From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V2 #1389 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Wednesday, February 16 2000 Volume 02 : Number 1389 In this issue: [scribes]: Court scrolls [scribes]: Hill Monastic Manuscript Libary [scribes]: Medieval Scripts article in LA Times (long) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 16:52:30 -0500 From: wyverns Subject: [scribes]: Court scrolls This is intended as a follow up to previous discussions on scrolls delivered in court versus backlog lists and some of the issues related thereto. I encourage other Atlantian scribes to chime in, especially if they see things differently than I do. Brief background: With rare exception, Atlantia has been giving out promissories or no scrolls with awards; the vast majority of scrolls have been done as backlogs from and ever-growing backlog list. The current monarchs resolved from the beginning of their reign that they would not add to the backlog: if scrolls could not be given with awards, then their backlog should be worked off by the end of their reign. (Even if no other backlogıs were completed, that would still put them ahead of any other reign in recent Atlantian history.) They have been fairly successful at giving scrolls with awrads, although not without some bumps and bruises among the scribes trying to fulfil the royal demand. To help the effort, Their Majesties also stated that hand-painted scrolls should not be Œwastedı as promissories; promissories should be text only. (In the past, hand-painted preprints and even entirely hand-done scrolls made by beginners were often used as promissory notes.) As a corollary, many of the scrolls that have been given out have been less elaborate and done by newer scribes than the typical backlog scrolls. As a deputy in the Signetıs office and as one of the scribes providing scrolls, it has been interesting to watch and this is a selection of the proıs and conıs I have observed along the way. Some pros 1) In the past, backlogs have tended to more and more elaborate and time consuming, to the point that many people have begun to expect impressive works of art as their due. The necessity of doing scrolls more quickly has resulted in simpler scrolls, in larger number. Some recipients have seemed disappointed not to receive as fancy a scroll as others have gotten in the past. But others, expecting that they might have to wait years to receive any scroll at all, are very appreciative. a) Beginners are less intimidated when they see simple (but nicely done) scrolls being given out in court. b) If simpler scrolls are seen as the norm, we may be able to work off the backlog more quickly, without the feeling that every one must be a masterpiece. 2) The recipients donıt have to wait and in some cases there is more emotional significance to the scroll. 3) Their Majesties are having the names of the scribes announced in court (with varying degrees of success - the heralds sometimes miss a second name if there are two, or have difficulty reading the penciled names on the backs of the scrolls). Having the names read not only delights the scribes, it has been very successful at encouraging new scribes (and has done that in past reigns, whenever the names of scribes are read in court, whether for backlogs or new awards). 4) Scribes are learning techniques that otherwise they might never have bothered with, for the sake of maintaining quality while getting scrolls done more quickly. For example, I and several other scribes have gotten accustomed to calligueing already-illuminated scrolls, whereas in the past we would never have done so by choice. I donıt know about the others, but the necessary care and effort, knowing a mistake cannot be dealt with by simply starting on a fresh piece of paper, has improved my calligraphy immensely. I have also found new and better ways to correct small mistakes and found illumination styles and layouts that accommodate text of a range of lengths and sizes. 5) There was concern at the beginning that scrolls would be less personal, but there are ways to personalize: by the right choice of pre-painted blanks, by adding appropriately illuminated capitols with the text (For the most part we have not been doing fill-in-the-blank calligraphy but have been doing the whole text after we get the names of the recipients.) Some cons: 1) While I prefer a deadline and tend to take however much time is available, many of the scribes dislike having a deadline. Although Their Majesties have been trying to give us at least two weeks notice on most scrolls, occasionally there has been less than a week. 2) There remains some concern that there will be burnout among the scribes, but so far, I think the Signet and Deputy for Assignments have managed to distribute assignments among many scribes, and the number of scribes helping out has grown as the reign continues. 3) We still have a huge backlog that needs to be worked off, and it will take some time to balance efforts between new awards and backlogs, and to make sure there is not too obvious a difference in quality: If we continue to make backlogs that are consistently elaborate works of art while new award scrolls are relatively plain or lower in quality and care, the populace will reject the idea of giving scrolls with awards in court. 4) Since the Signetıs office has a limited time to get scroll assignments out, it is not feasible to discuss among many scribes who will do what scroll or to find out which scribes are friends to the recipient, whereas when scroll assignments are requested from the backlog list, it was usually possible to arrange to do scrolls for friends. (On the other hand, the latter put groups and people with no nearby scribes or scriptorium at a disadvantage). 5) Scrolls in court is a long ways from being a well established tradition in Atlantia. It is highly dependant on the active involvement, effort, and active encouragement of the Royals. If we get future kings and queens who expect this level of support from the scribes, yet fail to offer the visible support and encouragement or to plan their courts sufficiently far in advance, the number of willing, active scribes will probably drop significantly and burnout of those who keep at it will become more likely. 6) Atlantia still requires space for arms, blazons, and heraldıs signatures, when appropriate, and leaving empty spaces for such things for the many recipients who donıt have arms passed, without the scroll looking odd and unbalanced, is aggravating and difficult. In addition, it has been policy that the Heralds will not sign the scrolls if the registered name does not match what is on the scroll, even if the arms are correct. It is almost inevitable that people will change their names by choice or necessity before they are passed, and soon we will start having to figure out how to correct the names within the text before the scrolls can be truly completed. On the other hand, people who never register their names and devices would never have gotten a scroll that required the display of arms; they are considered Œundoablesı on the backlog list. This way they get a scroll, if not quite a completed one. All in all, I think the pro-s outweigh the conıs for now and I hope that the active support of future reigns will allow it to continue. Enid Atlantia ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 14:33:43 -0800 From: Carolyn_Richardson@cch.com Subject: [scribes]: Hill Monastic Manuscript Libary For those of you who don't read the Los Angeles Times, this last Sunday they had an article regarding this organization. It was very interesting and something some of us might be able to make use of. Apparently, the Benedictine monks of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn have undertaken the enormous task of microfilming *every thing* they can get their hands on that predates printing presses. They've been at it now for nearly 35 years, and have more than 25 million pages photographed (that's right - 25,000,000) from all over the world, including a ton of stuff from private collections and monasteries that have probably not seen the light of day in centuries. They mention that one of their more remarkable discoveries was made in Ethiopia when photographing at some monasteries there: They found the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Enochs, two texts written around the time of the Bible. All European copies of these have long since disappeared, but the Ethiopians still had them. And to top it off they make the images available to the public and scholars. I'm going to see if they have a website, but if not I'm wondering if anyone on the list has had any dealings with them? I'd love to see a catalog of what they have available. Tetchubah of Greenlake, Caid PS - I'm going to retype the article into Word and will post it here in the next day or so. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 14:46:43 -0800 From: Carolyn_Richardson@cch.com Subject: [scribes]: Medieval Scripts article in LA Times (long) Here's the article: Sunday, February 13, 2000 Home Edition Section: PART A Page: A-1 Monks Ensure Past's Future by Saving Medieval Scripts By: STEPHANIE SIMON TIMES STAFF WRITER COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. -- In an Ethiopian mountaintop monastery. In a stable on the island of Malta. In the ancestral castle of a German prince. In every remnant of our medieval past, the manuscripts are sought. They are wrinkled, some of them, and smudged--page after ancient page of parchment scribbled in a cramped and crabby script. Others are gorgeous, afire with art, shimmering with golden ink. They may tell of St. George slaying the dragon. Or relate a recipe for stew. They may tote up a carouser's debt. Or explain a surgical technique. But this they have in common: They are old. They are rare. And the monks of this modest town are determined to find and preserve them. Indeed, the Benedictine monks of St. John's Abbey here have set themselves a most audacious goal. They aim to photograph and catalog every page of every text written in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa before the invention of printing. They want, in short, to preserve--on microfilm--the cultural heritage of Western civilization. It is a job for the eons. They have a good start: In the last 35 years, they have photographed more than 25 million pages. Some foreign curators have refused to cooperate, unwilling to share control of cherished manuscripts, reluctant to let even copies of the texts out into broad circulation. Still, through persuasion and persistence, the monks have accumulated about 200 miles of microfilm. They have ensured that scholars for generations will be able to study the lyrics to Gregorian chants, the astronomical calculations of the 13th century, the lavish illustrations for a Persian epic poem--even if the original manuscripts crumble or mold or burn. In a vault beneath the frosty expanse of central Minnesota, the monks of St. John's have amassed the world's most comprehensive collection of medieval texts on microfilm. But there's plenty still out there. "Enough to keep us going for another 500 years or so," said Father Eric Hollas. The task sounds dusty and grindingly dull. Search, find, photograph, catalog. Search, find, photograph, catalog. There's drama in it, however: The mystery of deciphering old texts, the peril of climbing rope ladders to reach mountaintop abbeys tucked in among the clouds. There's humor too: One researcher collecting manuscripts on medieval Malta found an account of a woman so fed up with her husband that she journeyed three days by boat and donkey to denounce him to the Grand Inquisitors--for the alleged offense of eating meat on Fridays. (He was let off the hook with a warning.) Above all, there is a sense of mission. In the Middle Ages, most copying of documents fell to monks. The brothers of St. John's consider themselves heirs to that tradition, armed with better technology but the same drive to share and preserve precious knowledge. "I got this feeling as we handled the manuscripts," said Father John Kulas, who oversaw microfilming in Germany last fall. "Here you have the work of a monastic scribe who copied this text [in medieval days]. And here you are, 1,000 years later, another monastic scribe recreating the manuscript in another medium so it can survive another 500 years." Or as Theresa Vann, a medieval scholar who curates the Malta collection, put it: "It's good to be part of something bigger than yourself." Legend has it that the microfilm project was inspired shortly after World War II, when Pope Pius XII, alarmed at the indiscriminate destruction of Europe's great treasures, asked: "What's going to happen to the manuscripts?" The pope had good reason to be concerned. Bombs had blasted libraries, churches and castles. Desperate refugees had burned surviving texts for warmth. "People tried to rebuild the medieval cities," Hollas said, "but no one even tried to recreate the manuscripts." Still, the loss wasn't total. An estimated 1 million of the West's founding texts--calculations charting the movement of the stars, philosophies championing representative government, law books, sermons, zoological tables--survived the war intact. The 200 monks at St. John's Abbey knew they couldn't protect the fragile manuscripts forever. But, spurred by the papal plea, they vowed at least to preserve the contents. Backed by foundation grants and private donations, the monks in 1965 began microfilming the collection of an 8th century Austrian abbey. In years since, abbey monks have directed the filming of about 90,000 volumes--most written before 1600--in Spain, Germany, Ethiopia, Malta, Switzerland and Portugal. The project has built a $3-million endowment, with 10 full-time staff members at the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library on the campus of St. John's University here in Collegeville, a farm town 90 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It's an unlikely place for a medieval treasure trove. But academics the world over have found their way here--not only medieval scholars but also art historians drawn by the elaborate illustrations and calligraphers captivated by the soaring scripts. Although microfilm can't capture every nuance of an original document--some marginal notes may be lost, for instance--scholars find the medium exceptionally efficient. Rather than traipsing across Europe to track down old texts, researchers can simply request copies from St. John's or from smaller medieval microfilm collections at St. Louis University and the University of Notre Dame. And, although staring at a blotchy screen lacks the thrill of handling 500-year-old parchment, microfilm has its advantages: "You can print out what you need and stick it in your briefcase to read on the train," medieval historian Paul F. Gehl said. "For the scholar, it's an incredible boon." Hoping to appeal to the public as well, St. John's holds classes for students and senior citizens. Browsing the collection is free. And actual medieval manuscripts on display give some texture to the featureless reels of microfilm. Admittedly, much in the collection is obscure; unless you're an expert, it's hard to get worked up about 16th century letters on Italian property holdings. Some texts, however, open wonderful windows on the past. A 14th century watercolor of the Knights of Malta setting off on a crusade echoes with the clink of armor and the creak of wooden boats. A prayer book picture of a farmer slaughtering his pig for Christmas retraces modern holiday traditions half a millennium. In preserving, cataloging and interpreting such manuscripts, the Hill Library staff is "doing something far beyond mere archiving," said Mark Gleason, vice president of the Minnesota Humanities Commission. "They have taken what is esoteric and made it of great value to a broad group of people." But not everyone appreciates the monks' goal of making the manuscripts accessible. Indeed, several foreign libraries have resisted opening their collections to the microfilm project. "They fear losing control," Kulas explained. Although they retain the original manuscripts--and rights to the microfilm--"they may be reluctant to let their treasures out of the country." Sometimes a deeper fear blocks cooperation. Guardians of manuscripts in Ethiopia, for example, worry that if their collections are made public, burglars will loot them--or politicians will find an excuse to seize them. "The best thing for them to do is to tell people they don't have anything of value," said Getachew Haile, an Ethiopian scholar who helped St. John's overcome this obstacle and track down key caches of documents in the early 1970s. For 10 years, the monks managed to film in Ethiopia, carting manuscripts by donkey, camel and Land Rover from remote churches to a photo studio in the capital. Among their remarkable discoveries: the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Enochs, two texts written around the time of the Bible. Ethiopian scribes had copied these books again and again over the centuries, preserving--in the African language ge'ez--their take on philosophy, theology and daily life in the time of Christ. All European copies of the books had long since vanished by the time the St. John's crew discovered the Ethiopian versions--and brought them back, on microfilm, for scholars to parse. Despite such triumphs, Haile considers the Ethiopian project incomplete. He estimates that St. John's filmed just 20% of his country's ancient manuscripts before leaving in the mid-1980s as Ethiopia's relations with the U.S. deteriorated. Worse yet, he suspects many of the most precious remaining texts have since been smuggled out of the country and sold. "The loss is continuous," he said. Not that microfilm guarantees against loss. Like paper, it eventually deteriorates. So in time--two centuries, or three, or five--the ancient scribbles stored here will again need rescue. The monks of St. John's aren't worried. They predict that new technology will be along to help by the time the microfilm fades. And they trust that the scribes of the future--perhaps right here at their abbey--will copy their copies for the ages once more. PHOTO: Preserving the old with new at the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library in Minnesota has been a mission for the last 35 years. Since 1965, staff members have undertaken microfilming every document written before the invention of printing. Here, a 15th century French manuscript sits beneath its modern counterpart. PHOTOGRAPHER: ROB MEYER / Los Angeles Times ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V2 #1389 ******************************