Identifying Scribal Hands: Principles and Problems

The aim of this paper is to review and reconsider the methodology adopted for identifying scribal hands and to make some suggestions for future research. It will begin by responding in detail to the most recent and far-reaching attacks on Linne Mooney's identification of Chaucer's scribe,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSpeculum Vol. 99; no. 3; p. 688
Main Author Horobin, Simon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Medieval Academy of America 01.07.2024
Subjects
Clerical personnel
Identity
Medieval literature
Paleography
Research methodology
Taxonomy
Writers
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Summary:The aim of this paper is to review and reconsider the methodology adopted for identifying scribal hands and to make some suggestions for future research. It will begin by responding in detail to the most recent and far-reaching attacks on Linne Mooney's identification of Chaucer's scribe, those by Lawrence Warner in his book Chaucer's Scribes and Jane Roberts in an article in Medium Ævum. It then proceeds to consider other approaches and attitudes to the process of scribal identification and the nature of the paleographical method, tackling such challenges as a scribe's use of different scripts, the way scribal hands change over time, and the lack of an agreed taxonomy of graphetic variation. The final section of the paper will explore the methodological insights that can be drawn from these different approaches and suggest how recent developments and new digital tools can help formulate a method that will build greater consensus.
ISSN:0038-7134
2040-8072
DOI:10.1086/730563