We encourage our students to pursue their work, wherever it takes them. This can mean studying abroad via Independent Study and Research (ISR). We want to share their discoveries – both academic and personal – via these profiles.
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In the summer and fall of 2023, I spent half a year examining over 100 medieval manuscripts housed in over a dozen national or municipal libraries in several European countries (primarily France and Italy). I feel exceptionally lucky that the semester-long ISR fellowship from the Department of Religious Studies made my trip possible.
Research Overview:
Before starting my PhD at UT, I already knew this trip was necessary, because I find it vital to consider the textual evidence for my research in their socioeconomic context. For the cultural history of medieval Europe, this means manuscript works. Digital humanities have changed religious studies and medieval studies profoundly in many ways, but when it comes to identifying the provenance of a medieval manuscript based on the scribe’s handwriting style and to transcribe the text reliably from the codices, the method (palaeography) – indeed my main method – remains exceptionally stubborn. Only after rigorous training and handling manuscripts for many hours would one be able to speculate where and when the scribe wrote down those letters and what they meant with their signs of abbreviation. Carbon dating tells us only when the animals (whose skin provided the parchment) were slaughtered. One builds databases only after finishing textual criticism, a step conditioned by reliable manuscript works.
The above photo – taken in the national library of France in Paris – is a good example of how this very first step is done. Texts on the pages to the left of the binding were, in all likelihood, written in the tenth century, as the letter shapes suggest that writing took place after the imperial standardization of the script in the ninth century and before the systematic application of certain types of abbreviations. Those on the right look a bit like the spires that grace early Gothic cathedrals and are indeed dated to the late twelfth century, when that architectural style swept across northern France.
The hours I spent burying myself among those manuscripts have paid handsome dividends. I initially designed my research trip with the sole purpose of examining manuscripts that contained biographies of the saints. Such texts were often used for liturgy, thus combining literary and ritual activities. However, I gradually discerned a certain logic to the organization of these saints’ biographies in the manuscripts I examined. Many biographies followed a neat, standard sequence. Going through other manuscripts housed in the same churches in the same period, I frequently ran into another type of manuscripts, those that contained a catalogue or list of martyrs (martyrology). After some quick on-site research, I realized there were royal initiatives in standardizing the liturgical program across the kingdom of West Francia (precursor of modern France) through promoting one “royal” martyrology at the beginning of my period of analysis. All the saints important to my analysis featured in this “royal” martyrology, and the manuscripts that contained their biographies often followed the same sequence dictated by the martyrology. That was one eureka moment of my trip, as my PhD project interrogates the relationship between royal power and saints’ memory.
ISR Fellowship Advice:
To those interested in applying for the ISR fellowship, I have a few more words on the logistics.
- Timing and planning. I would recommend planning the trip ahead of time and communicating your interests in such a long-term research trip to the department as early as possible. Usually, the faculty could provide helpful information and timely support regarding external funding.
- Administrative preparation. Getting the Schengen visa was the variable I feared the most in my trip preparation because American citizens do not need to apply for a visa. I would suggest talking with colleagues or faculty members who have experience dealing with legal matters pertaining to your destinations early on, and consulting UT Global if no one is familiar with your destinations. You will likely need to get UT Global’s blessing (authorization/permission) and good travel insurance for the period of your trip before departing.
- Don’t forget the UT resources when you are abroad. For instance, you will still have access to the library resources remotely, though I would recommend returning all books you checked out before leaving the country.
- Finally, and vitally important: have fun. The best ideas appear when one is enjoying oneself!
