Scriptorium

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Diemut and the nun-scribes of Wessobrunn 3. Claustration and collaboration: the nun-scribes of Admont 4. Unlikely allies in the scriptorium: the female scribes of Schaftlarn 5. Conclusion Appendix A. Codicological tables Appendix B. Ruling patterns Bibliography Index.

Abstract: Contents: Preface The Scriptoria of Merovingian Gaul: a survey of the evidence Knowledge of canon law in the Frankish kingdoms before 789: the manuscript evidence The diffusion of insular culture in Neustria between 650 and 850: the implications of the manuscript evidence The Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Germany: reflections on the manuscript evidence Frankish uncial: a new context for the work of the Echternach scriptorium Carolingian uncial: a context for the Lothar Psalter Nuns' scriptoria in England and Francia in the 8th century Some Carolingian law books and their function A 9th-century schoolbook from the Loire valley: Phillipps MS 16308 Knowledge of Plato's Timaeus in the 9th century: the implications of Valenciennes Bibliotheque Municipale MS 293 The Gospels of St Hubert Carolingian book production: some problems Women and literacy in the early middle ages Index of people and places index of manuscripts.

Abstract: The Rule of St Benedict ( c. 520) mentions a cantor only once. The celebrated twelfth-century Liber ordinis , a book of monastic regulations compiled at the Abbey of St Victor in Paris, requires several folios to outline all the duties of the cantor's office. During the six centuries separating these two sources, the monastic cantor had become one of the most important persons in the religious community: he supervised all aspects of music-making, he was in charge of the library and the scriptorium, and he oversaw and directed the celebration of the liturgy. Yet even though the cantor had a crucial role in the performance and transmission of medieval liturgical music, very little scholarly attention has been given to his office. This study offers some theories concerning the evolution of the cantor's office, and a description of that office during the late eleventh century, the period in which it reached its zenith. Many issues will be raised that, it is hoped, will suggest directions for further research.

Abstract: Doyle and Parkes use Trinity College, Cambridge MS R.3.2 (581) to make some observations about the book trade in late medieval England. The Trinity MS contains the second recension of Gower's CA as well as some of his minor works. The account of Gower's works in the latter section includes the words "dum vixit," which gives us a terminus post quem of c. 1408 for the MS. Five hands appear in the MS (labeled A-E), and each of the scribal stints corresponds with the beginnings and ends of quires. The exemplar was thus distributed in portions for "simultaneous copying" (164). Of scribes A and C we know nothing, whereas scribes B and D can also be identified for various other MSS, including copies of the Canterbury Tales (e.g., scribe B is responsible for both Ellesmere and Hengwrt) and other copies of the CA. Scribe E, finally, was Thomas Hoccleve. Hoccleve's death in 1426 gives us the MS's terminus ante quem. Doyle and Parkes conclude from all of this that most copies produced in the period were not the work of a scriptorium (as Macaulay and Fisher suggest for Gower). Instead, the author, compiler, or stationer typically hired independent craftsmen. Such commissions must at times have required the use of scribes who usually worked outside of the trade. This explains the parts taken by Hoccleve (who worked as Clerk of the Privy Seal), scribe A (who seems inexperienced), and by scribe C (whose style resembles that used in documents of the offices of state). While Gower probably did not use a scriptorium, he "could have contracted with independent scribes and limners in much the same way as other patrons or stationers did, and perhaps retained the services of some of them in order to expedite the production of copies of his own works" (200). [CvD]