Denis Nosnitsin, Churches and Monasteries of Təgray: A Survey of Manuscript Collections, (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013), [Book Review] (original) (raw)
Related papers
Denis Nosnitsin "Churches and Monasteries of Tegray. A Survey of Manuscript Collections"
Churches and Monasteries of Tegray. A Survey of Manuscript Collections, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2013 (Aethiopica Supplement 1), 2013
Ethiopia is the home to an ancient Christian tradition that started with the introduction of Christianity in the 4th century AD. Today, many hundreds Ethiopian churches and monasteries still preserve numerous manuscripts, witnesses of the country’s rich literary tradition. Written mostly in Ge‘ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, these unique documents are of great value as both part of the world cultural heritage and material for diverse scholarly studies. Since 2009, Denis Nosnitsin has been the Principal Investigator of the project Ethio-SPaRe: Cultural Heritage of Christian Ethiopia, Salvation, Preservation and Research, supported by a grant from the European Research Council (7th Research Framework Programme IDEAS). This volume, which opens a new academic series in the field of Ethiopian studies, is the result of extensive field research Denis Nosnitsin carried out in the years 2010–2012 in the Tegray region, in northern Ethiopia. Its seven chapters contain preliminary descriptions of eighty four ecclesiastic sites and their collections, many of them never studied before. The volume is richly illustrated with images of churches and manuscripts and is supplied with a detailed index.
A Catalogue of Some Manuscripts in Ankobarr Madijanecalam Church Museum
wondwosen Admasu MA Thesis, 2011
Ethiopia is a home of enormous ancient written cultures. It is also a residence of southern Semitic written accounts. GéŸéz scripts are the most dominant heritage of the country. Usually they are preserved by Ethiopian Orthodox Churches especially in each church yard commonly known as [ýéqabet]. Even if they are more of religious they contain many secular aspects which are useful for researchers. The collection of Ankobärr Mädòane ŸAläm Church is the selected site for this study because it was one of the five churches established by the Shoan Kings in their capital during the Medieval Period. There are three kinds of scripts such as codices, scrolls and epigraphic in the collection. From the group of codices sixty nine vellum manuscripts are taken as the total population of this study and fifteen of them are as a subject of it. The study employed on focused group discussion and document analysis as primary data sources. It was for the purpose of achieving historical references about the selected collections of this study. It also engaged secondary tools such as cataloguing works of other scholars in the same locality. After gathering data the work of catalogue has conducted with the analysis of colophons. Based on this chapter one is an introduction, chapter two the body and chapter three summaries, conclusion and recommendation. Based on the obtained major findings essential suggestions were forwarded to ameliorate the observed drawback by the researcher
2024
Join us on Wednesday, 3 july for our four panels on Monastic Libraries & Book Collections in times of Crisis! at @IMC_L2024! Description These sessions focus on religious communities’ responses to crises in relation to monastic libraries and book collections. We aim to investigate what happened to medieval convent libraries and book collections in times of peril during the Middle Ages, but also the early modern period and up until our time. Session I examine in what way religious communities and some specific religious leaders responded to crises by stimulating desire for knowledge preservation and systematization. Through the analysis of eight donation lists, Benjamin Bertrand examines the role of abbots or bishops in the Anglo-Norman world in the 11th and 12th centuries in reforming their libraries to respond to a changing cultural atmosphere. René Hernández explores the role of library catalogues as a form of securing the agency of readers within medieval book collections. This talk will compare the catalogues of the Franciscan libraries of Assisi (1381), Padua (1396, 1449) and the Libro de los epítomes of Hernando Colón (c. 1539). Finally, Giovanni Verri will discuss the literary works that may have been kept in the Augustinian canonry of Helgafel in Iceland, through an analysis of the church registers (máldagar) and other documents. Session II discusses the acquisition, commission, production, and use of devotional, liturgical and theological books in response to the challenges and crises faced by religious communities. Some of the papers gathered adopt explicitly gendered approaches to crisis in religious communities and consider the continuities and disruptions in production of manuscripts, re-use, and function of books within these communities. Katie Bugyis analyses the motivation behind the acquisition and commission of liturgical, devotional and theological texts by Sibyl de Fenton, abbess of Barking abbey (r. 1393-1419) in times of political, economic, and religious turmoil. This paper considers Sybil’s need to respond to questions of her sacramental authority, particularly to address new and pressing questions about the sacrament of penance. Minela Fulurija Vučić will explore the production of manuscripts in vernacular for convents in Dubrovnik from the 14th to the 18th century, and the liturgical and devotional practices of these nuns through these sources. Finally, Katharine C. Chandler will analyse the creation, use, and afterlife of two precious liturgical sources (MS Lewis E 8 and Morgan MS M.115) part of a set of manuscript graduals copied for the Chartreuse de Champmol around 1470, as witness to the changing textual process of liturgical invention through the late Middle Ages and the early modern era. Session III discusses how at certain times, crises' effects were incremental in book collections of various religious institutions, with the reception of texts that were adapted to new contexts. Phillis will discuss the circulation and copy of the Lamentum Lacrymabile (c. 1150-c. 1153), written in response to the Second Crusade, in relation to changing perceptions of crises in 12th century Flemish religious communities. Brianna Cano analyses the dissemination and use among New Spain nuns of the translation of the Legenda Maior of Catherine of Siena commissioned by Cisneros and the impact of this text on both the visual culture of the convent and the liturgical performance in these communities. Victoria Legkikk explores the circulation of liturgical traditions and the networks between monastic libraries of Rus, Bulgaria and Serbia. Finally, Zhang Fu discusses the publication and circulation of the Jingshan zang 徑山藏, a special version of the whole Buddhist canon, the Tripiṭaka, as a response to social crisis and religious eschatology. Session IV explores how at certain times, these changes were detrimental, and the original context of collections was lost. Papers in this part look at a the Nachleben of medieval and early modern manuscripts, their dispersion and loss in times of peril, their re-assembly and their reinterpretation in their new locations. Katrin Janz Wenig discusses the Zacharias Konrad of Uffenbach’s manuscript collection at the State Library in Hamburg, and the role of this important collector in saving important manuscripts and fragments from late medieval Rhenish monasteries. Anna Michlalchuck (National School of Charters) analyses how the manuscripts and the archives collected by the Maurists were able to «survive» the «difficult» times of the French revolution. Finally, Suzan Folkers studies the processes of safekeeping and exchange of the book collections from the houses of the Sisters of the common life at Deventer and the monastery of canonesses regular of Diepenveen, during the occupation of these towns by Spanish soldiers and the Dutch Revolt (c. 1560-1600). She will also look at how the sisters' books made it into the town's library.
Located in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is one of the most ancient civilisations in the world, a place where traditional culture, firmly fixed in the past, is continually challenged by the customs of the modern world. One of the treasures of this country is its manuscript culture, inseparably tied to the Christian tradition. There are thousands of churches in Ethiopia, and stored in nearly every one are parchment manuscripts which contain ancient and sometimes unknown religious texts. This rich cultural heritage is particularly vulnerable to damage, loss and destruction, and requires a variety of approaches for its preservation.