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Carin Ruff

@carinr.bsky.social

1.3K followers 820 following 4.8K posts

Medievalist, Latinist, paleographer, Episcopalian, with novel in progress. DC-based, with beagle. Web: ruffnotes.org Cover image is from the Reichenau Gospels, Walters Art Museum MS W7 fol. 7r.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · Feb 25

Pinned intro: Most days I make a post about medieval manuscripts associated with a saint of the day and discuss their #paleography. I generally follow medievalists, book history people, Episcopal/Anglican folks, and local Washington, DC history/civic affairs/statehood peeps.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 9h

I just ordered this from Blackwell's. $40, free shipping to the US. I was all set to buy it from a US seller today but it's not published till 10/28 in the US and we're doing Insular MSS in class NEXT WEEK. Students asked me about it on day 1! blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

The Book of Kells

An account of one of the most famous manuscripts in the world.

blackwells.co.uk

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 9h

I'm happy to hear that unconferences are still a thing.

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 9h

I would be up for that!

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 10h

It's very hard to make out on most pages, but yes, the script is pendant. Here you can *just* see the dry-point ruling running across the top of most letter bodies. (Personal layout obsession, irrelevant to Grosseteste.)

See the whole MS here: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FF-0...

Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.24, fol. 44r, showing script in relation to ruling.

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 10h

Today the CofE & the Episcopal Church celebrate Robert Grosseteste, d. 1253. Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.24 is an amazing find for a saint+manuscript post: a 10th- or 11th-c. copy of The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in Greek, with annotations in Grosseteste's hand. #medievalsky

Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.24, fol. 25r

Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.24, fol. 42v

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Reposted by Carin Ruff

The 51st @51st.news · 11h

Feeling overwhelmed recently? Action is the best antidote.

How to get involved locally this week: Watch a film about gentrification in D.C., attend an open mic (but make it historic) at @dcpubliclibrary.bsky.social, and find lots of opportunities to organize with @freedcproject.bsky.social.

Your weekly roundup of ways to get involved in D.C.

Plus, another visit to Capitol Hill.

51st.news

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Reposted by Carin Ruff

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 13h

9th October is the feast of St Denis who is here depicted seated and holding a staff and a book in the initial P(ost). NB note the sketches in the margins.

BL Arundel 91; Lives of the Saints; 12th century; England, S. E. (Canterbury); f.86

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Reposted by Carin Ruff

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 13h

9 October is the feast of St Denis whose communion and martyrdom are depicted here. St Denis is reputed to have picked up his head after it was cut off.

BnF MS Latin 11700; Homiliarium Corbeiense, Vol III; 12th c (1179); France (Corbie); f.105r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 14h

BAV Reg. lat. 571 is best accessed via Biblissima's interface rather than the BAV's, since the former allows much higher-res downloads. portail.biblissima.fr/ark:/43093/m...

More complete contents list at www.mirabileweb.it/manuscript/c...

Vatican. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Reg.lat.571 | Biblissima

Biblissima

portail.biblissima.fr

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 14h

While we're celebrating Saint Denis, I thought I'd see if any of the MSS of Abbot Suger's writing about Saint-Denis (the basilica) were online. BAV Reg. lat. 571 is! As signaled in Panofsky, this MS contains the Libellus alter de consecratione ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii on ff. 119r-129v.

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 16h

Right? This is the kind of thing I love stumbling upon in these saints+manuscripts posts.

Totally different period and text, but I only just noticed when pulling images of the St. Augustine Gospels for my class that Luke in his portrait is holding a book with text from John's Gospel.

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 16h

Fully digitized here: portail.biblissima.fr/fr/ark:/4309...

Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 2090 | Biblissima

Biblissima

portail.biblissima.fr

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 16h

@katefalardeau.bsky.social This is from BNF Français 2090, f. 12v: "Saint Denis et ses biographes." This is one of those texts that conflates D. of Paris with D. the Areopagite; it's mainly about the latter but also calls him apostle to the Franks. The image is wonderful either way. So many scribes!

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Reposted by Carin Ruff

Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 18h

2/2 Chien de Rolin: Pretty chuffed about being invited to the big event.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 18h

Thanks, btw, to Biblissima's excellent iconographic indexing for these images. The entries usually link to standalone digitized images, but in many cases, especially for BNF MSS, you can search Biblissima for the shelfmark and get the whole MS.

portail.biblissima.fr/fr/ark:/4309...

Denis (saint, 02..- 02..) | Biblissima

Biblissima

portail.biblissima.fr

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 18h

Sometimes your halo goes with your head.

BNF NAF 1098, f44r, 13th c.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 19h

Fun fact: usually you get a halo even if your head isn't in place for it to go behind.

BNF Français 2092 f.53v, 1317
BNF Français 24948 f.11v, 16th c.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 19h

Here are a couple of other images from Mazarine 384 so you can see more of its unusual style and color scheme.

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 384, fol. 5r

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 384, fol. 95v

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 19h

I have another great one for you later today, after Dolly and I have a vet visit. Stay tuned!

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 19h

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 384 is an 11th-c Gradual of the use of the Abbey of Saint-Denis. The cataloguing tells me that this image on fol. 117v depicts Saint Denis at left, pointing to his own head, which is still (or again) attached.

Here's the MS: portail.biblissima.fr/fr/ark:/4309...

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Ms 384, fol. 117v

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 20h

This is the feast of Denis of Paris, cephalophore, d. 3rd c. Here he is among all the saints in a late-15c French MS illuminated by the Master of Jacques de Besançon, BNF Français 245. How many other saints can you spot? #medievalsky

The MS is digitized here: portail.biblissima.fr/fr/ark:/4309...

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 1d

Don't worry, no spoilers!

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 1d

Terrible colors fill me with rage.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 1d

I'm enjoying the new season of Slow Horses but I really, really hate the color scheme. Previous seasons were not so relentlessly nasty-dirty-fish-tank greeny-gray regardless of setting. Somebody take these peoples' filters away.

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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 1d

Very possible...? I grew up in DC and have no native you-plural term, so there was a niche for "you guys" to slide into. I use with with all age groups, as does my 87yo mom with her female friends. It's been a long time since I was in a professional setting formal enough to make me moderate usage!