medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Christopher Crockett wrote:
> From: John Briggs
>> Christopher Crockett wrote:
>
>>> the M.A. ended at midnight, 31 December, 1499.
>
>> Are you absolutely certain it isn't 31 December 1500?
>
> yes.
>
> i am.
>
>> (Which is, in any case, the cut-off date for incunabula.)
>
> i've always heard "Books published before 1500" as the date for
> incunabula.
>
> but, i'm just a bookdealer, so what do i know?
Well, let's put it this way - at the BL Incunabula Conference in 2000 I had
to explain to one bookdealer that "Incunabulum" wasn't the correct singular
form...
> or, for that matter, the OED:
>
> INCUNABLE:
>
> 2. (With sing. incunabulum): Books produced in the infancy of the art
> of printing; spec. those printed before 1500.
That's two mistakes by the OED :-)
> 1861 NEALE Notes Dalmatia etc. i. 9 What are Incunabula? you ask. It
> is the name that Germans give to books printed before 1500.
Well, everyone (or nearly everyone) is now agreed that it is before 1501.
> unlike in Art (as the Spanish painting which MG showed us
> demonstrates) there is no clear break to be seen in book production,
> at the very moment when the 15th c. turned into the 16th.
>
> hence:
>
> Edward Cranwell, _An index of such English books printed before the
> year MDC, as are now in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge_.
> Cambridge : J. and J.J. Deighton, 1847.
>
> Alan Coates, _A catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century
> now in the Bodleian Library_. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005.
Yes, but the fifteenth century ended at the end of 1500 (see below).
> personally, i prefer a cutoff date of around 1525.
>
> that way, i could say that, over 25 years, i've dealt two
> "incunables".
>
>> In England it is conventionally 22 August 1485, of course.
>
> that's just English ideosyncracy, playing itself out, as usual.
>
> for Normal People, the whole of the 15th c. is Middlevil, the 16th c.
> (which began at midnight, 1 January, 1500) is Modren.
Except that the sixteenth century began on 1 January 1501, of course.
>> For the purposes of "Medieval Religion" some other termination date
>> might be chosen, such as 1517, 1534, 1549, 1559 or 1570 - according to
>> taste.
>
> well, any date is o.k., as long as it's not Arbitrary.
I suppose not...
John Briggs
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