Back in 1994, the engineers at the American software company General Magic started using the word ‘cloud’ to describe what later came to be known as ‘cloud computing’. The cyber-skies became seriously overcast in 2000 when Amazon pushed the first cloud product, called Elastic Compute Cloud. All of us push data up into the cloudContinue reading “The medieval Cloud”
Category Archives: chronicle
The paradox of the medieval page
Preparing a medieval parchment page for writing was as difficult for a scribe as typesetting a page was (and sometimes still is) for a printer. The parchment was cut, folded, pricked, ruled, and the rules governing these essential operations evolved throughout the medieval period. It accounts for the changes in manuscript book layout, from theContinue reading “The paradox of the medieval page”
Titling the untitled
Just like the fish in the water that take the water for granted, so are we immersed in our culture(s) so deeply that we find it hard to imagine that things were once very different from what they are now. Imagine looking for a book that doesn’t have a title, how would you ask aroundContinue reading “Titling the untitled”
The library of secrets
Who doesn’t like a medieval secret? One of the enduring features of the medieval period is that of an age of secrecy. There’s a secret in every corner, the dark centuries are replete with mystery, teeming with hidden treasures, shrouded, cloaked, clouded – with secrecy. Not really. If the medieval age of secrecy is moreContinue reading “The library of secrets”
A tale of three classical manuscripts
The three oldest surviving illustrated manuscripts of classical literature have three things in common. They are all written on vellum, were made around the 5th century CE and went almost completely unnoticed for 1,000 years. If popularity is one of the main factors in assuring a book’s survival over the centuries, then this is trueContinue reading “A tale of three classical manuscripts”
Ages of information
What do the Hellenistic period (4th-1st centuries BCE) and the Western High Middle Ages (1100-1300 CE) have in common? At first sight, this is a silly question. More than a thousand years separate the two periods, so to find something they share seems like a red herring. And yet, in the long history of EuropeanContinue reading “Ages of information”
Total control
From an economic point of view, the monastic scribal culture of (some of) the Middle Ages was autarchic. The writing culture in the modern world cannot achieve autarchy. You may write a book by hand, but you still need to purchase the paper, the pen and the refill/ink. Even if you’re a book artist, youContinue reading “Total control”
Remembering to forget
Article 17 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) creates the legal framework in the European Union for the right to be forgotten. Couched in terms of a ‘right to erasure of personal data’, this oblivion clause ensures that others don’t have claim to our history. That our past is ours alone. That we’ve comeContinue reading “Remembering to forget”
Living in dark times
No other historical age has suffered more at the hands of historians than the so-called Dark Ages, the period between the 5th and 15th century AD. The medieval period as a dark age has been one of the most enduring legacies of past historiography, while scholars – medievalists, but not exclusively – have tried hardContinue reading “Living in dark times”
Autopsy of history
In John’s Gospel, Thomas the apostle became the archetype of doubt: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:24) Little did doubting Thomas know that his doubt counted him, not only with theContinue reading “Autopsy of history”
