Belea, Miruna: Ki yesh biyado Qabbalah: the importance of the ductus in medieval substitutes for the Tetragrammaton

Abstract forthcoming.

Cardinali, Giacomo: CV, horaires, salaires et logements : les conditions de vie et de travail de copistes latins et grecs dans la Rome de la Renaissance

L’étude de la production manuscrite romaine de la première moitié du XVIe siècle, grâce à la quantité de pièces documentaires à la disposition, permets finalement de découvrir les circonstances concrètes du travail des copistes : des différentes possibilités d’hébergement au montant des salaires, des conditions d’accès et de prêt des modèles au requêtes des clients, des temps d’exécution de la copie aux CV des scribes, jusqu’aux conditions pour le recrutement dans une bibliothèque telle que la Vaticane.

Fournet, Jean-Luc: À l'école des professionnels de l'écrit

Abstract forthcoming.

Goy, Floriane: Scriptural Evolution in the Latin Middle Ages: the Dissemination of Gothic Script 

During the Middle Ages, Latin handwriting evolved through a succession of graphic systems, now classified into broad families of scripts, the principal types of which are Uncial, Caroline, and Gothic. Gothic script and its variants came to dominate textual production during the later Middle Ages (13th–15th centuries), and the distinctive shapes of its letters directly influenced the typography of early printed books.

Although derived from the Caroline script, its predecessor, Gothic script was significantly less legible. Why, then, was this graphic system so widely adopted in the medieval West? This lecture will explore the factors driving this stylistic transformation, including changes in writing tools—such as the transition from reed pens to quills—as well as broader social shifts affecting the role of writing and the changing nature of manuscript production sites.

Gurrado, Maria and Muriel Roiland: Observing and recording the writing hand: issues and methods

Detailed observation of the motions of scribes, including calligraphers, is an essential path towards a deeper understanding of graphic phenomena, whether ancient or contemporary. It is well established that the morphology of handwriting depends closely on its ductus, as well as its spatiotemporal and material context. Defining an observation protocol for writing techniques, whether in a laboratory setting or within their natural environment, proves essential for collecting reliable data. Similarly, the method of data analysis must be standardised in order to address the various historiographical, medical, legal, industrial, heritage-related, and even societal challenges. We will illustrate our approach, aimed at establishing a protocol for observing specific writing techniques, and share our reflections on the analysis of the resulting data.

Schlanger, Judith: Suivre le tracé de la cursive Sepharade

Abstract forthcoming.

Schubert, Paul: An Egyptian scribe in Graeco-Roman Egypt facing his roll of papyrus: how to proceed ?

What are the main formats of sheets used by scribes writing documents in Graeco-Roman Egypt? Once we have tried to answer this simple question, we must turn to a trickier one: did the scribes use a table? Or did they place the sheets on their legs? Although no clear answer can be provided, one must nonetheless try to formulate an educated guess.

Smith, Marc : Production vs perception in the history of (Roman) letterforms

In the past century, palaeographers have tended to focus on the mechanics of writing, especially cursivity and ductus, as the driving force in the evolution of written forms, especially in the Roman alphabet. This has led us to favour production over perception and scribes over readers. At the same time, through lack of experimental evidence, our notions of the mechanics of writing remain limited. An effort to better understand how ancient and medieval scribes and readers produced and perceived writing (including scribes as readers of their own writing), in terms of letter identity, typology or connotation, raises some interesting issues about our preconceptions, biases and knowledge gaps in observing, describing and classifying historical scripts.

Vanderheyden, Lorelei: Mapping materials. Surveying possible local trends in Egypt through Coptic correspondence

Abstract forthcoming.

Wespi, Fabian: Demotic writing in action: capturing the pulse of ancient scribes

The paper deals with the attempt to reconstruct the act of writing. My primary focus lies on investigating cognitive aspects of the production of written texts by trying to examine the cognitive rhythm and pacing during writing. Two questions are considered to this end. Firstly, the question of the correlation between the frequency and predictability of signs and words and their shape and orthographic length. The demotic and most cursive Egyptian writing system is particularly suitable for investigation due to the wide range of writing principles available compared to alphabetic scripts. Secondly, the question of possible synchronisation between material-related interruptions in the process of writing caused by ink dipping intervals and the cognitive stages of language production, examined by using the Ptolemaic dating formulas that are numerously attested at the beginning of demotic documents. The result is expected to be a better understanding of writing standards and the interaction between written and spoken language production.

Cammarosano, Michele: The biomechanics of inkless writing on clay and wax: cuneiform vs linear scripts

Some writing techniques do not involve adding or removing material from the support, but instead work by deforming the writing surface itself. This is the case of inkless writing on wet clay and on wax, widely practiced in ancient Mesopotamia. In addition to their crucial impact on the history of writing, these techniques display significant peculiarities from a palaeographic perspective, offering valuable insights for the study of other writing traditions as well. This paper presents a methodological framework for the quantitative analysis of the biomechanics of writing on clay and wax, with particular attention to the writing act in relation to the fundamental dichotomy between impression-based writing (as exemplified by the cuneiform tradition) and drawing-based writing (as exemplified by linear scripts), and explores its relevance for the study of palaeographic development.

Ferretti, Lavinia: To the Grave with your Writing Tools. The Grave Goods of Tomb T.11 in Saint-Martin-de-Corléans (Aosta, IT)

Abstract forthcoming.

Freeman, Michael: Embodied Knowledge in Ancient Mediterranean Scribal Practices

Ancient Mediterranean copyists employed methods of writing and book work that preserved their bodies from the pain and damage reported by later scribes. This paper offers a study of certain scribal practices, with a focus on the scribe’s lived experiences and embodied knowledge. The methodological approach synthesizes evidence from literary texts and material culture as well as comparanda from several other scribal traditions, including from the artisan knowledge of currently-practicing scribes and modern calligraphers. I demonstrate from this evidence how the history of the book is in many ways predicated on the embodied knowledge of the scribe.

Gülden, Svenja A.: Writing in detail: from traditional to digital paleographic methods for Egyptian hieratic hands

The long-term project „Altägyptische Kursivschriften (AKU). Digitale Paläographie und systematische Analyse des Hieratischen und der Kursivhieroglyphen” at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur | Mainz is dedicated to the paleographic analysis of hieratic and cursive hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt.

Digitized single signs and sign groups are the details of writing that are recorded and comprehensively annotated in the project database to expand the basis for researching the development of handwriting within the ancient Egyptian scribal culture. The project also considers the different materialities of the writing surfaces, the variety of script types and functions, and the circumstances in which the ancient scribes chose their different writing styles. Although one module focuses on incised secondary texts („graffiti“), most recorded sources consist of ink manuscripts on papyrus, ostraca, tablets, and walls.

The lack of particular digital instruments for the analysis of hieratic signs constitutes a challenge. Consequently, the AKU project is experimenting with various digital methodologies to contribute to the formulation of methods that will facilitate the drawing of conclusions regarding the cursive scribal culture. The presentation provides insight into the AKU project's methods for digitizing,

Stokes, Peter: Cursivity as Practice and Process in Early Medieval England

Most digital and even many manual palaeographical methods tend to be developed on the basis of set script, but in practice there are of course many exceptions to this. Cursive writing can often be more varied and personal, and more impacted by the circumstances of production, although exceptions here can also be found. This paper will therefore discuss some examples of cursive writing from early Medieval England, considering their circumstances of production, the reasons for the scribal choices that were made, and the challenges that arise in their description and classification with the need to consider ‘script as process’ as much as or more than ‘script as image’.

Zarubina, Evgeniya: Revealing the Ductus: invisible lines and transitionary letters in medieval Hebrew manuscripts

Abstract forthcoming.