Writing Beyond Pen and Parchment: Inscribed Objects in Medieval European Literature (Materiale Textkulturen, 30)

What can stories of magical engraved rings or prophetic inscriptions on walls tell us about how writing was perceived before print transformed the world? Writing beyond Pen and Parchment introduces readers to a Middle Ages where writing is not confined to manuscripts but is inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. Drawing on the work done at the Collaborative Research Centre "Material Text Cultures, " (SFB 933) this volume presents a comparative overview of how and where text-bearing artefacts appear in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian and Iberian literary traditions, and also traces the paths inscribed objects chart across multiple linguistic and cultural traditions. The volume's focus on the raw materials and practices that shaped artefacts both mundane or fantastical in medieval narratives offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture often overlooked. Christine Neufeld and Ricarda Wagner / Introduction 1 Literary Inscriptions Across Europe Laura Velte and Michael R. Ott / Writing Between Stillness and Movement: Script-Bearing Artefacts in Courtly German Literature 17 Katja Schulz / Inscriptions in Old Norse Literature 41 Christine Neufeld and Ricarda Wagner / Inscriptions in British Literature: From Runes to the Rise of Public Poetry 63 Iris Roebling-Grau and Sascha A. Schultz / Old French Narrated Inscriptions 93 Elisa De Roberto / Inscriptions in Italian Literature 109 Stephanie Béreiziat-Lang / Inscriptions on the Iberian Peninsula: Material Script and Narrative Logic in Castilian and Catalan Literatures 141 Materials Michael R. Ott / Culture in Nature: Writing on Wood 167 Sascha A. Schultz / Inscriptions on Stone 179 Stephanie Béreiziat-Lang and Michael R. Ott / From Tattoo to Stigma: Writing on Body and Skin 193 Ludger Lieb / Woven Words, Embroidered Stories: Inscriptions on Textiles 209 Artefacts Christine Neufeld / Writing Spaces: Inscriptions on Architecture 223 Ricarda Wagner / Tablets and the Poetics of the Premodern Post-It 239 Laura Velte / Sepulchral Representation: Inscribed Tombs and Narrated Epitaphs in the High Middle Ages 255 Michael R. Ott / Text-Bearing Warriors: Inscriptions on Weapons 275 Christoph Witt / More Than Bling: Inscribed Jewellery Between Social Distinction, Amatory Gift-Giving, and Spiritual Practice 291 A Cabinet of Curiosities / With contributions by Maria Krümpelmann, Ludger Lieb, Tamara Ludwig, Christine Neufeld, Michael R. Ott and Ricarda Wagner 315 Indices 333 "In the Middle Ages, writing was not confined to manuscripts, but inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. This volume presents the first comparative overview of text-bearing artefacts in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian, and Iberian literature and offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture." -- Back cover The series Material Text Cultures is the publication organ of the Collaborative Research Center 933 of the same name at Heidelberg University, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The series publishes collections and monographs dedicated to the Collaborative Research Center's main focus of research - that is, the materiality and presence of writing in non-typographic societies.