The Scribes For Women's Convents in Late Medieval Germany by Cynthia J. Cyrus

Author:Cynthia J. Cyrus [Cyrus, Cynthia J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: LIT007000
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2009-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

Bragging Rights: Scribes as Experts

It is possible and even likely that scribes who copied manuscripts for convent usage also copied for the internal rewards, those of intellectual achievement and of artistic and creative opportunities inherent in the creation of manuscript books. The categories of motivation are not mutually exclusive, of course; the scribe who is told to copy is not necessarily an unwilling scribe, and even the most unwilling scribe stands to gain some benefit in terms of status or accomplishment from undertaking the work. And indeed, unless the human psyche has undergone a radical transformation, many of these medieval workers must have gotten pleasure out of their work. But there are among these medieval scribes some whose motivation apparently also stemmed at least in part from bragging rights – from being able to tell others of the accomplishments they had personally achieved. The scribes under consideration here, after all, had some reason for putting down their name as having been associated with the manuscript; this places them at odds with the standard practice for their peers. Memorializing one’s copying activity through a scribal colophon is a request for recognition.

By giving one’s name, one is at the very least providing the reader with an opportunity to consider the identity of the person who crafted the book. The naming of self as scribe then is or can be perceived inherently as a touch of braggadocio. Given that scribes sign only one out of every five books, there must have been some use for self-identification when it did occur. The hope for a bit of personal glory might have tempted individuals then just as it does now. Was the medieval scribe, then, anticipating Andy Warhol’s allotted fifteen minutes of fame? The scribe who signed a manuscript did, after all, receive some kind of personal recognition for the work that she or he had done. And, of course, scribes were justifiably proud of the hard work they had contributed and conscious of the recognition that accrued to the work they had undertaken. The men and women who make explicit claims for their contributions then seem to have some desire for public recognition. Scribes might brag too of their own unique characteristics, as does the left-handed nun who describes herself in the colophon: ‘Amen, amen. Margaretha von Schonbergk has written this with her left hand; pray for the good of dear Sister Julian and please also pray to God for me. Amen.’58 We know not only of her own identity but also for whom she crafted the book. But this glimpse into personal identity is also another way of making the person behind the book memorable to the reader. We remember these women all the better for the details that they provide. The scribe who signs her or his name, then, along with the one who provides other personal identifiers achieves a certain level of fame that would continue from the time of copying through all the generations of readers who might come to examine the book for which she was responsible.

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