Codicology [LHISB311]

Learning outcomes

- To develop critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills. - To develop specialist knowledge in areas of the historical discipline and to understand the issues of the discipline. - To acquire the techniques of analysis and interpretation of historical sources, as well as a reflective and critical awareness in the practice of the historical approach. - To learn how to carry out a research question in history and to master the tools and working methods specific to the discipline. - Acquire a strong capacity for information analysis, synthesis and writing.

Objectives

At the end of this course, the student should be able to assess a medieval manuscript, considering it as an archaeological piece (analysis of the material aspects of the codex), as a vehicle of culture (identification of the text(s) it contains) and as the product of a specific socio-cultural context (history of the manuscript and the people who used it).

Content

In its first part, the course presents, on the basis of concrete examples, the approach to the analysis of a manuscript and the working tools available in this field. Each student is then invited to put the theoretical information into practice by describing a manuscript currently held in a Belgian library.