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GAUDEAMUS OMNES! Today, appropriately for the ‘assumptio Mariae’, the announcement for the exhibition of the Medingen manuscripts in Hamburg has gone online. Come along for the opening on 3 September, 7pm, in the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Lecture Theatre. “For the first time, the seven Hamburg Mss. will be on show, together with loans from libraries in Augsburg, Bremen, Gotha, Göttingen, Hannover, Hildesheim, Lüneburg and Wolfenbüttel. A unique opportunity to see a treasure reunited that has been scattered since the Lutheran reformation.”
All welcome!
Call for papers: Symposium ‘Manuscript Production in the Cistercian convent of Medingen’
4 Oktober 2007
Organisation: Prof. Dr. Henrike Lähnemann (Newcastle) und Dr. Hans-Walter Stork (Hamburg)
The Symposion aims to analyse the place of the Medingen manuscripts “between monastic reform and Lutheran reformation”. A special focus will the newly found Hamburg manuscripts (cf. list of the sigla). The intention is to look at the manuscripts in their full cultural setting; possible topics include:
* German studies
How is the literary activity in Medingen to be placed in the conventual reform of the late 15th century? How can the relationship between the Latin and the Middle Low German texts be defined?
* History of devotion/theology
Which texts (liturgical pieces, set prayers, hymns…) were incorporated in the prayer-books? What is the place for the vernacular texts in these collections? Do the texts still hold identificatorial potential for the protestant convent that has been perpetuating the tradition of the nunnery for the last 500 years?
* History of Art/Iconography
What pictorial programme is upheld by the manuscripts? Is there a specific Medingen or regional Lüneburg aspect to the iconography, for example with regard to the patron saints like St Maurice? How can this programme be related to other media like textiles (see above for the Wichmannsburger Antependium) or paintings?
* Music/Hymnology
What was the function of those texts in the Medingen manuscripts which could be sung? What is the status of the musical notatioin? How were the songs used in the spiritual live of the nuns?
* Codicology
How was the manuscript production in the scriptorium organised? What do we know about the book-binding in the convent?
* History of Religious Orders/Liturgy
How do the Medingen Manuscripts fit into the history of Cistercian liturgical development, regarding the text and the notation as well as the music?
Exhibition
The symposion is part of an ongoing exhibition of selected Medingen manuscripts in the State and University Library of Hamburg which takes place from 3 September to 15 October 2007. The conference works as a combination of scholarly papers and workshops with the actual manuscripts which are open to a wider audience of interested participants from the neighbouring convents and towns. A publication of the papers presented is intended.
Organisation
The conference ends with an excursion on Friday, 5 October. Papers and workshops are planned for Thursday. A special viewing of the exhition will be arranged. Exposés (max. 3000 characters) are accepted before the 15 May 2007. Please send them electronically to both Henrike Lähnemann and Hans-Walter Stork.