Palaeography workshop

At the end of last month, Martyn Cowan and I led an introduction to palaeography seminar at Union Theological College, Belfast. We had ten PhD students and recent graduates, from across the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. After familiarising ourselves with typical secretary hand forms, we used goose quills, oak gall ink and early modern paper types to let participants experience the feel of manuscript composition. Then we looked at a few manuscripts, including the church books from Owen’s Fordham and Coggeshall parish churches, to see how hands change over time and how important biographical details may be buried in ecclesiastical records. Then, after a bit more practice with italic hands, we began to transcribe notes taken on an Owen sermon that has never before appeared in print. You can read more about the day here. Please let us know if you’d like to be involved in future events in this series.