Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 atContinue reading “30 May: Zsuzsa Czagány – Conference on Medieval Musical Fragments”

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 ProfessorContinue reading “The Batthyaneum “Codex Aureus” on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register”

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, 276Continue reading “New Publication: Books from Lost 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.,Continue reading “New Publication: The Transylvanian Saxons and Their Books in the Middle Ages”

Anyone interested in medieval manuscript fragments can now read online or download our exhibition catalogue for free. Enjoy!

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 nationaleContinue reading “Conférence Christophe Didier (BNU 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 etContinue reading “‘Impressa Argentine’: Exposition d’incunables”

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 AssociateContinue reading “Lecture: Piers Plowman and Its Manuscripts”

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. Venue: Faculty of Letters, UBB Cluj (Str.Continue reading “Conference on ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’”

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. https://fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-5z0l https://fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-32fd The descriptions were elaborated during the seminars by the following MA, PhD and postdoctoral students: Angelo Bellettini (Toronto), Irene Binini (Parma), GiuseppeContinue reading “DEEM students publish on Fragmentarium”

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 theContinue reading “900+ visitors in the first month of FRAGMED exhibition”

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,Continue reading “Fragmenta Codicum Exhibition (Feb.-Apr. 2022)”

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”. The conference can be followed online on Google Meet at thisContinue reading “13 Jan. 2022: Adrian Papahagi on Manuscript Fragments”

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: theContinue reading “8 Dec. 2021: Dragoș Calma on Editing Medieval Texts”

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 UniversityContinue reading “4 Nov. 2021: Christine Jakobi-Mirwald Conference”

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 MrContinue reading “Academic Days of Cluj”

Michelle P. Brown, An Introduction to the Illuminated Manuscripts of Britain and Ireland, c. 600-850 • Wednesday, 13 October 2021, 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 illuminatedContinue reading “13 Oct. 2021: Michelle P. Brown conference”

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). Programme: https://www.bbaw.de/die-akademie/mitarbeiterinnen-mitarbeiter/feuchter-joerg/summer-school-2021

All interested are invited to attend our guest lectures. No prior registration is required. • Wednesday, 13 October 2021, 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 ofContinue reading “CODEX AUTUMN CONFERENCES”

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, andContinue reading “Dotting the ‘i’ in Medieval Manuscripts”

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 toContinue reading “European Diploma in Medieval Studies-Call for Applications”

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 26th10.00 GMT (=11.00 British SummerContinue reading “‘Anglo-Saxon and Alemannic Traditions of Boethius’ at Oxford/UCL”

On Friday, 26 March 2021, at 16:00 CET/17:00 EET, Adrian Papahagi will give the next Fragmentarium conference on the topic: “Evidence Preserved by Destruction: Recycling Medieval Manuscript Fragments in Transylvania during the (Counter)Reformation” Please register at this link:https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkceivqzIsHNNLxdELus7pJp8NbAcUevXr Future Fragmentarium conferences: 23 April 2021: Dr. David Rundle (Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, UniversityContinue reading “Fragmentarium Conference by Adrian Papahagi”

CODEX member, Dr Balázs J. Nemes is one of the curators of an exhibition on the medieval books of the Dominican sisters from Freiburg. The exhibition is entitled Buochmeisterinn Handschriften und Frühdrucke aus dem Freiburger Dominikanerinnenkloster Adelhausen and can be visited at the City Museum of Freiburg im Breisagau between 13 March and 13 JuneContinue reading “Balázs J. Nemes Curates Exhibition on Dominican Books”

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 ofContinue reading “DEEM Students on Fragmentarium”

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 publishedContinue reading “Becoming BAR, Fragm. Cod. Lat. 12”

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 QUAM CATHOLICE LOQUITUR:Latin and Vernacular Traditions of Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiae in the Early Middle Ages The conference is organised by the ERC NeoplatContinue reading “Boethian Manuscripts in the Early Middle Ages”

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 andContinue reading “CODEX contributes to Fragmentarium”

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 DAYContinue reading “Conference on Liturgical Manuscripts in Bratislava”

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. Below: Manuscrisele medievale occidentale din România: Census, at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Browsing through ancient folders, we discovered the poster of our first project – long before this site was created. We thought we’d share it here.

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) andContinue reading “Manuscript fragments from Cluj restored in Alba Iulia”

On 24-25 October 2019, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore is organising in Milan a conference entitled Tradizioni e istituzioni religiose nello spazio culturale italo-romeno tra Medioevo e prima età moderna. Dr Adinel Dincă is giving a paper on “Utrumque ius nella Transilvania tardo medievale”.

CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY 10 Anniversary edition, celebrating 100 years of English Studies at the University of Cluj PANEL ON ‘ALFREDIAN TEXTS AND CONTEXTS’ SPONSORED BY THE ‘CODEX’ CENTRE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25th 11:30-13:00 | Sala Popovici, Facultatea de Litere Moderator: Adrian Papahagi Jay Paul Gates (City University of New York) – The Alfredian Prose Psalms andContinue reading “Alfredian Texts and Contexts Conference-Programme”

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. https://www.bl.uk/medieval-english-french-manuscripts/articles/medieval-calendars

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,Continue reading “The Census of Medieval Manuscripts presented at UBB Cluj”

On 14 March 2019, Dr Adinel Dincă gave a paper on “Bibles and Bible Translations in Late Medieval and Early Modern Transylvania” at a workshop entitled Translation Theory and Practice in the Later Middle Ages: the Bible and Beyond. The event toook place at Oriel College, Oxford.

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 atContinue reading “Conference and book presentation in Iași”

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 (placesContinue reading “A Census of Western Medieval Manuscripts in Romania”

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 FührungenContinue reading “Manuscripts of Charlemagne’s Court School”

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 medievalContinue reading “CODEX members at bibliology conference in Cluj”