Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes

As part of the Biblifram research project on libraries in medieval France, an international conference "Cistercians and the transmission of texts (12^th-18^th c.)" on the role of Cistercian abbeys and their book collections in the history of text transmission is organized at the Médiathèque du Grand Troyes (22-24 Nov. 2012).

The Cistercians are well known for their centralized organization and for aiming at uniformity in architecture, arts, liturgy and daily life, as well as for the importance of pragmatic script in the Order governance. Their efforts in searching for texts and editing them are, on the contrary, little known. Yet, their rich and sometimes huge libraries as well as the rare texts they often contain, contradict the idea of an Order poorly involved in scholarly studies.

Where did Cistercians get there texts from? Which networks or relationships could they employ and benefit from? On which criteria did they choose the works and the exemplars to be copied? Did they set rules, methods and goals to their search for texts? Have Cistercians been transmitting texts by chance or because their interest for textual studies was much greater than we usually assume?

Textual traditions and inventories of ancient Cistercian libraries have to be explored and studied in order to trace specific features of Cistercian libraries, possibly reveal a common cultural or spiritual identity, and observe how these libraries evolve until the French Revolution.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Typology and form of transmitted texts: secular literature (Classical literature, history, law, fiction, medicine) or religious works (Church Fathers, liturgy); prose or poetry
• A comparative approach to Cistercians and other religious orders
• Book production and organization (libraries and chanceries, book inventories of Cistercian abbeys, place and role of printed books)
• Cistercians and studies (relations to University, scholarly undertakings within the Cistercian order)

Papers on Cistercian manuscripts and libraries from the 13th c. onwards, covering the late Middle Ages or the early modern period, will be welcome, as the Order’s historical studies tend to give less attention to these time periods.

Submission

Papers, of 40 minutes, will be preferably given in French (if not, a substantial abstract or a French translation will be made available to the public). A session with smaller papers (20 minutes) will be organized to present case studies (e.g. Cistercian transmission of a unique text). Proposals should mention for which category the paper is presented.

To propose a paper, please send a brief abstract (3000 characters max. + name and affiliation) to Biblifram coordinator Anne-Marie Turcan-Verkerk (anne-marie.turcan [at] irht.cnrs.fr). The deadline for receipt of submissions is 15 April 2012.

Provisional program

30 March 2012: deadline for paper proposal submission

15 May 2012: Notification of acceptance

30 June 2012: Definitive program
 
22 November 2012: Keynote lecture on Cistercian libraries, followed by cocktail reception

23 November 2012: Thematic sessions — Exhibition of medieval manuscripts from Clairvaux’s library

24 November 2012: Thematic sessions — Exhibition of printed books from the Clairvaux library

Travel expenses, accommodation and lunch are covered for accepted papers.

Committee

• Thomas FALMAGNE
  (Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg : T.Falmagne [at] ub.uni-frankfurt.de)
• Pierre GANDIL
  (Médiathèque du Grand Troyes : p.gandil [at] grand-troyes.fr)
• Dominique STUTZMANN
  (Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes / Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris : dominique.stutzmann [at] irht.cnrs.fr)
• Anne-Marie TURCAN-VERKERK
  (Ecole pratique des hautes études / Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, Paris : anne-marie.turcan [at] irht.cnrs.fr)