Writing Beyond Pen and Parchment

Inscribed Objects in Medieval European Literature

Ricarda Wagner, Christine Neufeld, Ludger Lieb, Ricarda Wagner, Christine Neufeld, Ludger Lieb

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2019
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9783110645446
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

What can stories of magical engraved rings or prophetic inscriptions on walls tell us about how writing was perceived before print transformed the world? Writing beyond Pen and Parchment introduces readers to a Middle Ages where writing is not confined to manuscripts but is inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. Drawing on the work done at the Collaborative Research Centre "Material Text Cultures," (SFB 933) this volume presents a comparative overview of how and where text-bearing artefacts appear in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian and Iberian literary traditions, and also traces the paths inscribed objects chart across multiple linguistic and cultural traditions. The volume's focus on the raw materials and practices that shaped artefacts both mundane or fantastical in medieval narratives offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture often overlooked.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• Literary Inscriptions Across Europe
• Writing Between Stillness And Movement: Script-Bearing Artefacts In Courtly German Literature
• Inscriptions In Old Norse Literature
• Inscriptions In British Literature: From Runes To The Rise Of Public Poetry
• Old French Narrated Inscriptions
• Inscriptions In Italian Literature
• Inscriptions On The Iberian Peninsula: Material Script And Narrative Logic In Castilian And Catalan Literatures
• Materials
• Culture In Nature: Writing On Wood
• Inscriptions On Stone
• From Tattoo To Stigma: Writing On Body And Skin
• Woven Words, Embroidered Stories: Inscriptions On Textiles
• Artefacts
• Writing Spaces: Inscriptions On Architecture
• Tablets And The Poetics Of The Premodern Post-It
• Sepulchral Representation: Inscribed Tombs And Narrated Epitaphs In The High Middle Ages
• Text-Bearing Warriors: Inscriptions On Weapons
• More Than Bling: Inscribed Jewellery Between Social Distinction, Amatory Gift-Giving, And Spiritual Practice
• A Cabinet Of Curiosities
• A Cabinet Of Curiosities
• Indices