Paleography (the Greek "old" and "write") is the study of scriptures handwritten old, regardless of the language ( Greek , classical Latin , medieval Latin , Old French , French classical , etc.).

Epistemology

Palaeography has close links with disciplines such as philology , the codicology or diplomatic and is considered one of the auxiliary sciences of history.

Palaeography has three objects:

• it aims to reading and editing of texts. Three main difficulties exist that prevent effective reading old documents: firstly, the spelling of the same writing evolves over time. The Latin alphabet are several successive forms, such as Carolingian minuscule and the Gothic script. Paleography thus serves to know the morphology of the letters and know how to decipher the characters are the texts of these manuscripts. Some periods are marked by the use of very many ligatures between letters: the ampersand , for example, is one of the few ligatures, or link between the letters, which remain the Merovingian writing; cursive Greek ligatures are also many ancient manuscripts that make reading difficult for those who know only the Greek alphabet printed in block letters. Another difficulty is represented by the many abbreviations that have been used, especially in the Latin script. The paleographer must know the abbreviations common. The tilde , now used in Spanish , was originally a sign marking the abbreviation, especially the removal of nasal consonants. Palaeography can transcribe the document that is to say, to produce a modern copy restoring abbreviations: this work is particularly important for texts in Latin as the abbreviations are frequently on the final gold of declination of Latin word is distinctive for the use of different end. In this, paleography is both a science officer of the diplomatic than the philology.
• Palaeography is also the study of written evidence, to reconstruct the evolution of writing in time and learn the causes and developments. The French school of paleography, including John Mallon has showcased the role of ductus (order and direction of the route of each part of the letter) in the evolution of writing. Palaeography and also allows us to date tracks and written evidence and to locate the geographical origin. The classification of ancient writings in the Latin alphabet has been especially developed by the Dutch school. The method of this science is essentially an analysis of the shapes of letters or analysis of typical abbreviations. Paleography does not replace the study of media, including paper with watermarks are invaluable for dating, but support and writing are not always contemporaries of one another.
• Paleography also aims to study the production systems of writing in a cultural and social context. This tradition of study is particularly active in the fields of Italy and Germany (through the study of Schriftlichkeit).

History of the discipline

The history of the Latin script is systematically studied since the ^17th century. Maurists monk Jean Mabillon (1632-1707) established a history of writing in his treatise on diplomatic "De Re Diplomatica Libri VI" and gave names to different scripts, several of which are still in use today.

Since the early ^20th century, research in paleography is principally engaged in the study of schools of writing. Bernhard Bischoff (1906-1991), a specialist in Carolingian scripts, is famous for his photographic memory and his vast knowledge but a methodological point of view, it has mostly continued the work of his teacher Ludwig Traube , with an aim attributionniste.

Analysis of late-medieval writings has been especially honored by the classification system Lieftinck Gerard Isaac , who was widely criticized, and extended and improved by Johann Peter Gumbert and Albert Derolez. For writing Latin, especially French, the great successor of Mabillon are Champollion-Figeac , Professor of Paleography at the School of Charters and founder of the collection of facsimiles, Natalis Wailly (1805-1886), whose elements of palaeography published in 1832 were the basis of the teaching of paleography at the School of Charters , Leopold Delisle (1826-1910), Maurice Prou (1861-1930), Alain de Board (1882-1955), Charles Samaran (1879-1982), Jean Vzina (1933 -), Robert Marichal (1904-1999), Emmanuel Poulle (1928 -).

Palaeography is divided into several branches according to the alphabet used: Latin paleography (in Latin, but also French, German, English etc..) Greek paleography , palaeography Arabic , Hebrew paleography etc.. Science forms of music notation in history is known of musical paleography.

It must be distinguished from the epigraphy , the study of inscriptions, which often reduces to the study of the oldest inscriptions, but is also applied to the Middle Ages. The Papyrology -daughter is a discipline of paleography, which is distinguished by the media ( papyrus cons codex manuscripts), more fragile and often less well preserved and less readable.

See also

External Links

• Theleme The site of the School of Charters offers excellent tools for transcription, records, and a bibliography including references in this field.
• Minstrel , critical directory of links, offers a detailed section on resources and broader Paleographs facsimiles of ancient manuscripts available online.
• Census courses and exercises Latin paleography and French online

Internal Links

• diplomatic ;
• Glossary of diplomatic and paleography
• critical apparatus (and Obele , brackets , rafters , asterisk , DOT );
• ecdotic ;
• philology ;
• codicology , codices , papyrus ;
• writing (and history of the Greek alphabet , history of the Latin alphabet );
• Epigraphy , Papyrology ;
• Lectio difficilior potior ;
• paleographer ;
• paleographer archivist ;
• Transcription (paleography)

• Portal of writing
• Portal History

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