Minuscule Texts and Manuscript Margins in Early Medieval East Francia
Ildar Garipzanov is Professor for Medieval history at the University of Oslo and PL of the ERC-AdvGrant Project: MINiTEXTS – "Minuscule Texts: Marginalized Voices in Early Medieval Latin Culture (c. 700–c. 1000)".
Abstract: My presentation will be dedicated to early medieval Latin minuscule texts, that is, short texts that were added to empty spaces of early medieval manuscripts left blank after the copying of designated texts, and that are extraneous to such main texts. In the first half of my lecture, I will present a general overview of such minuscule texts and their taxonomy, and argue that they constitute a rich compendium of practical knowledge that has been to a larger extent overlooked by medievalists. The second half of my lecture will exemplify my argument with three micro-studies of ninth- and tenth-century minuscule texts offering unique snapshots of social, economic, and religious life in early medieval Bavaria and Alemannia.