The Dynamics of the Medieval Manuscript:
Text Collections from a European Perspective

This cross-European research project studied the dynamics of a number of late-medieval Dutch, English, French and German miscellany manuscripts, focusing on the highly mobile short verse narratives they contain. Characterised by the migration of works from one manuscript context to another, this cultural phenomenon was ideally suited to the HERA JRP theme ‘Cultural Dynamics’. In each unique, newly formed text collection new meanings are generated, enabling us to understand the cultural identity of the compiler or commissioner of a manuscript and to investigate how cultural, social and moral heritage is conveyed to new generations.Our comparative, multilingual approach made it possible to determine trans-European characteristics in the organisation of text collections and to analyse how new author and reader identities were created. The research was conducted by 4 PhD students, 2 Post-doctoral and 4 senior researchers in close collaboration, and culminated in a large-scale conference.
For full details, see project description (PDF).Project summary in French, German and Dutch (PDF)