Project description
Microtexts from the early Middle Ages analysed
The ERC-funded MINiTEXTS project will study very short texts added to blank spaces of Latin manuscripts in early medieval Europe. These textual additions, largely overlooked by researchers, range from a page or two to a short note reminiscent of a modern tweet. MINiTEXTS will examine these texts as a unique assemblage of early medieval practical knowledge left behind by many anonymous people. The goal of MINiTEXTS is to analyse various kinds of practical knowledge that these texts convey, and study the social, religious, and cultural practices indirectly referred to by them. The focus will be on the texts related to the personal and communal needs of their transcribers. The findings will shed light on the heterogeneous nature of early medieval culture.
Objective
MINiTEXTS seeks to systematically study early medieval minuscule texts, i.e. short texts of which large numbers were added to blank spaces of Latin manuscripts from c. 700 to c. 1000 and which manuscript scholars refer to as “microtexts,” “guest texts,” or “additions.” Unlike such manuscripts’ main texts, minuscule texts are seldom characterized by identifiable authors or easily traceable histories of textual transmission. As a result, textual and cultural historians tended to either neglect them or compartmentalize them within highly specialized disciplines. By contrast, MINiTEXTS examines minuscule texts across commonly accepted disciplinary boundaries, as a unique corpus of practical knowledge deeply embedded in the social praxis of early medieval society. By establishing the first taxonomy of such texts, MINiTEXTS will fill a significant gap in knowledge of their production, use, and functions. Further, MINiTEXTS aspires to understand the “social logic” of minuscule texts as well as the social, religious, and cultural practices that they signify by developing a transferable methodology inspired by theoretical insights and methods of cultural history, material philology, material codicology, performative theory, and digital humanities. By analyzing historical, textual, codicological, and performative contexts of individual minuscule texts and setting the resulting microhistories within a longue durée perspective, MINiTEXTS promises significant gain in the understanding of early medieval heterogenous culture. MINiTEXTS will thus allow the hitherto marginalized voices of early medieval manuscript culture to be articulated in the current debates over several intertwined issues of medieval cultural history, such as the correlation between the norm and diversity in liturgical practices, the interplay among orthodoxy, heterodoxy, and deviance in religious practices, and the relationships among religion, magic, and medicine in medieval culture.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-ADG
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0313 Oslo
Norway
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