands

Edward’s exaggerated hand-size stresses

his performance of “inmixtio manuum

rite


Social & political



3. Vernacular manuscripts show how dynastic politics

affect contemporary conversation.

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BnF MS fr 22912, f. 269r

Saint Augustin,

Cité de Dieu; bk V, c. xxv

translation

commissioned by

King Charles V

Scribe =

Raoul de PreslesParis, 1375-77

14

BnF MS fr 22912, f. 269r

Saint Augustin,


translation

commissioned by

King Charles V

& executed by


Exposicion sus ce chapitre

Le translateur3. Dynastic politics

change historical

works

15

BnF MS fr 22912, f. 270v

Saint Augustin,


translation

commissioned by

King Charles V

& executed by


“…this matter divides into three

points. The one concerning the

birth of the first Frenchmen

from whom descend the

first kings of France.

The second regards the first

French kings and how they

initially came to have lordship

and in what places.

And the third point is when

the city of Paris was first built

since it is the head and most

important city in the kingdom

of France.”

“In his chronicle, Master Hugh

of Saint Victor, and he who

made the chronicles of France

and the division of the world

in his book called In exordio

rerum recounts the origin of

the French and again he who

made the chronicle In exordio

rerum…”

3. Dynastic politics

change historical

works

16

BnF MS fr 22912, f. 270

Saint Augustin,


translation

commissioned by

King Charles V

& executed by


“…and by this we can see that

in the time of Valentinien,

there were dukes and governors

in Paris. And because we’ve

come to the origin of the

French and of the time of the

founding of Paris and also of

the dukes and kings who first

dwelt there, we will speak a bit

about what we have read and

felt in the chroniclers who have

treated these matters, chroniclers

such as …”

3. Dynastic politics

change historical

works

Principles of Knowledge Politics of 14th –century French Manuscript Culture

4. Vernacular MSS show effect of ethical and spiritual values on polity to

princes

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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]B. M. de Besançon

MS français 434

Principles of Knowledge Politics of 14th –century French Manuscript Culture

5. MSS. show human mutability by reconceptualizing form & content.

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B.M. Dijon 525, f. 160r, détail, Gervais du Bus Roman de Fauvel ,

Mathias Rivalli, copiste

(Paris, 1355-1362)



6. Vernacular MSS. demonstrate complex connections between past and present cultures, as well as between different contemporary milieux by engaging text networks

from different periods and languages.

19

Valerius Maximus (14–37 C.E.)

trans. for Charles V

By Simon de Hesdin

BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r

Paris, 1375

7. Text networks impart a double dynamic where the contemporary vernacular structure actuates

layers of allusion from the near and far past, which manuscripts engage – positively or

negatively, ironically or paradigmatically – to create a complex dynamic within the codex

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Aristotle’s Politics;

Translated by

Nicole Oresme for

Charles V, 1365-68

KBR 11201-202,

ff. 1v-2r.

21

Aristotle’s Politics;

Translated by

Nicole Oresme for

Charles V, 1365-68

KBR 11201-202,

f. 1r (detail)

Je, Raoulet d’Orliens qui

l’escri ay mis le text premier

ainsi signé .T. et apres la

glose s’ensuit ainsi signée

.O. qui fait Oresme.

[I, Raoulet d’Orléans, the

scribe, placed (Ariostotle’s)

text first indicated by .T.

and afterwards Oresme’s gloss

follows marked by .O. ]

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Explicit

23

Brussels, KBR 10309, L’avision Christine, f. 61d

Se plainte Christine de Fortune/ qui luy oster ses bos amys

Doing things with manuscripts: CLIR post doc-seminar, Bryn Mawr College 7.31. 2013

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Transcript of Doing things with manuscripts: CLIR post doc-seminar, Bryn Mawr College 7.31. 2013