medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Medieval-Religion list members,
I wouldn't usually forward messages, but I though this information may be
interesting to the list (if it is not already known).
Thank you for your indulgence.
Sincerely,
June Mecham
-----Original Message-----
From: James A. Brundage
To: Tim Brennan
Cc: Tim Sistrunk
Sent: 1/11/2003 9:53 AM
Subject: Fwd: The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources
Dear everybody,
Medieval Latin dictionares are among the most basic research
tools we all use and depend on One of the most important current
projects to update and improve these tools, the Dictionary of Medieval
Latin from British Sources, is now threatened with extinction. Unless
funds can be found speedily, the Dictionary, which has now reached the
letter P, will soon cease publication, its staff will be let go, and the
project, which has been in progress since 1924, will be abandoned.
The forwarded messages that follow explain the situation in
greater detail.
As part of a last-ditch effort to prevent this, I am asking you
to write to express your dismay at the proposed abandonment of the
project and urging the officers of the British Academy to do their
utmost to secure funding to prevent this. Letters should be sent to: the
Secretary of the British Academy <[log in to unmask]>, with copies
to <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]>, and
<[log in to unmask]>.
Thanks a whole lot,
JAB
From: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 01:34:08 +0000
Subject: The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
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Cc: [log in to unmask]
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X-Mailer: Mulberry (Win32) [1.4.4, s/n S-100001]
St John's College, Cambridge CB2 1TP
Dear Colleague,
This is a call for assistance on behalf of the Dictionary of Medieval
Latin
from British Sources. Prepared by R. E. Latham under the direction of a
committee appointed by the British Academy, this Dictionary has been in
progress since 1975, and its distinguished compilers have reached the
letter 'P'. However, I regret to have to report that for financial
reasons
its continuation beyond this point is now in question.
But now for the good news, which is that my purpose in writing to you is
not to ask you for money but rather to ask you to WRITE A LETTER in
support
of the Fellows of the Medieval Studies Section of the British Academy,
myself included, in our attempt to ensure that with the assistance of
pressure from interested scholars throughout the world and with the aid
of
funding from British sources this noble enterprise may soon be brought
to a
triumphant completion.
If, therefore, you are of opinion that the Dictionary's account of
letters
Q to Z may be of value equivalent to that of its coverage of letters A
to
P, and that a work which has already proved its enormous worth to
scholarship must not be left uncompleted, all I am asking you to do is
to
send an e-mail in words to that effect addressed to:
The Secretary
The British Academy
10 Carleton House Terrace
London --------------------- [log in to unmask]
with copies to [log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
and [log in to unmask]
At the end of this letter there are two letters containing relevant
information.
We have reason to believe that expressions of support from scholars
worldwide may prove to be of particular importance in securing the
future
of the Dictionary.
For that reason, will you kindly circulate this letter to any of your
colleagues likely also to be interested in the Dictionary's survival.
The present letter is going to the following:
David Abulafia, Cambridge
Mario Ascheri, Siena
Nora Berend, Cambridge
Martin Bertram, Rome
Peter Biller, York
Alain Boureau, Paris
Maria João Branco, Lisbon
Martin Brett, Cambridge
Jim Brundage, Kansas
Anthony Cardenas, Michigan
Christine Carpenter, Cambridge
Pedro Cátedra, Salamanca
Giovanna Cesarani, Princeton
Roger Collins, Edinburgh
David d'Avray, London
Jean Dunbabin, Oxford
Emma Falque, Seville
Inés Fernández-Ordóñez, Madrid
Richard Fletcher, York
Paul Freedman, Yale
Antonio García y García, Salamanca
Julian Gardner, Warwick
Juan Gil, Seville
Manuel González Jiménez, Seville
Michael Hatcher, Cambridge
Patrick Henriet, Paris
Francisco Hernández, Ottawa/Madrid
Jocelyn Hillgarth, Toronto
Caroline Humfress, Berkeley
Peter Jackson, Keele
Michael Jones, Nottingham
Pablo Juaralde, Madrid
Richard Kinkade, Tucson
Peter Landau, Munich
Jacques Le Goff, Paris
Claudio Leonardi, Florence
Rosamond McKitterick, Cambridge
Domenico Maffei, Siena
John Marenbon, Cambridge
Georges Martin, Lyon
Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, Lausanne
Ken Pennington, Washington
Jonathan Riley-Smith, Cambridge
Jean Roudil, Montlignon
Magnus Ryan, London
Liesbeth van Houts, Cambridge
Tessa Webber, Cambridge
Daniel Williman, Binghamton N.Y.
Anders Winroth, Yale
Roger Wright, Liverpool
Patrick Zutshi, Cambridge
I believe the purpose of the cause to be sufficiently clear, and - as
one
with no particular interest in Latin in a cold climate -- warmly commend
it
to my colleagues.
The matter is urgent and richly deserving of your support.
10 January 2003
Peter Linehan
Fellow of the Academy
There follow copies of two letters
(i) of the Chairman of the Medieval Studies Section of the Academy,
Professor N. F. Palmer to the Chairman of the Research Committee of the
Academy (dated 25 November 2002):
Dear Professor Bennett,
I am writing to you on behalf of the standing committee of section H8 to
express concern about the future of three major long-term research
projects
to which the Academy has hitherto made a major contribution, and which,
if
our information is correct, are currently seriously threatened: the
Medieval
Latin Dictionary, the Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire, and the
Lexicon
of Greek Personal Names. The first two of these are a matter of
particular
concern to a significant number of fellows in H8 (and the section could
make
a reasoned case for the individual projects if called upon to do so),
but
the standing committee takes the view that the case for all three is
equally
strong. This letter follows on from that which the Research Committee
received earlier in the year from my predecessor, Professor Christopher
Dyer, dated 2 April 2002, which was concerned specifically with the
Medieval
Latin Dictionary.
We wish to lend support to the view that the structures of research
funding
should be reviewed to establish a clear place for major long-term
projects
that by their nature must necessarily employ a number of academic staff
for
a period longer than that envisaged by AHRB funding structures. We are
concerned with the interplay of the different types of funding available
from bodies such as the British Academy, the AHRB and Leverhulme, and it
seems very unfortunate that the recent reorganisation has led to a gap
in
the opportunities available for projects such as those indicated above.
Might it be possible for the Research Committee to initiate discussions
between the relevant funding bodies to review the situation?
We are concerned about the long-term future of the projects, but also
about
the short-time situation where, if a solution is not found quickly, the
projects may lose highly trained staff whose continued employment is
essential if momentum is not to be lost. We know that this is the case
with
the Medieval Latin Dictionary.
One aspect which aggravates the current situation is the transfer of
research projects to the pay-roll of the universities, which appears
necessarily to entail the much cited 46% overheads on staff costs. Even
if
an alternative solution could be found, it is surely the case that the
AHRB's ceiling of £100 000 p.a. does not meet the requirements of that
small
group of projects which provides major research resources and reference
resources for the academic community as a whole.
The importance of the British long-term research projects becomes clear
if
they are viewed in an international context. We can illustrate this from
the
Medieval Latin Dictionary, which is the British contribution to a
Europe-wide project (one of 14 Medieval Latin lexicographical projects),
and
indeed one in which our Dictionary is a leader not only in quality, but
also
in terms of its completion rate. It is not simply the matter that the
international reputation of the Academy would suffer if this work were
to be
cut sort, but also that future lexicographical work in Medieval Latin
and
the planning of future projects would be so badly affected by having a
dictionary well on the way to completion, - but not actually completed.
This matter is on the agenda for discussion at the H8 section meeting in
early January [=7.1.03, PAL]. I would be very grateful for any
information
that you can pass on to me to assist that discussion.
Yours sincerely
NFP
(ii) of my own, dated 9 January 2003, and addressed to the Secretary of
the
Academy:
Dear Secretary,
The Medieval Latin Dictionary
Without unnecessarily rehearsing all the arguments advanced by
Professors
C. C. Dyer and N. F. Palmer in their letters dated 2 April 2002 and 25
November 2002 respectively, may I add my voice to their plea to the
Officers and Council of the Academy to use their best offices to ensure
completion of the publication of the Medieval Latin Dictionary.
Amongst the many considerations mentioned in those letters, I would only
stress the absolute need not to lose the services of staff expert in the
work in train, which any interruption of their work must make
inevitable;
the awful and shameful prospect of having the Dictionary expire at the
letter 'P', thereby fatally depreciating the compilers' universally
acknowledged achievement and leaving us with the craftsmen dispersed and
the lexicographical equivalent of a three-legged chair as the pitiful
monument to a failure to honour obligations, moral as well as
intellectual,
to an international project within which the U.K. has hitherto served as
both pacemaker and lodestar.
I wish also most emphatically to associate myself with any similar
appeal
you may receive in connexion with the Prosopography of the Byzantine
Empire.
Yours sincerely
PAL
cc. Prof. N. F. Palmer
Dr K. Emond
James A. Brundage
History & Law
University of Kansas
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