Course

Seminar in Western Codicology

M 20

The principles, bibliography, and methodology of the analysis and description of Western medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

  • Instructor(s)
    M. Michèle Mulchahey
  • Location
    Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia
  • Date
    26–31 July 2026
  • Length
    30 hours
  • Fee
    $1,495
  • Course ID
    M-20
  • Application Deadline
    Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until course fills. Read more about the application process.
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Course Description

The course includes a survey of the development of the physical features of manuscript books and practical work by the students on particular points. Applicants must have considerable background in the historical humanities, and a good basic knowledge of Latin and Latin paleography is needed.

Traditional research on manuscripts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance is based principally on the study of script and illumination. Without neglecting these important aspects, this course will show that there are other—and sometimes more conclusive—means to approach the codex and to uncover the information it conveys. The course will deal with manuscript materials, structure, layout, script, and decoration, showing how to investigate and describe these features.

The course will consist of both lecture and work sessions. The first will be based on a discussion of PowerPoint slides, photographs, and the specialized literature. During work sessions, students will view manuscript fragments and complete manuscripts in the possession of Rare Book School and UVA libraries, and perform tasks based on these and on printed catalogs of manuscripts.

In their personal statements, applicants are required to describe their degree of training in Latin and paleography.

Faculty

M. Michèle Mulchahey

M. Michèle Mulchahey currently holds the Leonard E. Boyle Chair in Manuscript Studies at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, and is Director of PIMS’s Diploma Programme in Manuscript Studies, …

Advance Reading List

Preliminary Advices

Please read the following before coming to class:

Shailor, Barbara A. The Medieval Book: Catalogue of an Exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1988; also available in pb).

Clemens, Raymond and Timothy Graham. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 2007. Read Chapters 1 (pp. 3–17), 5 (pp. 71–81) and 9 (pp. 129–134).

For students with insufficient paleographical training: intensive study of the plates and transcriptions of the script samples in the book by Clemens and Graham, cited above (starting with Carolingian script).

 

Course Evaluations

2024
2017
2016

Course History

  • 2016–

    M. Michèle Mulchahey teaches this course as “Seminar in Western Codicology.”

  • 2008–2014

    Albert Derolez teaches this course as “Introduction to Western Codicology.”

  • 1997–2007

    Albert Derolez teaches this course as “Introduction to Codicology.”

  • 1987–1994

    Albert Derolez teaches this course as “Aims and Methods of Codicological Research.”