Conférence – Mary Garrison, "The Intellectual World of the Leiden Pliny: A Book from York ?"

This lecture focuses on one part of one of the most remarkable of the Vossiani: the enormous eighth-century Northumbrian Pliny, Historiae Naturales I-VI, in Leiden VLF 4. It is the earliest text of Pliny’s Natural History to survive from North of the Alps. It is also one of only three extant early Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of a classical text and one of the largest late antique or medieval manuscripts of a classical text.

A remarkable book in every way, VLF 4 is also a mystery: where and why might this gigantic copy of a book about natural history have been made? This lecture will attempt to demonstrate for the first time, by arguments from palaeography, text history, textual transmission, and cultural context, where this most remarkable and beautiful book was produced. The manuscript’s well known close relatives, as well as a never before adduced script-match will furnish clues.

Mary Garrison is a lecturer in History and in the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York, where she teaches medieval history. Her research interests centre on the literary and cultural history of the eighth century in England and on the continent, especially epistolography, poetry and rhetoric. She has published numerous articles on Alcuin, medieval letters and Carolingian poetry. This lecture is part of a larger research project, ‘In search of the Scriptorium of eighth- century York’, funded by the British Academy’s Neil Ker Memorial Fund.

Informations pratiques :
Lectures are free and open to all. Each lecture is accompanied by a display of manuscripts from Leiden collections pertaining to the topic. Please RSVP to e.kwakkel@hum.leidenuniv.nl. Friday, 23 March, 2012, 3-4 pm (Leiden University Library, Grote Vergaderzaal).