Occasional Paper No. 6 <strong>Definition of <em>Paracontent</em></strong>... more Occasional Paper No. 6 <strong>Definition of <em>Paracontent</em></strong> <em>Giovanni Ciotti, Michael Kohs, Eva Wilden, Hanna Wimmer and the TNT Working Group</em> <em>Core</em>- and <em>paracontent</em> expressions such as "this manuscript contains …" or "the content of this manuscript is …" are ubiquitous and reveal much of how is perceived what is to be found in a specific manuscript. Usually, this would be a text, a group of texts (e.g. the Bible), a text with its commentary, but also pictures such as in sketch-books, or musical notation. This is called <em>core-content</em>.<br> However, a manuscript may contain further sets of visual signs related to the core-content, such as a preface, maybe written by someone else than the author of the core-text found in the manuscript, the notes of a reader or a cataloguer of the manuscript, a table of contents added maybe centuries after th...
Studying written artefacts from a cross-cultural comparative perspective poses many
challenges, o... more Studying written artefacts from a cross-cultural comparative perspective poses many challenges, one of which is a set of technical terms that were developed for the patterns in written artefacts from one particular manuscript culture. If used to describe those from others without sufficient reflection, the results can be misunderstandings at best and asymmetries that pose the patterns of one culture as ‘standard’ and any differences in others as divergences from this standard. This paper takes as its point of departure the humble script column, which has been a ubiquitous pattern of visual organisation of written artefacts in some, but by no means all manuscript cultures. It analyses the functions of this particular pattern of visual organisation and traces its origins to the Mediterranean cultures of the scroll before widening the perspective to consider alternative patterns of visual organisation developed by manuscript cultures that do not use columns to meet the particular challenges set by—and in turn informing—the formal, material, and writing patterns of their own written artefacts.
This model depicts a particular manuscript within a manuscript culture in relation to the various... more This model depicts a particular manuscript within a manuscript culture in relation to the various key factors which have shaped its content and appearance, and which continue to shape its use. Inspired by Andreas Hepp’s schematic rendering of Raymond Williams’ model of a culture as a “Bedeutungssystem” (semantic system; Hepp 2010, Williams 1981), it represents a culture in which at least some types of knowledge and actions are preserved, transmitted, organised and performed by means of manuscripts. The model and this accompanying commentary do not, however, aim at being a theoretical foundation for a new, manuscript-specific branch of cultural studies. Instead, the model is designed as a heuristic device a) for the analysis of the characteristics and functions of an individual manuscript within a manuscript culture and, more importantly for the purposes of the CSMC, b) as a basis for a systematic comparison of the characteristics and functions of manuscripts from different manuscrip...
This paper proposes that patterns of reading fundamental to the Eusebian apparatus also structure... more This paper proposes that patterns of reading fundamental to the Eusebian apparatus also structure aspects of figural illumination in early medieval gospel books. Beginning with in-depth discussion of the St Augustine Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 286) and extending into several Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon examples, the essay explores the idea that Eusebian principles of textual segmentation, cross-reference, harmony, and diversity define a number of elaborate visual programmes—both within and beyond illuminated canon tables themselves. The resonance between Eusebian attitudes to text and the selected artists’ approach to the visual setting of the Gospels suggests a complex interplay in the manuscripts’ programmes between transmitting the four evangelists’ texts and representing the distinct entity of the gospel book itself. Quite apart from the great exegetes’ interest in the four evangelists’ individual texts, the identity of the Gospels as a plural unity was a sub...
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Bibel-Archivs Hamburg, 2016
Studien zur Biblia Pauperum. Hrsg. von Hanna Wimmer / Malena Ratzke / Bruno Reudenbach, Bern u. a... more Studien zur Biblia Pauperum. Hrsg. von Hanna Wimmer / Malena Ratzke / Bruno Reudenbach, Bern u. a. 2016 (Vestigia Bibliae 34), S. 101–128, https://www.peterlang.com/document/1053514
Occasional Paper No. 6 <strong>Definition of <em>Paracontent</em></strong>... more Occasional Paper No. 6 <strong>Definition of <em>Paracontent</em></strong> <em>Giovanni Ciotti, Michael Kohs, Eva Wilden, Hanna Wimmer and the TNT Working Group</em> <em>Core</em>- and <em>paracontent</em> expressions such as "this manuscript contains …" or "the content of this manuscript is …" are ubiquitous and reveal much of how is perceived what is to be found in a specific manuscript. Usually, this would be a text, a group of texts (e.g. the Bible), a text with its commentary, but also pictures such as in sketch-books, or musical notation. This is called <em>core-content</em>.<br> However, a manuscript may contain further sets of visual signs related to the core-content, such as a preface, maybe written by someone else than the author of the core-text found in the manuscript, the notes of a reader or a cataloguer of the manuscript, a table of contents added maybe centuries after th...
Studying written artefacts from a cross-cultural comparative perspective poses many
challenges, o... more Studying written artefacts from a cross-cultural comparative perspective poses many challenges, one of which is a set of technical terms that were developed for the patterns in written artefacts from one particular manuscript culture. If used to describe those from others without sufficient reflection, the results can be misunderstandings at best and asymmetries that pose the patterns of one culture as ‘standard’ and any differences in others as divergences from this standard. This paper takes as its point of departure the humble script column, which has been a ubiquitous pattern of visual organisation of written artefacts in some, but by no means all manuscript cultures. It analyses the functions of this particular pattern of visual organisation and traces its origins to the Mediterranean cultures of the scroll before widening the perspective to consider alternative patterns of visual organisation developed by manuscript cultures that do not use columns to meet the particular challenges set by—and in turn informing—the formal, material, and writing patterns of their own written artefacts.
This model depicts a particular manuscript within a manuscript culture in relation to the various... more This model depicts a particular manuscript within a manuscript culture in relation to the various key factors which have shaped its content and appearance, and which continue to shape its use. Inspired by Andreas Hepp’s schematic rendering of Raymond Williams’ model of a culture as a “Bedeutungssystem” (semantic system; Hepp 2010, Williams 1981), it represents a culture in which at least some types of knowledge and actions are preserved, transmitted, organised and performed by means of manuscripts. The model and this accompanying commentary do not, however, aim at being a theoretical foundation for a new, manuscript-specific branch of cultural studies. Instead, the model is designed as a heuristic device a) for the analysis of the characteristics and functions of an individual manuscript within a manuscript culture and, more importantly for the purposes of the CSMC, b) as a basis for a systematic comparison of the characteristics and functions of manuscripts from different manuscrip...
This paper proposes that patterns of reading fundamental to the Eusebian apparatus also structure... more This paper proposes that patterns of reading fundamental to the Eusebian apparatus also structure aspects of figural illumination in early medieval gospel books. Beginning with in-depth discussion of the St Augustine Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 286) and extending into several Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon examples, the essay explores the idea that Eusebian principles of textual segmentation, cross-reference, harmony, and diversity define a number of elaborate visual programmes—both within and beyond illuminated canon tables themselves. The resonance between Eusebian attitudes to text and the selected artists’ approach to the visual setting of the Gospels suggests a complex interplay in the manuscripts’ programmes between transmitting the four evangelists’ texts and representing the distinct entity of the gospel book itself. Quite apart from the great exegetes’ interest in the four evangelists’ individual texts, the identity of the Gospels as a plural unity was a sub...
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Bibel-Archivs Hamburg, 2016
Studien zur Biblia Pauperum. Hrsg. von Hanna Wimmer / Malena Ratzke / Bruno Reudenbach, Bern u. a... more Studien zur Biblia Pauperum. Hrsg. von Hanna Wimmer / Malena Ratzke / Bruno Reudenbach, Bern u. a. 2016 (Vestigia Bibliae 34), S. 101–128, https://www.peterlang.com/document/1053514
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Papers by Hanna Wimmer
challenges, one of which is a set of technical terms that were developed for the patterns
in written artefacts from one particular manuscript culture. If used to describe
those from others without sufficient reflection, the results can be misunderstandings
at best and asymmetries that pose the patterns of one culture as ‘standard’ and any
differences in others as divergences from this standard. This paper takes as its point
of departure the humble script column, which has been a ubiquitous pattern of visual
organisation of written artefacts in some, but by no means all manuscript cultures. It
analyses the functions of this particular pattern of visual organisation and traces its
origins to the Mediterranean cultures of the scroll before widening the perspective
to consider alternative patterns of visual organisation developed by manuscript cultures
that do not use columns to meet the particular challenges set by—and in turn
informing—the formal, material, and writing patterns of their own written artefacts.
challenges, one of which is a set of technical terms that were developed for the patterns
in written artefacts from one particular manuscript culture. If used to describe
those from others without sufficient reflection, the results can be misunderstandings
at best and asymmetries that pose the patterns of one culture as ‘standard’ and any
differences in others as divergences from this standard. This paper takes as its point
of departure the humble script column, which has been a ubiquitous pattern of visual
organisation of written artefacts in some, but by no means all manuscript cultures. It
analyses the functions of this particular pattern of visual organisation and traces its
origins to the Mediterranean cultures of the scroll before widening the perspective
to consider alternative patterns of visual organisation developed by manuscript cultures
that do not use columns to meet the particular challenges set by—and in turn
informing—the formal, material, and writing patterns of their own written artefacts.