MINiTEXTS seeks to systematically study early medieval minuscule texts, short texts which were added in large numbers to blank spaces of Latin manuscripts from c. 700 to c. 1000.
Manuscript scholars refer to these textual additions as “microtexts,” “guest texts,” or "additions."
Unlike such manuscripts' main texts, minuscule texts are seldom characterized by identifiable authors or easily traceable histories of textual transmission. As a result, such texts tended to either be neglected or compartmentalized within highly specialized disciplines.
By contrast, this project examines minuscule texts across commonly accepted disciplinary boundaries, as a unique corpus of practical knowledge deeply embedded in the social praxis of early medieval society. MINiTEXTS aspires to understand the “social logic” of such texts as well as the social, religious, and cultural practices that they signify.
