medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Christopher,
you're right about one lifetime not being enough! I was indeed fortunate to be trained in palaeography and in codicology, but the question of how to identify and characterize different hands in the same volume is one that I didn't need to pay attention to, until now. My essential problem is that all the hands -- Derolez, among others, notes at least five of them -- are contemporary, as was the creation of the vellum (all the same, jumbo format). This takes away some of the more obvious changes, such as those in abbreviation forms or in types of writing material, as criteria for differentiating between the scribes.
Despite the masterly opinion of Derolez, I am certain that some of the hands change within areas where he says that only one is at work. This is a certainty that until now is of the 'fides' type; I am slowly seeking to support and eventually supplant this with the 'ratio' sort.
I am interested by the discussion about whether scribes could have a bad day. I am leaning to your view, Christopher, that they often could and did have a rough day at the scriptorium. (A bit like list owners? :-) )
All good wishes,
George
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George Ferzoco
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