An Anglo-Saxon Palimpsest From Fleury: Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale Ms 342 (290)

  • Adrian Papahagi
Chapter
Part of the The New Middle Ages book series (TNMA)

Abstract

Among the many items of prêt-à-penser that the medievalist must constantly fight, one in particular has the endurance of an archetype. This diehard prejudice is, alas, linked to the very name of the Middle Ages. Thus we are all obliged, at one stage or another, to patiently explain that the Middle Ages were not a thousand years of darkness between the golden age of Rome and the splendor of Florence; that the Renaissance was not that much of a virgin birth, since its seeds had been sown centuries before; that the humanists’ antiqua was in fact an imitation of Caroline minuscule; that without the libraries and scriptoria of the Middle Ages there would have been little for the Renaissance to resuscitate.

Keywords

Eleventh Century Eighth Century Calligraphic Quality Virgin Birth Digital Image Enhancement 
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Notes

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    The manuscript contains in this order: pp. 1–59 Vita S. Nicholai; pp. 59–69 Vita S. Alexii [not 59–68, as in Van der Straeten (references hereafter)]; pp. 69–153 Vita S. Athanasii [rubric on p. 69, not 70, as in Van der Straeten; see also fig. 1.8]; pp. 153–182 Sermo S. Augustini de Natale Domini; pp. 183–202 De S. Cruce; pp. 203–210 Sermones de Natale Innocentium; pp. 210–21 Miraculum S. Anastasii; pp. 221–22 Epistula Chromatii et Eliodori ad Ieronimum;p pp. 223–30 Sermo S. Optati in natale SS. innocentium; pp. 233–44 Passio S. Theclae. See now Joseph van der Straeten, Les manuscrits hagiographiques d’Orléans, Tours et Angers avec plusieurs textes inédits, Subsidia hagiographica 64 (Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1982), pp. 72–73.Google Scholar
  33. 36.
    I thank Anne Laurent from the photographic department of the IRHT-Orléans. In a message to me on December 3, 2007, Madame Laurent expressed the skepticism of the IRHT specialists about the possibility of getting better results: “Nous avons essayé de faire ressortir le texte effacé en éclairant la feuille par en dessous mais cela n’a pas été plus concluant que la prise de vue traditionnelle. Mon collègue Gilles Kagan, qui a de l’expérience dans ce domaine, doute qu’il y ait des procédés adaptés à ce manuscrit pour la prise de vue.” See, however, J.-P-Despré, “Les applications de la photographie à la lecture des documents effacés (ultra-violet, infra-rouge, transparence),” in L. Fossier and J. Irigoin, eds., Déchiffrer les écritures effacées (Paris: CNRS éditions, 1990), pp. 11–17.Google Scholar
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Copyright information

© Leo Carruthers, Raeleen Chai-Elsholz, and Tatjana Silec 2011

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  • Adrian Papahagi

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