Cathedral Libraries and Archives in the British Isles

The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference: 2-4 July 2014

Plenary lectures by Nigel Morgan (Cambridge), Christopher Norton (York), Rodney Thomson (Tasmania), and Magnus Williamson (Newcastle)

The York Manuscripts Conference has been held biennially or triennially since 1986 and, with about 50 papers, is amongst the largest conferences in Europe dedicated to manuscript studies. This Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference will have as its topic the Cathedral Libraries and Archives of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland comprise some of the most remarkable and least explored collections of medieval and early modern manuscripts. While predictably focused on theological, liturgical, and devotional books, they also contain many medical, scientific, and literary sources, as well as legal and administrative documents. In addition to the many collections that are still in situ, others are now being looked after elsewhere, or have been dispersed.

This international conference brings together scholars from a range of Humanities disciplines to consider the under-studied subject of Cathedral Libraries and Archives of the British Isles in the medieval and early modern periods. Papers will range over the formation and housing of cathedral library collections, books and archival materials produced by members of the cathedrals, acquisitions and donations, and the dispersal of collections at the reformation.

The event will also mark the 600th anniversary of the re-founding of York Minster Library and include a visit to the original library space, built in the wake of the bequest by John Newton in 1414.

Programme: Cathedral Libraries Archives programme (PDF , 361kb)

For registeration and further details see the Centre for Medieval Studies conference website: www.york.ac.uk/medieval-studies/conferences/ymc-2014/

The conference is organised in association with the Cathedrals Libraries and Archives Network (CLAN), which seeks to engender, co-ordinate, facilitate and promote research on the Cathedral collections, and to act as an interface between academic communities, church bodies, and the wider public.

The conference is generously supported by the Department for English and Related Literature and the Department of History of Art at the University of York, and the Society for Renaissance Studies.

Conference Organisers: Brian Cummings, Linne Mooney, Bill Sherman and Hanna Vorholt.

Hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York, in association with the Cathedral Libraries and Archives Network (CLAN).