General palaeographical studies
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Analysis of Ancient and Medieval Texts and Manuscripts: Digital Approaches
How has the digital turn truly changed the nature of our research particularly in the field of medieval scholarship where our collections are almost never large enough to justify the term 'big data'? All kind of new avenues of research are emerging thanks to the creativity of scholars and to their interest in what digital means can offer. This collection of articles aims to give an up-to-date overview of the use of computer-assisted methods in several fields of scholarship dealing with ancient and medieval texts and manuscripts (from codicology and palaeography to textual criticism and literary or historical studies) across the boundaries of language and period. In moving away from theoretical debates about what the field of digital humanities is or should be we present here a clearer picture of what textual scholars can achieve when they use computers for their research needs and purposes and what their expectations may be in terms of the technology and developments in computational methodology.
List of contributors: T. Andrews P. Andrist F. Cafiero J.-B. Camps A. Cantera A. Castro Correa T. Heikkilä A. Hoenen A. Jordanous E. R. Luján C. Macé E. Orduña I. Rabin P. Roelli M. Romanov S. Rubenson L. Spinazzè F. Stella C. Tupman K. Van Dalen-Oskam J. van Zundert.
Bessarion Scholasticus: A Study of Cardinal Bessarion’s Latin Library
Bessarion (d. 18 November 1472) first made a name for himself as one of the Greek spokesmen at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-39. After becoming a cardinal he several times entered conclaves as a serious candidate for the papacy. The library he bequeathed to the Republic of Venice destined to become the historic core of the modern Biblioteca Marciana is justly famous for its extraordinary collection of Greek manuscripts. Celebrated in his own time for his patronage of humanists he was also Italy’s leading Platonist before the emergence of Marsilio Ficino. He always held in reverence his teacher in Greece the Neoplatonist philosopher George Gemistus Pletho and his In Calumniatorem Platonis printed in Rome in 1469 was a pivotal text in the Plato-Aristotle controversy of the Renaissance. Nonetheless Bessarion was a great admirer of medieval scholasticism and especially of Thomas Aquinas.
'Bessarion Scholasticus' examines Bessarion’s relationship with Latin culture as evidenced by his library personal relations and writings. It examines his humanist collection his scholastic collection his Thomism and the circle of scholars associated with his household called Bessarionea Academia by contemporaries. Half of Bessarion Scholasticus is a catalogue raisonné of scholastic texts and manuscripts in Bessarion’s library. The volume offers the first edition of Bessarion’s autograph listing of the differences between Scotists and Thomists as well as first editions of prefaces by various authors addressed to Bessarion. In addition the appendices include statistical tables of Bessarion’s holdings of Latin classical authors and of texts in civil and canonical law and a register of the members of his cardinalitial famiglia before he became cardinal legate in Bologna in 1450.
John Monfasani is Professor at the Department of History University at Albany - State University of New York. His field of interest is European intellectual history with a special interest in Renaissance intellectual and religious history. He has published mainly on Greek and Latin humanists in fifteenth-century Italy.
Integral Palaeography
Les articles rassemblés dans ce volume ont tous trait aux manuscrits. On y retrouve la préoccupation constante du Père Boyle d'étudier le codex comme un ensemble et de l'analyser sous divers angles permettant de mieux reconstituer l'histoire du livre médiéval. Il utitlise toutes les ressources de la paléographie de la codicologie de l'histoire du texte et de sa décoration pour retrouver les traces du milieu d'origine et les indications nécessaires pour identifier l'auteur de(s) oeuvre(s) et pour situer les différentes étapes de composition du manuscrit. Le livre médiéval est considéré comme un objet archéologique qu'il faut étudier dans son ensemble pour retracer son histoire.
En lisant les études que le Père Boyle nous livre on se rend compte que la recherche interdisciplinaire est indispensable pour aborder l'examen d'un codex. Tous les détails même insignifiants à première vue peuvent apporter un éclairage important. Si la paléographie et l'histoire de l'écriture latine sont au centre des préoccupations de l'auteur il entend les resituer dans leur milieu d'origine. Et c'est ainsi qu'il en arrive au concept de "paléographie intégrale".
Tout chercheur engagé dans l'étude d'un manuscrit ou dans l'édition critique d'un texte devrait lire les réflexions méthodologiques faites par le Père Boyle avant d'entreprendre son travail. Les divers exemples qu'il donne pourront servir de modèle à des recherches ultérieures. Tant les philologues que les paléographes les codicologues que les historiens de l'art trouveront leur bien dans les articles qui ont été réunis. Après les avoir lus ils ne regarderont plus de la même manière les manuscrits qu'ils étudient.
Puisse cette notion de "paléographie intégrale" ouvrir des horizons nouveaux aux recherches futures et faire entrevoir aux spécialistes des textes la richesse d'une telle approche. Ce serait certainement le voeu le plus cher de l'auteur de ces articles.