Abstract
“Books of Science” is an interdisciplinary and pioneering project at the crossroads of several disciplines: Palaeography, Codicology, Philology and Linguistics. The idea that underpins the project is to use every piece of evidence (i.e., palaeographical and codicological, textual and linguistic) from manuscript books, in order to investigate the transmission of two branches of vernacular scientific knowledge, i.e., mathematics and medicine, in fourteenth-century Italy. The project is based on three preliminary assumptions: 1) fourteenth-century Italy was not just a cultural and literary hub but also the environment where new scientific knowledge was shaped through new types of texts; 2) the transmission of knowledge, both in its textual and linguistic components, should be considered as related to the material organisation of the manuscript book; 3) the development of vernacular scientific literature was not a mere process of translation and diffusion of notions already conveyed in Latin, but is the result of a more complex underplay. In order to investigate the transmission of mathematics and medicine, “Books of Science” will provide scholars with an integrated open-access database including 1) a census of all the extant fourteenth-century mathematical and medical vernacular manuscripts, 2) analytical descriptions of the manuscripts preserved in Florentine libraries described according to an innovative structure of catalogue entry that combines codicological descriptions with textual and linguistic analyses, and 3) complete digitisations of codices kept in Florentine libraries not yet digitised. The output will consist in two volumes offering the descriptions of mathematical and medical manuscripts, as well as a group of relevant studies on them, and in a volume providing the critical edition of three medical vernacular texts. Short manuscripts descriptions will also be published on a website (under construction).
Results achieved
The project has produced an innovative external and internal description of 61 mathematical and medical manuscripts preserved in three major Florentine libraries (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Biblioteca Riccardiana), coordinated the program of digitization of the same manuscripts in open access (currently in preparation), and created a website offering short descriptions of the codices and links to the digitizations (under construction).Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Iolanda Ventura
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di FIRENZE(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 73.920,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
28/09/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
