Medieval Studies and Research: Manuscript Studies

Script and writing were among the most important inventions in human history, and until the invention of printing, the handwritten book was the primary medium of literary and cultural transmission. Although the study of manuscripts is already quite advanced for many regions of the world, no unified discipline of 'manuscript studies' has yet evolved which is capable of treating handwritten books from East Asia, India and the Islamic world equally alongside the European manuscript tradition. This book, which aims to begin the interdisciplinary dialogue needed to arrive at a truly systematic and comparative approach to manuscript cultures worldwide, brings together papers by leading researchers concerned with material, philological and cultural aspects of different manuscript traditions.

This collection of essays by Australian scholars offers a wealth of contemporary perspectives on cultural communication amongst men and women in late medieval and early modern Europe. (...) These rich studies demonstrate the vitality of cultural production during a period of rapid and often violent transition. (...)

"This book unites six essays related to manuscript culture in Britain. (…) The essays highlight, in different ways, the tight relationship between the paleographical and codicological features of manuscripts and the culture in which the objects were produced and used."

The medieval Jew and the universe -- The jewish quarter -- The house -- Costume -- The professional life of the Jewish community and its place in the medieval city -- Family life -- Religious life.

Shows examples of artwork from medieval Jewish Bibles, and discusses the way in which various biblical themes are depicted."

While the significance of the written word reverberates through both Judaism and Christianity, nowhere does the physical presence of scripture matter as much as it does in the Islamic world. (…) Arabic manuscript authority Colin Baker explores the central place of the Qur’an in Islamic society, but he also focuses on the manuscripts as physical objects, including a look at the celebrated calligraphy and the masterful artists who developed it. Numerous full-color images display the breadth of illumination styles and production materials used. Qur’an Manuscripts is a concise and readable overview of the long history of these manuscripts from across the wide Islamic world, from the eighth century to the end of the nineteenth, and from Spain to Southeast Asia.

(...) By looking at works as diverse as herbals, jewellery, surgery manuals, lay health guides, cinquecento paintings, manuscripts of Pliny's Natural History, and Leonardo's notebooks, Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550 addresses fundamental questions about the interplay of art and science from the thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth century: What counts as a medical illustration in the Middle Ages? What are the purposes and audiences of the illustrations in medieval medical, pharmaceutical, and natural history texts? How are images used to clarify, expand, authenticate, and replace these texts? How do images of natural objects, observed phenomena, and theoretical concepts amplify texts and convey complex cultural attitudes? What features lead us to regard some of these images as typically 'medieval' while other exactly contemporary images strike us as 'Renaissance' or 'early modern' in character? (...)

Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine details the whole scope of scientific knowledge in the medieval period in more than 300 A to Z entries. This resource discusses the research, application of knowledge, cultural and technology exchanges, experimentation, and achievements in the many disciplines related to science and technology. Coverage includes inventions, discoveries, concepts, places and fields of study, regions, and significant contributors to various fields of science. There are also entries on South-Central and East Asian science. This reference work provides an examination of medieval scientific tradition as well as an appreciation for the relationship between medieval science and the traditions it supplanted and those that replaced it.

Downloadable PDF; Abstract: The last 50 years have seen an impressive development of mathematical methods for the analysis and processing of digital images, mostly in the context of photography, biomedical imaging and various forms of engineering. The arts have been mostly overlooked in this process, apart from a few exceptional works in the last 10 years. With the rapid emergence of digitisation in the arts, however, the arts domain is becoming increasingly receptive to digital image processing methods and the importance of paying attention to this therefore increases. In this paper we discuss a range of mathematical methods for digital image restoration and digital visualisation for illuminated manuscripts. The latter provide an interesting opportunity for digital manipulation because they traditionally remain physically untouched. At the same time they also serve as an example for the possibilities mathematics and digital restoration offer as a generic and objective toolkit for the arts.