Copisti a Bologna (1265-1270)
Abstract
The mystery of writing is that there is nothing mysterious about it. If Saramago is right, then it is obvious that palaeography has not yet found all the keys we need if we are to enter amongst the people who gave form to the thoughts and memories of the medieval world. In order to reveal their identity – the greatest mystery of all – it is sometimes necessary to pass over what has already been written, affirmed and maintained, and to return to the sources instead. The “Memoriali” conserved in the Archivio di Stato in Bologna reveal stories of men and women who created, with pen and quill veritable cathedrals of ink, indelible and sometimes of ineffable beauty. In this volume the names are collected, the commissions listed, where possible the careers and tribulations described of more than 270 copyists documented at Bologna between 1265 and 1270. In short, it is the documentary sources, not the works produced or such as have survived, on which the present book has been based.
