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| Palaeographica | |
|---|---|
| Title | Palaeographica |
| Discipline | Paleography |
| Language | Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Old Church Slavonic, Syriac |
| Publisher | Various archives, libraries, societies |
| Country | International |
| Firstdate | Antiquity–Medieval periods |
Palaeographica Palaeographica is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting, scripts, and manuscript traditions that underpins research in fields such as Codicology, Philology, Epigraphy, Diplomatics, and Textual criticism. Scholars working on Palaeographica engage with surviving artefacts in institutions like the Vatican Library, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bodleian Library, and Duke University Libraries to date, localize, and interpret documents associated with figures and events like Charlemagne, Justinian I, Alcuin of York, Qin Shi Huang, and Muhammad. The field intersects with study of works such as the Codex Sinaiticus, Dead Sea Scrolls, Codex Vaticanus, Domesday Book, and Beowulf manuscript while engaging methods developed by scholars including Jean Mabillon, Bernard de Montfaucon, Franz Anton Knittel, Samuel Petiscus, and Eduard Hlawitschka.
The term derives from Latin and Greek roots used by writers connected to traditions in Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, Baghdad, and Cordoba where scribal practices were institutionalized under patrons like Justinian I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, and Caliphate of Córdoba. Palaeographica covers scripts produced in contexts such as the Byzantine Empire, Carolingian Empire, Islamic Golden Age, Tang dynasty, and Heian period, and examines manuscripts linked to authors like Augustine of Hippo, Bede, Ibn Sina, Al-Farabi, and Murasaki Shikibu. Its scope spans legal instruments (e.g. documents related to the Magna Carta), liturgical books (e.g. Book of Kells), and literary codices (e.g. Epic of Gilgamesh tablets).
Modern methods evolved from antiquarianism practiced by collectors and scholars associated with institutions such as the Royal Society, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Prussian Academy of Sciences, and the Monastery of Saint Gall. Pioneering publications and catalogues emerged from the Vatican Secret Archives, State Archives of Venice, Austrian National Library, National Library of Russia, and the National Archives (United Kingdom), influenced by figures like Leopold Delisle, Giuseppe Billanovich, Levi Benvenisti, Alphonse Dain, and Tito Orlandi. Technological advances from collaborators at University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Paris, and Princeton University—and projects such as the Schøyen Collection digitization—have integrated methods from Multispectral imaging, Radiocarbon dating laboratories at Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, and computational initiatives linked to Stanford University and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
Palaeographica surveys diverse hands including Uncial script traditions of Constantinople and Alexandria, Caroline minuscule from the Carolingian Renaissance, Gothic script associated with Medieval Europe and Flanders, Insular script from Iona and Lindisfarne, Hebrew square script from Tiberias, Naskh and Kufic forms from Baghdad and Cordoba, Siddham and Kaithi from Nara period Japan and Bengal, and cursive hands used in Mamluk Sultanate chancery and Song dynasty archives. Regional traditions are shaped by centers like Monastery of Fulda, Abbey of Monte Cassino, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Al-Azhar University, University of Bologna, and the Imperial Library of Japan.
Materials central to the discipline include parchment codices from workshops in Tours, Winchester, and Florence, papyrus rolls from Oxyrhynchus, Hellenistic Egypt, and Ptolemaic Alexandria, and paper produced in Samarkand, Toledo, and Tunis. Tools and ink recipes are documented in treatises connected to workshops patronized by figures such as Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Pope Gregory I, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and King Alfred the Great. Conservation and preparation techniques are practiced in laboratories at the Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louvre, Rijksmuseum, and Hermitage Museum.
Dating and attribution draw on comparative charts developed by scholars in the tradition of Jean Mabillon and Dom Anselm de Witte, paleometric measures used by teams at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and statistical models deployed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Toronto. Cross-disciplinary corroboration uses evidence from Numismatics collections of the British Museum, Archaeometry labs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dendrochronology teams linked to University of Arizona, and linguistic analyses referencing corpora of Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, Miguel de Cervantes, and Homer. High-profile case studies include work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Voynich Manuscript, and charters attributed to William the Conqueror.
Major repositories engaged in scholarship include the Vatican Library, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Morgan Library & Museum, Princeton University Library, Cambridge University Library, Bodleian Library, National Library of Spain, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Escorial Library, State Hermitage Museum, Library of Congress, Yale University Beinecke Library, New York Public Library, and the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. Case studies have examined the Book of Kells, Rotulus Laudunensis, Lorsch Codex, Lindisfarne Gospels, Codex Amiatinus, Gospel of Matthew (Vetus Latina), and administrative records from Florence and Venice during the Renaissance.
Palaeographica informs Diplomatics in institutions like the National Archives of France, shapes textual editions produced by Oxford University Press, supports archaeological interpretation at sites such as Pompeii and Herculaneum, and contributes to historical narratives about figures including Emperor Basil II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Saladin, Genghis Khan, and King John. Its techniques are applied in forensic contexts at agencies like national police archives and museums including the Israel Museum and the Topkapi Sarayi Museum to authenticate documents tied to events such as the Reconquista, Fourth Crusade, and Council of Trent.
Category:Paleography