In 2006, Penn purchased an extraordinary medieval manuscript, one of the earliest known glossed Psalters (c. 1090). This seminar will study this manuscript and will explore the realm of monastic learning that gave rise to a culture of “glossing.” Topics will include practices of monastic reading and devotion, exegesis, the rise of cathedral schools, and the expansion of the manuscript trade. Representative of a particular kind of manuscript art, glossed books played an important role in monastic learning’s “visual curriculum,” and we will study this art-historical range – exegetical diagrams, illuminated encyclopedias, decorated compendia (e.g., Peter of Poitiers), etc.

A significant component of this course is the close study of the Penn manuscript itself. As one of the earliest (if not earliest) extant glossed Psalters, it offers an exceptional opportunity to explore how its author (Anselm of Laon?) composed the text that would later become the standard gloss. The Penn text, however, is hardly standard, filled to the margins with lots of scribbles and notations in a tiny bookhand. The Penn codex is also worn and rubbed – signs of use! – and so to aid us in our study, we will employ new technology developed by SCETI for ultra-high resolution facsimile pages. We envision the creation of a web-based tool for studying this manuscript and possibly a small conference to announce the results of our research.

Students in Religious Studies, History of Art, Classics, History, English, and Romance Languages are especially encouraged to participate. Some knowledge of Latin required; French useful.