Reading and Shaping Medieval Cartularies: Multi-Scribe Manuscripts and their Patterns of Growth. A Study of the Earliest Cartularies of Glasgow Cathedral and Lindores Abbey

Description

Medieval cartularies are one of the most significant sources for a historian of the Middle Ages. Once viewed as simply repositories of charters, cartularies are now regarded as carefully curated collections of texts whose contents and arrangement reflect the immediate concerns and archival environment of the communities that created them. One feature of the cartulary in particular that has not been studied so fully is its materiality: the fact that it is a manuscript. Consequently, it has not been recognised that many cartularies are multi-scribe manuscripts which "grew" for many decades after their initial creation, both physically and textually. This book offers a new methodology which engages with multi-scribe contributions in two cartulary manuscripts: the oldest cartularies of Glasgow Cathedral and Lindores Abbey. It integrates the physical and textual features of the manuscripts in order to analyse how and why they grew in stages across time. Applying this methodology reveals two communities that took an active approach to reading and shaping their cartularies, treating these manuscripts as a shared space. This raises fundamental questions about the definition of cartularies and how they functioned, their relationship to archives of single-sheet documents, and as sources for institutional identity. It therefore takes a fresh look at the "genre" of medieval cartularies through the eyes of the manuscripts themselves, and what this can reveal about their medieval scribes and readers. List of Plates List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Conventions Introduction 1. Cartulary Studies An overview of the field What are cartularies? Why were cartularies created? What was the function of the cartulary? Analysis of cartulary manuscripts and their scribes Approaches in manuscript studies Conclusion 2. Analysing a Multi-Scribe Cartulary Introduction to Glasgow Cathedral and its archive The binding of the Glasgow RV The collation of the Glasgow RV Rethinking the identification of scribes and scribal activity Dating scribal activity in multi-scribe cartularies Applying relative dating to multi-scribe cartularies Summary of the methodology Conclusion 3. The Creation and Growth of the Glasgow RV The creation and growth of the Glasgow RV by series Summary of the creation and growth of the Glasgow RV The institutional setting of the Glasgow RV The function of the Glasgow RV Conclusion 4. The Creation and Growth of Lindores Caprington Lindores Abbey and its archive The binding of Lindores Caprington The structure of Lindores Caprington: collation and series The scribal activity in Lindores Caprington The creation and growth of Lindores Caprington by series Summary of the creation and growth of Lindores Caprington The institutional setting of Lindores Caprington The function of Lindores Caprington Conclusion 5. Understanding the Patterns of Growth in Multi-Scribe Cartularies The initial creation of the cartulary manuscripts The growth of the cartulary manuscripts ‘Repeats’ in the cartularies Why did the cartularies grow? The institutional setting of the cartularies Conclusion 6. Conclusion The new methodology for multi-scribe cartulary manuscripts Cartulary scholarship and the ‘genre’ of cartularies Directions for the future Reading medieval cartularies Appendix: Contents of the two cartularies by ‘series’ Editorial principles The contents of the Glasgow RV by series The contents of Lindores Caprington by series Bibliography Index