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Steffen Hope

@hopesteffen.bsky.social

2.7K followers 750 following 5K posts

Norwegian medievalist, bibliophile, music lover and art enthusiast. [Header: Valenciennes - BM - ms. 0320, f.120v]

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · Dec 16

Some months ago, a collection of articles edited by Grzegorz Pac, myself, &Jón Viðar Sigurðsson was published by Brepols. The book is in open access, & can be found here: www.brepols.net/products/IS-....

Cover of the book, which features a medieval illumination. The illumination depicts King Wenceslas carrying a bowl to some nobles seated at a table. Behind the king, the archangel Michael appears, holding a spear in his left hand, and placing his right hand on Wenceslas' head in benediction. Wenceslas points backwards to the angel.

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Reposted by Steffen Hope

Oswald's Raven @oswaldsraven.bsky.social · 16m

I'm giving an online lecture next Thursday evening, in aid of Peterborough Cathedral. I'll be talking about Oswald's cult at Peterborough and his continental connections. There will be arm relics and ravens! 💪 #MedievalSky

To book tickets: peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/event/in-per...

ppt slide. Title "The surprising afterlife of a Northumbrian king: the cult of St Oswald in Peterborough and beyond". Image from a medieval German manuscript shows Oswald and Aidan at the Easter feast, with beggars. Gold background and architectural frame.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 15m

Oooh, thank you very much for this recommendation!

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 25m

Due to the wear & tear of the fragment, it was difficult to make out entire words, but the appearance of "Salomon" was what helped me identify this as the genealogy of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew, sung during the Christmas Day liturgy.

[Odense katedralskolebibliotek 25285]

Detail of a parchment fragment with square notations on red lines. In the picture, the name "Salomon" can be seen, with the S being drawn in blue ink. The letters are highlighted with streaks of read in the open spaces between the bars and within the o-s.

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 29m

This points to one of my favourite aspects of fragment research, namely that there are so many details that can provide you an inroad into understanding more of both the fragment & the original book, as well as the fragmentogenesis itself.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 30m

Another detail from yesterday's research trip. After careful examination, I noticed that the rather inexplicable appearance of square notes at the rim of the fore-edge was due to a second fragment that was peering out of the top one.

[Odense katedralskolebibliotek 25285]

The fore-edge of a sixteenth-century book bound in two liturgical fragments. Towards the upper corner on the left-hand side in the picture is a line where the parchment has been cut, and where another fragment can be seen against the edge of the cut. A few red lines and a few square musical notes can be seen along the edge of the cover.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 3h

I'm currently going through some pictures of fragments to make an overview & to note important detail. Due to my handwriting, however, one fragment is now described as "interesting wetness" rather than "interesting witness".

Fragments can have interesting wetness, but rarely as a good thing.

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 18h

Excellent example!

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 18h

That translation is devalued in contemporary economic society is - I believe - strongly tied up with how techbros see text & speech as pure information vehicles rather than as something profoundly & essentially human.

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 18h

Translation - the conscious act of making the sense of one language speak in another - cannot ever be done by machines, because translation requires creativity & understanding, two qualities machines cannot & will never possess.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 18h

Due to the particulars of English grammar, converting a non-English language into English is bound to a grammatical mess. In several scenes, the converted dialogue freely mixes "he", "she", "it", "they" & "you". Also, idioms are rendered literally.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 18h

Currently watcing an Italian TV series with automated texting in English, & this is yet another example of how translation requires human agency, & also of how automated language conversion - which is not the same as translation - really suffers from the overwhelming dominance of English.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 19h

Ah, yes, I absolutely think so, too.

(And I furthermore think that there should be no kings.)

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 19h

Haha, thank you for the reminder!

Reposted by Steffen Hope

Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 15d

I have likewise joined the exodus from academia-dot-edu in the wake of their new terms of service. For more on my background and work, you can now find me at Knowledge Commons: hcommons.org/members/karl...

hcommons.org

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

I do recommend this book for a start: www.routledge.com/Nordic-Latin....

Also this one: novus.no/products/102....

Nordic Latin Manuscript Fragments: The Destruction and Reconstruction of Medieval Books

Much of what is known about the past often rests upon the chance survival of objects and texts. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the fragments of medieval manuscripts re-used as bookbindings...

www.routledge.com

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

In the sense that there should be no kings?

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

My pleasure! I should add that there are some very capable palaeographers & fragmentologists at work on this, so my rather unhelpful answer just reflects my own lack of expertise. If you read Michael Gelting, Åslaug Ommundsen or Michael Gullick, for instance, you'll know much more.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

In some cases it can be done, because we know a handful of scribes that have produced or been part of the production of several manuscripts. But we cannot necessarily pinpoint these scribes to specific scriptoria, because we have too little data to go on.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

The fragment-carrier, or host volume, is the first instalment in a series of obscene Latin poetry printed by Arnold Mylius in Cologne, 1589.

It brings to mind Joseph Brodsky's words: What if Christ had read Ovid?

[Odense katedralskolebibliotek 25285]

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

Not in this section, as it only goes from David to Asa, but some women - including Ruth & Rahab - are included earlier in the geneaology.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

Medieval Denmark had a substantial book production, but many of these books were destroyed during the Reformation. The surviving fragments are not sufficiently catalogued, so whenever we find a fragment of a book that might have been produced in Denmark it is a big deal.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 20h

Today I spent a lovely hour with this fragment, which contains part of the genealogy of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew. The square notation suggests that it might be a Danish manuscript, possibly early thirteenth century.

[Odense katedralskolebibliotek 25285]

Small book bound in a fragment from a liturgical manuscript with square notation.

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 1d

This I do not know, it's a bit beyond my expertise.

Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 1d

Fantastic, thank you very much!

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Steffen Hope @hopesteffen.bsky.social · 1d

Ooooh, this looks brilliant! I'm really happy that such a project actually exists!

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