Teaching writing, learning to write : proceedings of the XVIth Colloquium of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine, held at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, 2-5 September 2008

Pamela Robinson (Editor)

ISBN 10: 0953983854 / ISBN 13: 9780953983858

Published by King's College London Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies, London, 2010

About this Item

xvi, 380 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 25 cm. Fifteen contributions in English, 2 in French, 2 in Italian, 1 in German, and 1 in Spanish. Summary:The capacity to read and write are different abilities. While studies of medieval readers and reading have proliferated in recent years, there has so far been little study of how people learnt to write in the Middle Ages. T̀eaching Writing, Learning to Write', the theme chosen for the XVIth Colloquium of the Comite International de Paleographie Latine, explored this separate aspect of literacy. The range of papers published here by an international group of scholars discuss evidence adduced from the à sgraffio' writing of Ancient Rome through the attempts of scribes to model their handwriting after that of the master-scribe in a disciplined scriptorium to the repeated copying of set phrases in a Florentine merchant's day book. Essays show how a careful study of handwriting witnesses the reception of the twenty-three letter Latin alphabet in different countries of medieval Europe, and its necessary adaptation to represent vernacular sounds. Monastic customaries provide evidence of teaching and learning in early scriptoria, while a study of the grammarians is a reminder that for the medieval scholar learning to write did not mean simply mastering the skill of holding a quill and forming one's letters properly, but also mastering a correct understanding of grammar and punctuation. Other essays discuss the European reception of the so-called Arabic numbers, provide an edition of a fifteenth-century tract on how to use abbreviations correctly, and illustrate how images of writing on wax tablets and learning in school can throw light on medieval practice. The volume ends with a paper on the deployment of Latin, Greek and Hebrew alphabets by a sixteenth-century amateur theologian. -- Book Jacket.

Seller Inventory # 2soas4to841

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Teaching writing, learning to write : proceedings of the XVIth Colloquium of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine, held at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, 2-5 September 2008
• Publisher: King's College London Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies, London
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0953983854
• ISBN 13: 9780953983858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

Essays looking at the process of teaching and learning to write in the middle ages, with evidence drawn from across Europe.

The capacity to read and write are different abilities, yet while studies of medieval readers and reading have proliferated in recent years, there has so far been little examination of how people learnt to write in the middle ages- an aspect of literacy which this volume aims to address. The papers published here discuss evidence adduced from the "a sgraffio" writing of Ancient Rome, through the attempts of scribes to model their handwriting after that ofthe master-scribe in a disciplined scriptorium, to the repeated copying of set phrases in a Florentine merchant's day book. They show how a careful study of handwriting witnesses the reception of the twenty-three letter Latin alphabet in different countries of medieval Europe, and its necessary adaptation to represent vernacular sounds. Monastic customaries provide evidence of teaching and learning in early scriptoria, while an investigation of the grammarians is a reminder that for the medieval scholar learning to write did not mean simply mastering the skill of holding a quill and forming one's letters properly, but also mastering a correct understanding of grammar and punctuation. Other essays consider the European reception of the so-called Arabic numbers, provide an edition of a fifteenth-century tract on how to use abbreviations correctly, and illustrate how images of writing on wax tablets and learning in school can throw light on medieval practice. The volume concludes with a paper on the ways in which a sixteenth-century amateur theologican deployed Latin, Greek and Hebrew alphabets.

P.R. Robinson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London.

Contributors: Paolo Fioretti, David Ganz, Martin Steinman, Patrizia Carmassi, Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, Annina Seiler, Alessandro Zironi, Jerzy Kaliszuk, Aslaug Ommundsen, Erik Niblaeus, Gudvardur Már Gunnlaugsson, Cristina Mantegna, Irene Ceccherini, Jesús Alturo, Carmen del Camino Martinez, Maria do Rosário Barbosa Morujao, Charles Burnett, Olaf Pluta, Lucy Freeman Sandler, Alison Stones, Berthold Kress

About the Author

PR Robinson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London.