Ainoa Castro Correa

La escritura visigótica fue el alfabeto en que se transmitió buena parte de los textos literarios y paraliterarios en la península Ibérica y aun en una extensa zona ultrapirenaica durante los siglos medios. No podemos olvidar lo escrito en tan amplio territorio durante tan largo tiempo, ni desentendernos, por consiguiente, de la escritura visigótica, que goza de una larga y fecunda tradición de estudios paleográficos. En este libro se ha querido abordar la problemática de las características formales, tanto morfológicas como braquigráficas, de esta escritura en sus diversas modalidades regionales y en sus más antiguas manifestaciones, pues, poco a poco, se ha ido diferenciando la escritura visigótica septimana, la catalana, la aragonesa, la riojana, la leonesa, la castellana, la mozárabe, la portuguesa, y veremos también pronto si la gallega tiene personalidad propia.

Quan, en el difícil procés de comunicació, s’aconsegueix de donar forma oral o escrita a un missatge, sigui aquest portador d’un pensament o transmissor d’un sentiment, queden algunes dificultats per superar; la darrera, la mateixa capacitat de comprensió del lector o receptor, però, entremig, també d’altres, entre les quals ocupa un lloc no menor el control de qui posseeix el poder. Qui arriba al poder el vol conservar. I sempre s’afalaga de l’elogi o s’acontenta, com a mal menor, amb el silenci. Però difícilment suporta la crítica. El mecenatge de l’antiguitat i les subvencions o els premis hodierns faciliten la coexistència pacífica entre el poder i els emissors de missatges; la censura, la reprovació, el bandejament i fins el càstig o la condemna es reserven per als recalcitrants. I és que el poder o es complau en els bufons o escarmenta els díscols. Però els exclosos també solen ser tossuts en la seva il·lusió benintencionada d’assolir la llibertat d’expressió per al bé comú, o en el seu deler, a la fi igualment interessat, de defensar la seva pròpia conveniència partidista; i, amb enginy, quan els altres recursos no són possibles, s’espavilen per fer arribar també els missatges que, al cap i a la fi, els concerneixen. D’aquestes qüestions i d’altres de relacionades ens parlen els autors d’aquest llibre.

50 Papers from a 2010 conference under the auspices of the Department of Antiquity and Middle Ages of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the aim of which was to reach researchers into Antiquity and the Middle Ages. There were three main objectives: To facilitate a forum for discussion among young scholars interested in ancient and medieval history, classical archaeology, Latin, classical Greek and the science and tools of historiography; To promote interdisciplinarity in different fields of study; To promote the concept of ‘Studies of Antiquity and Middle Ages’ – an usual academic juxtaposition in Spain. Papers in Spanish with English abstracts.

Galicia é probablemente unha das comunidades autónomas que conta cun maior número de documentos conservados para o período medieval do noso país. Con todo, estes fondos non mereceron aínda a mesma atención que os conservados para outras zonas, polo que o volume de documentación inédita é alto e o de editada insuficiente, impedíndonos así tanto poder contar con toda a información histórica dispoñible que achegan estas fontes manuscritas coma realizar un estudo en profundidade da evolución dos tipos escriturarios na nosa terra.
Poder recompilar nunha única publicación homoxénea todos os documentos medievais galegos conservados, tanto os xa coñecidos coma aqueles que permaneceron aínda sen estudar, é unha tarefa inxente que se ha de facer pouco a pouco, contando coa dificultade da gran dispersión das fontes xa localizadas entre arquivos galegos, nacionais e estranxeiros, ademais das coleccións particulares. Este traballo é así un primeiro paso que, partindo sobre todo das coleccións diplomáticas coas que xa contamos, tenta reunir a produción documental altomedieval en escritura visigótica da nosa terra. Un primeiro paso que recolle os pasos anteriores para poder avanzar.

In the late eleventh century Abbot Fortunio decided to enlist the scribes living in the monastery of Silos, near Burgos, in the time-consuming and costly task of copying for the monastery one of the most significant peninsular bestsellers of the Middle Ages: a Beatus. In doing so, he was continuing a long-lasting Iberian tradition originating in the late eighth century, already popular and yet far from over. Fortunio was taking advantage of the fruitful efforts of his predecessor Abbot Domingo to restore the Benedictine community of Silos, left in ruins after the Muslim razzias of the late tenth century. But what was the process of copying this book? How did it all start, and what did this work mean for the monastery of Silos?
The colophons and historical data held in this Beatus, now known as the Silos Apocalypse, inform the reader about the commissioners under whom the copy was produced, the scribes who engaged in that task, the illuminator who created one of the most significant examples of Mozarabic or northern Christian art preserved, and when and where it all happened. But is all the contextual information the codex provides accurate? In this article, the Silos Apocalypse is thoroughly analyzed to unveil the identity of its scribes, what can be known about their professional careers, their cultural context, and how this codex fits within the written production of the monastery of Silos in the late eleventh and early twelfth century.

It was not until the second decade of the twelfth century that Carolingian script started to be used in Galicia, closing the cycle of more than 200 years of use of Visigothic script as the main graphic system in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. A new period of openness to European cultural currents put then an end to the graphical and liturgical particularism of the territories that would become Spain, meaning a drastic change for all literate and illiterate people that was not received with equal eagerness in all areas. Some ecclesiastical institutions, led by ambitious bishops and abbots, saw an opportunity to grow and present themselves as the new main cultural centres of the medieval Iberian Peninsula, taking away the political and cultural prominence of those that had once been instrumental in the reorganization of the Christian peninsular realms after the Muslims’ arrival. Others seem to have been reluctant to accept a new rite and to adopt a new script, neither of which was a national product. Caroline minuscule had not evolved gradually, like Visigothic script had, from the previous documentary and book hand writing systems used, but was imposed, like the Roman rite, mostly by political interests of kings, ecclesiastical elites, and cultural pressure. Acceptance of change would lead to a cultural unification in which the glorious Visigothic past, Visigothic script, and Visigothic rite were no more than a memory.
In analysing the extant manuscript sources, codices and charters, that speak of liturgical imposition and graphical acculturation, the present work discusses not only how the process occurred, but what it must have meant, politically and culturally speaking, for major cultural peninsular institutions both old and new, for those closer to the Carolingian Empire and those geographically distant but very much in the political and ecclesiastical centre of northern Christian Iberia. After a brief historical and graphical review of how the process of change developed in Septimania and Catalonia as early as the ninth century, and in Aragon, Navarre, and the Leonese-Castilian kingdoms well into the eleventh century, attention will be given to what was the old kingdom of Galicia, in the far north-western corner of the peninsula. A thorough look at the extant written sources produced in the two main Galician sees, Lugo and Santiago de Compostela, from the late eleventh to the mid-twelfth century, and their historical context, highlights the steps of graphical and cultural change, simultaneously providing valuable evidence about how the transition from the old Visigothic script system to the new European Carolingian one must have been experienced by the scribes and copyists who lived it.

En los dos post anteriores [intranet y terminología] hemos visto la terminología de descripción paleográfica definida en las plataformas “Pal” y cómo se adapta específicamente al caso de VisigothicPal. En este post veremos como estos términos funcionan de forma práctica, esto es, al hacer una anotación.

En el post anterior comenté cómo DigiPal ha conseguido encontrar la forma de desglosar las particularidades gráficas de la escritura con la intención de comunicarse de forma eficiente y objetiva con el ordenador. Partiendo de un ejemplo gráfico, en primer lugar se definen los caracteres que componen la escritura, para después pasar a los alógrafos que un mismo carácter puede presentar, a sus componentes y a los rasgos de éstos que hacen cada mano/escriba único. La plataforma permite definir, partiendo de esta base, la terminología que nosotros queramos y, por ese motivo, puede adaptarse de forma más o menos sencilla a diferentes tipos de escritura. En este post os comentaré la terminología que yo he adoptado para VisigothicPal. Por supuesto, es con la que a mí, a nivel personal, me resulta fácil trabajar no una propuesta universal y definitiva. La intención es que basándose en este ejemplo práctico cada usuario entienda qué elementos ha de considerar y cómo definirlos para su propio trabajo.

Después de los post anteriores espero haber podido resumir en qué consiste DigiPal, las plataformas " Pal " , y las ventajas que puede aportar el uso de éste o de programas similares al estudio de fuentes manuscritas, especialmente cuando agrupadas en corpora masivos. En este y los post que siguen me centraré en explicar cómo funciona exactamente mi " Pal " , VisigothicPal, como referencia para todos aquellos que os animéis a descargaros el programa y aplicarlo a vuestro corpus. [NB. Avisad antes a algún miembro del equipo " Pal " original. Se aceptan colaboraciones y nuevos proyectos, como mi " Pal " ]. Empezaré comentando cómo es la intranet de VisigothicPal y cómo irla configurando paso a paso. Primer vistazo Una vez que habéis descargado e instalado el software en vuestro ordenador – también podéis subirlo online a vuestro server y acceder online, como en mi caso, pudiendo trabajar desde cualquier lugar y de forma colaborativa – , veréis todas la opciones disponibles para configurar vuestro " Pal " como si fuese una carcasa vacía. Es decir, todas las opciones están ahí pero no hay ningún tipo de contenido. Para visualizar la información el software creará un visor/web de uso local que, igualmente, aparecerá vacío. Para poder trabajar con el software, por tanto, lo primero será añadir la información, las imágenes de los documentos con los que...

Como habréis visto en el post anterior, el software DigiPal resulta de mucha utilidad para gestionar grandes cantidades de información gráfica, almacenando no solamente imágenes sino recortes de imágenes que se van generando al hacer un análisis paleográfico de una u otra mano en concreto. También, permite recuperar esta información a través de búsquedas simples o complejas, facilitando comparativas y la obtención de datos que pueden dar pie a nuevos retos de investigación. Una de las grandes ventajas es, además, que a pesar de ir pormenorizando en el estudio de una fuente nunca se pierde de vista el contexto en el que se enmarca; partiendo de un recorte siempre podremos acceder rápidamente al manuscrito. De forma más específica, podríamos decir que los fuertes de DigiPal, compartidos por todas las variantes del software en proceso de desarrollo, son cuatro: anotación, descripción, exploración y comunicación. Hablemos un poco más de cada uno. Anotación: marcado complejo de imágenes

Todas las plataformas derivadas del proyecto y software primigenio DigiPal, la familia " Pal " , funcionan de la misma forma; algunas incluyen opciones específicas para el corpus de estudio que solamente están disponibles en ese " Pal " , pero las funciones básicas son las mismas. En los post siguientes os explicaré en detalle cómo trabajar con y configurar el software para aquellos que queráis instalarlo o que tengáis curiosidad por saber cómo voy desarrollando VisigothicPal. Si queréis acceder a más información podéis entrar aquí. Mientras tanto, para todos aquellos interesados en usar alguno de los " Pal " online, ya sea DigiPal, Models of Authority o Exon Domesday, os comento a continuación de forma rápida las opciones disponibles y los pasos a seguir. Digamos que nos interesa la escritura empleada en Inglaterra en el siglo XI. Nuestra plataforma sería la original, DigiPal. Actualmente cuenta con casi 1,000 imágenes y alrededor de 1,500 registros de escribas. Como usuario externo podemos acceder a todas esas imágenes, ver las fichas de los escribas identificados por el equipo de trabajo del proyecto con sus pormenores, así como consultar el grueso de la información obtenida. Acceder a las imágenes Para acceder a las imágenes no tenemos más que seleccionar la opción " browse images " en el menú superior (en color magenta) de la web. Podemos filtrar las imágenes por ciudad, archivo o fecha y, después de clicar en " filter images " , ver nuestros resultados directamente como imágenes o como lista. En la zona superior de cada imagen veremos, a la izquierda, el número de anotaciones que el equipo de trabajo ya ha procesado y, a la derecha, el número de manos/escribas identificadas dentro de esa imagen/manuscrito. Disponemos de dos opciones de visualización. La primera y más sencilla es clicar directamente en la imagen que queramos ver. Se nos abrirá otra página con la imagen seleccionada. Si clicamos en el botón de arriba del menú lateral izquierdo la veremos a pantalla completa. Pero pensemos que nos interesan varias imágenes/documentos a la vez y queremos compararlos. En ese caso, en lugar de clicar cada imagen lo que haremos será crear una colección.

Muchos de vosotros habréis leído en post anteriores sobre el proyecto en el que trabajo, ViGOTHIC. La finalidad de este proyecto no es solamente continuar mi investigación sobre la producción manuscrita en escritura visigótica en la Península Ibérica, sino también evaluar la viabilidad de las nuevas tecnologías aplicadas al estudio de fuentes manuscritas peninsulares. Me interesan las Humanidades Digitales, sí. Me interesa todo aquello que sea " digital " porque es en el mundo en el que nos movemos hoy en día, para bien o para mal. Pero especialmente, ya sea en ámbito profesional como personal, me interesan porque nos hacen la vida más fácil. Y, volviendo al campo paleográfico, necesitamos esta ayuda, por divulgación, desarrollo, accesibilidad y nuevos retos. Mi ámbito de especialidad es escritura visigótica. Aunque empecé mi carrera centrándome en un pequeño corpus de fuentes, ahora me encuentro estudiando todos los diplomas, códices, e inscripciones existentes, los particulares de este modelo gráfico en todas sus formas y variedades, el contexto cultural de los escribas que lo emplearon y la sociedad en la que se enmarcan, todo aquello relacionado con la Península Ibérica entre los siglos VI y XIII. Como resultará obvio, no es poco. El punto de partida de cualquier investigación en la que me involucro es, por formación profesional, los testimonios gráficos. Por suerte, éstos son bastante abundantes pero, ¿cómo ya no solo estudiarlos todos sino ser capaz de relacionarlos? Mi proyecto pretende abrir el camino para conseguir ver " en conjunto " los pormenores de la producción manuscrita en la península en la edad media en su contexto. Un paleógrafo entrenado puede retener en la memoria varios cientos de ejemplos gráficos con detalle hasta el punto de recordar si ha visto la mano autora de un documento en otro y en cual. Recordar miles es imposible. Del mismo modo, ahora que muchos manuscritos pueden estar digitalizados o digitalizarse, un paleógrafo habituado a las nuevas tecnologías, puede practicar " paleografía asistida por ordenador " , que no " paleografía digital " , ayudándose de programas como Photoshop para hacer sus bases de datos de " recortes " como evidencia a las conclusiones obtenidas así como para ayudar a la memoria. Sin duda, es más fácil recordar 5 o 10 imágenes que 300, las que corresponderían por ejemplo a un códice. Los problemas vienen cuando el corpus, aunque se reduzca a solo unos ejemplos representativos de cada testimonio gráfico, es masivo. Si seleccionamos un conjunto de, digamos, 1,000 diplomas y laboriosamente " recortamos " al menos un ejemplo de cada letra, cada abreviatura, signo, etc. como representativo de cada escriba, lo que ya de por si es agotador, tendremos unas 50 x 1,000 imágenes más o menos. Navegar por lo que sería esa base de datos de imágenes para hacer comparativas es imposible. Si nuestro conjunto pretende incluir todo aquello de interés para extraer resultados viables y objetivos, aún más. Si queremos interrogar nuestros resultados de análisis con preguntas más concretas, quimérico. Hace años me planteé ese dilema: cómo gestionar tal volumen de datos en imágenes sin volverse loco de manera eficiente. Por suerte, no era la única persona con el mismo problema. En 2005 nació la paleografía digital. La paleografía digital viene a ser la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías en el trabajo paleográfico, no solamente para acelerar el proceso de análisis siguiendo el método tradicional sino para poder dar respuesta a nuevo retos de investigación que nacen del trabajo con corpora de datos masivos. Como nueva disciplina ha ido evolucionando a base de prueba y error (os recomiendo leer los volúmenes de la revista Digital Medievalist como punto de partida). Desde mi punto de vista y de entre las opciones que parecen proveer resultados, la más práctica es la plataforma DigiPal. He escrito sobre DigiPal en más de una ocasión. La parte digital de mi proyecto ViGOTHIC se basa en ese software. Como resultado, hace unos meses nació VisigothicPal, la adaptación de DigiPal a paleografía visigótica. Mi intención es al menos dar los primeros pasos para crear una base de datos de todas y cada una las muestras gráficas conservadas en escritura visigótica sobre la que después continuar nuevas vías de investigación. Así, VisigothicPal no es/será solamente una base de datos de fotos donde cada aspecto está debidamente clasificado, sino una plataforma que te permita interrogar ese conjunto proporcionando nueva información sobre tendencias gráficas por zonas o períodos o sobre prácticas de escuela.

Earlier this year I was surprised by Tim Bolton at an after-lecture reception – exceptional Daniel Wakelin on the “why” behind written practices by the way – with the news that a leaf of a Visigothic script codex was going to auction at Bloomsbury (lot no. 4). You can read more about it here – if you have some money to spare I am sorry to say the opportunity to buy this leaf has passed. I did not write about it then but thought to do it now for I consider important to highlight the fact that, as the Visigothic script charter auctioned by Christies in late 2013, material as significant as this is still around in private hands...

Over the last year, I have been experimenting with calligraphy trying to do a decent work in replicating what the first scribe who copied the Silos Apocalypse British Library Add. ms. 11695 did. I will not say that it is harder than it seems for it already seems extremely difficult but I could say I have, at least, covered the basics. It is thus that I have decided to share these first achievements aiming at involving someone more advanced than me in calligraphic enterprises – what is not difficult...

I started this small series by summarising the general steps needed to construct a codex to then delve into what I think was the process of making the Silos Apocalypse, the British Library Add. mss. 11695. In this second post, I asked myself many questions that, to me, were particularly important for they help understand not the codex per se, what is amazing, but its cultural context, which is better...

We are in the scriptorium of the Benedictine monastery of Silos in the year 1091, when abbot Fortunius and his monks undertook the task of providing for their monastery one exemplar of the most well-known and copied medieval best-seller of the Iberian Peninsula, a Beatus. We are revising the steps it entailed to make the British Library Add. mss. 11695, the Beatus of Silos, and we are in step 2: the scriptorium had a trained specialist who provided a fair amount quantity of parchment made, more likely, from calfskin, as well as monks skilled enough to elaborate carbon ink and many different tones of bright red, yellow, green, and blue inks. What next?

During the last few weeks, I have been trying to figure out how the many people who were involved in producing the exemplar of Beatus kept at the British Library worked together; who made what and how they interacted. As a palaeographer, at first I was mostly concerned with the identification and description of the graphic specifics of each one of the scribes who, as copyists, made the text as is now displayed. But, once I had the hands individualised, since they are remarkably intertwined throughout the quires, I soon realised how the whole process of making the codex was much more complex than expected. There are not only five hands which, in a very short period of time, collaborated in copying the main text contained in the Beatus, the Commentary on the Apocalypse per se, plus the additional texts as the excerpts of the Etymologiae, Jerome’s Commentary on Daniel, and other miscellaneous texts – which, by the way, I am having difficulties to find edited or at least correctly attributed to -, but also different authors for the miniatures who made the illumination programme for which the codex is so worldwide famous. It is obvious that there is much more to a codex than the scribes, but it is somehow easy to forget how not only time consuming but expensive to make a codex like this one must have been; surely a remarkable event for the scriptorium that speaks of its own conception, means, and managerial skills. Moreover if we bear in mind, following the current state of the art, that this codex, the Silos Beatus, was the first one ever made at the monastery of Silos.
As many of you may know, revising all the relevant bibliographic references, the palaeographical and codicological analysis of this British Library codex, is the objective of the first part of the project in which I am working now, ViGOTHIC. Having the graphic analysis done, the clues found in defining the collaboration among scribes made me expand the project to incorporate also a revision on the illumination programme, the style and its authors. All this research will be made into an article I expect to finish soon. Meanwhile, I thought about writing here how I picture, at this stage of the project, the whole process of making this medieval codex was.

Littera Visigothica started in September 2013 and aims to share my current work, as a researcher and teacher, on medieval manuscript sources written in Visigothic script, the first writing system used in the medieval Iberian Peninsula. This includes its characteristics, evolution, graphic testimonies –charters, cartularies, and codices– and their historical and cultural context. I am interested in analyzing how medieval people adapted the Late Roman writing systems until the scripts became different enough to be individualized, and how the context in which they lived was reflected in the scripts, determining their graphic characteristics and evolution. Understanding how the primary resource for communication that is the script was developed is the key to understanding medieval societies and their interests. My research contributes to this endeavor through archival research, gathering forgotten sources and applying the most recent techniques to their study, and by critically reviewing previous scholarship to improve our knowledge about the past.
With Littera Visigothica I intend to spread knowledge about Visigothic script, the less studied medieval pre-Caroline minuscule script, which was, more or less, coeval with Insular, Beneventan and Merovingian scripts. I will post about everything related to it, from the basics to a more elaborate analysis of specific sources, with the intention of making this blog useful for both those who know nothing about Paleography or Visigothic script as well as researchers working on Manuscript Studies who want to expand their expertise to Iberian Peninsular medieval manuscript sources.

I don’t know whether this happens to you too, but for me, as a trained paleographer, to carry out a palaeographical analysis is like playing an amazing game that allows me to get a glimpse in what was the daily life of a medieval scribe. Through understanding his/her writing, I grow a strange feeling of deep comprehension, a long-distance bond that automatically builds between him/her many centuries ago and me/ourselves today, processed by my paleographic eye into new data from which to reconstruct his/her professional career and cultural context. Moreover, when working with a manuscript source from which it can be supposed a collaboration amongst scribes, aka a codex, the game becomes even better. We’ve the opportunity of not only get in touch with a scribe but also to play ‘spot the differences’ to distinguish his/her work from that of a coeval colleague. While analysing the manuscript, we suddenly see something different, our eye recognises that something had changed through the folios, the columns, or even the lines, and then our brain starts processing that information until there’s a eureka moment when we clearly see the differences among hands and then we exclaim “gotcha!”. Isn’t this awesome? We get the changes. We understand that in a specific moment a specific scribe started working in a copy of a codex until by some reason we’ll eventually try to discern another scribe continued. We’re then faced with many questions: Why the change? What was the relation between a scribe and that who continued his or her stint? Why even though they’re different hands they look so similar? Or, why even being in the same scriptorium at the same time they look so different? Who taught them to write? How? Who were they?

The one thing that has always capture my attention from Visigothic script manuscripts, long before I was able to crack the script and even before knowing that Manuscript Studies existed, is the images, the fascinating depictions of strange human figures standing just in front of me, staring. For me, I guess that especially for being so young ‒ the first time I saw a Beatus I was about 10 ‒, these figures quickly spoke; they were communicating in a way that no other figural representations had done before. I now know a bit more about the manuscripts in which they stand, about their context. These miniatures, illuminations, this type of medieval art, it was developed for people who, like me when I first saw them, could not understand the passage of text to which they were linked to, so even those who cannot read could understand. I did indeed. The fighting serpent-like monsters that populate the Beatos, stood in my mind for years, unconsciously urging me to learn palaeography and now to decipher them. Here my first incursion into the world of manuscript illumination.

As many of you might know given that you are reading this post and maybe even other entries on this site, since last September I am working on a Marie Curie funded project called “ViGOTHIC: towards a typology of Visigothic script. The British Library Beatus and its potential for dating and localising Visigothic script manuscripts”, based at King’s College London. The project has two parts: the first one entails the palaeographical analysis of the codex BL Add. Ms. 11695, while the second is focused on comparing traditional time-consuming manual palaeographical analysis with digital palaeographic analysis by applying the software made here at King’s called DigiPal. Yes, I/we are developing a VisigothicPal! This first year of the project, though, my time is devoted to the first part, pure palaeography.

In my last ViGOTHIC/VisigothicPal update, I managed to synthesize the initial problems arisen after what was a first approach to the “the DigiPal software meets Visigothic script” theme. That is, the undeniable need to determine a new and specific terminology to describe Visigothic script itself, one usable by palaeographers in writing and for a computer in organising palaeographical “thoughts”, before going back to work on the case study BL Beatus. I also alluded to the other objective accomplished during the first four months of the project: to determine how many scribes intervened in the copy of the Apocalypse of St John of Patmos included in the codex British Library Additional ms. 11695; their graphic characteristics and differences. For those of you who are familiar with this copy of the Apocalypse, so-called Beatus (I wrote a post about it a year ago), for me to have set this objective might sound silly since it is well-known it was copied by two scribes, Dominico and Nuño. But, was it so? Surprisingly, and excitingly, it was not...

It is amazing how time flies by. It has been almost four months since my project, ViGOTHIC, began, since I moved to London and the craziness that is to juggle amongst the many interesting conferences, seminars, exhibitions, workshops, and so to assist to, started. I have enjoyed every single bit. If you happen to be around London for next term, do not miss the chance to attend to an Earlier Middle Ages Seminar, a Medieval Manuscripts Seminar, some of the Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies gatherings or the London Palaeography Group Graduate Seminars, as well as the Teaching the Codex interdisciplinary colloquium (@TeachingCodex). That to name but a few of the things going on here that anyone interested in Medieval Manuscripts should look forward to. It makes a dense agenda, indeed. Anyway, as I was saying, the project started, and even in such a short time, the work already carried out has rendered its first results...

Regardless of our field of expertise, we are all historians and as such we cannot help but admire medieval manuscripts. We find ourselves bemused by medieval manuscript handwriting, handmade books, wondering about the scribe who wrote them, the person or institution who commissioned the work, when it was made and where. As a former web developer and now enthusiast palaeographer, I have devoted my academic career to find an answer to all these uncertainties by engaging in the study of early medieval Spanish manuscript production and the best ways to combine it with digital tools.

Project ViGOTHIC is a two-year long project funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020. I applied for and received a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship to develop it. It aims to facilitate and refine the study of Visigothic script and Visigothic script manuscripts, to make the scientific community aware of the needs and possibilities of conducting research based on these sources, and to disseminate the research that has already been carried out in the field or that is currently in progress. In summary, ViGOTHIC intends to open the study of Visigothic script to everyone interested in Manuscript Studies. It is located at King’s College London, where I started working last month, and is being supervised by Prof. Julia Crick with Peter Stokes as co-Investigator. All of this means: I now work at King’s College London, I will be merging Visigothic script and the DigiPal Software, and I will be doing very fancy stuff to help my field of research, Visigothic script, to move forward.

Tired of not being able to easily compare the graphic characteristics of a Visigothic script hand with other examples from the same graphic model? Annoyed about not knowing how to organise the hundreds of cuttings of letters and signs from Visigothic script hands you have collected over the years? Wondering how to share your research so other enthusiastic visigothicologists can understand your work and follow up with new discoveries? Wait no longer! VisigothicPal is here to help.

If you are reading this post, you more likely come from its first part “Visigothic script at the 19th Colloquium of the CIPL”. If not, some context: Earlier this month, I gave a paper at the 19th Colloquium of the Comité international de paléographie latine about the change from Visigothic script to Caroline minuscule. There, instead of going through a detailed list of graphic changes, what I did was to organize my presentation into four main unsolved questions which can be extrapolated to any period of graphic change aiming to foster discussion on the topic.

En los dos posts anteriores comenté el por qué de mi interés en hacer un curso práctico de caligrafía de escritura Visigótica, las características del curso, mi impresión, y los materiales que empleamos (Calligraphy: Learning to write in Visigothic script I) y qué hicimos durante el curso y cómo nos fué: el proceso que seguimos para aprender a escribir en Visigótica redonda (Calligraphy: Learning to write in Visigothic script II). En este caso continuaré mostrándoos mis primeras prácticas correspondientes a los dos primeros días y los modelos que usamos como alfabetos de mayúscula.

En el post anterior ‘Calligraphy: Learning to write in Visigothic script (I)‘ comenté el por qué de mi interés en hacer un curso práctico de caligrafía de escritura Visigótica, las características del curso, mi impresión, y los materiales que empleamos. En este segundo post, ‘Calligraphy: Learning to write in Visigothic script (II)’, me centraré en lo que hicimos durante el curso y cómo nos fue: el proceso que seguimos para aprender a escribir en Visigótica redonda.

As some of you may know, I have been working lately in a new research project focused in the transition from Visigothic scripts, minuscule and cursive, to Caroline minuscule. I am interested in understanding not only how the change was, graphically speaking, but also in what it meant for the scribes involved in the process. How their work, professional career, and educational program, changed, and the social implications it entailed – change of social status and relation between scribes from one writing system and the other. For that purpose, besides carrying out the traditional paleographic and historical approach, I have been trying to take a closer and more practical look: to experience the process first hand.
I have studied both Visigothic and Caroline scripts for years but had never, until this summer, practice them. In order to accurately write in these scripts, one needs to learn or be taught, besides the graphic characteristics, how to. Thus, I decided to take a calligraphy course specialized in Visigothic script. I believe it is important for us, paleographers, to be at least initiated in the art of calligraphy to better understand what we are studying, not just a script but a whole very complex context very distant from ours.
In posts under the category of calligraphy, I will write about my experience learning to write in Visigothic script, a practical approach, and my insights on the process. I am going to describe every step in case you want to experience it too.

Time ago I wrote two posts for Littera on Beato de Liébana, the monk and intellectual, and the ‘Beatos’, his Commentaries to the Apocalypse of St John.
The first one dealt with Beato and his cultural context, tainted with heretic movements and deeply marked by the common belief that the end of the world will arrive in the year 800, hiding much more of what we may initially think about the period: it depicts not only a religious context but reveals itself as a summary of medieval doctrine and theological symbolism and a good example of educational methods in 8th-century Iberian Peninsula. Although I wrote it time ago and have expanded my research on the topic, it is still useful as an introduction to the ‘Beatos’.
The second was focused on one of the 32 exemplars of ‘Beatos’, the codices, preserved: The Beato of Silos kept at the British Library (mss. 11695). It was finished in the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos in 1109. This post was the second one of the ‘Codex of the month’ series and included a summary of the contents of the codex, its physical description, notes on its context, personal comments and an appendix with a short list of another ‘Beatos’ copied in Visigothic script.
As some of you may know, next semester I will be working at the King’s College London as a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher with a project based on the study of the Beato of Silos – I will write about this soon. Thus, before moving to London, I thought it will be a good idea to take some time off and “say hi” to Beato.

Saint Isidore, Bishop of Seville (c. 560-636), was the outstanding intellectual figure of Visigothic Iberian Peninsula and one of the most important links between the classical world and the Middle Ages. He was born in Seville, where his parents arrived from Cartagena fleeing the internal conflicts between Arians and Catholics that took place c. 550 in that area. Three of his brothers were also intellectuals: Leander, bishop of Seville (c. 579-602), Fulgencio, bishop of Écija (c. 603/10-619), and Florentina, abbess of an unknown monastery for whom Leander composed his Regula (Codex of the month (VI): Paris, BN, NAL 239).

(not) Following the rules
The punctuation system used in early and high Medieval Latin manuscripts essentially follows the Greek system based on the use of positurae – that is dots – to indicate the different parts of speech. If you are familiar with medieval manuscripts, both codices and charters, you must have seen these dots before, more often halfway up the body of the letters. The interpretation of these signs as for their modern equivalence is not always easy since, as happened with the script and other manuscript features, it was the scribe who decided what signs to use and the meaning each of them should have. In other words, there was a basic normative system to indicate the different pauses used in speech. To mark them was crucial bearing in mind that the texts were read aloud, and thus it was very useful for the reader to be reminded of, basically, where to breathe. However, although it must be thought the scribes were taught to follow the traditional rules of punctuation, depending on how well were they trained, their cultural context and experience, the design and use of the dots varied. One cannot be always sure of the type of pause the scribe meant to write, of that correspondence between the type of dot and its meaning, although what we can do, and in fact have done, is to list the designs of the signs themselves, leaving for a careful experienced reading to consider and interpret the value of the punctuation in a modern edition of the text.

While the last Codex of the month, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, nouv. acq. lat. 239 was not particularly noted for the quality of its writing material, the skills of its copyist, or a rich program of allegorical illuminations, as it was compiled for practical purposes, the codex chosen this month is quite the opposite. From its first to its last page, Santiago, BU, ms 609 is an exceptional manuscript, elegant and lavishly decorated. One of the very few extant examples of Visigothic script codices conceived for private use by the royals.

Some time ago I wrote about the different types of Visigothic script explaining that, according to the speed of the strokes the scribe used in writing, the script can be classified into two main typological variants: cursive and minuscule.[1] Visigothic cursive was, in general, drawn quickly, without lifting the pen, which leads to multiple ligatures and connections between letters and words [FIG. 2]. While, on the other hand, Visigothic minuscule was written slowly, letter by letter, making it more readable and appealing to the eye. I also mentioned that the cursive variant was the one preferred, at least before the second half of the 11th century, to write charters –since cursive writing for legal issues meant a direct link with the writing practices of the late Roman empire– while the minuscule can be found in almost all Visigothic script codices [list] as a main graphic variant. In saying that, it can be thought that the scribe chose which typological variant he wanted –or was supposed– to use for the manuscript he was commissioned to write, being it a charter or a codex, thus implying the scribes were able to use both types. But, was that accurate? All Visigothic script scribes were able to write in both minuscule and cursive and so to differentiate their uses and tradition? Unfortunately not.

The codex chosen this month is very different from the previous ones. It was not made to inspire fear and teach through its astonishing program of miniatures as the Beatos, nor has it ornamentation or curious decorated initials to talk about as the Leonese Antiphonarium mozarabicum or the John Rylands’ Moralia. This codex was copied only because it was necessary for the pious practice of its owner; there was no need for an excruciating slow writing, the most skilled scribe, or the finest parchment available. Codex Paris, BN, NAL 239 is a monastic book, one that transmits, among other similar texts, the Regula of Leander of Seville, Isidore’s brother, as he composed it for his sister, Saint Florentina, nun and founder of a long list of monasteries in 6th-century Hispania.

Speaking about legal acts, during the Middle Ages as today what was written, subscribed by witnesses, and signed by a scribe acting as notary was the truth. In the change from the 9th to the 10th century, oral agreements were no longer valid and even the smallest transactions, let along significant donations, needed to be recorded in handwritten charters and validated accordingly to have any veracity both in the present as in the future. A written document was a necessary part of the transaction whenever property was sold or exchanged, a dowry or will established, a child adopted or a slave freed. The right to property, payment of a fine, loans, and oaths were also witnessed by a document. In case some argument against the ownership of a specific land or other movable or immovable property took place, these manuscript testimonies were the only legal way of solving the problem, their showing fundamental to solve the conflict.

Cassianus’ Collationes Patrum were not as popular throughout the Iberian Peninsula as the Beatos or the Moralia in Iob, medieval best-sellers of the last Codex of the month posts. However, codices with this work were also well-known and spread. The Collationes are a compilation of 24 texts, dialogs or conferences, in which several characters introduce the reader to the teachings and precepts of Oriental monasticism. Iohannes Cassianus (c. 365-c. 435) summarized on this work the principles of Eastern monasticism, as he lived them on his pilgrimage to the Egyptian hermits with his master and friend abbot Germanus of Bethlehem, introducing thus them into Europe.

Last week we talked about the signatures used by grantors, witnesses and scribes drawn on the signature box of most Visigothic script (and medieval) charters [here], summarizing the different types of signs used, how these types changed depending on the geographical area of the Iberian Peninsula, the period and the social status of their owner. Now, knowing the types of signs employed, when each type was the favorite one, and to whom each design tends to correspond, let’s go deeper…

Some time ago I wrote about the Chi-Rho or Christogram usually found at the beginning of the text and also in the signature box in Visigothic script charters [here]. In this short series of posts, I will debate about the design and meaning of the other most characteristic symbol or diplomatic element employed in this type of manuscript sources: signature signs.

Origen (185-254 C.E.) was a scholar and early Christian theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He is considered one of the most important and prolific early church fathers, playing through his work a critical role in the development of Christian thought.
He was an inexhaustible writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, philosophical theology, preaching, and spirituality. Some of his reputed teachings, such as the pre-existence of souls, the final reconciliation of all creatures, including perhaps even the devil (the apokatastasis), and the subordination of the Son of God to God the Father, later became controversial among Christian theologians.

Nuevas perspectivas en el estudio de manuscritos medievales. Jornada debate
19 de noviembre de 2018

Isidoro de Sevilla: maestro de la Edad Media europea

Programa:
16.30    Presentación: Ainoa Castro Correa (USAL).
16.45    Introducción: Carmen Codoñer Merino, José Carlos Martín Iglesias y Mª Adelaida Andrés Sanz (USAL).
17.30    SEMINARIO: EVINA STEINOVÀ (Huygens ING, Dutch Academy or Arts and Sciences) St Gallen as a Hub of Carolingian Isidorian Studies?
18.10    Discusión abierta.

Lugar: Facultad de Geografía e Historia, C/ Cervantes s/n - Sala de Grados
Participación libre.

*  La presentación e introducción de esta Jornada serán en castellano. El seminario principal será en inglés, con material de mano y presentación en castellano.

En esta comunicación se presenta la investigación llevada a cabo durante los últimos años que, partiendo de la producción escrita medieval conservada y producida en la diócesis de Lugo (ss. X-XIII), se enfoca a reconstruir las comunidades rurales lucenses, las redes sociales, analizando su relación con el mundo de la escritura. Gracias al análisis pormenorizado de los manuscritos medievales elaborados en territorio de la diócesis, aplicando herramientas digitales punteras a nivel internacional, el proyecto debate sobre el día a día del uso de la escritura, delimitando zonas de irradiación cultural y dibujando sus redes de comunicación con el exterior.

La presente comunicación tiene la finalidad de presentar el software de acceso libre VisigothicPal, herramienta digital para el análisis integral de fuentes manuscritas en escritura visigótica de la Península Ibérica. En la misma, se presentarán las dos aplicaciones principales del software. Por un lado, la herramienta está diseñada para permitir el análisis paleográfico detallado de las fuentes incorporadas a la base de datos integrada, en formato digital, incluyendo todos los pormenores del método paleográfico tradicional al que se añaden las funciones digitales de extracción y presentación de datos. Por otro lado, VisigothicPal también permite la edición digital de fuentes, elaborando de forma semiautomática ediciones en el formato estándar internacional de marcado TEI, incluyendo tanto la edición paleográfica de los manuscritos como la traducción asociada a los mismos. Se darán las indicaciones básicas para la descarga, instalación y manejo del software, y también se comentarán los elementos que, dentro del mismo, se están desarrollando, siempre con la intención de fomentar su uso como una nueva herramienta enfocada al estudio de fuentes medievales hispánicas.

How could the application of Digital Tools to the palaeographical analysis of sources benefit the researcher in dating and localising sources? How could it help in identifying manuscript samples from the same hand or from the same source? Digital Palaeography as a field is still in its infancy; the research teams involved on the topic still developing and testing software to better merge computer techniques and traditional palaeographical analysis. They are experimenting with a vast range of manuscript sources from different periods and geographical contexts as well as with a myriad of programming languages. But, how do these digital tools change the results to be obtained in analysing manuscripts?
In this paper, I will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of the implementation of digital tools to Palaeography through a case study: ‘VisigothicPal’. ‘VisigothicPal’ is the digital counterpart of ‘ViGOTHIC’, a Marie Curie funded project oriented towards the development of a digital database of Visigothic script scribes to help date and localise manuscript sources written in this written system. This project intends to compare the results obtained by applying the traditional palaeographical method with those resulting from the replication of the analysis by adding the software ‘DigiPal’, developed by the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London. This talk is aimed at exposing which results could have only been obtained through the incorporation of the software, discussing their cultural significance, and how they change or must change our approach to manuscript sources in the Digital Age.

The large number of initiatives to digitise medieval manuscripts mean that we now have unprecedented access to medieval texts. In many ways, this explosion of knowledge can be compared to the early years of the printing press. But how might we best utilise this growing body of material? This round table will explore the potential for the computer-assisted study of medieval manuscripts, discuss the practical and theoretical consequences of the use of digital surrogates, and present new methodologies for the visualisation of manuscript evidence and data.

El próximo martes 29 de marzo tendrá lugar en el Salón de Actos del Archivo Histórico Nacional de Madrid (Calle Serrano, 115), a las 10.00 de la mañana, una charla informal en la que debatiremos sobre Humanidades Digitales, Paleografía Digital, y el proyecto de investigación en el que trabajo, ViGOTHIC.
He pensado esta charla como una oportunidad abierta a todo aquel que quiera participar para poner en común nuestras ideas sobre el campo de la paleografía digital, las opciones actualmente disponibles, sus ventajas e inconvenientes. Será un placer contar con vosotros !


Resumen-storify de la charla disponible en http://litteravisigothica.com/charla-en-el-archivo-historico-nacional/

This talk aims to give you a glimpse of the manuscript richness kept at the British Library regarding Visigothic script material - just in case you were not aware of it yet. As it will be briefly mentioned through some representative examples, there is a variety of sources in  which Visigothic script was used; different writing supports, parchment, paper, slate, and stone, to which it adapted, first taking its shape, then evolving, to become the script we know recognise as Visigothic.

The last three decades of the eleventh century were, for Galicia, a crucial period of cultural and political change. The effective political incorporation of the territory as a county of the Kingdom of León-Castile resulted in the replacement of the traditional local nobility for new aristocrats more consistent with the French preferences of the monarchy and the ecclesiastical elites. At the same time, this new centralized management promoted open paths for the massive arrival of European culture, leading to, among other things, the change from Visigothic script, the common writing system used in the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania from at least the early decades of the eighth century, to Caroline minuscule, the supra-national handwriting spread into general use throughout Europe. But, how the scribes perceived this cultural and graphic change and adopted it?
Through the graphic examination of the first charters written in Visigothic script with Carolingian influence (c. 1070) to the first ones already written in the new script (c. 1110), this paper seeks to evaluate the impact that the change of writing system, from Visigothic to Caroline, progressively carried out reinforced by the central government and the new nobility, had on the scribes working in the main two Galician production centres, the sees of Lugo and Santiago de Compostela. It will be discussed the meaning of changing scripts for the scribes who used them; for the generation trained in Visigothic script that was driven to change its habits adopting the new writing system as well as for the new generation of those who learnt to write directly in Caroline minuscule within Galicia or, trained abroad, came to these main sees to develop their professional career. It is intended to deep in the social status of those two groups, asking if there were social differences between scribes from the old and the new scripts, and to debate how, through the graphic examples preserved, we can supposed their interaction was.
As a final point, the cultural context in which the graphic change was framed will be broadly discussed; how the rhythm of adaptation was and how it affected the political milieu in which Lugo and Santiago were in relation to the central government of the kings of León-Castile.

When Stewart invited me to speak at this Symposium to introduce my new research project, “ViGOTHIC”, as a new member of the DigiPal family, the VisigothicPal, I was thrilled and quickly started to think about how to present it condensing all the technical and epistemological implications it covers. When I finished reading his email, however, as the structure of this paper became progressively defined, it was quite clear to me that I could not merely speak about the project focusing on how it could benefit from the application of digital palaeography and particularly of the DigiPal software. ViGOTHIC, although focused on the study of some specific codices written in Visigothic script through their detailed analysis aided by DigiPal, goes far beyond these sources to reach all Visigothic script production. It is a starting point aimed to change the field; how we work with, understand within a cultural context, and use – particularly for historical and palaeographical research – any manuscript source first written or copied in Visigothic script.

The study of the Visigothic script, namely the graphic form the Latin alphabet acquired for most common writing uses in the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania in the Early and High Middle Ages, has drawn the attention of a large number of scholars departing from the basic points already established in the medieval and modern stages. The main advances were made then, without exceeding the purpose of palaeography as a science of reading, on manuscript identification, interpretation of the abbreviation system, and the study of the script alphabet, but it was not until the late 17th century when Mabillon’s De re diplomatica - and subsequent reviews done refining and completing his critical method -, changed the study of the Visigothic script as well as the palaeography itself. Mabillon approached palaeography for the first time as an independent science, which, using its own methodology, lead to a specific purpose: to analyse the nature of the graphic signs not in order to provide elements for historical work, but for the study of the intrinsic development of the writing itself, i.e., its origin, evolution, changes and variants. Once the scientific palaeography was born and also the Visigothic script was individualized, the next steps on studying this script were therefore oriented towards distinguishing its different types, the script’s morphology and abbreviation characteristics, and its graphical evolution. After that the discussion was focused on establishing its origins, with strong emphasis on its regional variations. But, what is known nowadays regarding the study of this script? In this paper, after briefly summarize its state of research, the main problems on its further study will be discussed showing that there is still work to be done to fully understand it.

Writing, seen as a vehicle for intellectual communication and at once understood as an organized system that allows such development, is an excellent strategic point of reference to assess, through its analysis, any particularly cultural situation. Hence, aiming to reconstruct the cultural panorama of Galicia in the twelfth century, writing analysis must be the main source not only as genuine cultural manifestation but also as a mean to establish the written production of that century. The manuscript sources preserved for this period, charters, cartularies and codices in Visigothic script - namely the graphic form the Latin alphabet acquired for most common writing uses in the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania in the Early and High Middle Ages, shape a rich cultural context of scribes and copyists, libraries and readers establishing the beginning of a new era for the ancient Kingdom as part of Medieval Europe.
After reviewing the sources preserved for studying Galicia in the High Middle Ages, in this paper I will focus my attention in to unveil their cultural context by comparing two opposite main centers: one open to changes accepting the French political and spiritual influence claimed by the kings, Santiago de Compostela, and the other closed to all external influences and focused on preserving the tradition and the true conception of Visigothic Spain, Lugo. I will take a close look at the routes of cultural exchange opened with the ‘Camino de Santiago’ analyzing how the Francophile influence, the Gregorian Reform and the Cluniac monks, were received.

One of the most characteristic diplomatic elements of the medieval charters preserved for the Iberian Peninsula is the incorporation of a large list of individuals within the signature box confirming the legal act reported in each document. On these lists, the grantors and witnesses of the documentary action, and sometimes even the amanuenses, are referred to by name, by title or profession. Also a representative and distinctive sign, written by each individual or, more commonly, by the scribe or copyist of the charter was in some cases incorporated. But, what types of signs can be found? What determines the use of one design or another?
Reviewing the Visigothic script corpus from the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, in this paper the classification by types –calligraphic or monogrammatic– of these personal signs and their use given the chronological stage of the document –from the early 10th century to the late 12th century– will be revised. On this basis, the specific designs of some of these personal signs and the correspondence between the designs each individual chose and a specific social status will be discussed.

At the end of the eleventh century in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, the deep political and administrative changes that were developed in the Crown of Castile and Leon as well as inside the ecclesiastical structure of the dioceses mark a turning point in the medieval manuscript production: the beginning of the cartularies. The main aims that justify the creation of this type of codices are directly and closely related with the living situation of monasteries and cathedrals and are a reflection of their needs and hopes: management of the archive, protection of rights against possible usurpations, and commemoration of the donors’ memory as well as of the institution that order the cartulary itself. But, how was developed the cartularization process that explains the architectural nature of the cartulary as a codex?
In this paper, after reviewing the historical and cultural context in which these types of manuscripts are framed, I will focus as example on the writing practices developed in a small monastery in northern Galicia: Caaveiro. Thanks to the manuscript funds preserved for this cenobium - that allow us to follow the steps that define the codicological structure of a diplomatic cartulary, the monastic pancartes - shall state the reasons that led a monastic institution to collect, redo and maybe falsify the documents guarantors of its territorial domain.

At the end of the eleventh century in the north-western Iberian Peninsula, the deep political and administrative changes developed in the Crown of Castile and Leon as well as inside the ecclesiastical structure of the dioceses marked a turning point in medieval manuscript production: the beginning of the cartularies. The main aims that justified the creation of this type of diplomatic codices were closely related with the cultural context of monasteries and cathedrals, being therefore a reflection of their needs and hopes: archival management, protection of rights against possible usurpations, and commemoration of the donors' memory as well as of the institution that ordered the cartulary itself. But, how was the cartularization process that explains the architectural nature of the cartulary as a codex developed? In this paper, after reviewing the methodology applied for studying cartularies, I will focus on, as a case study, the writing practices developed in a small monastery in northern Galicia, Caaveiro. Thanks to the manuscript sources preserved for this cenobium, the process of making one particular type of cartulary, the pancartes, as well as the cultural context which led the institution to collect, redo and maybe falsify its charters under French influence, will be discussed.

In my last Research Seminar I summarized the state of research on Visigothic script explaining that, once the script was identified, its main graphic characteristics established, and its origin and evolution discussed, the next step in the study of the script was to focus our attention on the analysis of its regional characteristics. Understanding how the Visigothic script was developed in each region is a fundamental aspect which allows us not only to date and geographically localize sources, but also to reconstruct their cultural context, since writing, seen as a vehicle for intellectual communication and simultaneously understood as an organized system that allows such development, is the perfect strategic point of reference to assess any particularly cultural situation. I also discussed then whether a new Galician regional variant can be considered as independent of the Leonese one, in which it has traditionally been included, asking if the graphic characteristics observed in the documents are distinctive enough for establishing two separate regional variants. However, the answer to this question was left open. Since then, the project has advanced by adding to the sources of Lugo those of Santiago, as well as by taking further steps in approaching them as written testimonies of a specific cultural context.
In this Seminar I will focus my attention on giving an answer to the question about the existence of a Galician variant through the paleographical analysis of the sources preserved for the more studied typological variant of the script, namely, the transitional one, and the detailed approach to the historical situation that they represent. Thus, I will show how the influence of the political and religious preferences of the Astur-Leonese/Castilian-Leonese kingdom were a decisive reason in the progressive decline of Visigothic script and the adoption of Carolingian script in Galicia, and how each diocese reacted to this, more or less, imposed change.

We know as Visigothic script the Latin script used between about the 8th and 13th centuries in the territories that formed the ancient Visigothic kingdom. In the last century, paleographers established the basic graphical characteristics of the script (variants, morphology, abbreviations, evolution, etc.) and discussed its possible origin (genetic, chronological and geographical). Since then research on this writing has focused on further analysis of the regional characteristics. The study of this aspect is very important in allowing us to determine the geographical location of all those sources which, if analyzed in isolation, could not be ascribed with certainty to a specific production center; such as codices without colophon, or fragments. We can compare their graphic features with those scripts for which we are able to provide a provenance and date, such as diplomas, in order to have a complete context in which to continue with the study of this writing, its evolution, and all the cultural aspects related to these sources.
The first two areas to be differentiated were the Mozarabic and the Leonese, in the late 19th century, and afterwards also the Portuguese, Catalan and southern French ones.  But there is still work to be done. Despite the large volume of documentation on the ancient Kingdom of Galicia preserved in Visigothic script, a detailed examination of these sources has not yet been undertaken. Consequently, the scientific community has accepted the idea that this type of writing does not have enough specific features in this area to merit a separate study and to be considered as independent of the Leonese, in which it has traditionally been included. But is this accurate? The main goal of my doctoral thesis was to begin the study of the manuscript sources preserved in Visigothic script in Galicia, through a representative sample of the diocese of Lugo. In this paper will be shown its main results and discussed whether the characteristics of the Visigothic script used in these sources may or may not be considered sufficient evidence to establish a new regional variant.

We know as Visigothic script the Latin script used between around the 8th and 13th centuries in the territories that formed the ancient Visigothic kingdom. In the last century, paleographers established the basic graphical characteristics of the script (variants, morphology, abbreviations, evolution, etc.) and discussed its possible origin (genetic, chronological and geographical). Since then research on this writing has focused on further analysis of the regional characteristics. The study of this aspect is very important in allowing us to determine the geographical location of all those sources which, if analyzed in isolation, could not be ascribed with certainty to a specific production center; such as codices without colophon, or fragments. We can compare their graphic features with those scripts for which we are able to provide a provenance and date, such as diplomas, in order to have a complete context in which to continue with the study of this writing, its evolution, and all the cultural aspects related to these sources.
The first two areas to be differentiated were the Mozarabic and the Leonese, in the late 19th century, and afterwards also the Portuguese, Catalan and southern French ones.  But there is still work to be done. Despite the large volume of documentation on the ancient Kingdom of Galicia preserved in Visigothic script, a detailed examination of these sources has not yet been undertaken. Consequently, the scientific community has accepted the idea that this type of writing does not have enough specific features in this area to merit a separate study and to be considered as independent of the Leonese, in which it has traditionally been included. But is this accurate? The main goal of my doctoral thesis was to begin the study of the manuscript sources preserved in Visigothic script in Galicia, through the representative sample of the diocese of Lugo. In this seminar will be shown its main results, explained the next steps and discussed whether the characteristics of the Visigothic script used in these sources may or may not be considered sufficient evidence to establish a new regional variant.

En este paper se recomiendan páginas web de utilidad para la docencia de las asignaturas comprendidas dentro del área de las Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, en especial para Paleografía. La intención es que cada profesor conozca los recursos disponibles online en relación con esta materia para que pueda servirse de ellos a la hora de complementar su Plan Docente acorde con las nuevas exigencias de la “Era Digital”. Del mismo modo, se pretende también proporcionar al alumno recursos útiles para optimizar su metodología de estudio de Paleografía.

We know as ‘Chi Rho’ the Early Christian monogram formed by combining the Greek letters X and P symbolizing the name of Christ widely used in all formats from antiquity to the present days. Throughout the Middle Ages, the use of this sign became one of the most representative of the medieval western documentation of the Iberian Peninsula as a symbolic invocation used by scribes both at the beginning of the document and on the signature box. However, despite its frequency, there is still much to learn about its use, its morphology and evolution. We know the reasons, religious and political, that led the scribes to incorporate these signs in their manuscripts but, why the designs are so different between centuries and production centers?
Reviewing the Visigothic script corpus from the western Iberian Peninsula, in this presentation we will see how the morphology and uses of the Chi Rho evolves and how, thanks to both aspects, we can use it as a new method to place medieval diplomas in their chronological and cultural context.

As medievalists dealing with manuscript sources, two of the most frequent questions that we try to answer relate to the identity of the material authors of the written testimonies used for our research as well as their cultural context. To solve these queries and with codices as the main corpus, we tend to rely directly on each scrivener’s texts as a means to obtain information to reconstruct their career and environment. Working with charters, however, and with scribes for whom very few manuscript examples have been preserved, the textual information obtained through their graphic testimonies often tends not to be detailed enough to proceed any further. In such cases where we lack meaningful details and rarely have the amanuensis’ name, we can only rely on the analysis of the writing, since it is possible, through the graphic characteristics shown by each hand, to attribute a scribe to a specific school, and thus, a chronological and geographical context. Such a detectivesque approach is not effortless. In this article, the methodology to be applied in the process of recovering information about medieval scribes through palaeographic research will be tested by reviewing current scholarship to shed light on the professional career of one of the first notaries of the incipient royal chancery of the kingdom of León in the early eleventh century.

Not so long ago, researchers who wanted to illustrate their work with images had to turn to photocopies; to the traditional cut and paste. Thus, in palaeography we still regularly find relevant articles and dissertations with pictures of alphabets collected that way: the author had to photocopy the original manuscript and then, with extreme patience, cut letter by letter, ligature by ligature, paste them into a new paper, and finally make a new photocopy for publication. Today, when we consult such studies we may be surprised to see this method of incorporating a graphic sample of an alphabet, or a table of abbreviations into a publication. To modern minds, focusing on a task which, despite being integral is not part of the purely scientific research process, seems a waste of time. But what alternatives are currently available? Can we avoid performing this task manually?
After reviewing the digital tools now under development and the possibilities of their application to palaeography, this paper discusses how the use of the most simple and accessible among them can help in palaeographical research, not only to speed up the work or to assure better aesthetic results, but also to increase detail perception; to draw conclusions that would be hard to reach with the traditional-manual method as well as difficult to explain clearly to the scientific community. The point of reference to evaluate these tools will be placed in their application to the study of the Visigothic script in Galicia.

Son muchos los investigadores, nacionales y extranjeros, que han centrado su atención en el estudio de la escritura visigótica. Gracias a sus trabajos las características morfológicas y braquigráficas de este tipo de escritura han quedado bien definidas. Partiendo de esta base, desde  finales del siglo pasado otro aspecto del estudio de nuestra escritura ha cobrado mayor interés, como es la diferenciación de las características regionales.
Tradicionalmente la escritura visigótica desarrollada en territorio gallego siempre se ha considerado dentro del estudio del núcleo asturleonés, sin establecer unos rasgos individualizadores. Con nuestro trabajo, no exento de los problemas metodológicos habituales que encontramos al realizar cualquier trabajo de investigación de este tipo, pretendemos examinar las características gráficas concretas de la escritura visigótica del conjunto galaico -comenzando con el análisis de las fuentes manuscritas conservadas en este tipo de escritura de la provincia de Lugo- y compararlas con las establecidas para el conjunto del núcleo asturleonés para tratar de identificar los rasgos propios de la escritura visigótica gallega.

Desde finales del siglo pasado los estudios que han ido apareciendo sobre escritura visigótica se han centrado en profundizar en el análisis de las características regionales propias de ésta. Así encontramos obras centradas en la zona leonesa , mozárabe , catalano-pirenaica , cántabra , portuguesa , aragonesa , septimana , riojana  y que marcan unos rasgos gráficos específicos partiendo de las características establecidas dentro de los núcleos básicos: mozárabe y asturleonés. Sin embargo, el análisis de las características gráficas concretas que encontramos en las fuentes manuscritas conservadas en este tipo de escritura de procedencia gallega no se ha realizado.
El único autor que parcialmente ha tratado de fijar sus características fue el Prof. Lucas Álvarez, si bien algunos de sus trabajos no se han publicado  o no lo han hecho de forma correcta  como para poder confirmar sus afirmaciones con ejemplos gráficos. En consecuencia, se ha mantenido la idea de que no presenta particularidades que sean suficientes para merecer un estudio concreto que permita separar este núcleo como independiente del asturleonés, en el que tradicionalmente se ha venido incluyendo.
La presencia que tuvo esta escritura en Galicia está atestiguada desde mediados del siglo IX hasta finales del siglo XII .
esta Teniendo en cuenta el estado actual de las investigaciones sobre esta escritura, la importancia de los estudios regionales y el volumen de fuentes manuscritas que han llegado hasta nosotros , creemos que es necesario profundizar en el estudio de este tipo de escritura intentar establecer unas características propias, poder demostrar .
Sin embargo, durante este periodo el uso de la variante redonda fue casi testimonial respecto al de la cursiva, pudiendo decir que nunca llegó a emplearse en su forma pura .
Según el estudio de Lucas Álvarez sobre paleografía gallega , la zona que nos permite analizar mejor la escritura visigótica en Galicia es la lucense-samonense por ser “extraordinariamente rica en documentos conservados, de gran variedad morfológica” a la que atribuye “una evolución propia”  . Por tanto, en esta comunicación nos centramos en los fondos conservados en escritura visigótica redonda de esta zona y más concretamente en los procedentes de la Catedral de Lugo.

La finalidad de la comunicación es la presentación de documentación inédita sobre el monasterio de San Xoán de Caaveiro (La Coruña).
Se trata de un Cartulario en dos partes, aparecido en Barcelona, que comenzó a copiarse a finales del siglo XII en escritura visigótica redonda, y se continuó durante al menos un siglo, dentro del ciclo carolino, hasta finales del siglo XIII, ya en escritura gótica cursiva. Su importancia se centra en tres puntos: en primer lugar, de los cuarenta y dos documentos que contiene, con fechas extremas 1099-1247, diecisiete no aparecen en ninguna otra fuente documental conservada del monasterio (nos aportan nueva información sobre la relación del cenobio con la nobleza local); en segundo lugar, al estar parte de la documentación que contiene copiada en escritura visigótica, es el Cartulario gallego más antiguo que ha llegado hasta nuestro días; y por último, debido a su continuidad, muestra la evolución gráfica de la zona norte de La Coruña, conservada en único manuscrito.

En sintonía con el tema central del Congreso Internacional de Estudios Medievales de la Universidad de Leeds del año próximo, “Otherness”, se abre convocatoria para participar en una o varias sesiones dedicadas a reflexionar sobre el concepto de alteridad y de lo propio a través de fuentes manuscritas de la Península Ibérica de entre los siglos X y XIII.

Con la disgregación del Imperio Romano y la pérdida de la estructura educativa y cultural de tradición clásica a la que ésta derivó, hemos visto como en cada uno de los territorios europeos un nuevo tipo de escritura comenzó a desarrollarse. Poco a poco, partiendo de modelos clásicos, las escrituras insular, merovingia y visigótica se convierten en los sistemas gráficos al uso en las Islas Británicas, el reino franco y los reinos cristianos de la Península Ibérica respectivamente. El mismo proceso de desarrollo y consolidación de sistemas gráficos tuvo lugar también en centro Europa, donde se había desplazado el centro cultural antes en Roma. Con Carlomagno y la llamada renovación cultural carolingia una escritura sencilla, legible y de toque clásico era indispensable para la preservación y transmisión del conocimiento...

Una de las principales dificultades con la que nos encontramos a la hora de comenzar a transcribir un documento es la existencia de un sistema abreviativo complejo y además diferente según va evolucionando la escritura. Aunque el sentido de la utilización de este tipo de abreviaturas en algunas grafías se nos escapa, sí hubo una razón específica para su empleo en su origen...

Esta actividad forma parte del PROGRAMA DE DOCTORADO DE HISTORIA MEDIEVAL, MODERNA, CONTEMPORÁNEA Y DE AMÉRICA de la Universidad de Salamanca. Está abierta a los estudiantes del Programa de Doctorado y también podrán participar alumnos de otros programas de doctorado y de máster que así lo deseen.
Para inscribirse y recibir un certificado de cara a las actividades obligatorias que deben realizar los estudiantes, los interesados deberán ponerse en contacto con el Coordinador del Programa, Prof Iñaki Martín Viso, a través de un mensaje al correo electrónico (viso@usal.es).

London International Palaeography Summer School
School of Advanced Study - University of London

During the Middle Ages Iberian Peninsular written production was marked by graphic change; from national written systems to European ones, and back to graphic particularism. This process was neither received nor developed in the same way throughout the Iberian soil, consequently highlighting not only the cultural diversity that characterises medieval Spain but also the peculiar configuration of its kingdoms. In this course, students will gain knowledge about the traditional Iberian script, Visigothic, to then move forward to the specifics of the Spanish Caroline minuscule, and to the Spanish Gothic scripts, both dissimilar to the graphic models practised in Europe.
This course is open to everyone interested in medieval manuscript production with a focus on the Iberian Peninsula’s manuscript material. Its main aim is to familiarise the participants with the graphic particularism experienced in medieval Spain in comparison with Europe. No previous experience is required. However, since the course involves some practical exercises, students with at least a basic training in palaeography will particularly benefit from the course. A basic knowledge of Latin and Spanish would be useful but is not essential.

The workshop is Palaeography of Old Hispanic Manuscripts: Music, Text and Beyond. It is envisioned as a skills training event designed for 20 participants. The event, which is open to members of the public, involves the active participation of the attendees who will be stimulated to develop critical thinking around what they see and will be encouraged to ask questions and comment. Junior scholars, as well as experienced Medievalists interested in the topic, will be welcome to apply.
It will take place at the CESEM – Centro de Estudos de Sociologia e Estética Musical, in Lisbon (Portugal) on 4 May 2017.

Workshop goals:
Build a bridge between Medieval Iberia and modern scholars.
Provide the participants with basic training to tackle Old Hispanic musical manuscripts and understand their contents.
Encourage attendees to keep studying these manuscripts after the Workshop.
Establish an international network of scholars interested in Old Hispanic chant and script.

Almost all written production done in what is now Spain and Portugal from the 8th to the 12th centuries was so in what is called ‘Visigothic script’, the Peninsular own evolution of the Late Roman Empire scripts as are Merovingian, Insular, and Beneventan scripts for their correspondent geographical areas. In this course students will gain knowledge about not only the origin of Visigothic script but also about its main typological and geographical variants and stages of evolution throughout the centuries, being these aspects discussed through digital reproductions of significant manuscript exemplars.
This course is open to everyone interested in medieval manuscript production, with a focus on the Iberian Peninsula’s manuscript material. Its main aim is to familiarise the attendants with a particular model of medieval script, with those letters, signs, and abbreviations that characterise Visigothic script. Therefore, no previous experience is required although students with at least a basic training in palaeography will particularly benefit from the course.