Songlines: discovering the lyric in medieval Britain through writing, sound and image

Speaker: Prof. Ardis Butterfield

Venue: Room 201, East No.5 Building, Zijingang Campus

Abstract: This talk presents a panoramic view of a new edition of Medieval Lyrics in Britain (forthcoming with CUP). A 20-year project, it presents a copying history of lyric from the 12th to the late 15th century. It presents the verses by paying special attention to the manuscripts in which they were copied, to the world of often idiosyncratic handwritten symbols, flourishes and annotations in which they were framed, of musical notation and richly conceived programs of illumination. It is a media study of medieval lyrics as forms of inscription (on parchment but also many other media), of sound, and image.