Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
Program Description
For anyone studying the Middle Ages, there is no substitute for hands-on experience of actual medieval manuscripts. Our unique and innovative program, “Manuscripts in the Curriculum,” enables these experiences by lending colleges, universities, and other educational institutions in the US a group of manuscripts during a semester, quarter, or summer session. Although public display of the manuscripts is encouraged, central to the philosophy of the new program is the integration of real manuscripts into the curriculum in courses where students can work closely with original material under the guidance of a professor.
Manuscripts in the Curriculum IV
The fourth cycle of this program will begin in Summer, 2026. A group of nine manuscripts will be available for loan, representing manuscripts from across Europe in Latin and the vernacular from various dates. It is possible to customize the program with the addition of two manuscripts especially suited to the needs of the participating institution.
It is our hope that the program will serve as a springboard, enabling participating institutions to imagine ways that manuscripts can continue to be used creatively in their curricula. For examples of how the manuscripts have been used by past participants in the program, see our "Program in action" links below. You can also find news about MITC on our Text Manuscripts Blog.
The participation fee ($5,500) covers the out-of-pocket expenses of the program, including administration, insurance, shipping, and condition reports. The program also includes a zoom-meeting with the supervising curator and faculty to discuss the loan, and one class session on the manuscripts presented via zoom by Sandra Hindman and Kathleen E. Kennedy.
Applications to participate (no more than 3 pages in length) should include: a letter of intent outlining the course(s) planned, and other internal and public events (lectures, receptions, colloquia), as well as any special requests for manuscripts; a plan for integrating the use of manuscripts in the curriculum after the conclusion of the program; the names of faculty and library staff responsible for overseeing and funding the program; and the preferred term with a second choice listed (from summer 2026 through spring 2027).
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and decisions announced a month after application. Please send your application and any requests for further information to the Director of Text Manuscripts, Kathleen E. Kennedy <kathleenkennedy@lesenluminures.com>
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CURRICULUM III - THE PROGRAM
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CURRICULUM II - THE PROGRAM
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CURRICULUM I - THE PROGRAM
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - IOWA LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - WALDO LIBRARY WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION - NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION: SUDENTS POSTERS, NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION: ILLUMINATING LIFE, EXHIBITION CATALOGUE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH
THE PROGRAM IN ACTION: OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
Medieval manuscripts illuminate Pitt-Greensburg course on the history of books
Blog: MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CURRICULUM II: NEWS FROM THE FIELD. A GUEST BLOG FROM SUNY GENESEO
Small portable Bibles containing the complete Old and New Testaments were one of the greatest achievements of thirteenth-century book production. This English example was copied by numerous scribes, and decorated in a number of styles. The ten handsome illuminated initials decorate the Minor Prophets, an unusual choice. Textual evidence links it to both the Dominicans and Franciscans. Notable here are the numerous additions that show how this was used, including the contemporary table of introits and Mass lections, and numerous marginal notes from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.
In modern times someone redesigned this pocket-sized miscellany adding four full-page miniatures and rebinding it in an apparently random order. Originally the small volume must have been made by Franciscans, who compiled an impressive number of texts for use when preaching and for spiritual edification, including, most importantly, numerous exempla (moral stories). Exempla are unique sources, offering precious insights into popular religion and daily life. This is a perfect book for scholarly sleuthing with its engaging contents and its quirky miniatures (from a yet-unidentified source), paired with the challenge of putting it back together in the correct order.
A fine collection of popular late medieval mystical texts, this manuscript offers a fascinating insight into the devotional practice of a devout fifteenth-century reader who also appreciated the finer things in life. The understatedly expensive decorations in the three main texts suggest this was a special commission, and the French poem at the end confirms that this beautiful copy was actively used, most likely by the original owner, to train their mind and soul to receive an experience of the divine.
Grand in size and proportions, this Psalter-Hymnal is a fine example of the large service books used for the recitation of the Daily Office. It was clearly made for an unidentified Franciscan house, and it is elegantly decorated with very fine illuminated initials, perhaps by the Master of Antiphonary Q or his workshop, an artist known for the magnificent series of Choir Books destined for the Benedictine monastery on San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The manuscript merits further study to localize it more precisely, based on the annotations added on the flyleaves.
Humanist manuscripts from the Italian Renaissance have been treasured by scholars, readers, and collectors since the fifteenth century. This classical text by Cicero is a good example of why: composed for his own consolation in the wake of the death of his beloved daughter, it is copied in an attractive humanistic script, graced with a lovely white vine-stem initial, and survives with wide margins, original marginal side notes, and pointing hands and other notes added by subsequent readers. Signed and dated by the scribe, this manuscript has been owned by a long series of distinguished collectors, including the famous (or infamous) Guglielmo Libri and Sir Thomas Phillipps.
This carta executoria authenticates the nobility of Bernardino Vaca de Buiza, thereby granting him exemption from taxes along with other perks. It is illustrated with his family’s coat of arms, complete with realistic depictions of cows grazing in a field, a visual pun on his name. Of special interest is the fact that this document is in two parts, the first on parchment in a formal humanistic minuscule, and the remainder on paper, copied in a quicker, but still legible, cursive script. Illuminated cartas offer a rich vein for historical and legal research, and are equally interesting as physical objects, continuing the tradition of the illuminated manuscript into the modern age.
