Studies in Medieval Literature

The subject of this course is the editing of medieval manuscripts. Students will be introduced to the paleography of caroline minuscule, gothic, Burgundian, and cursive hands.  The elements of codicology will be presented, with illustrative examples taken primarily from the manuscript collection of the Bancroft Library. (The course will meet in the Stone Seminar Room of the Bancroft Library.)  This will be followed by instruction in the theory and practice of textual criticism, including stemmatics. The term project will consist of an edition of several folios from a medieval manuscript. Readings will include studies in medieval literacy and the culture of the book. Students may work on texts in French, Latin, English, Spanish, Italian, or Occitan

Required texts:

Bernhard Bischoff. Latin Paleography. Cambridge UP, 1990.

Alfred Foulet and Mary B. Speer. On Editing Old French Texts. Regents Press of Kansas, 1979