Through systematic studies of the short texts, the project "Minuscule Texts: Marginalized Voices in Early Medieval Latin Culture c. 700–c. 1000" (MINiTEXTS) will contribute to a re-appraisal of early medieval heterogeneous culture.
Minuscule Texts
The short textual additions, hereafter called minuscule texts, from the early Middle Ages, are often referred to as “microtexts,” “guest texts,” or "additions" by Manuscript scholars. The texts range from a page or two to a short note reminiscent of a modern tweet.
Unlike such manuscripts' main texts, minuscule texts are seldom characterized by identifiable authors or easily traceable histories of textual transmission. As a result, such texts tended to either be neglected or compartmentalized within highly specialized disciplines.
About the project
This project examines minuscule texts across commonly accepted disciplinary boundaries, as a unique corpus of practical knowledge deeply embedded in the social praxis of early medieval society.
MINiTEXTS aspires to understand the “social logic” of such texts as well as the social, religious, and cultural practices that they signify.
Goal
The project analyze historical, textual, codicological, and performative contexts of individual minuscule texts and puts the resulting microhistories within a longue durée perspective.
The aim is to contribute to a re-appraisal of early medieval heterogeneous culture and to the current academic debates over several intertwined issues of medieval cultural history.
Sub-projects
MINiTEXTS consists of five sub-projects:
- Manuscript Studies & Database
- Practical Knowledge & Social Practices
- The Christian Norm & Liturgical Practices
- Christian Rites & Religious Practices
- Cultures of Healing & Medical Practices
Publications
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2026). Minuscule Texts on Weights and Measures in Carolingian Manuscripts. In Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai and David Yoon (eds.), Coins and Money in the Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Alan Stahl. New York: American Numismatic Society. 978-0-89722-440-6, pp. 87–101.
- Baitieri, Michele and Giulio Minniti (2025). Early Beneventan Musical Additions in the Margins. Bibliografia dei manoscritti in scrittura beneventana, 33, pp. 9-22, Open access at https://www.viella.it/libro/9791257011024/toc/7730
- Burridge, Claire, et al. (2025). Early Medieval Medicine: How a New Corpus of Manuscripts Is Transforming the Field. Early Science and Medicine, 30, pp. 640–84, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20251366
- Burridge, Claire (2025). Drugs From Afar: The Introduction and Circulation of “New” Pharmaceutical Knowledge in the Early Medieval Latin West. History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals, 67,1, pp. 51–84, doi: https://doi.org/10.3368/hopp.67.1.51
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2025). Weather Control and Manuscript Margins in the Early Medieval West. In Ine Jacobs, Jaś Elsner and Julia M. H. Smith (eds.), Material Religion in Byzantium and Beyond: Papers from the 54th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies. London: Routledge. ISBN: 9781003490845, pp. 333–52. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003490845-18
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2025). Minuscule Texts and notae in Early Medieval Latin Manuscripts. In Antonella Ghignoli, Lucia C. Colella, and Marta Marucci (eds.), Written Culture in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Signs – Texts – Data. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. ISBN 9788893599269, pp. 139–53. doi: https://doi.org/10.57601/TT_250
- Burridge, Claire (2025). Early Medieval Recipe Collections: Continuity, Change and the Carolingian Context. In Debby Banham, Claire Burridge and Lea Olson (eds.), Early Medieval Medicine in Contexts: Transmission, Translation and Transformation. York University Press. ISBN 978-1-914049-31-6, pp. 73–114.
- Garipzanov, Ildar & Nothaft, Carl Phillip Emanuel (2025). An Overlooked Early Reduction of the Translatio of St. Bartholomew to Benevento, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Sources, series 4, volume 1. Arc Humanities Press (Arc). ISSN 9781802703214, pp. 45–61, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781802703542 Open access at muse.jhu.edu
- Hertogh, Tim (2024). The Lorscher Bienensegen is an Amulet: Using Manuscript Margins to Make Amulets. Manuscript and Text Cultures, 3.1, pp. 160–74. doi: https://doi.org/10.56004/v3.1th
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2024). Early Medieval Minuscule Texts as a Subject of Study: Tentative Taxonomy, Codicological Contexts, and Related Social Practices. Scrineum, ISSN 1128-5656, 21.2, pp. 13–37, doi: https://doi.org/10.6093/1128-5656/11412.
- Baitieri, Michele (2024). Diplomatic Script and Pen Trials: The Case of Carolingian Lyon. Scrineum, ISSN 1128-5656, 21.2, pp. 201–40, doi: https://doi.org/10.6093/1128-5656/11421.
- Bernhard Hollick (2024). Drama tibi primae depango laudis usyae: A Poetic Voice from the School of St Gall. Scrineum, ISSN 1128-5656, 21.2, pp. 241–71, doi: https://doi.org/10.6093/1128-5656/11422.
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2024). A polyptych in the margins: accounting notes from early tenth-century Laon. Early Medieval Europe. ISSN 0963-9462. 32.4, pp. 518–42. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12727.
- Garipzanov, Ildar (2023). Graphic Ciphers and the Early Medieval Practices of Collectio and Concealment. In O'Sullivan, Sinéad & Arthur, Ciaran (eds.), Crafting Knowledge in the Early Medieval Book: Practices of Collecting and Concealing in the Latin West. Turnhout: Brepols. ISSN 978-2-503-60247-9, pp. 409–38. doi: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.PJML-EB.5.133757.
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