Paleography

The film that introduces this main chapter (Manuscript Reading Room) showed that anyone who wants to do research on medieval historical topics must be able to read and understand sources. Editions of texts do not reproduce certain aspects of the manuscripts on which they draw. Research questions can, therefore, arise that can be answered only by consulting the original(s). On the other hand, many manuscripts have not yet been edited and therefore generally lie untouched and unused in the archives. Paleography is one of the foundational historical disciplines It provides he knowledge and methods that allow a scholar to describe and analyse handwritten sources in detail, from the development of writing itself and systems of writing, historical hands (types of writing) and their use, as well as the writing materials used in the past (Beck). In the following pages you will find a short survey of the fundamentals of western hands and their development in the Middle Ages. Further questions can be addressed by the works listed under 'Further Reading' at the end of this chapter.