Scribes’ Voices: The Relevance and Types of Early Medieval Colophons
2015; Routledge; Volume: 88; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00393274.2015.1101354
ISSN1651-2308
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistic research and analysis
ResumoAbstractEarly medieval colophons are the scribes' inscriptions at the end of a manuscript, in which they provide some kind of information about their copying endeavour. After focusing on the colophons' relevance for manuscript studies and, among other fields, for cultural history and linguistics, this paper illustrates how existing research has either collected them as 'antiquarian curiosities' (Moreno Olalla 2013: 144) or has traced the development of single formulae and used them to reconstruct the diachronic, diatopic and diastratic distribution of colophons and manuscripts. Based on different kinds of colophons, this contribution establishes a classification of colophons with regard to formal, contextual and functional characteristics. Linguistic Speech Act Theory is applied to classify the huge variety of colophons according to four basic categories of human communication. Finally, the article discusses how colophons changed when the early medieval, monastic scriptoria were replaced by late medieval, secular book shops.Keywords: colophonsmanuscriptsscribesmedieval studiesSpeech Act Theory AcknowledgementsI wish to thank the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation (Bonn) for providing generous financial support for my research. I am grateful for the helpful comments from Katherine Bennett (Salzburg) and Christine Wallis (Sheffield), and the suggestions from the anonymous reviewer.Notes1 The colophon is on fol. 59v of Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 4623. It is cited in Mordek (Citation1995: 518): "Omnis labor finem abet, premium autem eius non abet finem. Quia sicut nauiganti desiderabilis est portus, ita scriptori nouissimus uersus. Quia tres digiti scribunt, unde totus corpus laborat; ego enim auttramnus, indignus aduocatus laicus scripsi hunc librum in eclesia sancti estefani in uilla nomine templouia. Precor uos omnes."2 See the facsimile: http://digi.vatlib.it/view/bav_pal_lat_46/0284 [01.04.2015].3 There is evidence from a 15th century Irish monk (Oxford Bodleian Laud Misc 610, fol. 116r) who pledged for forgiveness because he had illuminated his manuscript on a Sunday (Plummer Citation1926: 24).4 The colophon is cited in the collection by the Bénédictins du Bouveret, vol. 5 (1965: 106): Angiule Donati me scripsit cum manum (!) sinistra – 'Angiule Donati has written me with his left hand' (my translation).5 The manuscript was originally stored in the National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (MS Lat.O.v.I N 45). Kilpiö (Citation2012) reads Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya's transcription of the colophon as follows: Ðeos Boc wæs geal gewriten on feower // wyken 7 konpede Þreo 7 fifti syllinges.6 The colophon in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, mgf 1236, fol. 1r. reads (cited from Seidel Citation2002: 145): "want ich geyn colner byn gebaren, mer van osenbrugge, so enkonde ich neit entlichen de colsche sprache scryuen" – 'As I am not born in Cologne, but rather in Osenbrugge [Osnabrück], I was not able to write the language of Cologne' (my translation).7 Moreton's (Citation2014) recent analysis of the decision to use Latin or Italian in colophons in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy shows that scribes from these times sometimes inserted Latin colophons in Italian manuscripts to express erudition. Most colophons in her corpus, however, appear in the same language as the manuscript text.8 See the facsimile: http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/ssg/0030/76v [01.04.2015].9 Cyrus' (Citation2009: 133) evaluation is less optimistic: "After reading a few thousand colophons, one gets the sense that all too few medieval scribes chose to say anything either original or pertinent, for manuscript upon manuscript shares the same verbiage, and some even string together a series of verbal formulas in the exact same order." Gameson (Citation2002: 3) even states: "[M]ost are predictable, repetitive, and – dare one say it – a little dull".10 For a recent research overview on Historical Pragmatics, its origins and developments, see Taavitsainen & Jucker (Citation2015).11 See the facsimile: http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/csg/0430/bindingE/ [01.04.2015].12 See the facsimile: http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/list/one/csg/0023 [01.04.2015].13 See the facsimile: http://www.stgallplan.org/stgallmss [01.04.2015].14 Haubrichs (Citation1995: 175) analysed early medieval book catalogues and found out that Fulda and Würzburg, for example, had only about 30 volumes in the years around 800. The number of manuscripts in German monasteries grew in the 9th century (see Schiegg Citation2015: 157).15 Late medieval professional scribes used advertisement sheets for different scripts that were "probably placed outside the shop for passers-by to see" (Kwakkel Citation2011: 184).16 William Caxton posted a small flyer for a religious book (Sarum Pie) that he printed in 1477 in his shop in Westminster. This advertisement informed customers about the location of his shop, provided a sample of the font he used and informed them that his books were 'good chepe' (Brown Citation2012: 173f.).
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