Thoth distribution@thoth.pub 20260826T123220

urn:uuid:0160f491-95ea-4998-812b-b313d2149c24 03 01 01 urn:uuid:0160f491-95ea-4998-812b-b313d2149c24 15 9781805111665 06 10.11647/OBP.0379 00 EB E107 10 Creative Commons License 02 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 01 01 Touching Parchment: How Medieval Users Rubbed, Handled, and Kissed Their Manuscripts Volume 2: Social Encounters with the Book 1 A01 21 0000-0002-1633-7607 Kathryn M. Rudy 01 eng 00 474 03 10 HIS037010 B2 History of the Book 20 Medieval book 93 NHDJ 12 WCS 10 ANT052000 12 HBLC1 20 religious 93 WC 12 JFCD 93 JHMC 20 secular 10 SOC002010 12 JHBT 20 touching 20 handling 20 rituals 03 00 <p>In the late middle ages (ca. 1200-1520), both religious and secular people used manuscripts, was regarded as a most precious item. The traces of their use through touching and handling during different rituals such as oath-taking, public reading, and memorializing the dead, is the subject of Kathryn Rudy’s research in Touching Parchment. </p><p>This second volume, Social Encounters with the Book, delves into the physical interaction with books in various social settings, including education, courtly assemblies, and confraternal gatherings. Looking at acts such as pointing, scratching, and ‘wet-touching’, the author zooms in on smudges and abrasions on medieval manuscripts as testimonials of readers’ interaction with the book and its contents. In so doing, she dissects the function of books in oaths, confraternal groups, education, and courtly settings, illuminating how books were used as teaching aids and tools for conveying political messages. The narrative paints a vivid picture of medieval reading, emphasizing bodily engagement, from page-turning to the intimate act of kissing pages. Overall, this text offers a captivating exploration of the tactile and social dimensions of book use in late medieval Europe broadening our perspective on the role of objects in rituals during the middle ages. Social Encounters with the Book provides a fundamental resource to anybody interested in medieval history and book materiality more widely.</p><p>This volume is part of a four-volume set, with two additional titles forthcoming.</p> 04 00 Acknowledgments Figures Abbreviations Introduction I. Ideas from Volume 1 II. Taxonomy for touching Chapter 1: Professing Obedience I. From professions to vows II. Professions in later centuries and broader social contexts III. Expanding oath-taking: Confraternities in churches IV. Out of the church and into the castle V. Testaments in Mariënpoel VI. Hinged thinking: A civic context Chapter 2: Confraternities of Laypeople I. The colorful confraternity of St Nicholas II. Ducal patronage at Linkebeek III. St Sebastian at St Gorik’s Coda Chapter 3: Educators and Learners I. Teaching children how to read with manuscripts II. Teaching morals Coda Chapter 4: Performing at Court I. Interacting with images of the Virgin II. Political touching III. Rubbing romances IV. Versified religion and history V. Prose histories Coda Chapter 5: Touching Death I. A Benedictine abbess II. Remembering John Hotham, bishop of Ely III. Retouching, reusing, and restitching elements Coda Conclusion I. Models of transmitting gestures II. Touching beginnings III. Touching initials across Europe Bibliography Appendices Appendix 1: Gospels of St Loup Appendix 2: Chapter of Utrecht Gospels Appendix 3: Valenciennes Confraternity Appendix 4: Linkebeek Confraternity Appendix 5: St Gorik’s Confraternity Appendix 6: Necrology of the canonesses regular of St Vitus, Elten Appendix 7: Mortuary roll for John Hotham Index 20 00 Open Access Open Book Publishers 01 Open Book Publishers Cambridge, UK 04 01 20240912 13 15 9781805111658 09 Open Book Publishers 29 Publisher's website: download the title https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0379.pdf 99 01 09 Open Book Publishers 02 Publisher's website: web shop https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/OBP.0379 99 01