General – Digital Palaeography

Presenting eManuSkript at DH2026

Written by Anastasia ZhiLing Dong, PhD candidate at Trier University

With the support of Digital Humanities im dutschsprachigen raum e.V., I was awarded with scholarship and had the privilege this year, as a researcher on the Emanuskript project, of presenting our project Emanuskript at the Digital Humanities conference in Daejeon, South Korea. The annual DH conference is one of the largest in the field, and DH2026 marked the 36th annual conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO).

Mini-Conferences and Networking

This year’s topics ranged from interdisciplinary cooperation such as sinology combined with digitalisation to digital teaching, digital palaeography, narratology and LLM and the application of knowledge graphs to historical data. Many DH enthusiasts are working relentlessly to push the field forward. The conference consisted of two days of mini-conferences prior to the three-day main conference.

During the mini-conferences, I also had the chance to learn about the Impresso project, hosted in Luxembourg, and to gain hands-on experience with the archival data the team not only has collected and digitalized but also convert the data to be searchable in a very systematic archive. Another workshop I had attended on the second day was especially exciting as it was focusing on the knowledge graph and the hands-on experiment. I was paired online with an American librarian, Kaylen Dwyer, and we exchanged ideas about her work on library networks.

Beyond the workshops, the breaks in between sessions were definitely a highlight of the conference, full of interesting conversations. For instance, I met Marcus Pöckelmann, a researcher passionate about medieval culture who hand-crafts many replica objects himself. After attending his presentation, we also discovered that he had used multispectral images from the University of Göttingen in his research in Berlin.

Emanuskript and What People Are Curious About

With the project concluded in April, we were glad to use the conference as an opportunity to promote the toolkit which designed not only to lower the barrier to learning palaeography for the general public, but also to give traditional scholars the right tools to work with increasing amount of the digitized manuscripts.

Kukjin Kim, Assistant Professor at the University of Siena, asked whether our tools could be used to study Italian manuscripts produced in the late medieval period or earlier. Since all our tools are open source, tools such as Fenius ,which require no further modification can be used to document the structure of a codex immediately. Layout recognition for manuscript leaves, however, may need an additional training phase to adapt the tool to the script in question.

Marco Civico , a researcher in language policy and the economics of multilingualism at the Economics, Languages and Education Research Group (ELF) of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (FTI), University of Geneva asked how the toolkit handles cursivity in historical scripts. Our palaeographer, Arianna Pastorini demonstrated her case study which she used data collected through Seshat for her study on quantifying ductus in early modern scripts. The discussion ranged from how such data could be better utilised to which statistical methods might be applied to it.

On My Way to Becoming a Digital Humanist

The DH conference was never just about presenting and advocating for what has already been done and studied; it is also an annual occasion to reflect on how we engage with the outside world and its changing circumstances.

The keynote speaker, Prof. Kim Hyeon, addressed how in the age of AI the guiding principle for humanists is the ancient Confucian wisdom 教學相長 (“teaching and learning advance each other”)[1]. In practical terms: by teaching AI, humanists simultaneously train themselves to think critically, act intentionally, and engage creatively within AI-mediated worlds.

During the conference, I also met many scholars working in highly specialised fields who had stepped outside their comfort zones to collaborate with people from other disciplines. A defining trait of the digital humanities community is that we rarely treat anything as a barrier or as impossible but we always find a way, enthusiastically, to realise our ideas.

Finally, I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude for this journey. Thank you to the Emanuskript team for creating such a warm and friendly working environment, and to Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum e.V. (DHd) for the early-career fund that made this trip possible. It has been a wonderful learning experience.

[1] Full speech is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok-V7MtHI7M

Fragment Autocomplete: Announcing a New Project for Reconstructing Lost Pages from Manuscript Fragments

Research into manuscript fragments has expanded enormously over the past twenty years, and recent studies of fragments — whether those tightly bound in books or excised leaves collected by scholars and connoisseurs over the centuries — have opened up rich new perspectives onto ancient and medieval texts, manuscript production, and the history of writing. For modern eyes, whose instincts are trained for cultural preservation, medieval codices were almost ruthlessly recycled in the premodern period. Pages were cut up and reused not only in book bindings but also as support linings in many other objects, such as musical instruments. It is striking how indiscriminate medieval scribes and craftspeople were in their re-use: they used any kind of codex — be it a school text, a bible, a legal codex, or a liturgical book — without appearing to attend to the content it carried.

The digital turn in manuscript studies has brought new possibilities for the study of fragments. Fragments belonging to a single codex have been reunited in a virtual format, their disparate remains gathered and displayed in a single location. Fragments uncovered in unexpected places — the inside of a violin case, the back of keyboard keys — can be studied with an endoscope without dismantling the historic object preserving them. The digital turn now brings a new possibility: scientifically reconstructing the lost page by using the visual evidence of extant fragments.

Over the next two years, a project led by Dr. Anna Dorofeeva at the Institute for Digital Humanities in Göttingen will develop an app for reconstructing lost manuscript pages from their fragmentary remains. With generous funding from the State of Lower Saxony, the project “Fragment Autocomplete” will move into the conjectural space of the fragment’s missing page. Using artificial intelligence, the team, consisting of Mo Basuony and Dr. Jeremy Thompson, will design and train a model to analyze a manuscript fragment and to make substantive hypothetical inferences about the lost page from which it comes. This project builds on the success of the Weltwissen initiative (2021–2027) financed by the Volkswagen Foundation for advancing the disciplines of digital paleography and imaging science at the University of Göttingen.

Manuscript scholars have of course long tried to visualize missing pages. They have reconstructed, sometimes physically, often mentally, the models on which surviving codices depend. In the cases of illegible and damaged texts, even where only a few letters are decipherable, they have exposed the manuscript to different wavelengths of light and profited from every trace of informative data: every ink trace; every smudge; and, now in our digital age, every pixel. “Fragment Autocomplete” continues in this tradition, endeavouring to produce a tool that will help manuscript researchers digitally visualize the fruit of these efforts.

Training a model will entail the study of a vast corpus of fragments and manuscripts with an eye to critical data about mise-en-page. This work will be supported by Fenius, an app developed in the Institute for Digital Humanities that allows researchers to trace page layouts on top of a digital image and record information about the disposition of lines, text, images, and columns. The challenges are considerable. The team will have to consider diverse script styles, initials, illustrations, diagrams, and musical staves. The team will work by inpainting — feeding an AI model an image and training it to expand that image into a complete one. Besides local manuscript holdings at the State and University Library in Göttingen, the project will draw heavily from the significant corpus of fragments curated by Dr. William Duba at Fragmentarium, with which “Fragment Autocomplete” will closely collaborate. To optimize model training, the team will also create their own fragments in a digital environment by cropping images of complete pages and using them to train a model to accurately reconstruct the missing part. At the end, the AI-model will be made over to Fragmentarium for full implementation on its own platform. If successful, the tool will offer manuscript scholars something they have long had to do without: a reliable method for reasoning systematically about what is no longer there. With it, the lost page need not stay lost.

If you have questions or wish to collaborate, please contact the team.

Seshat: A Digital Measurement Tool for Analysing Medieval Manuscripts

What is Seshat?

According to an apocryphal story, Lord Kelvin or as now believed, Albert A. Michelson, declared in 1900:

“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.”

Is the fate of palaeography similar? In 1979 the distinguished palaeographer Bernhard Bischoff inadvertently touched on this question when he wrote in the introduction of his handbook that palaeography was being transformed in his time “from an art of seeing and sympathetic understanding” to “an art of measurement” (Paläographie des römischen Altertums und des abendländischen Mittelalters [Berlin, 1979], p. 17). The statement triggered heated reactions and defences of palaeography as an art of cultivated seeing. Our new digital tool Seshat is not intended to promote the idea that palaeography should be a purely quantitative discipline. But it does enable users to measure key features of scripts from high-quality images, which is both useful and desirable in the digital age.

Named after the Ancient Egyptian goddess of scribes, Seshat is a measurement tool with annotation features that make it possible to conduct a thorough palaeographical analysis of a digital object. It allows users to highlight textual regions, underline specific words or lines, insert comments, trace letterforms using adjustable pen angles (0°, 25°, 30°, 50°, and 80°), and excerpt data in different formats to be used as a dataset later. The tracing functionality supports the analysis of script ductus and scribal hand variation.

Taking inspiration from the first version of a software tool for the critical examination of historical handwriting called Graphoskop developed by Maria Gurrado and Giancarlo Lestingi (https://www.irht.cnrs.fr/fr/ressources/sites-web-outils-corpus/graphoskop), we have included a suite of measurement tools that calculate horizontal and vertical distances for particular script and page features: ascender and descender heights, interlinear spacing, margins, overall line heights, and inter-column spaces. A stroke angle measurement feature allows for precise documentation of letterform direction and inclination. Statistical tools automatically calculate averages, standard deviations, and mode values across measurements for both single pages and entire manuscripts.

Seshat is fully IIIF-compatible, enabling users to load manuscript images from major repositories such as the British Library, the Vatican Library, or other IIIF-compliant archives. The option to upload JPEG formatted images is also available. Image cropping functionality is built in, letting users isolate manuscript regions and export these selections in PNG or SVG formats, with or without annotations.

What were our goals when starting to develop this app?

When we started, our main goals were:·To provide a digital tool for precise annotation and measurement of palaeographic features (e.g. ductus, margins, letterforms).

• To simulate traditional palaeographic tracing methods (such as ductus analysis) in a digital environment by including adjustable pen angle tracing.

• To allow users to collect measurable data (distances, angles) and automatically generate statistical outputs to support comparative manuscript studies.

• To enable scholars to manipulate and export parts of manuscript images for publication or focused analysis.

• To ensure integration with IIIF resources for direct access to high-quality manuscript images without requiring local uploads.

Currently, Seshat includes all the functionalities listed above, and is already being applied successfully in internal research for ductus evaluation, scribal variation analysis, and manuscript layout studies.

Seshat in the Future

Seshat is not yet finished. Based on development and user feedback, we plan the following additional features:

Tracing

• Allow users to form strokes with a simulated quill, where the quill size is determined by selecting two points on the canvas in pixels. This size will be adjustable.

• Support saving both individual and clustered strokes together with the underlying cropped manuscript image.

Commenting

• Allow customization of comment text, including font family, font size, and colour, displayed on a transparent layer (removing the current speech bubble design).

• Enable adjustment of text appearance (font, size, colour) for clearer comment placement without obscuring manuscript details.

Measurement

• Integrate tracing and measurement tools to allow for linked analysis (e.g. measuring traced strokes).

• Provide pixel-based measurements that can be converted to standard units.

• Enable curve measurement and potentially measure nib (quill) width directly from the stroke trace data.

Alphabet selection

• Develop an alphabet selection tool to extract individual letter shapes defined by the user.

Moving forwards, we will be improving Seshat based on user feedback and will be doing our best to deliver a very user-friendly interface by spring 2026!

— Project eManuSkript Team

Proteus: A Tool to Simplify Post Processing of Multispectral Images

In manuscript studies, scholars often encounter texts that are barely legible from centuries of damage, reuse as in the case of palimpsests, faded ink, or chemical reactions. Multispectral Imaging (MSI) has emerged as a way to recover such hidden texts, capturing images of manuscripts under different wavelengths of light to reveal what the naked eye can no longer perceive.

While MSI is a successful and useful technique for text recovery, the tools required to process MSI images are often intimidating. Many existing applications assume a high degree of technical knowledge, from a chemical literacy to skills in navigating dense software menus. This steep learning curve can be a barrier for students and researchers who are new to the field.

A Tool for Everyone

Our goal was to develop a lightweight app with a simple, intuitive interface that enables users—especially those without a technical background—to explore MSI data without coding. We envisioned Proteus not just as a tool, but also as a guide: something that helps users navigate MSI post-processing with ease, without becoming imaging experts, by giving simple instructions on what images or features should be used for certain scans.

Instead of offering dozens of rarely-used features, Proteus focuses on a few impactful tools, delivered through a simple interface. We designed the interface so that each function is explained via pop-up tips, recommends effective image combinations for different tasks, performs the heavy computations silently in the background, and is supported by our MSI tutorials for a better understanding of the whole process. Our aim was to allow scholars to focus on interpreting texts, not on configuring software.

Simple and Sustainable Design

Proteus is built in Python, using libraries like OpenCV, NumPy, Pillow, and tkinter. This combination allows us to offer real-time image processing inside a platform-compatible graphical user interface. The GUI, powered by tkinter, makes image enhancement accessible through point-and-click interactions— which comes in handy for users with humanities backgrounds.

Users can load certain image stacks taken using multispectral imaging systems into the app, choose which feature to use, and select bands for further processing.

Among Proteus’s core features are:

– Pseudo-color images, which enhance contrast by combining spectral bands as RGB channels.

– Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which mathematically isolates features that reveal faded or overwritten text.

– Power, which intensifies each pixel in the image to get a better result, especially on faded pages.

These enhancements are powered by matrix operations (via NumPy) and OpenCV functions for tasks like histogram equalization, resizing, and denoising. Proteus also follows standardized naming conventions for exported images, and delivers a text file with the metadata, including a record of used features. This makes it easy to manage results across projects.

The app’s modular code design ensures future extensibility—whether for supporting more spectral formats, integrating machine learning, or adding new filtering methods.

The Current Version of Proteus

The first working versions of Proteus have already been actively used the app in internal projects and tasks. Following evaluations with Dr. Anna Dorofeeva and Dr. Alexander Zawacki, and with the assistance of our MSI team, we’ve gathered valuable feedback—pinpointing both bugs and areas for improvement.

This feedback is now shaping Proteus v3.0, which will feature improved performance, bug fixes, and new features inspired by user experience. We’re also excited about early experiments using Proteus on non-MSI images, where enhancements like PCA and contrast filtering have revealed details even in ordinary scans.

What Next?

Proteus is built in accordance with the principle that digital manuscript tools should be clear, simple, and powerful. We want to minimise the time spent on post processing and allow researchers to make the best use of their time.

We intend for Proteus to become a standard teaching and research tool in digital humanities programs, especially in MSI training units. By simplifying complex workflows, it will lower the barrier for students and scholars – even those with limited technical skills – to engage with multispectral imaging.

As the field of manuscript studies embraces new technologies, we believe tools like Proteus can lead the way—quietly doing the heavy work, while putting discovery back in the hands of the user.

References

Conjeti, Sailesh, Stefanie Demirci, and Vincent Christlein. Image retrieval in big image data. Elsevier, 2023.

DigiTRiP-Redaktion (17. Februar 2025). Proteus – Handschriftengeheimnisse aufdecken. DigiTRiP. Abgerufen am 26. Mai 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/13bto

Knox, Keith. “Hoku Software .” Rochester Institute of Technology, 11 Sept. 2017.

Leslie’s Blog. “Gradual Gaussian Blur Using Opencv.” Leslie’s Blog, 5 Aug. 2020, leslietj.github.io/2020/08/05/Gradual-Gaussian-Blur-Using-OpenCV/.

Roepke, Brian. “The Magic of Principal Component Analysis through Image Compression.” Lambda with Text - Wide, Data Knows All, LLC, 22 Mar. 2024, dataknowsall.com/blog/imagepca.html.

Team, PlantCV Development. “Pseudocolor.” PlantCV, plantcv.readthedocs.io/en/latest/visualize_pseudocolor/

One Year of eManuSkript: A Digital Journey into Manuscript Studies

One Year Anniversary of Project eManuSkript: Part One

In April 2024, a group of scholars and students, funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, came together at the University of Göttingen’s Institute for Digital Humanities with an ambitious goal: to reimagine how medieval manuscripts can be taught, studied, and experienced in the digital age. Led by Dr. Anna Dorofeeva, Project eManuSkript has grown since then into a vibrant, interdisciplinary project that continues to evolve—shaped by its users, enriched by its team, and rooted in a shared commitment to accessibility and collaboration.

The Vision Behind eManuSkript

The idea was simple but important: manuscript studies, often remain difficult to access, especially for beginners or those outside of specialized institutions. Scholars might face barriers due to geographic distance, limited physical access to manuscripts, or a lack of training in palaeography or codicology.

Our goal was to build tools that would meet learners and researchers where they are—whether in the classroom, at an archive, or online. We wanted to create a digital platform that was not only technically sound but also inviting, accessible, flexible, and pedagogically grounded. The user experience and the needs of students in manuscript studies have driven the development of the project.

• • •

What We’ve Built

Over the past year, the eManuSkript team has been developing a suite of interconnected tools designed to address a range of issues associated with teaching and learning medieval manuscripts. Each one tackles a different challenge, and together they form a single interface.

Mergen is our AI-based layout segmentation app. It detects key manuscript elements—both text and paratext—with exceptional speed and accuracy, outperforming other existing segmentation tools and datasets. By using Mergen, the user can build a research corpus of specific manuscript elements. Using a three-layer segmentation method, our team annotated a significant corpus of raw manuscript pages to make sure Mergen reaches its potential in the shortest time. We still continue to update Mergen’s database regularly for even better results. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Proteus simplifies a complex task: working on texts that are hard-to-read, whether due to chemical damage or purposeful erasure, such as in palimpsests, by making use of multispectral imaging technology. With Proteus, users can generate enhanced images—for example, using pseudo-colour or PCA—that reveal hidden or faded script. Proteus can even enhance high resolution visible-light images, using power or contrasts. Currently, we are finetuning Proteus V3.0.

Seshat is an annotation-and-measurement tool that allows users to analyse historical scripts. Users upload the manuscript they want to study using a IIIF link. They can then trace letterforms, calculate letter size, generate statistical data such as stroke angle, and compare different scribal hands. The resulting data, such as tracing, measurements and image embeddings, can be exported to be analysed further. We are also working on a script recognition model to add a precise, compact model of Latin scripts to our web app. A downloadable version of Seshat will soon include trained models for text recognition.

Ceres &Libera are two connected applications for exploring medieval bookbinding. Ceres, allows users to generate customised templates to visualise medieval manuscript bookbindings. For this app, our team’s plan to document the spine and sewing structures of a medieval book have been supported by expert input from conservators at the Göttingen State and University Library. The second app, Libera, is an interactive application where users can build their own codex from bookblock to cover. With Libera, users will be able to follow simplified tutorials as they build their codex and can build visualizations with specialized terminology and professionally illustrated components.

Supporting these tools is a rich range of interactive tutorials—including images, videos and interactive games—as well as a historical timeline and canonical script alphabets with ductus practice options. Accessibility is built into every layer: visual alternatives for those with impairments, multimodal learning options, and a user-friendly design that reduces the barriers to working with manuscripts.

These applications reflect our experimental approach to manuscript studies. Despite the growing number of digitised collections, access is still limited by the high level of specialist knowledge required. Through regular team meetings, in-class experimentation, and constant dialogue between developers, scholars, and students, we’ve shaped tools that genuinely respond to user needs—pushing boundaries while remaining grounded in traditional scholarship.

Together, these five tools create a full digital environment for investigating the medieval manuscript book—from physical structure and visual layout to textual content and palaeographic detail. By April 2026, all applications will be available through our website, and our datasets and backend code will be archived openly via GitHub and Zenodo. This suite of tools and tutorials will be complemented by an extensive glossary and Zotero library. We hope this will empower others to build upon our work and bring manuscript studies fully into the digital age.

• • •

People and Collaboration at the Heart

What truly powers Project eManuSkript is its team. Beginning as a group of ten, with backgrounds in history, digital humanities, computer science, German studies, English literature, and more, our team has changed over time, but what has remained consistent has been the interest the project has generated — from students to guest researchers, all enriching our ideas with fruitful support and feedback. Our collaboration is intentionally non-hierarchical and inclusive. We believe that the best solutions emerge from diverse perspectives and shared responsibility.

Team members contribute in many ways: designing user interfaces, labelling datasets, testing OCR models, writing documentation, or organizing outreach events. Each of us brings a unique angle, and we encourage constant feedback—especially from our fellow students at the Institute of Digital Humanities, who are both co-creators and core users of the tools.

• • •

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Of course, no digital project is without hurdles. Training machine learning models on historical scripts has meant confronting the limits of existing datasets and annotation tools. Designing interfaces for a multilingual, cross-disciplinary audience has forced us to think carefully about clarity and adaptability. And balancing research with usability remains an ongoing effort.

But these challenges have been productive. They’ve taught us to take a step back and recalculate, document thoroughly, and centre accessibility at every stage. We’ve also learned the value of working in public: sharing early prototypes, inviting critique, and adapting based on what users actually need.

• • •

What’s Next?

As we move into our second year, we’re expanding in different directions. This year, we’re refining our tools with the help of classroom testing, user studies, and more targeted community engagement. We are hoping that, by releasing our website for Project eManuSkript, we will encourage a larger public to explore our current work, both to offer constructive criticism and feedback on what we have accomplished so far and to measure their accessibility and practical usability for scholars and students from all around the world.

We are continuously working to make the best out of each app and expand the limits of our tutorials by going beyond the traditional approach. Going forward, we will continue to generate new ideas, to maintain outputs that are open, free, and adaptable, and, ultimately, to develop the best technologies we can for digital manuscript studies.

•

A Thank You—and an Invitation

Dear Reader,

On this first anniversary, we want to thank everyone who has contributed to eManuSkript: our funders, testers, advisors, and especially the students who’ve helped shape the tools with their questions and insights.

This project is still growing, and we hope it continues to spark curiosity, empower learners, and connect people to the world of medieval manuscripts in new and meaningful ways.

Whether you’re a student, a teacher, a researcher, or just a manuscript enthusiast —welcome. You’re invited to explore, learn, and build with us.
Best wishes,

– Project eManuSkript Team

Unlocking the Past: A Journey Through Manuscripts and Digital Tools in Göttingen

Author: Davide Obili, PhD student at the University of Bologna

Attending the Summer School of Digital Palaeography in Göttingen was a fantastic experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Manuscript Studies or Digital Humanities.

The programme offered a well-balanced mix of theory and practice, giving us a great introduction to the history of Latin scripts and the material aspects of the medieval book, as well as to a wide range of digital tools and methods for Palaeography and Digital Text Editing, which was exciting as it showed us new possibilities in the field. One of the highlights was getting to see and work withreal medieval manuscripts and fragments, both in Göttingen and during our day trip to Wolfenbüttel.

Anna Dorofeeva and all the other teachers were not only highly knowledgeable but also approachable and friendly, and the entire organising team was always available to help us, creating a welcoming and supportive learning environment. Meeting and connecting with the other participants was another great part of the experience, as it made the stay in Göttingen educational and fun.

It was an enriching experience, and I would recommend it to anyone considering applying for future summer schools.

The Abbey of Saint Andrew

This text was written by the MA student Luana Moraes Costa.

The Basilica of Saint Andrew was founded between 1219 and 1227 on the initiative of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, who had just returned from England where he had served as papal legate. Bicchieri received perpetual rights to the income of St. Andrew’s Church in Chesterton, near Cambridge, from King Henry III. With this financial support, he brought Augustinian canons from Saint-Victor in Paris to oversee the construction of the new abbey and pilgrim hospital along the Via Francigena, with the hospital’s construction commencing in 1224.

The French influence on the basilica’s construction was significant, particularly regarding the introduction of Gothic elements. Although the architect remains unknown, it is presumed that the Gothic lines of the new edifice were introduced by French clerics, including Abbot Thomas Gallus, previously a professor at the University of Paris.

Inside of the Basilica of Saint Andrew in Vercelli. Photo: Luana Moraes Costa, 2024.

The cloister of the basilica, built in the 13th century and later remodeled during the transition from the Vittorini to the Lateran canons, remains a crucial element of the monastery’s architecture.

Cloister of Saint Andrew’s Abbey in Vercelli. Photo: Luana Moraes Costa, 2024.

Inspired by Cistercian models, the presence of both Gothic and Romanesque influences in the basilica connects it to the architectural traditions of northern Italy and suggests the involvement of an Italian master in the design. The fusion of these architectural styles gives the basilica a unique identity and reflects the cultural and artistic exchanges that were prevalent during the construction period.

Vercelli played a very important role as a geopolitical crossroads during the construction of Saint Andrew’s Abbey. Situated along the Via Francigena, a major pilgrimage route connecting Canterbury to Rome, the city served as a meeting point for travelers, traders, and pilgrims from diverse backgrounds and cultures. This context of cultural exchange and interaction certainly influenced the basilica’s development and its significance as an architectural and religious landmark in the region.

Bibliography:

Italia.it. Basilica di Sant’Andrea. <https://www.italia.it/it/piemonte/vercelli/la-basilica-di-sant-adrea>
Sant’Andrea Verccelli Official Website. <https://santandreavercelli.com>
S. Baiocco, S. Castronovo, E. Pagella, Arte in Piemonte. Il Gotico, 2004, Priuli e Verlucca Editori, Ivrea, ISBN 88-8068-225-3.
G. Vergani, “L’Italia settentrionale. Le contaminazioni del Gotico”, in La Storia dell’Arte, Vol 5, cap. 13, 2006, Electa and La Biblioteca di Repubblica, Milan.
M. Cappellino, Il coro ligneo della basilica di S. Andrea. Agiografia Canonicale in un codice vercellese, 1989, Vercelli.

Saint Augustine of Hippo: From a Manichean Theologist to a Bishop

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a theologian and philosopher of North African origin. He was born in Thagaste, now Souk Ahras in Algeria and was the bishop of Hippo Regius, under the Roman Empire which is currently Annaba in Algeria. He is considered one of the pillars of the Church Fathers who established the intellectual cornerstones of Christianity. His writings have been influential in the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. The Spring School of Paleography 2024 provided me with the opportunity to visit the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro in Pavia, where a reliquary houses the sacred remains of Saint Augustine

Painting of Saint Augustin by Philippe de Champaigne

Augustine’s Encounter with Manichaeism

At the age of seventeen, Augustine embarked on an intellectual and spiritual exploration within Manichaeism, attracted by its synthesis of Christian doctrine and Persian dualism. This engagement during his Carthaginian period was driven by a search for a rationalistic interpretation of faith, which Manichaeism appeared to offer through its narratives on the nature of evil and human sin. The sect’s portrayal of a cosmological conflict between light and darkness appealed to Augustine, promising an enlightened perspective that aligned with his critical pursuits.

Following a period of deep engagement with Manichaeism, Augustine’s journey took him through phases of hedonism, skepticism, and profound philosophical inquiry, leading to a state of disillusionment with the various doctrines he had encountered. His pursuit for truth and understanding led him into the depths of “Academic Doubt,” a skepticism rooted in the teachings of the Platonic Academy, which questioned the very possibility of knowing truth. This phase of existential doubt plunged Augustine into a profound depression, as he grappled with the futility of finding absolute truth through human intellect alone.

The Path towards Embracing Christianity

Amidst a profound disillusionment with Manichaeism, astrology, and prior intellectual engagements, Augustine confronted the profound question of whether absolute truth could ever be apprehended by human intellect. His explorations led him to encounter Neo-Platonism, which, drawing from Plotinus, advocated for an introspective quest away from the fallible sensory world towards the immutable truths that stand beyond empirical scrutiny. This philosophical pivot facilitated Augustine’s recognition of certain indubitable truths concerning his own existence, cognition, and intrinsic value.

This epiphany, underpinning a newfound reconciliation with the notion of unchanging truth, significantly propelled Augustine towards a spiritual and intellectual transformation. Parallel to this internal journey, Augustine’s interactions with Ambrose, the influential Bishop of Milan and a master of rhetoric, enriched his understanding and appreciation of Christianity, bridging his philosophical revelations with theological insights. This amalgamation of introspective discovery and theological engagement culminated in a critical juncture in Augustine’s life, laying the foundational groundwork for his eventual conversion to Christianity, marking a decisive turn in his life.

Augustine’s Baptism

In 386, Augustine’s conversion in Milan led him to prepare for baptism under Bishop Ambrose’s guidance, paralleling today’s RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program. This preparation involved detailed instruction, scrutinies to assess sincerity, and ceremonies emphasizing commitment to Christianity. Augustine and his companions, including his son Adeodatus, underwent a transformative preparation period, culminating in a deeply impactful baptism ceremony during Easter 387. This experience, enriched by the liturgical music and rituals, led Augustine to a profound realization of peace through unity with the Creator, famously expressing, “You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” Augustine’s baptism was a pivotal moment, marking his formal entry into the Christian faith alongside his son.

Augustine the Bishop

After his return to Thagasthe, Augustine formed a community in Hippo. His journey to becoming Bishop of Hippo began with his ordination as a priest in 391, during which he established a monastic community for clergy on church grounds. This community blended monastic life with apostolic duties, emphasizing communal living and strict poverty. Upon becoming assistant bishop in 395, Augustine expanded this communal model to his episcopal household, living and working alongside his clergy under a rule that stressed humility and service.

Valerius, the then Bishop of Hippo, identified Augustine as his successor early on, navigating the canonical hurdles to appoint him as coadjutor bishop despite a false scandal. Augustine’s approach to his episcopal role was deeply influenced by his monastic ideals, focusing on serving Christ humbly and prioritizing communal over individual interests. Throughout his tenure, he balanced the spiritual and administrative demands of his office, advocating for a Christian identity that transcended his clerical duties and laying a foundational example for future religious communities.

Tombeau de Saint Augustin d'Hippone / Tomb of Saint Augustine of Hippo — The Tomb of Saint Augustine of Hippo in Pavia

The Spring school was an opportunity that allowed me to connect personally with the legacy of one of Christianity’s most influential figures. The presence of the relics of Saint Augustine not only serves as a tangible link to the past but also embodies the culmination of his journey and teachings. It was a unique spiritual occasion to embrace the past within the walls of a sacred space that has safeguarded his legacy for centuries.

Bibliography:

Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. University of California Press, 2000.

LANCEL, Serge. Augustin et la société féminine de son temps In : Saint Augustin : La Numidie et la société de son temps [en ligne]. Pessac: Ausonius Éditions, 2005

Gafford II, J. A. (2015). The life and conversion of Augustine of Hippo. Tenor of Our Times, 4(1).

http://www.augnet.org/en/life-of-augustine/

A Walk Through the Castello Visconteo: Part 1 – A Quick Look Inside The Courtyard

Let us step inside the walls of Visconti Castle, at the heart of Pavia, a must-visit castle if you ever visit this small town. Not to be mistaken with other castles with the same name, Castello Visconteo di Pavia is only 50 minutes away from Milan by train. Our little series, Walk Through the Castello Visconteo aims to give you a glimpse of the castle and the museums (Musei Civici di Pavia), where the history breathes through every stone and fresco. Built between 1360 and 1365 under the rule of Galeazzo II Visconti, the castle stands as an example of Lombardia’s late Gothic architecture. Although the northern wing of the castle was lost during the Italian War of 1521-1526 under attack by France, today the majority of the castle remains intact and still as captivating as it was first built.

Once you step into the castle, you get to explore not only the castle itself but also the museums it is housing. With our blog series, we will take you on a swift tour of the castle and these museums. We will start with the rooms that successfully preserved some unique frescoes from the periods of two ruling families of Milan: Sforza (1450-1535) and Visconti (1277-1447).

Despite the castle’s partial destruction, the remaining structure still reflects the artistic and architectural brilliance of its era. Visitors can explore the courtyard, the portico, and the loggia with a modest entry fee of 1 euro, while the castle’s rooms house museum collections are accessible with a Civic Museums ticket, which costs 10 euros, or even as cheap as 5 euros on some festive days.

A Glimpse of the Courtyard

Standing in the courtyard, one cannot help but notice the harmonious yet distinct look of the architectural complex. Originally designed as a square structure approximately 150 meters on each side, complete with four corner towers, the castle’s perfection was slightly spoiled by the destruction of the northern wing. Yet, this does not change the majestic atmosphere that fills the space.

Built swiftly after Galeazzo II Visconti’s conquest of Pavia in 1359, the castle was ready for decoration by 1366, when Galeazzo II sought the finest painters of the time to adorn its walls. Today, visitors can still admire the surviving frescoes and sinopias that speak of its grand past.

“The lunette preserves fragments of an almost illegible frescoed composition, which was part of a narrative cycle dedicated to the exploits of Galeazzo II Visconti, the lord who, after conquering Pavia in November 1359, had the castle built as the residence of the Visconti court and adorned it by calling the best painters active in northern Italy.
This cycle occupied the sections of the walls of the lunettes under each arch, probably without interruption, as demonstrated by the presence of the fragment found under the impost of the sub-arch near the passage from the west ravelin…. Along the edges of the lunettes and the ribs in the vaults, there are still geometric decorations here and there – with cosmatesque stars, polylobed frames, and vegetal elements – sometimes resulting from early 20th-century restorations presumably based on pre-existing models.“
– Description Label of the Fresco, in Castello Visconteo

Throughout your walk, pay close attention to the details that offer insights into the daily life and history of the castle:

• Inscriptions:

Painted above some doors, these inscriptions indicated the function of the rooms within.

• • •

• Stonecutters‘ Marks:

Engraved into the stones used for columns and other structures, these marks reveal the craftsmanship behind the castle’s construction.

• • •

• Graffiti:

Spanning from the 16th century to the 19th century, when the castle served as a barracks, these markings provide a personal glimpse into the lives of those who once inhabited this space.

• • •

The Castello Visconteo of Pavia is more than just an architectural marvel; it is a living museum that encapsulates centuries of history, art, and culture. As you wander through its halls and courtyards, you are not merely observing relics of the past, but engaging with the stories and legacies that have shaped this magnificent structure. Enjoy your journey through time and let the echoes of the past enrich your understanding of the present.

We hope that our introduction to the Castello Visconteo was enough to grab your attention! Please stay tuned for Part 2!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Black, Jane. Absolutism in Renaissance Milan Plenitude of Power under the Visconti and the Sforza, 1329-1535 Jane Black. 1st ed., Oxford Univ. Press, 2010.

“Il Castello.” Il Castello – Musei Civici Di Pavia, museicivici.comune.pv.it/site/home/il-castello.html. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Milano, Archivio Storico Civico e Biblioteca Trivulziana, Cod. Triv. 1390, fol. 3r

Ponzi, Marco. “Mythical Origins of the Visconti Coat of Arms.” Medium, ViridisGreen, 28 Apr. 2024, medium.com/viridisgreen/mythical-origins-of-the-visconti-coat-of-arms-e98778ed2671.

“Sito Ufficiale Castello Sforzesco: L’edificio.” Sito Ufficiale Castello Sforzesco | L’edificio, www.milanocastello.it/en/edificio-voci. Accessed 6 May 2024.

Summer School of Digital Paleography

In the summer of 2023, Göttingen University hosted a 12-day summer school program dedicated to the study of digital paleography. This intensive program delved into various paleographical topics, offering participants a comprehensive exploration of Latin manuscript scripts from the medieval.

The curriculum was thoughtfully structured, with morning sessions focused on the history and transcription of Latin scripts, and afternoon sessions introducing participants to cutting-edge digital methodologies and tools. These included fragmentology, codicology, editing, cataloging, TEI-XML, and advanced imaging techniques such as hyper- and multispectral imaging.

The summer school provided a unique opportunity for participants to engage deeply with leading experts and professionals in the field, acquiring the latest knowledge and innovative approaches to the study of paleography.

Most of the sessions took place at the Digital Humanities department, where a typical day began with instructional lectures followed by hands-on exercises or samples for practice. This format ensured that the knowledge we learn was directly applicable to our research, aligning perfectly with the overarching goal of the program: to equip us with practical skills and insights that we could integrate into our academic work.

Dr. Dorofeeva, the head of paleography, led many of the sessions, guiding us through the major scripts to provide a condensed yet thorough overview of paleographical study. Her teaching style was highly interactive and we had a lot of chances to pose questions and to discuss several interesting topics. In afternoon sessions at the university library, she guided us in selecting specific scripts for individual research projects. In line with the program’s focus on digitalizing this discipline, we were encouraged to use digital tools to document and enrich the archival information of the manuscripts we studied.

Ms. Kipke, an expert in image science, delivered a captivating lecture on digital approaches to image analysis. Her research, which involves intricate details and complex methodologies, was nothing short of fascinating, and her presentation was exceptionally informative.

One of the highlights of the program was a session at the Göttingen University Library with Professor Winfried Rudolf. He gave an insightful lecture on insular scripts and granted us the rare opportunity to examine a writing sample from the university’s collection up close.

Overall, the summer school was an incredible experience, offering invaluable learning opportunities from top experts in the field. It was an excellent opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills that will undoubtedly enhance my research and further my studies in paleography.