Ex scriptore: Update

The editors of Ex scriptore are grateful to Taylor Editions for permitting Ex scriptore to share their platform. We are particularly thankful to Emma Huber and Jens Müller for making this possible.

Ex scriptore was created in 2017 by three scholars based at the University of Oxford: Dr. Anne Mouron, Dr. Matthew Mills, and Dr. Edmund Wareham, working in, respectively, Middle English and Middle French literature; medieval theology; and medieval German and Dutch literature. Matthew Mills and Edmund Wareham have now moved on to pastures new, and we want here to express our thanks to them for their involvement in the project’s earlier years.

Fortunately, two new scholars have now joined Ex scriptore. Dr. Amy Ebrey (medieval history and theology, Oxford) and Dr. Raphaela Rohrhofer (medieval religious literature and art history in the British Isles, continental Europe, and the global Middle Ages; Oxford and St. Andrews) have taken up the baton to ensure the continuation and further development of Ex scriptore.

In 1865, an article on The Early English Text Society in The Times of London called for a national effort to make medieval manuscripts more widely available. In recent years, much has been achieved as digitisation projects at research facilities across the world have brought to light many hidden treasures from libraries’ archives.

In reality, though, few people have the necessary institutional support or the skills to access original manuscripts, and whilst many scholars transcribe texts for their own work, they do not always have the time or inclination to produce critical editions. Although artificial intelligence may provide a useful portal into medieval manuscripts, it cannot replace transcriptions made by scholars in the field.

The purpose of Ex scriptore is to offer a platform for sharing transcriptions of medieval and early modern religious texts, for the benefit of the scholarly community and the general public. These will provide a valuable resource for research, a staging post in the creation of critical editions, and – hopefully – an entry point into the rich and varied world of pre-modern religious literature through which to inspire a new generation of scholars.

These texts exist in many languages, and therefore it is appropriate to host them on the Taylor Editions website, which makes digitised texts relating to languages and cultures available for reuse. However, although we may include digitalisations from the Taylor Institution’s early collections, the bulk of our editions will be from other institutions in the United Kingdom and beyond.

Editorial Committee

Dr Anne Mouron, Middle English and Middle French, anne.mouron@regents.ox.ac.uk

Dr Raphaela Rohrhofer, Middle High German, Middle Dutch, and medieval Italian, raphaela.rohrhofer@ell.ox.ac.uk/rsr8@st-andrews.ac.uk

Dr Amy Ebrey, Medieval Latin, amy.ebrey@queens.ox.ac.uk

Mrs Emma Huber, project coordinator and webmaster, emma.huber@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Digital Editions and Transcriptions

• Einsin comme la beste sauvaige est enclose entre les roiseus. France, 14th century.
• Bonne doctrine pour devotes fames. 1406.
• Didactic material in a Carthusian Manuscript. England, ca. 14th-15th century.
• Le chappellet d'amour divine. France, Monastery of the Celestines of Metz, 15th century.
• Le jardin esperituel pour religieux et religieusez fort devot. 15th century.
• C’on doit faire lai jornee. France, 14th century.
• Ung petit traitté des louenges de vierge Marie et de son precieux nom. 15th century.
• C’est ung petit traictté du nom de Jesus tres proffitable. 15th century.
• A notable and profitable tretis techyng unto divers statis of man the governance and ledyng of his lijf . England, 1425-1450
• Une orison belle et devote, lequelle le royne Jehanne avoit par especiale. France, 14th century.
• Prose treatise on the mass. Early 14th century.
• Les sept épis trouvés dans la Passion de Jésus-Christ. France, 15th century.
• A sermon on Images. England, Middle of 16th century.
• Finet, Nicolas, Le dyalogue de la duchesse de Bourgongne a Jhesu Crist. 15th century, between 1468 and 1477.
• Frere Françoys Le Roy (religious of Fontevraud), Le Cueur devot de saincte Mechtilde, religieuse vierge de Germanie. France, first quarter of 16th century.