Offcut zone parchment in manuscript codices from later medieval England

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dc.contributor.authorLahey, Stephanie Jane
dc.contributor.supervisorHiggins, Iain Macleod
dc.contributor.supervisorKwakkel, Erik
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-27T17:28:00Z
dc.date.copyright2021en_US
dc.date.issued2021-09-27
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of English
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation engages with the production and use in late medieval England (c.1200–c.1500) of manuscript codices copied, in whole or in part, on offcuts: cheap, low-quality parchment scraps created as a byproduct of parchment manufacturing. After presenting a method for identifying offcuts, it explores the material through statistical techniques and case studies. Applying this mixed methodology to a corpus of 140 offcut-bearing production units spread across 75 handwritten books, it delineates a range of manuscript production stages, examining the sociocultural contexts of books recruiting offcuts as writing support. The dissertation pursues this study in four chapters. Opening with a terminological discussion, chapter one describes medieval parchment-making, clarifying how offcut traits arose during manufacture, distinguishing offcuts from similar types of parchment, and describing medieval uses for offcuts. Chapter two discusses quantitative codicology, justifying the mixed quantitative–qualitative approach, then delineates its dual-stage methodology: (i) establishing offcut diagnostic traits via linear regression analysis; (ii) assembling the corpus and analyzing it via a descriptive statistical lens. It finishes with an overview of the analysis’ main findings, noting that the corpus is dominated by Fachliteratur; lacking in texts often regarded as ‘popular’ (e.g., vernacular romances); and largely copied for personal consultation in professional, educational, or domestic contexts. Chapters three and four take up the primary subcorpora—one comprising common law books; another, miscellaneous, but chiefly theological and medical, provisionally sorted based on the medieval division of disciplines, quadrivium and trivium—engaging each via descriptive statistical overviews and case studies of representative books: London, British Library, Harley MS 912, Harley MS 1261, Harley MS 6644; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Ashmole 1378, Digby 2, Digby 24.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/13412
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectBook Historyen_US
dc.subjectCodicologyen_US
dc.subjectEnglanden_US
dc.subjectManuscript Studiesen_US
dc.subjectMaterialityen_US
dc.subjectMedieval manuscriptsen_US
dc.subjectOffcutsen_US
dc.subjectPalaeographyen_US
dc.subjectParchmenten_US
dc.subjectQuantitative codicologyen_US
dc.subjectBritish Library, Harley MS 912en_US
dc.subjectBritish Library, Harley MS 1261en_US
dc.subjectBritish Library, Harley MS 6644en_US
dc.subjectBodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1378en_US
dc.subjectBodleian Library, MS Digby 2en_US
dc.subjectBodleian Library, MS Digby 24en_US
dc.titleOffcut zone parchment in manuscript codices from later medieval Englanden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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