Call for Papers: The Manuscripts of Charlemagne's Court School—Individual Creation and European Cultural Heritage

[Oliver Gerlach]

Call for Papers (English version):

International Conference "The manuscripts of Charlemagne's Court School - Individual creation and European cultural heritage"   

Date: Thursday, 11 October to Saturday, 13 October 2018  
Venue: Public Library/Stadtbibliothek Trier, Weberbach 25, 54294 Trier.   
Organizers:  Trier Public Library.
Prof. Dr. Michael Embach. Email: [e-mail] Trier University.
Prof. Dr. Claudine Moulin (German Studies - Medieval German Philology / Trier Center for Digital Humanities). Email: [e-mail]  

Conference Office/Registration:
Trier Public Library, Office: ++ 651/718-1429; Email: [e-mail]; [e-mail]).  

Formalities:

Submission of a written abstract (about 400-500 words) and a short CV (maximally 150 words).
Deadline for papers: 31 December 2017.

Notification on accepted topics will be given by 01 February 2018.  An application for a conference aid has been filed. Provided that the allowance will be granted, travel expenses can be fully or partly refunded. It is intended to publish the presentations.   

Information on the topic of the conference:

At the time being, intensive efforts are made to register the manuscripts of Charlemagne's Court School in the list of UNESCO Memory of the World. It concerns a corpus of eight complete manuscripts and a fragment that are supplemented by the "Vienna Coronation Gospels" originating from the Court School of Charlemagne.    

The objective of the Trier Conference is twofold: The presentations in Section I shall deal with an updated inventory of the manuscripts of the Court School. Based on the latest state of research, the individual codices shall be presented in a succinct, compendium-like way, including the artful book covers and bindings of the manuscripts.    

The papers of Section II shall treat the spiritual and cultural frame conditions of the Court School production. The issues refer i.a. to the historical horizon of culture, literature and art history, the perception of antiquity, biblical philology, political implications, the influence of the Byzantine Iconoclasm and the educational program underlying the Court School manuscripts.   

The approach of the conference is definitely transdisciplinary. Papers from any different disciplines involved are appreciated. The list of topics can be extended, e.g. from the scope of digital reconstruction of medieval libraries (referring to the chosen conference topic).  

Section I:

Handwritings of the Carolingian Court School (introductory note of 20 min + 10 min discussion)   

1. The Codescalc Evangelistary, (Paris, BN, Nouv. Acq. Lat. 1203)

2. A Evangelistary from St.-Martin-des-Champs (Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, Ms 599)

3. The Ada Gospels (Trier, Public Library., Hs 22)

4. The Dagulf Psalter (Vienna Austrian National Library, Cod. 1861). Cover: Paris (Louvre, Dép. Des Objects d'Art, Iv. 9/10)

5. A gospel fragment containing the announcement to Zechariah (London, BL, Cotton Claudius B. V.) 6. The Evangelistary from Centula [de Saint Riquier] (Abbeville, BM, Ms 4 [1])

7. An Evangelistary of unknown origin (London, BL, Cod. Harl. 2788)

8. The Evangeliar from St. Médard in Soissons (Paris, BN, Ms lat. 8850)

9. The Lorsch Gospels (Alba Iulia, Romania, Bibl. Batthyáneum, Cod. II. [Mathew and Mark] and Vatican, BAV, Cod. Pal. Lat. 50 [Luke and John]. The ivory panels and book cover: Vatican Museums and Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

10. The Vienna Coronation Gospels (Vienna, Museum of Art History, World Museum, Treasury, Inv. XIII 18)   



Section II:

Spiritual and cultural frame conditions of the Carolingian Court School as well as their evaluation (lecture 30 min + 15 min discussion) 

1. Aspects of history of literature in the Carolingian epoch.

2. Carolingian art and the perception of antiquity  

3. Biblical Philology in years around 800

4. The Byzantine Iconoclasm and the position of the Carolingian Court  

5. The significance of the Abbey Tours for the production of the Carolingian Court School  

6. Alcuin's educational program

7. The manuscripts of founders of Charlemagne's age.  

8.  Paratexts in the manuscripts of the Court School of Charlemagne  

9.  The sociography of the artists creating the handwritings of the Court School  

10.  The political implications of the Court School manuscripts   


For further information please address to:

Prof. Dr. Michael Embach, Trier Public Library, [e-mail]
Prof. Dr. Claudine Moulin, Trier University, [e-mail]  
Tagungsbüro/Anmeldung: Stadtbibliothek Trier, Sekretariat (++ 651/718-1429; E-Mail: [e-mail]; [e-mail]).

[Oliver Gerlach]

You must be patient, both organisers come from medieval German philologies, and they are probably not familiar with the rather specialised discourses of musicologists (musicology is in fact not even considered as a discipline involved in the subject within the call).

On the other hand, Michael Embach is well-known among musicologists for his studies of Hildegard von Bingen (especially ordo virtutum as her contribution to the history of mysticism), and you see from the frequency on this page (almost 200 hits in just a few days, since I distributed his call) that the conference's issue does attract musicologists.

Nevertheless, as musicologists we must admit that most studies about court ceremonials have been published by historians, the discipline has still the churchy reputation of being a domaine of families involved within catholic and protestant communities.

[Anthea Grasselli]

This is quite interesting, but I was wondering if some key-points  are not considered in this regard. Kenneth Levy's pictured -an authoritative text established at court-  which make sense within the general textual situation of other liturgical texts as well. In this case, compiled by order of Pippin and later on by Charlemagne. Consequently the Alcuin's  contribution , both for the Sacramentary and for the Lectionary is clearly compatible with the culture of the Carolingian court.  But it is not highlighted the several overlapping cues(even superficially)  that came from the language itself, when the phonetics of their personal language played an important part, specifically in the manuscripts.