If you are looking at this page without frames, there is more information about medieval writing to be found by going to the home page (framed) or the site map (no frames).
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| How you can use this website |
| This website is in a constant state of development. However, rather than putting "under construction" signs all over the place, I am trying to put some material in the various different categories so that there is always something of interest. Some sections are more developed than others, but they are all growing. |
| If you have a passion for the practical skills of reading or writing ancient scripts, the What is Paleography? section has a steadily increasing set of examples to work through. The Script Index leads to little samples of scripts, each provided with a bit of interactive transcription and an alphabet derived from the example. The Paleography Exercises section has some more intricate interactive exercises in the reading of scripts, utilising Flash. These two sections are linked, with each script example leading to a more detailed exercise. New exercises are added steadily. There is also some very preliminary material on abbreviations and punctuation. It only takes time ........ |
| If you are after background material on the history of medieval writing, the What is Paleography? section also contains a summarised History of Scripts. The section dubbed Microhistories is a slowly growing set of specialised histories like those of individual alphabet letters or certain families of scripts. Progressing over time ...... |
| The Why Read It? section, as well as briefly addressing that question, has a bit of technical background on medieval books and documents. It discusses languages, dates, the terminology of paleography and other traps for new players. The resources in this section will be developed, when I get the time ........ |
| If you are interested in what kind of books medieval people read and what kinds of administrative documents they created, try the section entitled The Written Word. I have a wildly ambitious plan to develop this into a picture of how the medieval world of the written word fitted into and differed from the world of oral culture and knowledge. There is some discussion about the difference between a medieval manuscript text and a modern book. Meanwhile you can use it to find out practical things like the difference between a writ and a charter, if we ever stop arguing about that among ourselves. It is growing over time ..... |
| If you want to make your own quill pen, prepare your own parchment or cook up your own iron gall ink, the Tools and Materials section is probably not yet detailed enough for your needs, but it might point you to some other resources. Still, in time ....... |
| There are many other websites which show beautiful manuscript illuminations. The Decoration section here concentrates more on the function of decorative elements in manuscripts, and will fit in with other sections on medieval literate culture, in time ......... |
| If you are interested in the history of literacy, there is a summary of the Concept of Literacy and how it changed over the middle ages. I have a plan to develop some ideas which I have sketched out on the relationship between literate and oral and remembered knowledge, in time .... |
| If you are interested in who did the composing and who wrote it down and how libraries developed, more material will appear in the Authors and Scribes section, given enough time ......... |
| There is really a large and rapidly growing selection of illustrated medieval manuscript material on the web, as well as textual material and background resources. The trouble is finding it all, as most medieval link pages do not seem to be terribly well maintained. I do keep adding to and checking the Links whenever I have the time .......... |
| I started this project as a challenge; to see if I could make interesting the most boringly presented subject on earth, medieval paleography. Now I'm hooked. If you are now thinking "This lady doesn't have a life. She has a website!" fear not. I can manage to make time for that too. That's why the improvements and updates chug along steadily rather than appearing with blinding rapidity. |
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If you are looking at this page without frames, there is more information about medieval writing to be found by going to the home page (framed) or the site map (no frames). |
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