VMN/MIS Seminar: Dating Medieval Script: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Erik Kwakkel, Professor at the School of Information at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, holds a short seminar for MIS and VMN students, as well as other interested students in Árnagarður 310, 26 October, 10:00-11:30.

Dating Medieval Script: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

During the incunabulum age, more books began including a colophon. This colophon typically communicated the book’s date and location of production, often accompanied by the printer’s name. Initially placed on the last page, the colophon eventually moved to the book’s opening, a practice that persists to this day. While the colophon’s origins trace back to the manuscript age, its presence in medieval handwritten books is surprisingly rare, estimated to occur in only about one in twenty manuscripts. So, how do we determine the location and date of production for manuscripts without a colophon, the majority of surviving codices?

Centering on this question, this seminar discusses different methods of acquiring information about the context of a manuscript’s production, particularly its approximate copying date and the scribe’s probable location within Europe. The key lies in the letter shapes, which exhibit significant variation over time and across geographical regions. The seminar provides essential tools for distinguishing between European medieval scripts and connecting written specimens to their approximate production dates. Additionally, it addresses some challenges associated with dating medieval script.

Erik Kwakkel is Professor at the School of Information, The University of British Columbia (Vancouver), where he teaches the History of the Book. His research interests are related to the script and material design of manuscripts produced in medieval Europe.

For questions and preparatory material, contact Katrín Lísa L. Mikaelsdóttir (kll@hi.is).