Timothy Graham, the director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at UNM, and his collaborator Raymond Clemens, associate professor of History at Illinois State University, have literally written the book on medieval manuscript studies. Their volume, “Introduction to Manuscript Studies,” will be released during the fall by Cornell University Press.
Graham says the book began as a series of seminars he taught while at Western Michigan University. The seminars, presented at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and The British Library, initiated students and faculty into the complex world of medieval manuscripts.
The book explains in detail how parchment, inks and papers were made, and includes recipes used by medieval workmen. It explores the art of decoration and gives special attention to conventions of punctuation and abbreviation and the genres of manuscripts including books of hours, maps, calendars, rolls and scrolls. There is also an explanation of how to establish the origin and provenance of a manuscript.
The book contains more than 250 illustrations, and advance material in the Cornell University Press Catalog calls it “unique…in its scope and level of detail in this field.”
UNM has been internationally known for its medieval programs for years, and that attracted Graham to UNM along with the outreach program conducted by the Institute. That includes a public series of lectures every spring that is attended by up to 2,000 people.
Graham says there are seven professors who could be considered “hard core” medievalists at the university, and their upper level undergraduate classes are in great demand. Although New Mexico is far from medieval Europe, Graham believes in some ways the culture in this state has a stronger connection to the Middle Ages than other parts of the country.
The Institute for Medieval Studies lecture series for Spring 2008 will focus on medieval New Mexico. “There was a body of law in medieval Spain, the Siete Partidas, put together by King Alfonso the Wise. You can still see its influence today.”
He also says at least one traditional pueblo dance, the Matachines dance, actually embodies the ancient conflict between the Arabs or Moors in Spain and the Christian Spanish and was given a new twist when it came to the pueblos, who adopted it as their own. Graham points out the cult of the Virgin Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe has its origins in the medieval Catholic Church.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu