Union Académique Internationale

Monumenta palaeographica medii aevi

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Project nº51, adopted in 1995

For scientific and didactic purposes, the MPMA, published in folio (45.5 x 30.5 cm), reproduce at their original scale medieval texts which constitute coherent series and are written on all kinds of support, including stone, metal, wood, papyrus, parchment, paper, wax tablets, etc. Each volume contains an introduction with all the necessary information about the historical context, as well as the writing system with specimens of all graphemes and linguistic indications. The volume of plates is accompanied by a complete transcription of the texts, with an annotation and paleographic observations. Paleography is studied for itself, as an autonomous discipline, as well as a cultural marker. For this reason, MPMA volumes can serve as a fundamental source for both codicologists and palaeographers, historians, philologists and linguists. Each volume ends with one or more specialized indexes. The series was founded in 1995 by Hartmut Atsma (1937-2009) and Jean Vezin, who contributed to Tomes XIII to XIX of the Chartae Latinae Antiquiores. Noting that, from the ninth century on, the number of documents preserved would have made their full publication costly and repetitive, and taking into account the interest of inscriptions, graffiti, ostraca and other precious sources on the use and development of the scriptures, they decided to create a new collection, both more open and resolutely selective. Since their founding, the MPMA have set a twofold objective: To illustrate by representative examples the fundamental kinship and the extreme variety of the systems, types and styles of writing that are in use across Europe, from the end of Antiquity to the cultural flourishing of the Middle Ages. To show the development and diversification of the role of writing in the medieval world. Each type of document develops a specific character: a determined support, a certain presentation and a graphic style tend to prevail. This necessary correlation between the material form and the background, the aspect, the format and the function of the text is superimposed on the variety of national traditions. Computer extensions are envisaged for some volumes; however, the collection favors reproduction at the scale of the original, which better reflects the material aspect of the original documents, especially the writing module. In addition, the paper publication helps preserve the originals. Indeed, it allows to restrict the consultation of fragile documents and offers a faithful replica on a durable support. Separated series have been created from the outset (Gallica, Hispanica, etc.), depending on the country of conservation of the documents and the cultural context to which they refer. The founders of the project chose to present the most characteristic corpora, giving priority, in each tradition, to specificity and exemplarity. Indeed, as the project does not tend to exhaustivity, it concentrates on what is most characteristic of each national tradition and on what contributes most effectively to the advancement of knowledge. National series are developed in close relationship with academic structures. It is the same logic that allowed the constitution of a “Republic of letters" in the scholarly Europe of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. After prior agreement with the directors of the MPMA in terms of series (specific to the history of each country), choice of published documents and standards of presentation, the editors of the series work freely, with the irreplaceable competence that gives them the impregnation of the cultural and historiographical tradition to which they belong. Through this project, a real interacademic and scholarly network could be constituted. For the moment, the collection remains open and the range of series could still diversify.

Existing series:

Series Belgica, Series Gallica, Series Graeca, Series Hebraica, Series Hispania, Series Ibero-caucasica, Series Polonica, Series Rossica ; Sub-series Codices, Inscriptiones.