The Materiality of Medieval Manuscripts

Henrike Lähnemann’s Inaugural Lecture for the Chair in German Medieval Literature and Linguistics. Lecture delivered on Thursday 21 January 2016 in the Taylorian Institute. The subject of the lecture is a new acquisition by the Bodleian Library in Oxford, a psalter written ca. 1500 by the nun Margaret Hopes in the Cistercian convent of Medingen near Lüneburg, MS. Don. e. 248. The hypothesis advanced is that the nuns use the materiality of their prayer-book as the embodiment of their devotion.