‘The Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts’ Symposium will take place in-person on Thursday 30th November and Friday 1st December 2023 at Trinity College Dublin.

The Symposium will showcase manuscripts digitised as part of the ‘Manuscripts for Medieval Studies’ Project, supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Symposium aims to highlight the research outputs arising from the digitisation of these manuscripts, including bibles, books of hours, chronicles, histories, and music manuscripts.

Join us in exploring the many lifecycles of the Library’s medieval manuscripts, from their production and use by contemporaries to their present-day conservation, digitisation, and dissemination.

Find out more and get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-many-lives-of-medieval-manuscripts-symposium-tickets-743479195287?aff=oddtdtcreator

Conference programme

Thursday 30th November

Registration

Welcome address

Session 1: The Manuscripts for Medieval Studies Project

Estelle Gittins (Curatorial lead) and Dr Claire McNulty (Postdoctoral Research Fellow): Introduction to the Project and Overview of Manuscripts Digitised.  

Angelica Anchisi: Conservator, TCD. Paper: ‘Conserving Medieval Manuscripts in the Library’s Collection’. 

Caroline Harding: Senior Digital Photographer, TCD. Paper: ‘Digitisation of Medieval Manuscripts: Plans, Challenges and Techniques’.

Tea & Coffee

Keynote – Professor James Clark: Professor of History, Exeter. Paper: ‘Matthew Paris’s Miracle Narratives: TCD MS 177’.  

Friday 1st December

Session 1: Manuscript Lifecycles: From Conservation to Performance 

Welcome and Housekeeping  

Dr Niamh Pattwell: Associate Professor, School of English, Drama, and Film, UCD. Paper: ‘Sixteenth-Century Heralds: Guardians of the Manuscripts’ (TCD MS 505). 

Dr Ann Buckley: Medieval History Research Centre, TCD. Paper: ‘The Many Lives of the Medieval Liturgy: The Relevance of the Carnegie Digitisation Project for Irish and Insular Studies’. 

Fiona Baldwin: PhD Candidate, School of Music, UCD. Paper: ‘Dates, Doodles, and Deaths: Fresh Perspectives on Dublin’s Medieval Literati’ (TCD MS 79). 

Tea & Coffee

Session 2: Psalters & Books of Hours 

Dr Laura Cleaver: Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Paper: ‘TCD MS 93: Digitisation and the Potential of Linked Open Data’. 

Dr Claire McNulty: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, TCD. Paper: ‘Mirrors, Morality, and the Virgin Mary: TCD MS 103’. 

Professor Ruth Karras: Lecky Professor of History, TCD. Paper: ‘Gender, Bodily Performance, and the Beatus in TCD MS 53 Winchcombe Psalter’. 

Lunch

Session 3: Chronicles & Chance Encounters 

Conor McDonough: OP, St Saviour’s Priory, Dublin 1. Paper: ‘TCD MS 667: A Manuscript to Change Lives’. 

Dr David Woodman: Associate Professor of History, Robinson College, Cambridge. Paper: ‘John of Worcester’s Chronicula: An Overview and Poetry’ (TCD MS 503). 

Dr Alison Ray: College Archivist and Records Manager, St Peter’s College, Oxford. Paper: ‘Canterbury Connections: Manuscripts from Christ Church Priory and St Augustine’s Abbey in TCD Library’.

Tea & Coffee 

Session 4: Digital Methods: Beyond 2022, Searobend, & Transkribus  

Dr Peter Crooks: Department of History; Academic Director, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (virtualtreasury.ie). Paper: ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? Trinity’s Dublin Deeds and The Case for a Meta-Collection’.

Dr Mark Faulkner: Ussher Assistant Professor in Medieval Literature, TCD and Elisabetta Magnanti: PhD Candidate, University of Vienna. Paper: ‘Using AI to Transcribe Trinity’s Manuscripts’. 

Dr Colleen Curran: Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Galway and Dr Lucy McKenna: Postdoctoral Researcher, TCD. Paper: ‘The Searobend Project: Digitising the Resources’.