Caroline Minuscule Mapping Project
The Caroline Minuscule Mapping Project was the recipient of an APICES Hermans Grant in January 2015. The €1500 award will go towards developing an open-access resource on the key early medieval centres that used Caroline minuscule.
The principal investigator is Anna Dorofeeva; the co-investigator is Evina Steinová; the advisors are Prof. Rosamond McKitterick and Prof. David Ganz. The team will commission, edit, review and publish 30 summary articles on the major scribal centres and regions that used Caroline minuscule in Europe c. 700–1000 AD. Articles will contain a detailed introduction and bibliography relating to the letter-forms and identified manuscripts of each centre, together with a list of these manuscripts (hyperlinked to a digital version where this is available). Examples of Caroline minuscule letterforms specific to each centre, where identified and where copyright allows, will be provided as images taken from manuscript pages. Reviewed articles will be published on this website. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2016. A full introduction and relevant apparatus will be provided. Our Digital Developer, Drew Thomas, will build a new dedicated online platform both for the NSCM and for the project, through the generous support of a 2015 Incubator Grant from the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH).
The development of this resource, which will be the first of its kind, will greatly facilitate the study of a script whose diversity and complexity have so far rendered it difficult to understand for all but the most experienced palaeographers. It will also be of use to anyone interested in Carolingian libraries and manuscript production centres.
The origins of this project go back to Bernhard Bischoff, who intended for his manuscript catalogue to include sample images of manuscripts, and to divide them by region rather than date. We are grateful to APICES for enabling this project to go ahead.
If you would like to contribute one or more articles, please email Anna Dorofeeva ASAP with your choice and for more information. Palaeograpical expertise is not essential, as the articles are intended primarily as summary works, but full palaeographical studies are also welcome. Each article will be remunerated at €50. The 30 centres to be investigated are listed below (divided roughly by diocese).
If you would be interested in contributing to the project as part of our formal double blind peer-review panel, please email Anna. You should be willing to read and comment in detail on contributions.
(Please note: centres in light grey have been assigned and are no longer available)
1. Autun + Flavigny
2. Benediktbeuern + Mondsee
3. Charlemagne's court groups
4. Chelles
5. Cologne
6. Corbie + Corvey
7. Fleury + Micy + Auxerre
8. Freising
9. Fulda + Hersfeld
10. Laon + Arras + Cambrai
11. Liège
11. Lorsch
13. Lucca
14. Lyon + Vienne
15. Metz
16. Murbach + Weissenburg
17. Nonantola
18. Regensburg + Tegernsee
19. Reichenau + Konstanz
20. Rheims: Notre Dame + St Remi + St Thierry + Hautvillers
21. Paris: St Denis + St-Germain-des-Prés
22. Salzburg
23. St Gallen
23. St Amand
25. Tours
26. Trier: St Maximin + Echternach
27. Vercelli + Bobbio
28. Verona
29. Werden
30. Würzburg + Mainz
The below draft articles are intended as a rough guide only. They omit a large amount of material. A detailed set of writing guidelines will be provided to contributors.
Sample articles
Reims
Reims