Upcoming workshopFacing New Materials

12 January 2024

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

On 25 and 26 January, a CSMC/UWA workshop on ‘Changes of Writing Substances, Implements and Supports in Manuscript Cultures’ explores the ways in which the adoption of new writing materials has repercussions on whole manuscript cultures.

In 1231, Frederick II of Sicily decided to intervene. From his court in Palermo, the Holy Roman Emperor banned the use of paper for notarial documents. He was convinced that this writing support, which had become increasingly widespread in Europe since the early Middle Ages, was not durable enough for important manuscripts. He ordered that parchment or vellum had to be used for them. In his chanceries, only drafts and minutes were allowed to be written on the supposedly inferior paper.

In the long term, Frederick’s order did not stop the transition from parchment to paper in Europe. There and elsewhere, such changes in writing materials, such as writing supports, implements, and substances, had far-reaching implications for the development of entire manuscript cultures. Script, writing habits, and even the entire ‘production chain’ were affected by the disappearance of old and the emergence of new writing materials.

A workshop on ‘Facing New Materials: Changes of Writing Substances, Implements and Supports in Manuscript Cultures’, which will take place on 25 and 26 January at CSMC/UWA, takes a detailed look at the challenges and opportunities that arise when new writing materials are adopted. In particular, the workshop addresses the reasons and modes behind these changes. They were motivated, for example, by economic considerations such as cheaper production costs, but sometimes also by factors such as weight or durability. In other cases, innovation was sparked when formerly used materials became unavailable or access to means of production became restricted. Other changes were either imposed or hindered by authorities – Frederick’s aversion to paper is just one example of this.

‘Facing New Materials’ brings together the research questions at the heart of two research fields at CSMC/UWA: ‘Selecting Materials’, which investigates the factors influencing the choice of writing materials, and ‘Facing New Technologies’, which explores why some manuscript cultures commit the functions of manuscripts to other media and why others withstand and adapt to new technologies and social change. Organised by Claudia Colini and Michael Kohs, it is a follow-up to the 2022 workshop on ‘The Persistence of Manuscript Cultures in Modern Times’ that dealt with phenomena of change and retention with respect to visual organisation, materiality, and written artefacts’ contents in general.

The full programme of the workshop, as well as information on how to register, is available on the event’s website. It will take place in hybrid format, and everyone is welcome to attend either in-person or online.