Paper Title
Generative Collaborations: Nuns’ Book Production in Renaissance and Early Modern Italy
Start Date
12-6-2011 9:30 AM
End Date
12-6-2011 12:00 PM
Subject Areas
Europe, medieval, early modern, labor/business, politics, religion
Abstract
The religious communities of Italy were fertile sites for the production of manuscripts and early printed books during the 15th and 16th centuries. Though this output has traditionally been thought of as the work of monks, nuns made a significant contribution to its production. Manuscripts, early printed books, and archival documents support evidence of generative collaborations between pairs of women, as well as collaboration between male and female religious in the creation of books. Examples of this collaboration vary across time and space. At one house, nuns shared the production of individual manuscripts; at another, the nuns established a printing press – run by friars – printing both secular and religious works within the walls of their convent. In other instances, male and female religious shared scriptorium resources. Nun-scribes also collaborated with secular illuminators to produce luxury manuscripts used as gift objects to create and solidify ties of patronage.
How did nuns work together to produce manuscripts? How and why did these women religious collaborate with their male counterparts – both secular and religious - in the production of books? From the shared work of copying a manuscript to the alliances built establishing a printing house, collaborations benefited the work of the convent as well as the nuns who engaged in them. This collaborative work illustrates nuns’ ability to select opportunities that increased the quality and quantity of their craft production, production essential to sustaining their communities financially, spiritually, intellectually and in terms of status.
Keywords
nuns, Italy, medieval, Renaissance, early modern, women's work, religion, collaboration, manuscript, incunable, book, scribe, scriptorium, illuminator
Creative Commons License
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Generative Collaborations: Nuns’ Book Production in Renaissance and Early Modern Italy
The religious communities of Italy were fertile sites for the production of manuscripts and early printed books during the 15th and 16th centuries. Though this output has traditionally been thought of as the work of monks, nuns made a significant contribution to its production. Manuscripts, early printed books, and archival documents support evidence of generative collaborations between pairs of women, as well as collaboration between male and female religious in the creation of books. Examples of this collaboration vary across time and space. At one house, nuns shared the production of individual manuscripts; at another, the nuns established a printing press – run by friars – printing both secular and religious works within the walls of their convent. In other instances, male and female religious shared scriptorium resources. Nun-scribes also collaborated with secular illuminators to produce luxury manuscripts used as gift objects to create and solidify ties of patronage.
How did nuns work together to produce manuscripts? How and why did these women religious collaborate with their male counterparts – both secular and religious - in the production of books? From the shared work of copying a manuscript to the alliances built establishing a printing house, collaborations benefited the work of the convent as well as the nuns who engaged in them. This collaborative work illustrates nuns’ ability to select opportunities that increased the quality and quantity of their craft production, production essential to sustaining their communities financially, spiritually, intellectually and in terms of status.