Medieval Book Manuscripts and Codicology

or – how to discover the treasures from medieval libraries

The course is taught by: prof. PhDr. Juraj Šedivý, MAS, PhD.

Form of teaching: lecture with seminar (L:1,5 / S:0,5)

ECTS: 3

Objective:

The codices and their fragments are a source of knowledge about spiritual life in the Middle Ages. The graduate of the course will understand the development of book culture in our territory and will be able to independently process (catalogue) fragments of medieval manuscripts, of which there are thousands in Slovak archives, museums and libraries and are being processed through European or national projects within the framework of digitization of cultural heritage.

The student will gain basic information about the written and especially book culture in the territory of medieval Hungary and specially nowadays Slovakia, about scriptoria and libraries, about the form and content of handwritten medieval books. The student will learn about codicology (the scientific discipline of analysing codices) and will learn to analyse codices and their parts (fragments) in a scientific way. The course is practically oriented in order to help the graduate to integrate into functioning or planned EU/SK-projects.

Brief outline:

Introduction (language and writing, the division of written culture, from illitterati through semilitterati to litterati – the process of acquiring written culture in the past, the subject, methods and aims of codicology).
The development of codicology as a historical discipline and groundbreaking theoretical works and catalogues.
Writing materials, tools and inks.
The form of the book (from rotulus through wax tablets to codices; special types of medieval books).
Codicological terminology and technical description of book manuscripts as well as their fragments
Overview of book scripts from antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages.
Basics of the development of medieval illumination, notation and bookbinding.
Categories of medieval manuscripts according to content (brief overview).
Medieval scriptoria and scriptors (with emphasis on the territory of medieval Hungary and specially nowadays Slovakia).
Medieval libraries (with emphasis on the territory of medieval Hungary and specially nowadays Slovakia).
Practical examples of codicological description.

Graduation Requirements:

Attendance – 3 hours may be missed without excuse,
Seminar paper (professional description of any codex-fragment before 1500 - 25%)
final assessment during the exam period = 75% (assessment of theoretical and practical knowledge in the form of a test).

Recommenden literature:

ONG, Walter J.: Technologizace slova. Praha 2006.
SOPKO, Július: Stredoveké latinské kódexy v slovenských knižniciach. Martin 1981.
KUZMÍK, Jozef: Knižná kultúra na Slovensku v stredoveku a renesancii. Martin 1987.
OLEXÁK, Peter: Kodikológia. Ružomberok 2007.
ŠEDIVÝ, Juraj: Úvod do latinskej paleografie 1 a 2. Bratislava 2019 (available at Academia.edu)