medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty
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> Sent: 05 August 2003 06:21
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: 17.177 Durham Liber Vitae project: press release
>
>
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 177.
> Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
> www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
> www.princeton.edu/humanist/
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>
>
> Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2003 06:11:32 +0100
> From: Willard McCarty <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Durham Liber Vitae Project
>
> DURHAM LIBER VITAE PROJECT
> www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/dlv/
>
> Press release, August 2003. Please recirculate.
>
> A major project to produce an innovative computerised edition of the
> medieval Durham Liber Vitae, with full supporting scholarly
> material, is
> now underway in partnership with the British Library. The
> project is funded
> by the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
>
> This Liber Vitae, or "book of life" was one among several put
> together in
> Europe during the Middle Ages. As the name suggests, these books were
> modelled on the one envisioned in the biblical book of
> Revelation, hence to
> be inscribed therein was, at least originally, a highly
> meaningful act. The
> Durham Liber Vitae originated in the mid-ninth-century as a
> list of several
> hundred names of persons associated with a Northumbrian
> church, probably
> Lindisfarne, but possibly Monkwearmouth/Jarrow. (These names,
> written in
> alternating gold and silver, are arranged according to the status and
> functions of the persons who bore them and have the potential
> to provide
> remarkable insights into a 'dark age' of English history.)
> In the 10th and
> 11th centuries a few more names were entered. Then, around
> the year 1100,
> the book began to be used to record the names of all the
> monks of Durham,
> as well as a very large number of lay people, some great
> persons, others so
> humble that nothing else is known of them. Family groups also appear,
> especially the families of the last monks of Durham before Henry VIII
> dissolved the cathedral monastery in 1539, when the book
> ceased to be used.
>
> The kinds and arrangements of these names raise several important
> historical questions. Why, for example, were the names listed
> in this way?
> What light can they shed on the political, social and
> cultural history of
> medieval England, e.g. the emergence of Scandinavian and
> Norman names in
> the eleventh century? What can be learned from the
> innumerable examples of
> handwriting which the book contains? What patterns are
> discernible in the
> development of the languages (Old English, Middle English,
> Scandinavian,
> Britonic, Irish) in which the names are written?
>
> Despite its great historical importance, the book has not
> been as widely
> studied as it deserves because access to the manuscript
> itself has been
> limited, and it has been impossible to edit by conventional
> means. Hence
> the current project to design an electronic edition that will not only
> provide high-definition images of all pages but also make
> possible complete
> representation of all that is known about the manuscript and
> its contents.
> The edition will represent a major step forward in the computer
> representation of medieval manuscripts.
>
> The Durham Liber Vitae project is led by Prof. David Rollason
> and Mr Alan
> Piper (AHRB Centre for North-East England History, University
> of Durham)
> and by Dr Willard McCarty and Mr Harold Short (Centre for
> Computing in the
> Humanities, King's College London). The major part of the
> work is currently
> being undertaken by the project's researcher, Dr Andrew
> Wareham (King's
> College London) and by the technical officer (Dr Gabriel
> Bodard, King's
> College London). A second researcher will be appointed to
> start work in
> November 2003 at the University of Durham.
>
>
>
> Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
> Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS
> || +44 (0)20
> 7848-2784 fax: -2980 || [log in to unmask]
> www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
>
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