Sydney TIBBETTS (Cambridge)

• "Student" scribes of the Carolingian scriptorium

The first few quires of an early ninth-century copy of Jerome's Breviarium in Psalmos (Cambridge, Pembroke College MS 91) provides a seemingly clear example of a master scribe overseeing or directing the work of a less experienced scribe. In later quires, the picture is not so clear, but it appears that the student was placed under the supervision of a third scribe, with whom he worked on a more equal footing. The complicated array of scribal relationsiphs in this manuscript may help to clarify how student scribes were integrated into this particular Carolingian scriptorium. But what features are required for the definition 'student' scribe to be valid? What differentiates a student scribe from a bad scribe? How do we understand the term 'master' scribe? What are the hallmarks of a true master-student scribal relationship? I intend to compare the hands in Pembroke MS 91 with other Carolingian examples of masters and students writing together to see whether any broader conclusions can be drawn for the Carolingian period.