Jonas Carlquist

Medieval Manuscripts, Hypertext and Reading. Visions of Digital Editions

How was a medieval manuscript meant to be read? This is a question that has concerned me for a long time in my work with Old Swedish manuscripts from Vadstena Abbey. In many manuscripts we can find traces of the historical reading situation; for example, pointing hands, marginal notes, etc. Such signals had an important function for the medieval reader, but they are rarely put forward in modern printed editions. I maintain that many of these paratextual notes can be explained with the help of hypertext theory, and be emphasized in a digital edition. I discuss this possibility by giving some examples from Scandinavian composite manuscripts. I show how digital technology together with new philological theory can give new life to medieval manuscripts, as digital editions together with the use of linking give the modern reader a deeper understanding of manuscript culture. This is possible because new philology revalues the concrete textual witnesses of a manuscript and takes each single version of a text into discussion. A printed edition is a much too clumsy tool if the aim is to give the modern reader a clear view of the uses of manuscript during the Middle Ages, but with digital technology an edition can be more complete by applying different layers of information.

The Image of Virgin Mary in Words and Art: Praising the Mother of God in Fifteenth-Century Sweden

During the fifteenth century, the cult of Virgin Mary was at its peak in Sweden, as well as all over the Western world. This article discusses the manifestation of the learned cult within Swedish popular culture in this period by analyzing contemporary prayers and art works from Swedish parish churches. The texts and the visual arts are discussed with reference to Speculum Virginum (5th chap.), an important didactic work that was translated from Latin to Old Swedish during the second half of the fifteenth century. It is clear that the arguments found in the popular cult of Virgin Mary are much simpler and more dogmatic, than in the learned cult. Nevertheless themes from the learned cult are frequently used in vernacular prayers and in the visual arts, especially as seen in the praise of Virgin Mary as intercessor. Probably this had something to do with St. Birgitta of Sweden and her revelations that made a strong impact on Swedish late medieval church life.