Groundbreaking Course to Feature Exeter Manuscripts
The School of Advanced Study, University of London is delighted to announce the launch of InScribe, the UK’s first—and freely available—online training platform for the study of medieval manuscripts, or Palaeography.
InScribe provides a set of distance learning materials suitable both for someone interested in exploring Palaeography for the first time as well as for those in need of a refresher course.
The first module to be made available introduces the basics about deciphering medieval manuscripts and provides an overview of the evolution of handwriting in the medieval period, with particular reference to the English context. It offers short clips of internationally renowned experts teaching aspects of the module. It also provides students with newly digitised images of manuscripts from Senate House Library and Exeter Cathedral Library & Archives. One of the highlights of the project is a transcription tool—developed in collaboration with the Department of Digital Humanities (King’s College London)—that gives students the chance to transcribe text from these digitised manuscripts.
InScribe has been developed by several of the institutes within the School, including the Institutes of Historical Research and English Studies, with support from the Senate House Library and Exeter Cathedral Library & Archives. While it is designed for postgraduate students and academics, interested members of the public are also most welcome to use the platform.
More modules will follow shortly on subjects such as codicology (the study of manuscript bindings, layout, etc.), illumination (the decoration of manuscript pages with gold, silver and other bright, luminous colours), and diplomatic (medieval documents including charters, royal accounts, Episcopal records, etc.).
Dr Jane Winters, Project Director, said: ‘Learning how to read medieval manuscripts can be daunting, particularly in a classroom setting where everyone can hear your mistakes. This online tutorial allows postgraduate students, and anyone interested in the history of the Middle Ages, to learn an important new skill and to practice transcribing texts at their own pace and in their own home. It contains images from some wonderful manuscripts, from the 10th-century Exeter Book to the 'Prophecies of Merlin' contained in the 14th-century Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, all reproduced in high quality colour. We hope that it will help to introduce a fascinating period of British history to a wide audience, in the UK and beyond.’
To find out more about InScribe and to access the online course visit www.history.ac.uk/research-training/courses/online-palaeography
