[Sca-librarians] carolingian digital library

FV/Rafaella rafaella13 at yahoo.com
Wed May 16 11:06:32 CDT 2007 

FYI France: a Carolingian digital library

The excellent équipes at the BnF have done it again:
[tr. JK]

	   *Trésors Carolingiens / Carolingian Treasures*

	"The Carolingian book, a political tool put to work
in
	the unification of an empire, was at the heart of a
vast
	intellectual and artistic movement...

	"Charlemagne used religious reform to seal the unity
of
	his empire. Glorified and sanctified, the book became
one
	of the foundations of medieval culture. At the same
time,
	the emperor unified education throughout the empire,
and
	he spread a new form of writing, one more easily
read,
	the Carolingian Miniscule..."

This outstanding online digital library exhibition,
at,

	http://expositions.bnf.fr/carolingiens/index.htm 

-- provides significant portions of famous Carolingian
Era
treasures of the Bibliothèque nationale de France --
Flash
animations presented as readable books, pages of which
may be
"turned" by clicking the page-corners -- and holding
the mouse
over most pages brings up that page's own note, and a
click on a
page center provides good magnification --

** "l'exposition en images" / initial exhibition
section,
providing a stunning overview...

	* "une renaissance" / images, text, explaining the
	entirety of the Carolingian Era and its significance.

		Images: (click for magnification and notes)

		* Portrait monétaire de Charlemagne
		(Denier de Charlemagne, 1er quart du IXe siècle,
		BnF, Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques, monnaie 981)

		* Sacramentaire de Charles le Chauve, Allégorie de
la
		royauté de droit divin
		(École du Palais de Charles le Chauve, vers 869-870,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 1141 fol. 2v)

		* Pseudo-Apulée, Herbier, Esculape découvrant la
bétoine
		(Laon ou Reims (?), milieu du IXe siècle,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 6862 fol. 18v)

		* etc.

	* "les manuscrits enluminés" / specifically the art
and
	the role of the book, in France and elsewhere in
Europe
	of the time.

		Images:

		* Évangiles d'or, dit de Saint-Martin-des-Champs,
		Titre de l'Évangile de Matthieu
		(Allemagne, Aix-la-Chapelle (?), 790,
		BnF, Arsenal, ms. 599 fol. 16)

		* Psautier de Charles le Chauve, copié par Liuthard,
		Encadrement et lettre ornée
		(École du Palais de Charles le Chauve, avant 869,
		reliure d'ivoire et d'orfèvrerie,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 1152 fol. 26v-27)

		* Pentateuque d'Ashburnham ou de Tours, Moïse et
		le peuple d'Israël
		(Espagne, Afrique du Nord, Italie du Nord ou Rome
		(?), fin du VIe-début du VIIe siècle,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Nouv. acq. lat. 2334 fol. 76)

		* Évangiles d'Echternach, Évangile de saint Jean
		et son symbole 	l'aigle
		(Echternach ou Northumbrie, peu avant ou peu après
700,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 9389 fol. 176v-177)

		* Bible de Vivien, dite Première Bible de Charles
		le Chauve, Christ en majesté
		(Saint-Martin de Tours, 845,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 1 fol. 329v)

		* etc.

	* "les empereurs et le livre" / the interplay of
	politics, how the emperors influenced and in turn
were
	influenced by the culture of their books.

		Images:

		* Évangéliaire de Charlemagne, Les évangélistes
		saint Marc et saint Luc
		(École du Palais de Charlemagne, 781-783, ms.
		réalisé par Godescalc,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Nouv. acq. nal.1203 fol. 1v-2)

		* Évangiles de Lothaire, Portrait de Lothaire Ier
		(Saint-Martin de Tours, 849-851,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 266 fol. 1v-2)

		* etc.

	* "des foyers de création" / the many workshops, and
	beautiful examples of their work -- clicking on
images
	magnifies and provides detailed descriptions and
citations.

		Images:

		* Isidore de Séville, Défense de la foi
		catholique, L'auteur présentant son ouvre à sa sour
		(Corbie, vers 800,
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 13396 fol. 1v)

		* Évangiles de Du Fay, Saint Jean et son symbole
l'aigle
		(Saint-Martin de Tours, abbatiat de Vivien
(843-851),
		BnF, Manuscrits, Latin 9385 fol. 137v)

		* etc.


** "livres à feuilleter" / substantial portions of
Carolingian
books, to be read online!

 * BnF Manuscrits Latin 12048
 Sacramentaire de Gellone

	"...created in the diocese of Meaux or that of
Cambrai,
	around 790, and used in the Midi of France, at
Gellone
	in 804... 275 leaves... The sacramentary, assembling
the
	prayers to be said at Mass, enabled the liturgical
	unification of the Frankish empire. As part of his
policy
	of reconciling with Rome, Charlemagne adopted the
	sacramentary of Pope Gregory the Great, in place of
that
	of his father King Pepin..."

 * BnF Manuscrits Latin 8085
 Poésies de Prudence

	"Carolingian copy of an ancient manuscript... the
works
	of Prudentius (348-c.415 AD)... the Psychomachie, an
	allegorical epic of combat between the vices and the
	virtues described as antique heroes.

	"A Christian poet of Late Antiquity, Prudentius
composed
	this poem of 1100 verses in a style imitating that of
the
	Aeneid, thus creating a strong link between Antique
	Literature and that of Christianity... one of the
	favorite authors of the Carolingian Era...

	"...the Psychomachie is illustrated with numerous
images
	integrated into the text. The lively colors,
red-orange,
	yellow, blue, green, retain their original
intensities.
	The page design, the architectural and other spatial
	elements, the silhouettes and clothing and armaments
of
	the figures, are true to their ancient models.
Passing
	into the later era's ideas of decoration, these
figures
	greatly influenced Medieval Art."

 * BnF Manuscrits Latin 9428
 Sacramentaire de Drogon

	"Masterpiece of illumination done at Metz, the
manuscript
	is illustrated with 38 stories of the Life of Christ,
	both liturgical and hagiographical scenes, which are
	unparalleled for its era... The ivories sculpted on
the
	binding reflect the subjects painted in the text. The
	manuscript contains 130 leaves..."


-- and a section of the exhibition presents 29 pages
and reliure
covers, each image in 6 levels of magnification -- so,
Carolingian
carving and filagree and several other arts, all in
close detail --

** "pages à la loupe / magnified pages"


-- and not only are these materials accessible enough
here to
"read", but they also are presented in-context, so
that the
historical period involved really may be appreciated
as well --

** "gros plan / General Plan of the Exhibit"

 * "La renaissance carolingien" / The Carolingian
Renaissance

	* "audiovisuel" / illustrated & excellent narration
	* "une entreprise politique" /
beautifully-illustrated texts
	* "un mouvement culturel" / ditto
	* "généalogie" / all-important, for the era's
complexity...

 * "Le livre carolingien" / The Carolingian Book

	* "audiovisuel"
	* "le parchemin" / parchment
	* "la copie" / the art of the copyist
	* "l'enluminure" / illumination
	* "la reliure" / binding

 * "L'écriture caroline" / Carolingian Writing

	* "audiovisuel"
	* "écritures pré-carolines" / Pre-Carolingian Writing
	* "écritures carolines" / Carolingian Writing
	* "héritage" / gothic, batarde, humanistic, print...

 * "Le décor carlingien" / Carolingian Decor

	* "audiovisuel"
	* "influences antiques" / Ancient Influences
	* "insulaires" / "les moines irlandais et
anglo-saxons"
	* "mérovingiennes" / Bobbio, Luxeuil, Corbie,
Tours...
	* "croisements" / cross-cultural blendings

 * "Lire, écrire, sous Charlemagne" / Living & Writing
in
Charlemagne's Era

	* "audiovisuel"
	* "en images" / A fascinating exhibition-summary,
showing
	where it was done and what it meant, to "read" and
	"write" in the Carolingian Era: the monastic schools,
the
	palace school, textual revision, the role of the
emperor,
	"study centers" at Reims and Lyon, the role of faith
but
	also of liberal arts and medicine -- and the Great
Masters,
	Martianus Capella, Isidore of Seville, Raban Maur.


** "pistes pédagogiques"

	Two well-illustrated handouts for students, 6 pages
each,
	in .pdf format for easy downloading and printing:

	* "Le règne des Carolingiens : l'empire d'Occident
	retrouvé et perdu" / the kings

	* "La Renaissance culturelle carolingienne" / the
culture


** "informations"

	Congratulations to the conservateurs and to all at
the
	BnF who must have worked very hard on all of this...


-- and the "Trésors Carolingiens" site is a
work-in-progress --
they plan to add, "chronologie, glossaire, anthologie,
bibliographie".


A magnificent effort, one eminently successful in
explaining and
illustrating that in European history the Dark Ages
were not so
"dark", after all.


			--oOo--

FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal                   ISSN
1071-5916

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Jack Kessler.
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