This seminar on oral and scribal texts examines the first of the chronological stages in the production and transmission of written texts. Focusing particularly on the manuscript transmission of literary texts in medieval England, it will look at a number of distinct features in the development of scribal handwriting (paleography), the construction of books (codicology), and the ways in which written texts may reflect (and interact with) elements of their writers’ and readers’ oral cultures. We will consider topics such as: Insular manuscripts (such as the Lindesfarne Gospels), multilingual manuscripts (such as Harley 2253), production of vernacular literary collections in early 14th century London (the Auchinleck MS), the composition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
Books required for the seminar include: Michelle P Brown, A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600; Mark C Amodio, Oral Poetics in Middle English Poetry; Susanna Greer Fein, Studies in the Harley Manuscript: The Scribes, Contents and Social Contexts of British Library MS Harley 2253; and Barbara A Shailor, The Medieval Book.
Recommended are: Bischoff, Bernhard, Latin Paleography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages; and N. R. Ker, Ed. Facsimile of British Museum MS. Harley 2253.