On Tuesday, 30 May 2023, from 4 pm, Dr Zsuzsa Czagány will be giving a conference on Fragments, chants, notations:Ecosystem of medieval music fragmentology at the Faculty of Letters (Room Popovici). After the conference, Eszter Göbölösné-Gaál will sing bits of medieval liturgical music.
Dr Czagány is head of the department of Old Music at the Institute of Musicology, in Budapest. She has published widely on medieval musical manuscripts, and on medieval liturgy. Her latest book is study and full facsimile of the impressive antiphonal ordered by bishop John Filipec (1476-1490) for the cathedral of Oradea: Antiphonale Varadinense: s. XV (Musicalia Danubiana 26), 3 vols, Budapest, 2019. Eszter Gaál is a PhD student in medieval musicology.
The Lorsch Gospels, a codex aureus whose first part is kept at the Batthyaneum Library of Alba Iulia (MS II.1) has been inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register alongside with the other manuscripts of Charlemagne’s Court School (produced between c. 781 and c. 810).
The project was initiated in 2016 by Professor Michael Embach, then director of the University and City Library of Trier. For the past seven years, Prof. Adrian Papahagi (CODEX Centre) has served as link between the German initiative committee and the Romanian authorities.
CODEX has launched its series “Istoria cărții și a textelor”, published by Presa Universitară Clujeană.
The first title in the series is now available, and can be ordered from the publisher (follow this link):
Adrian Papahagi, Books from Lost Libraries: The Medieval Dioceses of Cenad, Oradea, and Transylvania, Cluj: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2023 (hardcover, 276 pp., 60 lei).
The volume discusses extant books, book fragments, and information about lost books connected to the Catholic bishoprics of Cenad, Oradea, and Transylvania before the Reformation. It presents the work of the few identifiable scribes, illuminators and bookbinders active in these dioceses, and the circulation of manuscripts and incunabula to and from these provinces.
The period under scrutiny starts in the eleventh century, when the three dioceses were established. Books are mentioned in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a few manuscripts of disputed origin survive from the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but only the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can be relatively well documented through inventories and surviving books. The fate of books is also followed during and after the Reformation, when most medieval collections were scattered or utterly destroyed.
The present research complements a recent census of medieval manuscripts in Romanian libraries by adducing as evidence manuscripts of local origin, provenance or relevance kept in foreign libraries.
CODEX has launched its series “Istoria cărții și a textelor”, published by Presa Universitară Clujeană.
The second title in the series is now available, and can be ordered from the publisher (follow this link):
Adinel C. Dincă, The Transylvanian Saxons and Their Books in the Middle Ages, Cluj: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2023 (hardcover, 210 pp., 55 lei).
This research underscores the significance of the Transylvanian Saxons as actors in the cultural history of Europe.
The presence of books in southern Transylvania (together with various other expressions of writing) draws the complex picture of a literate society, in which gifted young men attended a well-organised network of elementary schools, continued their training abroad, then returned from European universities, and served their home communities through ecclesiastical or secular careers.
This volume addresses less studied aspects of the culture of medieval Transylvania, such as the local decoration and illumination of manuscripts, charters, and printed books. It also aims to provide an update on the current state of research concerning the literate behaviour of the Saxon communities in medieval Transylvania, while suggesting future research directions.
Christophe Didier, délégué à la coopération internationale à la Bibliothèque Nationale Universitaire de Strasbourg, donnera une conférence à la Faculté des Lettres (Str. Horea 31), Salle Popovici, le lundi 21 novembre, à partir de 16h.
La conférence porte le titre provocateur: Non, l’Europe n’est pas morte… et l’Europe Centrale commence à Strasbourg.
La Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg a, en France, une histoire particulière. Fondée par l’Empire allemand en 1870, à une époque où l’Alsace est allemande, elle devient après la Première Guerre mondiale, avec l’université, une porte ouverte vers l’espace germanique et l’Europe centrale et orientale. De ce passé subsistent une tradition d’ouverture qui a mené à de nombreux partenariats, et bien entendu de très riches collections qui englobent toutes les langues de l’Europe (et même d’au-delà). Les projets de la bibliothèque seront à l’avenir fortement marqués par l’obtention du label “Capitale mondiale du livre” que Strasbourg portera en 2024-2025, mais aussi par une politique internationale résolument ouverte vers l’Est. L’Europe centrale commence à Strasbourg…
Sont exposés ici treize incunables imprimés à Strasbourg, soit à peu près un dixième des incunables conservés à la Bibliothèque de l’Académie Roumaine de Cluj. Strasbourg, un des centres majeurs de l’imprimerie, constitue donc pour la culture de Cluj une source importante d’incunables, et ce dès le quinzième siècle.
L’exposition, réalisée par Adrian Papahagi et Carmen Oanea, membres du Centre CODEX, sera inaugurée lundi, 21 novembre 2022, à 10 h, à la Bibliothèque de l’Académie Roumaine (str. Kogălniceanu 12-14), à l’occasion de la visite d’une délégation universitaire de Strasbourg.
La brochure de l’exposition peut être consultée ci-dessus:
On Wednesday, 16 November 2022, at 6pm (Romanian time), Dr Sarah Wood (University of Warwick) is giving a guest lecture on ‘Piers Plowman and Its Manuscript Tradition’. The lecture can be attended live on Zoom (Meeting ID: 891 9868 6870; Passcode: 210139).
Sarah Wood was educated at the University of Oxford, and is currently Associate Professor in Middle English Literature at the University of Warwick. Her research focuses on Piers Plowman, medieval religious literature, and the history of the book. Her publications include Piers Plowman and its Manuscript Tradition (York: York Medieval Press/Boydell and Brewer, 2022), and Conscience and the Composition of Piers Plowman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
On Friday, 27 May 2022, from 10 am, Prof. Mircea M. Tomuș (Kirkwood Community College, Iowa) will present his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Sir Gawain și Cavalerul cel Verde (Cluj: Școala Ardeleană, 2020).
Convenors: Prof. Michaela Mudure, Prof. Adrian Papahagi, Faculty of Letters.
On the occasion of the European Night of Museums, Prof. Adrian Papahagi presented the iconography of the Lorsch Gospels (Alba Iulia, Biblioteca Batthaneum, MS II.1) at the Museum of the Orthodox Cathedral in Cluj.
The 2021-2022 class of the Diplôme Européen d’Études Médiévales (DEEM) studying codicology with Prof. Adrian Papahagi (CODEX-UBB) have just published two descriptions of manuscript fragments from the Academy Library-Cluj on Fragmentarium.
The descriptions were elaborated during the seminars by the following MA, PhD and postdoctoral students: Angelo Bellettini (Toronto), Irene Binini (Parma), Giuseppe Colonna (Oxford), Elena Deinhammer (Linz), Thibault Emonet (Fribourg), Ole Fredrik Kullerud (Oslo), Wilhelm Ljungar (Stockholm), Carmen Oanea (Cluj), Jean-Gabriel Pophillat (Rome), Taneli Pupputi (Jyväskylä), José Carlos Sánchez López (Sevilla), Kajetan Škraban (Ljubljana).
The descriptions were elaborated during the seminars by the following MA, PhD and postdoc students Angelo Bellettini (Toronto), Irene Binini (Parma), Giuseppe Colonna (Oxford), Elena Deinhammer (Linz), Thibault Emonet (Fribourg), Ole Fredrik Kullerud (Oslo), Wilhelm Ljungar (Stockholm), Carmen Oanea (Cluj), Jean-Gabriel Pophillat (Rome), Taneli Pupputi (Jyväskylä), José Carlos Sánchez López (),
In its first month, the exhibition of manuscript fragments at the Romanian Academy Library of Cluj attracted a large public. Over 900 visitors (local and foreign scholars, groups of students and pupils accompanied by their tutors) were given tours by the research assistants of the CODEX Centre, Carmen Oanea and Andrei Crișan, and by the curator of the exhibition, Adrian Papahagi.
This is the latest publication of the CODEX Centre:
Adrian Papahagi, A Transylvanian Puzzle: Reconstructing Medieval Culture from Manuscript Fragments. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, 8 February-8 April 2022, Cluj: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2022, 107 pp. + 109 colour illustrations and plates (ISBN 978-606-37-1392-7).
The FRAGMED project culminated with an exhibition of manuscripts and manuscript fragments at the Academy Library in Cluj, which opened on 8 February.
Prof. Doru Pamfil, President of the Cluj branch of the Romanian Academy, Prof. Daniel David, Rector of the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj, Prof. Sorin Crișan, Director of the Academy Library in Cluj, Mgr. Benedict of Bistrița, Dr Codruța Cuceu, manager of the FRAGMED project, and Prof. Adrian Papahagi, principal investigator of the FRAGMED project and curator of the exhibition gave short speeches.
Drs Zsuzsa Czagány and Gabriella Gilányi from the Institute of Musicology, Budapest and three of their PhD and MA students attended the opening. Ms Eszter Gaál and Mr Mózes Enyedi sang three pieces from the exhibited fragments:
1. Introit of Michaelmas, from the gradual of St Michael’s church, Cluj, s. XV/XVI (Alba Iulia, Bibl. Batthyaneum MS I.1 & Cluj, BAR, Fragm. Cod. Lat. 19-21);
2. ‘Lapides torrentes’ responsory, sung on the feast of St Stephen the Protomartyr, from an antiphonary fragment used in Cluj in the 15th c. (Cluj, BAR, Fragm. Cod. Lat. 14-15);
3. ‘Ave Spes Nostra’ antiphon, sung on the Annunciation, from the Oradea Antiphonal, c. 1476-1490 (Győr, Egyházmegyei Kincstár és Könyvtár, s.n. & Cluj, BAR Fragm. Cod. Lat. 1-2).
The event received ample coverage on national television and in the local press:
On 13 January 2022, from 6pm (CET), Adrian Papahagi is giving a conference on membra disiecta from medieval manuscripts to the Romanian Society of Classical Studies. The title of the conference is: “Membra disiecta: Fragmente de manuscrise medievale la Biblioteca Academiei Române din Cluj”.
On Wednesday, 8 December 2021, Dr Dragoș Calma gave a lecture on Editing Medieval Texts. Dr Calma answered the following questions: why do I edit; what do I edit; how do I edit? He spoke about major authors and minor texts, and about minor authors and their relevance for an intellectual landscape.
Rara avis: the lecture was held in person, at the Faculty of Letters (Room Eminescu, 4-6 pm).
Dragoș Calma is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin. He obtained a BA in philosophy from UBB-Cluj, and a PhD in medieval philosophy from the Sorbonne (Paris IV). His publications include: Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes (ed.), Leiden: Brill, 2 vols, 2019-2020; Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages: New Commentaries on ‘Liber de Causis’ and ‘Elementatio Theologica’ (ed.), Turnhout: Brepols, 2016; Études sur le premier siècle de l’averroïsme latin. Approches et textes inédits, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011.
On Thursday, 4 November 2021, from 4 pm (Romanian time), CODEX organised a conference by:
Dr Christine Jakobi-Mirwald
‘Lost in Translation’:Speaking about Medieval Manuscripts
The conference was broadcast live on Zoom.
Christine Jakobi-Mirwald studied art history, French and Italian in Munich, and has a PhD in art history and manuscript studies from the University of Kassel. Her publications include: Das mittelalterliche Buch. Funktion und Ausstattung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2004; Text – Buchstabe – Bild. Studien zur Entstehung der historisierten Initiale im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Reimer, 1998; Buchmalerei. Ihre Terminologie in der Kunstgeschichte, Berlin: Reimer, 2nd edn 1997.
CODEX members, Prof. Adrian Papahagi and Andrei Crișan, PhD candidate, gave papers at the “Academic Days of Cluj” conference, held online on 28-29 October 2021. The topic of this year’s conference was “Word and Image in European Book Production (15th-20th c.)”.
Prof. Adrian Papahagi spoke about “Describing medieval manuscript fragments: methods and problems”, and Mr Andrei Crișan gave a paper on “Contextualising late Anglo-Saxon law texts”.
The full programme of the conference can be found here:
Michelle P. Brown, An Introduction to the Illuminated Manuscripts of Britain and Ireland, c. 600-850
• Wednesday, 13 October2021, 6pm local time (EEST), live on Zoom (link)
Michelle Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies (School of Advanced Studies, University of London), and former curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library. Her publications include: Art of the Islands: Celtic, Pictish, Anglo-Saxon and Viking Visual Culture c. 450-1050, Oxford: Bodleian, 2016; The Lindisfarne Gospels and the Early Medieval World, London & Chicago: British Library and Univ. of Chicago Press, 2010; Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age, London & Toronto: British Library & Univ. of Toronto Press, 2008; A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600, Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1993.
Between 27 September- 1 October 2021, CODEX member, Andrei Crișan (PhD candidate), attended the Medieval Summer School: From Diplomatics to Genetics. Old and new fundamental research methods in medieval studies, organized in Berlin by the Centre for Medieval Studies at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW).
All interested are invited to attend our guest lectures. No prior registration is required.
• Wednesday, 13 October2021, 6pm local time (EEST), live on Zoom (link)
Michelle P. Brown, An Introduction to the Illuminated Manuscripts of Britain and Ireland, c. 600-850
Michelle Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies (School of Advanced Studies, University of London), and former curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library. Her publications include: Art of the Islands: Celtic, Pictish, Anglo-Saxon and Viking Visual Culture c. 450-1050, Oxford: Bodleian, 2016; The Lindisfarne Gospels and the Early Medieval World, London & Chicago: British Library and Univ. of Chicago Press, 2010; Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age, London & Toronto: British Library & Univ. of Toronto Press, 2008; A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600, Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1993.
• Thursday, 4 November, 4pm local time (EET), Sala Eminescu, Fac. de Litere (Covid allowing), and live on Zoom (link)
Christine Jakobi-Mirwald, ‘Lost in Translation’:Speaking about Medieval Manuscripts
Christine Jakobi-Mirwald studied art history, French and Italian in Munich, and has a PhD in art history and manuscript studies from the University of Kassel. Her publications include: Das mittelalterliche Buch. Funktion und Ausstattung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2004; Text – Buchstabe – Bild. Studien zur Entstehung der historisierten Initiale im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Reimer, 1998; Buchmalerei. Ihre Terminologie in der Kunstgeschichte, Berlin: Reimer, 2nd edn 1997.
• Thursday, 9 December, local time (EET), live on Zoom (link)
Dragoș Calma, Editing Medieval texts
Dragoș Calma is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin. He obtained a BA in philosophy from UBB-Cluj, and a PhD in medieval philosophy from the Sorbonne (Paris IV). His publications include: Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes (ed.), Leiden: Brill, 2 vols, 2019-2020; Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages: New Commentaries on ‘Liber de Causis’ and ‘Elementatio Theologica’ (ed.), Turnhout: Brepols, 2016; Études sur le premier siècle de l’averroïsme latin. Approches et textes inédits, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011.
Singling out the i‘s, especially when they appear in a series of minims, is a well-known aspect of Gothic manuscripts. However, little attention has been paid to the morphology of the “dots”. The present research explores an extensive corpus of manuscripts (ss. XIII-XV) in an attempt to assess whether such morphological variation is systematic, and chronologically or geographically determined. Can the shapes of “dots” on the i‘s provide a criterion for dating and localising manuscripts?
With the support of research assistants, MA students Carmen Oanea and Andrei Crișan, Adrian Papahagi has analysed over 2000 Gothic manuscripts in search of an answer. The results will be presented at the International Medieval Congress on 7 July 2021.
The Diploma in Medieval Studies, created at Louvain-la-Neuve in 1991 by the Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Etudes Médiévales (FIDEM), is organised in the framework of the ERASMUS+ programme in cooperation with LUMSA University in Rome (erasmuslumsa@lumsa.it). Students coming from universities with an Erasmus+ agreement with LUMSA (this is the case UBB-Cluj) do not have to pay the enrolment fee.
The courses, which are taught in Rome at the Norwegian Institute (https://www.hf.uio.no/dnir/english/), focus on methodology and teaching of auxiliary disciplines: Classical Latin, Medieval Latin, History of Libraries, Palaeography, Codicology, Diplomatic, and Text Editing.
Given the global Covid-19 outbreak, for the academic year 2021-2022 FIDEM has exceptionally decided to provide a partially blended DEEM programme, within which it will be possible to apply for both an in-class and an online course.
The in-class programme will be subject to the Covid-19 health measures issued by the Italian Government and, as the situation is almost certain to progressively stabilise, it will be provided only from 10 January 2022, starting with Medieval Latin I and continuing according to schedule (https://fidemweb.org/project/deem-2021-2022/).
The online programme, instead, will cover all the courses, starting on 25 October 2021 with Italian I which is an optional course
A minimum of 6 participants is required for the course to start.
Attendance (both in-class and online) can take three forms: annual (60 ECTS), modular (30 ECTS), and personalised (2 or 4 ECTS).
The prerequisite for admission to the Diploma is a bachelor’s degree in one of the humanities
General coordination is by Doctor Massimiliano Lenzi (Sapienza, Università di Roma) (deem@fidemweb.org).
On May 25th, 2021, Adrian Papahagi will give a paper on ‘Anglo-Saxon and Alemannic traditions of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae’ at an online symposium organised by the University of Oxford and University College London.
Full programme:
Rethinking English Literary Culture in the Age of Alfred: An Online Symposium
Monday April 26th 10.00 GMT (=11.00 British Summer Time), second screening 18.00 GMT (=19.00 British Summer Time) Keynote: Malcolm Godden, ‘Why Did the English Switch from Verse to Prose?’
11.30 GMT (=12.30 BST), second screening 19.30 GMT (20.30 BST) – will follow on from the recording of the keynote Christine Rauer, ‘Old English Prose before Alfred: The Mercian Dimension’ Susan Irvine, ‘Decorum and the Idea of an English Aureate Style in the Dialogues‘
David Johnson, ‘Eschatology in the Old English Dialogues’
Wednesday April 28th, 10.00 GMT (=11.00 BST), second screening 18.00 GMT (=19.00 BST) Daniel Anlezark, ‘The Old English Pastoral Care: Assessing the Evidence’ Greg Waite, ‘The Old English Bede: Some Reflections on Origins and Text’
Georgina Pitt, ‘Vibrant Matter: The Persuasive Agency of the Alfred Jewel’
Tuesday May 25th, 16.00 GMT (=17.00 BST), second screening Wednesday May 26th, 09.00 GMT (=10.00 BST) Adrian Papahagi, ‘Anglo-Saxon and Alemannic Traditions of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae’
Karmen Lenz, ‘Refrains and Frame Lines: Patterns in Sung Verse in the Consolatio and the Old English Boethius’ Robert Gallagher, ‘Rethinking Latin in the Age of Alfred’
Tuesday June 29th, 17.00 GMT (=18.00 BST), second screening Wednesday June 30th, 09.00 GMT (10.00 BST) Michael Treschow, ‘Ease and Unease in the Old English Boethius and Soliloquies’ Erica Weaver, ‘Naked Thought: Touching Wisdom in the Old English Soliloquies’ Leslie Lockett, ‘The Old English Soliloquies and Scholarship in the Reign of Athelstan’
Tuesday September 28th, 17.00 GMT (=18.00 BST), second screening Wednesday September 29th, 09.00 GMT (=10.00 BST) Jane Toswell, ‘The Psalms in the Ninth Century’ Emily Butler, ‘Reading the Prose Psalms in an Age of Populism’
Stephanie Clark, ‘Alfred and the Economics of Personhood’
Tuesday October 12th 17.00 GMT (=18.00), second screening Wednesday October 13th, 09.00 GMT (=10.00 BST) Emily Kesling, ‘Writing-in Alfred in Tenth-Century Winchester’ Rosalind Love, ‘Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 206 and its Implications’
Tuesday October 26th, 15.00 GMT (= 16.00 BST), second screening Wednesday October 27th, 09.00 GMT (=10.00 BST) Omar Khalaf, ‘Ælfred se casere: Kingship and Imperial Legitimation in the Old English Orosius’
Hal Momma, ‘Monarchy, the Three Estates, and Beer: Alfred and Alfredian Political Philosophy’
Tuesday November 16th, 17.00 GMT (second screening Wednesday November 17th, 09.00 GMT) Courtnay Konshuh, ‘The Compilation of MS A: An Exemplar Revised’ Anya Adair, ‘King Alfred’s Domboc and the Invention of English Legal Time’
Tomás Kalmar, ‘Si recte non dividas, peccas: On the coherence of Asser’s final chapters’
Tuesday November 30th, 17.00 GMT (second screening Wednesday December 1st, 09.00 GMT) Nicole Discenza, ‘Alfredian geographies’ Elizabeth Tyler and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, ‘Looking East and West: Contextualising Vernacular Writing in Alfred’s Time’ [double paper]
Tuesday December 7th 17.00 GMT (second screening Wednesday December 8th, 09.00 GMT) Mercedes Salvador-Bello, ‘The Exeter Book and the Transmission of Poetic Anthologies in the (Post-)Alfredian Period’
Helen Appleton, ‘The Proverbs of Alfred and Legacies of Educational Reform’
23 April 2021: Dr. David Rundle (Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of Kent): Neil Ker and the tradition of studying fragments in the UK
28 May 2021: Dr. Jennifer Bain (Dalhousie University) and Dr. Debra Lacoste (Cantus Database, The Institute of Medieval Music, University of Waterloo): “Digital Analysis of Chant Transmission (DACT): A Case Study of Two Fragments from the Binding of the Riesencodex”
Nine MA and PhD students described manuscript fragments from the Academy Library in Cluj. The young researchers come from various European universities (Barcellona, Castilla-La Mancha, Cluj, Fribourg, Krakow, Sevilla, Torún, Venice), and are enrolled in the Diplôme Européen d’Études Médiévales, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales (FIDEM). This activity is part of the Codicology I course, given by Adrian Papahagi, director of CODEX.
On Monday, 8 March 2021, Dr William Duba (Univ. of Fribourg), the manager of Fragmentarium, introduced the students to Fragmentarium and fragmentology.
The students’ work has been published on Fragmentarium, and can be consulted at the following links:
Here is the passage from the unidentified wrapper of a book printed in 1520 to Cluj, Biblioteca Academiei Române (BAR), Fragm. Cod. Lat. 12, a beautiful twelfth-century fragment from a copy of Otto of Freising’s Chronicle.
The fragment has been restored and digitised at the National Unity Museum in Alba Iulia, and has been published on Fragmentarium.
The printed book has also been restored, and rebound in leather. Both items now stand prepared to face the coming centuries.
On Friday, February 5th 2021, at 2 pm CET (3pm Romanian time), Adrian Papahagi will give a conference on the tradition of Boethius in the Early Middle Ages:
HIC MAGIS PHILOSOPHICE QUAMCATHOLICE LOQUITUR: Latin and Vernacular Traditions of Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiae in the Early Middle Ages
The conference is organised by the ERC Neoplat grant – Medieval Thought in Context: Convergent Approaches (Year 2), organised by Dragos Calma and Iulia Székely, in partnership with CODEX.
In order to register and to get your Zoom codes, please contact liz.curry@ucd.ie.
Later edit: The recorded conference can be watched here:
By December 2020, eleven manuscript fragments from the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj have been digitised and described on Fragmentarium. Check them out here!
Fragmentarium, based at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), “enables libraries, collectors, researchers and students to publish images of medieval manuscript fragments, allowing them to catalogue, describe, transcribe, assemble and re-use them.”
Dr Adrian Papahagi is a co-principal investigator in the Fragmentarium-Phase II project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) between 2019 and 2022.
Congratulations to CODEX member Andreea Mârza on her new book: a rich and fascinating exploration of the life and activity of Imre Dániel, the librarian of the Catholic bishop of Transylvania, Ignatius Batthyány, at the end of the eighteenth century. The book can be ordered on the publisher’s site.
On 23 October 2020, the members of the FRAGMED project presented their work in progress in a press conference held on Zoom. So far, eleven manuscript fragments from the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj have been restored, described and published online on the Fragmentarium site.
On 8 October 2020, Dr Adrian Papahagi gave a paper on “Liturgy and Private Devotion in Medieval Transylvania” at an international conference held in Bratislava and online.
THE IMAGE OF PIETY IN MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS IN SLOVAKIA AND IN EUROPE
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE
8th-9th October 2020, University Library in Bratislava, Klariská ul. 5, 811 05 Bratislava
Klara Mészárosová (Bratislava, University Library in Bratislava)
9:30 – 10:00 Keynote Speaker
Dušan Buran (Bratislava): A Late-Gothic Grisaille Manuscript discovered: The Ilona Andrássy Book of Hours/Ein Fund der spätgotischen Grisaille-Handschrift: Das Stundenbuch von Ilona Andrássy
10:00 – 10:20
Maria Theisen (Vienna): Vorsehung und Antike als Stützen christlicher Frömmigkeit: Das Bild der Sibyllen im Prachtmissale der Salzburger Erzbischöfe Bernhard von Rohr und Johannes Beckenschlage
10:20 – 10:40
Juraj Šedivý (Bratislava): Medieval piety in the epigraphic culture in Slovakia
Coffee break 1 10:40 – 11:00
11:00 – 11:20
Adrian Papahagi (Cluj): Liturgy and Private Devotion in Medieval Transylvania
11:20 – 11:40
Stanislava Kuzmová (Bratislava): Manuscript Model Sermon Collections from Krakow and Their Diffusion in the Late Middle Ages
11:40 – 12:00
Miklos István Földváry (Budapest): Continuity and Discontinuity in Local Liturgical Customs
Lunch break12:00 – 13:30
13:30 – 13:50
Stefan Gasch (Vienna): The Songs of the Lions and the Prayers of the Lillies – Discovering the Piety of the Elites in Munich and Augsburg
13:50 – 14:10
Vladimír Maňas (Brno): Gaude Virgo: Marian piety in late middle ages and the early modern period. Brotherhoods, graduals, and liturgical practice in Moravia
14:10 – 14:30
Hana Studeničová (Bratislava): Polyphone Fragmente von Ordinarium und Proprium Missae aus dem Archiv der Stadt Bratislava: Ein Versuch um Rekonstruktion der historischen Ereignisse in der Geschichte eines Musikmanuskripts
Coffee break 2 14:30 – 14:40
14:40 – 15:00
Rastislav Luz (Bratislava): Liturgické slávenia v mestečku Svätý Jur do reformácie/ Liturgical celebrations in Svätý Jur at the end of the Middle Ages
15:00 – 15:20
Ondřej Múčka (Brno): Die Verehrung der Heiligen – gesungene Ikonographie – in den brünnischen Handschriften
15:20 – 15:40
Rastislav Adamko – Janka Bednáriková – Zuzana Zahradníková (Ružomberok): Votive Mass in Missale Notatum, Ms. Vol. 387, from the Central Library of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava
Discussion
9th October 2020
ONLINE – LIVE
9:30 – 9:50
Elsa De Luca (Lisbon): Aquitanian Notation in Iberia: Plainchant Fragments in Braga and Guimarães
9:50 – 10:10
Zsuzsa Czagány (Budapest): Böhmische notierte Fragmente im Bestand der ehemaligen Pauliner Bibliothek des Zentralen Priesterseminars in Budapest
10:10 – 10:30
Irina Chachulska (Warsaw): Some remarks on the provenance of the Cistercian gradual from the collection of the National Library based on paleographic analysis and the repertoire content of the manuscript
Coffee break 1 10:30 – 10:40
10:40 – 11:00
Gabriella Gilányi (Budapest): Newly identified codex leaves of a 15th-century Transylvanian Antiphoner in Martin
11:00 – 11:20
Katarina Šter (Ljubljana): Carthusian Chant as Piety in the Form of Active Contemplation
11:20 – 11:40
Dominika Grabiec (Warsaw): Polish Dominican Sequences repertoire – an image of the development of medieval piety
Lunch break 11:40 – 13:30
13:30 – 13:50
Martin Haltrich (Klosterneuburg): Der fromme Markgraf. Die Genese der Herrscherfrömmigkeit Leopolds III. im mittelalterlichen Klosterneuburg.
13:50 – 14:10
Veronika Garajová (Bratislava): Medieval notated fragments from Trenčín as a phenomenon of trans-regional connections
14:10 – 14:30
Janka Bednáriková – Eva Veselovská (Ružomberok – Bratislava): CANTUS PLANUS in Slovakia: Local Elements – Transregional Connections. Image of piety on the example of the medieval fragments from Betliar and Kežmarok/ Die Frömmigkeit im Spiegel der mittelalterlichen Musikfragmente aus Betliar und Kesmark
Miriam Hlavačková (Bratislava): Ad limina apostolorum. Rom-Pilger aus dem Königreich Ungarn im Spätmittelalter
Katrin Janz-Wenig (Hamburg): Gelebte Frömmigkeit zwischen Predigt und Liturgie. Ein Einblick in die Frömmigkeitspraxis der Augustiner-Chorfrauen in Klosterneuburg im letzten Jahrzehnt des 15. Jahrhunderts.
Within the FRAGMED project sponsored by the Romanian Ministry of Culture, Dr Adrian Papahagi gave a lecture on “Identifying, describing, digitising, and conserving fragmenta codicum“. The lecture was attended by the staff of the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj on 16 September 2020.
We are so glad that the reference works we published are available in the world’s leading libraries.
Above: Vocabularul cărții manuscrise next to other codicological vocabularies on the shelves of the Palaeography Reading Room, Special Collections, Senate House Library, London.
The first group of medieval manuscript fragments from the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj included in the FRAGMED project have been restored by the team led by Dr Alexandru Știrban at the National Unity Museum in Alba Iulia.
The teams from Cluj (Dr Codruța Cuceu, Dr Bogdan Crăciun, and Dr Adrian Papahagi) and from Alba Iulia (Dr Alexandru Știrban, Ms Maria Cernea) were joined by CODEX member, Dr Cristian Mladin, curator of special collections at the Batthyaneum Library in Alba Iulia.
The meeting turned into a friendly informal seminar on the restoration, study, and digitisation of medieval manuscript fragments.
Jay Paul Gates (City University of New York) – The Alfredian Prose Psalms and a Legal English Identity
Sharon M. Rowley (Christopher Newport University) – Bishop Lyfing, Crediton, and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 41
Tiffany Beechy (University of Colorado, Boulder) – Mashups and Marginalia: A Shadow Manuscript in the Margins of CCCC 41?
13:00-14:30Lunch
15-16:30 | Sala Shakespeare, Facultatea de Litere
Keynote: Susan Irvine (University College London) – All that Glitters: Werferth’s Dialogues and the Construction of an English Aureate Style
16:30-17 Coffee Break
17-19 | Sala Popovici
Moderator: Sharon M. Rowley
Hilary Fox (Wayne State University) – Monastic Fosterage in the Old English Boethius
Karmen Lenz (Middle Georgia State University) – Calcidius and Boethius on the Soul: Medieval Readings of the Timaeus
Adrian Papahagi (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj) – Glosses and “Glossenglossierung” in the Continental and Anglo-Saxon Traditions of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae
Rosalind Love (University of Cambridge) – Reading Boethius in Tenth-Century Canterbury
The conference was followed by a trip to the Alba Iulia, Sibiu, and Cisnădioara.
On Wednesday, 23 October 2019, Professor Susan Irvine (University College London) will be lecturing on the Old English poem The Wanderer. The lecture will start at 12:00 in room Shakespeare, at the Faculty of Letters.
Congratulations to CODEX member Cristiana Papahagi for her excellent edition and translation into Romanian of the Old French epic Chançun d’Willame (London, BL Add. MS 38663, s. XII). The book is available from the publisher, POLIROM.
Check out the article on medieval calendars co-authored by CODEX member, Cristian Ispir within a project hosted by the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Our latest publication will be presented at the Faculty of Letters of the Babeș-Bolyai University. The three authors, CODEX members Andreea Mârza, Adinel Dincă and Adrian Papahagi will be joined by Prof. Corin Braga, the dean of the Faculty of Letters, and Prof. Alexander Baumgarten, the director of Polirom’s Biblioteca medievală series.
Friday, March 29, 2019 | 12:00 | Room Popovici, Faculty of Letters
On 20 March 2019, Adrian Papahagi is giving a conference on Western medieval manuscripts in Romania. The latest publication of CODEX will be presented by Professors Eugen Munteanu and Florin Crîșmăreanu from the University of Iași.
The event moderated by Dr Rodica Pop will be hosted by the Central University Library, and will start at 12:00 in Room Hasdeu.
We are happy to announce the publication of the first census of Western medieval manuscripts in Romania. The volume, produced by CODEX members Adrian Papahagi, Adinel Dincă, and Andreea Mârza, describes 515 items — many of them for the first time. The volume has a rich system of indices, including authors and texts, provenance (places and owners), scribes, languages, and dating. Musical and illuminated manuscripts are singled out in the indices.
The census describes manuscripts from the following collections:
Alba Iulia, Batthyaneum Library [1-301]; Brașov, Archives of the Evangelical Church C.A. [302-309], National Archives [310-312]; Bucharest, National Archives [313-315], Library of the Romanian Academy [316-335], National Library of Romania [336-341], Library of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchy [342], National History Museum [343], National Art Museum [344-345]; Cisnădie, Evangelical Church C.A. [346-357]; Cluj, Central University Library [358-379], Library of the Romanian Academy [380-396]; Gheorgheni, Roman Catholic Parish [397]; Mediaș, Evangelical Church C.A. [398-399]; Miercurea Ciuc, Szekely Museum of Ciuc [400-403]; Odorheiu Secuiesc, Roman Catholic Parish [404]; Sfântu Gheorghe, National Szekely Museum [405]; Sibiu, Central Archives of the Evangelical Church C.A. [406-423], National Archives [424-432], The Brukenthal Museum Library [433-504]; Sighișoara, “Zaharia Boiu” Documentary Library [505], Evangelical Church C.A. [506-507]; Târgu Mureș, Teleki-Bolyai Library [508-513]; Timișoara, National Archives [514-515].
The Stadtbibliothek Trier organised a conference on the deluxe liturgical books produced at the Court School of Charlemagne. Dr Adrian Papahagi spoke about the Lorsch Gospels (Alba Iulia, Batthyaneum Library, MS II.1 & Vatican, Pal. lat. MS 50), the last product of the group.
The conference programme was:
Mittwoch, 10. Oktober
Nachmittags: Gelegenheit zu Führungen durch die Stadt, die Schatzkammer oder die Museen für bereits angereiste Gäste
Abends, 18:00 : Eröffnung der Tagung (Lesesaal, Stadtbibliothek Trier)
Grußworte und Einführung in die Tagung Festvortrag: Prof. Dr. Joachim-Felix Leonhard (Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission, Vorsitzender des Nominierungskomitees)
Weinempfang, anschließend Abendessen in eigener Regie
Donnerstag, 11. Oktober (Lesesaal)
Sektion I: Handschriften der Hofschule im Einzelporträt
8.30-9.00 : Michael Embach, Das Ada-Evangeliar – Kodex und Einband
9.00-9.30 : Ilka Mestemacher, Images of Architecture and Materials: the Miniatures of the Soissons Gospels
9.30-10.00 : William Diebold, „Not pictures but writing was sent for the understanding of our faith“: Word and Image in the Soissons Gospels and at the Court of Charlemagne
10.00-10.30 : Adrian Papahagi, The Lorsch Gospels in Context
10.30-11.00: Kaffeepause
Sektion II: Aspekte der Kunstgeschichte
11.00-11.30 : Heather Pulliam, „Tabulis lapideis“: representing evangelists and their books in Insular, Byzantine and Carolingian manuscripts
11.30-12.00 : Peter Seiler, Die Legitimität (bild-)künstlerischer ornamenta in den Libri Carolini
12.00-12.30 : Fabrizio Crivello: Eine neue Antike. Phänomene einer kreativen Rezeption
12.30-14.00 : Mittagspause
14.00-14.30 : Beate Fricke / Theresa Holler, Flora und Fauna im Bildrahmen – Effekt und Repräsentation. Zur Naturvorstellung bei Hrabanus Maurus
14.30-15.00 : Christine Jakobi-Mirwald, „Is your picture really necessary?“ -Die historisierten Initialen der Hofschule
15.00-15.30 : Matthias Exner, Das strukturelle Verhältnis der Hofschule zum Wiener Krönungsevangeliar
Sektion III: Das Umfeld der Hofschule
15.30-16.00 : Laura Pani, Outside the Court School: Scribes, books and writing centers of Charlemagne’s Age
16.00-16.30 Uhr: Kaffeepause
16.30-17.00 : Dietrich Lohrmann, Der Codex oblongus von Lukrez‘ De natura rerum am Hof Karls des Großen
17.00-17.30 : Philippe Depreux, Ein Zeuge der Verbreitung und Rezeption von juristischen und auf die Rechtspraxis bezogenen Texten in Saint-Martin bei Tours: die Handschrift Warsaw, Biblioteca Uniwerstecka,1
17.30-18.00 : Stephanie Westphal, Ubi sunt imagines? Zu den karolingischen Handschriften aus dem Kloster Weißenburg und ihrer Bildausstattung
19.00 : Empfang der Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion Trier, Rokokosaal
20.00 : Gemeinsames Abendessen auf Einladung der Veranstalter
Freitag, 12. Oktober, Fortsetzung der Tagung (Lesesaal)
Sektion IV: Produktions- und Wirkungsgeschichte der Hofschule:
8.30-9.00 : Lawrence Nees, Antique and pseudo-Antique in manuscripts from the time of Charlemagne
9.00-9.30 : Patrizia Carmassi, Zwischen Hof und Schule: Wandel in Wahrnehmung, Benutzung und Kommentierung von Terenz‘ Komödien
9.30-10.00 : Andrea Antonio Verardi, The Liber Pontificalis in the age of Charlemagne and the use of the ancient lives of the popes at the Carolingian Court School
10.00-10.30 : Kaffeepause
10.30-11.00 : Charlotte Denoel, Is Carolingian Art Contemporary? Dialogue between Rabanus Maurus’s Praise of the Holy Cross and some artistic trends in the 1960s and 1970s and beyond
11.00-11.30 : Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck, Zur „Soziographie“ der Maler und Schreiber der Hofschule
11.30-12.00 : David Ganz, Die karolingische Minuskel in den Handschriften der Hofschule
12.00-12.30 : Christoph Winterer, Die Miniatur im (karolingischen) Zeitalter ihrer Reproduzierbarkeit? Beobachtungen und Überlegungen zu den Handschriften der Hofschule
Sektion V: Liturgie und Musik
12.30-13.00 : Uhr: Jean-François Goudesenne, Did the Carolingians achieve the Cantus Renovatio before 814? The impropable notated Antiphoner of Charlemagne
13.00-14.00 : Mittagspause
14.00-14.30 : Iegor Reznikoff, The meaning of Cantus Romanus in Charlemagne’s Court instructions
14.30-15.00 : Susan Rankin, Reflections of Musical Practice in Court School Manuscripts
15.00-15.30 : Arthur Westwell, The Carolingian Conception and Contemporary Construction of Liturgical Authority and the Court School Manuscripts
On 27 August 2018, Dr Adrian Papahagi gave a conference entitled “Itinera codicum: Über Handschriftentransfers zwischen Österreich und Siebenbürgen (14.-18. Jh.)” at the Institute for Medieval Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in Vienna.
On 16 March 2018, Dr Max Baker-Hytch (PhD Oxford) will be holding a conference on The Authenticity of Biblical Manuscripts at the Faculty of Letters. All welcome.
LE: The conference has drawn a large student audience. Thank you all for your involvement.
On October 6th, 2017, the members of the CODEX centre involved in the TE 1795 project gave papers to the sixteenth conference of bibliology organised by the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj.
Dr Adinel Dincă talked about dating and loocalising the Altemberger Codex; Dr Adrian Papahagi discussed the decoration of liturgical manuscripts from medieval Transylvania, and Dr Cristian Ispir discussed the making of the Magna Carta.
Centrul CODEX 