On Friday, October 27, I’ll be giving a public talk: “Spilled Ink, Feuding Monks, and the Field Where Big Steve Died: The Making of a Medieval Book.”
I’ll speak about the origins of the project that gave rise to my and Heather Wacha’s recently published edition of the cartulary of Prémontré, our research process, what the materiality of a medieval manuscript can tell us about the past—and, yes, what we know about Big Steve.
The thirteenth-century cartulary of the abbey of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Prémontré is one of the few manuscripts to survive from this important northern French monastery. Offering a window into daily life in the Middle Ages and to contemporary documentary practices, the cartulary of Prémontré is a rich source for the socio-economic and religious history of the Picardy and Champagne regions during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The talk is free and open to the public. Join us at 12:30p.m. on October 27 in Welles Hall, Room 26, at SUNY Geneseo.