SCRIPTO Conference Erlangen - Libraries in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
Erlangen (Bamberg, Neustadt a.d.A.), 5th to 7th December 2018
Libraries are not only places where books are stored. They are also complex institutions which form nerve centers for communication networks. This also applies to the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Between Late Antiquity and early modernity, libraries did not change only in terms of their content. Their organization and function likewise changed dramatically. With the introduction of the printing press, furthermore, they had to confront a revolution in media. Led by internationally recognized specialists, the SCRIPTO conference at Erlangen will trace the development of library science from the Carolingians to the humanists and pay particular attention to the actors involved and their networks. The conference does not aim at completeness, but proposes to present various, important types of libraries from the eighth to the sixteenth century in their making.
The conference begins on the evening of 5 December with a guest lecture and a presentation of early medieval manuscripts in the original. On Thursday, 6 December, established experts will give introductions to the libraries of the mendicant orders (Luciano Cinelli), court libraries (Vanina Kopp), Cistercian libraries (Thomas Falmagne, Michele C. Ferrari), as well as the libraries of the humanists and intellectual elite of the early modern period (Nikolaus Henkel, Outi Merisalo). From the holdings of the University Library at Erlangen, select manuscripts from the Cistercian monastery of Heilsbronn (Franconia) will be shown in their original.
On Friday, 7 December, SCRIPTO participants will have two special sessions. In Neustadt an der Aisch Prof. Dr. Michele C. Ferrari will present medieval and early modern parish libraries, before the group visits the local, late medieval library at the Church of St. Johannes in situ. The group will then proceed to the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg (Bettina Wagner), where they will consider not only the library preserved there of the Augustinian canons from Neunkirchen am Brand (Susanne Rischpler), but also the Bamberger Stiftsbibliothek (Stefan Knoch), founded in 1007 by Emperor Henry II. Select masterworks of scribal and book art will be shown in the original.
Those applicants accepted for the course will be charged €145 (Please note that accommodation is not included). Further information (including the application form) may be obtained online:
www.scripto.mittellatein.phil.fau.de
Please submit your applications before 1st October 2018.