Session225
TitleFrom Myth to Memory: The Lost Medieval Libraries of Chartres
Date/TimeMonday 2 July 2018: 14.15-15.45
 
SponsorInstitut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris / Renaissance virtuelle des manuscrits brûlés de Chartres Project
 
OrganiserJoanna Frońska, Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
 
Moderator/ChairIsabelle Bretthauer, Archives Nationales de France, Paris
 
Paper 225-a Remembering the Beginnings of a Lost Library: The Case of Saint-Père-en-Vallée
(Language: English)
Veronika Drescher, Sammlung von Handschriften und alten Drucken, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien
Index Terms: Archives and Sources; Bibliography; Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 225-b The New Chapter Library of Chartres and the Binding Campaign of 1415
(Language: English)
Claudia Rabel, Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Index Terms: Archives and Sources; Bibliography; Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 225-c Augustin Dupuy's Inventory of c. 1600: Imagining Space of the Chapter Library of Chartres
(Language: English)
Joanna Frońska, Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Index Terms: Archives and Sources; Bibliography; Manuscripts and Palaeography
 
AbstractThe Library of Chartres, accidentally destroyed in May, 1944, and hardly accessible to scholars since has been for a long time shrouded in myths. Two beliefs are still alive. First that all manuscripts have perished. Second that they contained many works of the masters of the famous cathedral school of Chartres. Research conducted by the Institut de Recherche et d'histoire des Textes in Paris since 2006 has shown that both are inexact. Out of 518 medieval manuscripts once preserved in the library, 214 have been identified among extant fragments. Their study allows a better understanding of the intellectual, religious, and economic life at Chartres throughout a long period of time and gives an insight into the formation and growth of the collections of manuscripts. This session will explore the history of two Chartrean libraries, the cathedral chapter library and that of the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Père-en-Vallée.