History 9067x-9068y / M 2:10-4:00
Columbia University / Hamilton 707
2002-2003 / Prof. Kosto

Seminar in Medieval Societies and Institutions

Studies in Medieval Records: Sources and Methods (x); Research (y)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is a two-term research seminar intended for graduate students in medieval European history; it is open to others with the instructor's permission. The first term of the seminar has three goals: 1) to introduce students to research tools and methods for medieval European history; 2) to introduce students to the study of medieval written records (diplomatics); and 3) to guide students in identifying and developing appropriate research topics. In the course of this first term, students will begin to familiarize themselves with the resources of the Ancient and Medieval Studies Reading Room; work with documents in the collections of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library; and read widely in classic and more recent medievalist scholarship, as possible models for their own research projects. Students will also immerse themselves in a particular group of records in order to lay the groundwork for those projects in the second term, which will be devoted to the production of an article-length research essay that will fulfill the departmental requirement for a master's thesis.

First-year students in medieval history are required to register for both terms of this course; others are encouraged to do so, but may, with the instructor's permission, take the first term as a stand-alone seminar in diplomatics. The course will focus on medieval Latin documents, although students interested in exploring vernacular documents may do so. Students will be expected to have a basic knowledge of medieval history and some facility in reading Latin and either French or German.

REQUIREMENTS

First term (x):
  • Reading and preparation of assigned materials
  • Regular participation in discussion
  • Occasional written assignments and exercises
  • Occasional oral presentations
  • A research prospectus
Second term (y):
  • Research essay

READINGS

The following books are available for purchase at Labyrinth Books (112th between Broadway and Amsterdam):
  • M. T. Clanchy, From memory to written record: England, 1066-1307 , 2nd edn (Oxford, 1993)
  • Olivier Guyotjeannin, Jacques Pycke, and Benoît-Michel Tock, Diplomatique médiévale, L'atelier du médiéviste 2 (Turnhout, 1993)
  • James M. Powell, Medieval studies: an introduction, 2nd edn (Syracuse, 1992)

RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

1 / 09 Sep / Basics I: Types of Records and the Parts of a Charter
2 / 16 Sep (Reschedule) / Basics II: Production of Documents
3 / 23 Sep / Basics III: Transmission of Documents
4 / 30 Sep / Methods I: Chronology
5 / 07 Oct / Methods II: Means of Authentication (Meet in RBML)
6 / 14 Oct / Methods III: Prosopography (Meet in ANCMED)
7 / 21 Oct / Penalty Clauses
25 Oct / Short Paper Due
8 / 28 Oct / TBA.
9 / 04 Nov (Reschedule) / Parchment I (Meet in RBML)
10 / 11 Nov / TBA
11 / 18 Nov / Parchment II (Meet in RBML)
12 / 25 Nov / TBA
13 / 02 Dec / Presentations
14 / 09 Dec / Presentations
13 Dec / Research Prospectus Due

ASSIGNMENTS

  • R = Readings
  • A = Research Assignments
  • B = Practical Exercises
  • C = Discussion Topics
/
  • Giry = A. Giry, Manuel de diplomatique (see Bibliography II.A.2.i )
  • Bresslau = Harry Bresslau, Handbuch der Urkundenlehre für Deutschland und Italien (see Bibliography II.A.2.i )

Prolegomena

Follow this link for a more detailed assignment.

  • R: Georges Tessier, "Diplomatique," in L'Histoire et ses méthodes, ed. Charles Samaran, Encyclopédie de la pléiade 11 (Paris, 1961), 633-76; Robert-Henri Bautier, "Leçon d'ouverture du cours de diplomatique à l'École des chartes (20 octobre 1961)," Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes 119 (1961), 194-225; Leonard E. Boyle, "Diplomatics," in Medieval studies, ed. Powell, 82-113; Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, "Diplomatic sources and medieval documentary practices: an essay in interpretive methodology," in The past and future of medieval studies, ed. John van Engen, Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies 4 (Notre Dame, 1994), 313-43.
  • P: Try to get some practice reading documents.
1. 09 Sep Basics I: Types of Records and the Parts of a Charter
  • R: Boyle, "Diplomatics," 82-104; Clanchy, 81-100; Guyotjeannin, 71-92; Cartulario de "Sant Cugat" del Vallès, ed. José Rius Serra, 3 vols (Barcelona, 1945-47), 1:xxx-xxxviii or Michel Zimmermann, "Un formulaire du Xème siècle conservé à Ripoll," Faventia 4 (1982), 25-86 at 25-29. 35-51, 67-86.
  • B: Translate and identify the parts of Document 1 using the schema at Boyle, 98, and/or Guyotjeannin, 71-92. Identify terms that appear to be technical. Identify passages that appear to be formulaic.
  • C:1. How has the definition of diplomatics developed over the past 300 years? Whose definition seems most useful? Why?2. How would you define the following: narrative source, non-narrative source; document; juridical fact, juridical act; official document (acte publique), private deed (acte privé); charter, diploma, notice, bull; author, issuer, recipient, beneficiary?3. What are formulas? What do they mean for the analysis of documents? 4. Discussion of Documents 1 and 2.
2. 16 Sep Basics II: Production of Documents (NEED TO RESCHEDULE)
  • R: Rosamond McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge, 1989), 77-134; Clanchy, 44-74, 114-44; Guyotjeannin, 223-45(70).
  • R/A: Read one of the following; find and photocopy the full text of one document cited by the author, as well as the page on which that document is cited: Wendy Davies, Small worlds: the village community in early medieval Brittany (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1988), 29-60; Chris Wickham, "Land disputes and their social framework in Lombard-Carolingian Italy, 700-900," in The settlement of disputes in early medieval Europe , ed. Wendy Davies and Paul Fouracre (Cambridge, 1986), 105-24; Giles Constable, "Monasticism, lordship, and society in the twelfth-century Hesbaye: five documents on the foundation of the Cluniac priory of Bertrée," Traditio 33 (1977), 159-224 [Cluniacstudies (London, 1980), IX]; Robert C. Stacey, "The conversion of Jews to Christianity in thirteenth-century England," Speculum 67 (1992), 263-83 ; David Herlihy, "Land, family, and women in continental Europe, 701-1200," Traditio 18 (1962), 89-120 [The Social History of Italy and Western Europe, 700-1500 (London, 1978), VI].
  • A: Select an individual, institution, or place that is of interest to you. Using the works listed in Bibliography I.C , locate a source collection relevant to your topic. Using the works listed in Bibliography I.D , locate a book or article written since 1980 relevant to your topic. Write report (1 p. maximum) giving a full bibliographical citation, call number and location, and brief (no more than three-sentence) description of: 1) the work that led you to your primary source collection; 2) the primary source collection; 3) the work that led you to your secondary source; 4) the secondary source.
  • B: Translate and identify the parts of Document 3 using the scheme at Boyle, 98, and/or Guyotjeannin, 71-92. Identify terms that appear to be technical. Identify passages that appear to be formulaic.
  • C:1. Discussion of Document 3.2. What are the most useful reference works for finding sources and literature for various regions and time periods? What types of research are based on archival evidence? How do various authors use that evidence? 3. How were written records produced? What are the most important steps to consider? Do the answers to these last two questions vary over space and time? How can knowledge of document production affect our analysis of those documents?
3. 23 Sep Basics III: Transmission of Documents
  • R: Clanchy, 100-104 (145-84); Guyotjeannin, 271-328; Van Caenegem, 107-29 [Eng. edn, 47-91]; Jean-Philippe Genet, "Cartulaires, registres, et histoire: l'exemple anglais," in Le métier d'historien au moyen âge: études sur l'historiographie médiévale , ed. Bernard Guenée (Paris, 1977), 95-138; and one article from each of the two parts of Les cartulaires: actes de table ronde organisée par l'École nationae des chartes et le G.D.R. 121 du C.N.R.S. (Paris, 5-7 décembre 1991), ed. Olivier Guyotjeannin, Laurent Morelle, and Michel Parisse, Mémoires et documents de l'École des chartes 39 (Paris, 1993).Optional: Patrick J. Geary, Phantoms of remembrance: memory and oblivion at the end of the first millennium (Princeton, 1994), 81-114; Adam J. Kosto, "The Liber feudorum maior of the counts of Barcelona: the cartulary as an expression of power," Journal of medieval history27 (2001), 1-22 .
  • A: Using Bibliography II.B.2-3 , identify a coherent, published body of source material (Source A) for the topic you reported on in week 2; this may be the same source that you chose in week 2, but it does not have to be. (Try, in any case, to work on the same topic; if you cannot identify an appropriate source collection, consult with the instructor.) Write a brief report with complete bibliographic citations (two page maximum) on the fate of the records related to your topic, noting if they are preserved as originals; if so, where; and the principal unpublished and published source collections based on these originals.
  • B: Working together, track down and photocopy (if possible) as many different printed versions as possible of Document 4. Note any discrepancies.
  • C:1. What is an "original document." What is a cartulary? A register? In what other forms are medieval records transmitted? What problems do these various states present in an attempt to recover the "original" text? What opportunities do these various collections present for historical research?2. Discuss the textual history of Document 4. 3. Reports on Source A; where does your particular source fit into the history of transmission of the records of your institution/person/place?
4. 30 Sep Methods I: Chronology
  • R: R. Dean Ware, "Medieval chronology," in Medieval studies, ed. Powell, 252-77; Charles Higounet, "Le style pisan. Son emploi. Sa diffusion géographique," Le moyen âge 68 (1952), 31-42; Michel Zimmermann, "La datation des documents catalans du IXe au XIIe siècle: un itinéraire politique," Annales du Midi 93 (1981), 345-75 or Jean Dufour, "Obédience respective des Carolingiens et des Capétiens (fin Xe siècle-début XIe siècle)," in Catalunya i França meridional a l'entorn de l'any mil / La Catalogne et la France méridionale autour de l'an mil, Colloque international CNRS / Generalitat de Catalunya: Hugues Capet 987-1987, La France de l'an mil, Barcelona, 2-5 juliol 1987, ed. Xavier Barral i Altet, et al., Col.lecció actes de congressos 2 (Barcelona, 1991), 21-44.Optional:Charles Donahue, Jr., "The dating of Alexander the Third's marriage decretals: Dauvillier revisited after fifty years," Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung 68 (1982), 70-124; R. L. Poole, Studies in chronology and history (Oxford, 1934), 1-81, 144-71.
  • A1: Using Bibliography I.C and II.B.2-3 (and Clanchy, if you like), locate an English source collection (Source B) with material from the period 1000-1200, preferably before and after 1066. You will use this source for our collective examination of English penalty clauses.
  • A2: Use Bibliography I.D to find scholarship directly on or based on Source A. Write a brief report (two pages max., plus bibliography) discussing how previous scholars have used this source. Propose one new question that might be asked on the basis of this source.
  • B: Familiarize yourself with the chronological tables of the handbooks in Bibliography II.A.3 . Use at least two different manuals to confirm the date given by the editor for a document in Source A. Use at least two different manuals to confirm the date given by the author of one of the articles above.Optional: Complete chronology problems .
  • C: 1. Organize penalty clause project. What sorts of questions should we ask? What is a good historical question? 2. Discussion of proposed questions based on Source A. Be prepared to explain how you developed your question from the sources and how it relates to previous scholarship. 3. Chronology basics and exercises. Exercises in class. 4. Discuss broader significance of dating issues.
5. 07 Oct Methods II: Means of Authentication (meet in RBML)
  • R: Clanchy, 294-327; Guyotjeannin, 86-92; Winfried Trusen, "Chriographum und Teilurkunde im Mittelalter,"Archivalische Zeitschrift 75 (1979), 233-49; Benoît-Michel Tock, "Les listes de témoins dans les chartes des évêques d'Arras au XIIe siècle, Archiv für Diplomatik 37 (1991), 85-118; Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, "Seals and sigillography, Western European," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages , ed. Joseph R. Strayer, 13 vols (New York, 1982-89), 11:123-131.Optional: Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, "Women, seals, and power in medieval France," in Women and power in the Middle Ages, ed. Mary Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski (Athens, Ga., 1988), 61-82 [Form and order in medieval France (London, 1993), IX].
  • A: (Continue work on study of penalty clauses in Source B.)
  • C:1. Discuss status of penalty clause project. What is your method? Are you able to answer the questions you proposed in week 4, or have new questions emerged?2. Play with real charters.
6. 14 Oct Methods III: Prosopography (Meet in ANCMED)
  • R: George Beech, "Prosopography," in Medieval studies , ed. Powell, 185-226; Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Important noble families in the kingdom of Charlemagne: a prosopographical study of the relationship between king and nobility in the early Middle Ages," in The medieval nobility: studies on the ruling classes of France and Germany from the sixth to the twelfth century, ed. and trans. Timothy Reuter, Europe in the Middle Ages, Selected studies, 14 (Amsterdam, 1979), 137-202 (appendices lacking) ["Bedeutende Adelsfamilien im Reich Karls des Grossen. Ein personengeschichtlicher Beitrag zum Verhältnis von Königtum und Adel im frühen Mittelalter," in Karl der Große, Lebenswerk und Nachleben, vol. 1, Persönlichkeit und Geschichte, ed. Helmut Beumann (Dusseldorf, 1965), 83-142]; Neithard Bulst and Jean-Philippe Genet, eds., Medieval lives and the historian: studies in medieval prosopography (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1986); Medieval Prosopography (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1980- ).
  • A: (Continue work on study of penalty clauses in Source B.)
  • B: Assemble reference works useful for identification of persons and places in Source A, with specific interesting examples for presentation to the class.
  • C:1. What is prosopography? What is the role of diplomatic sources in prosopographical research (strengths, weaknesses compared to other types of sources; classification of necrologies)? 2. Examine selected prosoprographical reference works used for work with Source A.
7. 21 Oct Penalty Clauses
  • R: Lester K. Little, Benedictine maledictions: liturgical cursing in Romanesque France (Ithaca, 1993), 52-59; Michel Zimmermann, "Protocoles et préambules dans les documents catalans du Xe au XIIe siècle: évolution diplomatique et signification spirituelle," Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 10 (1974), 41-76; 11 (1975), 51-79, esp. 10 (1974), 50-74; Jeffrey A. Bowman, "Do neo-Romans curse? Law, land, and ritual in the Midi (900-1100), Viator 28 (1997), 1-32.Optional: Joachim Studtmann, "Die Pönformel der mittelalterlichen Urkunden," Archiv für Urkundenforschung 12 (1932), 251-374.
  • A: Present 10 minute formal report on penalty clauses in Source B, with illustrations from charters.
  • C: Presentations and discussion of penalty clause project.

25 Oct Short Paper Due
Paper (7 p. maximum) detailing your findings of the study of penalty clauses in Source B.

8. 28 Oct TBA
  • R:TBA
  • B: Begin work on an edition (with translation) of a single document in the Columbia collections. Use the Digital Scriptorium database to select a document; have your selection approved by the instructor before beginning work. Follow the guidelines in Guyotjeannin, 397-413.
  • C:
9. 04 Nov Parchment I (Meet in RBML) NEED TO RESCHEDULE
  • B/C: Complete your edition of the document. Be prepared to present the document to the class.
10. 11 Nov TBA
  • R:TBA
  • A: (Begin looking for a source (Source C) to work on for your final project, following the same steps as in weeks 2-4).
  • B: Begin work on an edition (with translation) of a different document in the Columbia collections; try to select a document from a different century and/or region.
  • C:
11. 18 Nov Parchment II (Meet in RBML)
  • A: (Work with Source C. Meet with instructor to discuss ideas for final project based on that source.)
  • B/C: Complete your edition of the document. Be prepared to present the document to the class, with particular reference to topics studied to date in the secondary literature read for the course.

12. 25 Nov TBA

  • R:TBA
  • A: (Continue working with Source C).
  • C:

13. 02 Dec Presentations

  • A/C: Present Source C (10 minute formal presentation). Include: 1) information on the source itself and its place in the archival history of your individual/institution/place; 2) the state of recent scholarship on the sources; 3) the state of recent scholarship on the individual/institution/place; 3) possible avenues of research (you should not have settled on a particular topic at this point).

14. 09 Dec Presentations

  • A/C: Present your topic (10 minute formal presentation) and the historical question that you have chosen to explore. Be sure to address other historical questions that you will need to consider to provide context for your topic and source.

13 Dec Research Prospectus Due (Guidelines TBA)