RICERCA ITALIANA     

DIGITAL PHILOLOGY: EDITIONS OF MEDIEVAL LATIN TEXTS

Università degli Studi di Siena

Abstract

This project is based on the experience of electronic editions of medieval texts enstablished in the years 2002-2003 with the first volume/cd-rom of the "Corpus of Latin rhythmical poetry", the production of the "philological" software DBR (Data-Base of Rhythms) and the editions of the first Norman historiographies: the research group plans now the publication of the volumes/cd-rom 2nd and 3rd, dedicated to the rhythmical inscriptions and to the musical poetry on the computus, and the preparation of the 4th (rhythmical hymns); the editon of further texts of the Norman courts in South-Italy; the inclusion of "artes dictandi" from XIII century and of pre-humanistic texts such as the "Zibaldone laurenziano" of Boccaccio. The results of the questions risen and the analisys of the different tecnichal and philological processes activated for the digital editions of such texts will be compared in a final seminar about the methods of digital philology of medieval texts, in dialogue between the scientific disciplines concerning the medieval texts and the developments of the computing humanities. <<<

Principal Investigator

Francesco Vincenzo STELLA Università degli Studi di SIENA

Research Objectives

Aim of the research program is the achievement of a series of critical editions
of medieval Latin texts to be made on digital supports and by methods
connected to the computer technology. The project is based upon the
experience of the "Corpus of Latin rhythmical poetry", started in 1998 and
gone in 2004 as far as to publish 50 contributes in 2 volumes and to elaborate
a specific software in data.-base form (DBR, Data-Base of Rhythms), which
allows the publication of medieval texts and musics and of the reproductions of
all the manuscripts with a store of metrical, musical, linguistical and
paleographical informations which no printed edition would be capable to hold
and display. Thank to this software the digital edition of the first volume/cd-
rom, dedicated to rhythmical not-liturgical poetry, is forthcoming. For the
years 2004-2005 the units of Siena-Arezzo and Roma "la Sapienza" and their
collaborators abroad have planned the publication of the volumes 2nd and 3rd
(musicated rhythms on religious and astronomical computus and epigraphical
rhytms) and the preparation of the 4th (rhythmical hymns with music).
By the same way the second group of research units (Naples "Federico II" and
Naples "Suor Orsola Benincasa") began in 2002-2003 the digital edition of
texts on Norman history and aims to edit in the following biennium an edition-
essay of Eugenius of Palermo and of the treatise of Guillelmus Falconarius, and
an edition of the "Gesta Tancredi" of Raoul of Caen, by digital synopsis with
other histories of the crusades. The unit of Roma II works to an electronic
edition of the "Zibaldone laurenziano" of Giovanni Boccaccio: a forecast of this
sub-project is available in the internet site
http://rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it/boccaccio.
These are different typologies of digital edition (data-base; synoptical;
hypertextual) which allow to experiment and explore a large range of
philological and technical solutions. It will be possible to reach in every case
textual objectives and critical apparatus larger than those which could be
reached by the traditional techniques of the printed editions. A final seminar
will compare the results of the different editions in order to gain guidelines and
attitudes useful, as far as one can wish, for the necessary development of the
computer softwares and procedures for the philology of the medieval texts. <<<

First Results

First stage:
purchasing of the required materials (books, cd-roms, eletronic equipment, reproductions of manuscripts) and organization of the meeting of the research group.Second stage;
preparatory studies both as articles and in volumes; demo-version of the electronic editions; definitive editions,both in volumes and on digital supports, of the musical-poetical, historic and literary texts announced by the project description. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

COMPUTING PHILOLOGY
The debate on the use of the computer in humanistic disciplines remounts
already to the '70s and to the creation, in the '80s, of specialized journals such
as "Computing and Humanities", or "Calcolatori e Scienze Umane", and, in the
medievistic field, "Le médiéviste et l'ordinateur". Great part of this debate dealt
with systems or tools which today are by large overcome.
The studies of digital philology, in a sense still now topical, remount to the first
'90s, with the article of C.B. Faulhaber, Textual Criticism in 21st Century, e F.
Marcos Marin, Computers and text editing, in "Romance Philology" 1991, and,
in Italy, among other enterprises, the paper, then published in the
proceedings, of the conferences organized in Rome (University La Sapienza) by
Tito Orlandi, in Florence (Franceschini Foundation) by Claudio Leonardi and M.
Morelli of the IBM Foundation, in Verona (University) by Antonio De Prisco. A
specific European program has been dedicated to the history and metholodogy
of this field (AcoHum, AcoHum, Computing in humanities education: an
European perspective, 1999: results to be consulted at
www.hd.uib.no/AcoHum/ts). The use of electronic tools implies a radical
transformation in the conception of critical edition: this is no longer restricted -
as in the print publications - to the reconstruction of a conjectural original text
with the indication, in the apparatus, of the variants witnessed in the
manuscript tradition, and if possible of the references to parallel texts. The
digital edition can present, in the same support, all the testimonies historically
trasmitted. On the one hand it allows possible checks on the historic
realizations of the texts: not only on the transcriptions, but also on the
reproductions of the manuscripts; on the other hand this procedure enables -
through the hypertextual links - en edition which refers to all possible
informations: not only parallel passages, sources and imitations, but also
historical contextualizations, linguistical analysis, commentaries of any type
and shape, which in electronic environment are eaast to put in and to link. The
digital edition introduces innovations even in the procedures of exploitation of
the philological work, by enabling the far consultation for a greater number of
users and modalities of up dating the materials which don't require new
reprints but only donw-load from te net, you can repeate as often you want.
More than the book, therefore, the digital edition is a tool which allow either a
closer approach to the original condition of the transmission and performance
of ancient and medieval texts (with the presence of multiple versions and
rewritings, but also of a visual and musical dimension) and a larger fidelity and
timeliness in following the pace of the scientific advancements. Today the
debate about this is veri lively, nourished also by discussion lists such as CliP
(Computer, Literature and Philology), which organizes biennal conferences,
and for the medieval studies "Reti Medievali", coordinated by the historian
Andrea Zorzi.
Specific literature about this question is presented in the volumes by Lana
(1994), Perilli (1997), R. Mordenti (2001) and D. Fiormonte (2003): the last
offers the most recent state of the art in this matter and an excellent outline of
the previous experiences, althoug without taking account of the medieval
studies. Just for the medieval studies a status quaestionis by F. Stella is
forthcoming in the proceedings of the "Workshop on Medieval Poetry and
Digital Resources" (Burgos 2003), to which you can add the proceedings of the
confeences edited in 1998 by L. Leonardi (see Bibliography), and the titles of
Ansani, Uhde, Zorzi and others on the applications to the editions of
documents and archives charters, and the contribute by Stella, Desideri and
Guerra in the proceedings of the euroconferences for the digital edition of the
poeic and musical texts of the "Corpus of Latin Rhythms".
RHYTHMICAL POETRY
Just these proceedings ("Poetry in early medieval Europe", ed. by F. Stella,
2001), which represent one of the results of a foregoing project co-financed by
the Ministero in the previous years, presents the more updated state of the art
on the Latin rhythms, i.e. on the non-quantitative Latin poetry whose
publication, printed and on CD-ROM, with reproduction of the manuscripts and
transcriptions and records of the musics, is one of the aims of this project.
After the pionier works of Wilhelm Meyer, Dag Norberg and Dieter Schaller
(see Bibliograpy) and the partial edition of Karl Strecker (1896), many
rhythmical texts are still to publish for the first time or to re-edit on the basis
of the newly discovered manuscripts: among the about 700 texts which make
up the "Corpus", written between IV and IX century in the Europe of Roman-
Barbarian kingdoms and of the first carolingian empire, those published by
Strecker, Dümmler and Traube in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica are
about 200, whereas many others are published in the hymns collections
("Analecta Hymnica"), in catalogs, journals and other disparate publications. A
complete edition of texts and musics has never be accomplished, neither an
analytical conmparison between metrical and musical structure; in the same
way a complete edition of all the rhythmical poems between the origins of this
versification system (Augustine) and its carolingian regularization (Gotescalco
Sassone) has never been achieved. The publication of this material by means
of a digital edition - that is with the possibility to consult the transcriptions of
all witnesses and simultaneous analysis of its by a search engine- could give a
decisive contribution to the research about still open questions such as the
dynamics of the transition from the Latin to the Romance vernaculars (whose
these texts could represent a document of "popular" range close to the
orality), and from the metrical to the rhythmical versification, which will remain
distinctive of the modern European poetry. The first volume of this edition,
announced for the end of 2002, will constitute the first point of the projects
here proposed as application of the electronic techniques to the medieval Latin
texts, which involves both textual and musical philology.
NORMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
The ecdotic status of historiographical and documentary works of the Middle Ages in South Italy is still not satisfactory. In the Norman-Swabian period we have a low diffused literary production. Most of the manuscripts aren't contemporary with the works; we can date them to the Modern Age, especially those of the Norman period. It's absolutely not understandable why works realized under princely desire had no "impression", and no "official" copy reached us (except for Pietro da Eboli).
This specific study is about the edition, translation and annotation of two very important works of South Italy between XII and XIII century:
1. The poetic work by Eugenio di Palermo.
2. Treatises on falconry of the Norman area: "Dancus rex" and "Guilielmus Falconarius".
Eugenius of Palermo is one of the most important persons of the political-military history, but literary and cultural too, in the late Norman period Sicily. Greek of origin, he covered important roles under William II (1166-1189) and Tancred (1190-1194). He was deported in Germany for a conspiracy against Henry VI and Costanza d'Altavilla organized by Sibilla di Acerra, widow of Tancred, and by Niccolò d'Aiello, archbishop of Salerno. Eugenius is also an important greek poet: he surely wrote 24 iambic poems on various subjects (hagiography, devotion, description of plants, hymns, panegyrics, etc.).
The only relevant studies about his works are: the historical study by Evelyn Jamison in 1957, and the edition of the poems by Marcello Gigante in 1964 (from the Codex Unicus, Firenze, Bibl. Medico-Laurentiana plut. V 10). While the study by E. Jamison doesn't obviously know the edition of the poems, the work by M. Gigante ignores every question about Eugenio as an historical person. This research wants to realize an unitary organic study, bringing up to date the knowledges in a exact and modern way, both from the point of view of the content and of the methodology.

There are at least five centuries between the most ancient testimonies of the hunting with birds in Europe (V century) and the first treatises on falconry in our possession. The most ancient one is a prescription-book of the middle of the X century, published in 1984 by Berhard Bishoff (Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, ms. 144): "Anonimo da Vercelli". Not published is still Grimaldus, Liber accipitrum, kept in a probably Carolingian manuscript of the XI century, now at Poitiers (B. Mun. 184).
But the most important production on the hunting with birds is that of the Norman-Swabian period. They are eight treatises, often very short; five of them are prescription-books. The only one with a complex structure is the De avibus tractatus by Adelardo di Bath. This work is dated 1130 and it's written as a brief dialog between the Author and a nephew who proposes him to discuss about birds of prey while they have a rest.
To the Norman area belongs also another very short work, realized in the continental Europe, of which we have no critical edition: the Epistola Aquile, Symachi et Theodotionis ad Ptolomeum; written as letters among three wise men about the care of birds.
Also the treatise known as Dancus rex is characterized by a narrative beginning. The work was written in the middle of the XII century in the Norman Court of Sicily and is composed by 32 very short chapters. It was largely diffused: we have 16 latin manuscripts and other versions in six languages.
In this research project we will consider the work known as Guilelmus Falconarius, transcribed after the Dancus rex in the majority of the manuscripts we have. This is a short work too, containing, in the end, some chapters on a genealogy of hawks. The introduction says that Guilielmus is falconer in the Court of the son of Roger II, William I (1154-1166). We know eleven manuscript of this work.
The finding of a new manuscript and the necessity of a new comment to the text request an updated and modern scientific study on the Guilielmus Falconarius.
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE CRUSADES
Ecdotical status of Latin sources about Crusades is not good. If there exists many historical, social, political, military, religiuos, studies about Crusades, texts in themselves are not so studied and publicated. Overall, studies about style and language are very rare. Many of these texts are still published in the important volumes of "Recueils des historiens des croisades, Historiens occidentaux", published at the end of the 19th century. But these volumes are today absolutely dated, and it becames urgent to prepare new editions, with new critical apparatus, new historical, chronological, prosopographical and toponomastical commentary. The volumes, moreover, have not historical notes. Only few chronicles about the first Crusade have been published again (the "Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum", the works of Peter Tudebodus, Ordericus Vitalis, Guibert of Nogent and William of Tyre).
The only edition attested forRaoul of Caen's "Gesta Tancredi" is still that of the "Recueil". The text is conserved in one only manuscript (Bruxelles, B.R., 5373), today absolutely deteriored in many passages. So, a new edition, with textual and historical notes could be very useful for scholars who work about I Crusade. Moreover, for Raoul's text, also secondary literature is very rare. No specific study about style, language and metrics of the text.
BOCCACCIO
Since Boccaccio's Conference on Zibaldoni (Florence 1996), a new interest was expressed about the Boccaccio's earlier autograph manuscripts. After Zamponi's Studies and others on this manuscript, and after was concluded Branca's complete edition of Tutte le opere, its necessary and truly important to publish the manuscripts of them Boccaccio was not the author but a creative copist. <<<