“Reading Archival Latin”
Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar
22 —25 May 2023 • Remote
The Summer Skills Seminar, “Reading Archival Latin,” formerly, “Introduction to the Archive of the Crown of Aragon (documents in Latin to ca. 1350)” will be held via Zoom from Monday, 22 May to Thursday, 25 May from 10am to noon and 1–3pm MDT.
Course overview
The Archive of the Crown of Aragon (ACA) in Barcelona contains one of the largest and richest archival collections relating to medieval Europe, comprising hundreds of thousands of documents, most from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, and including financial records, royal letters, administrative documents, trial records, treaties, and many other genres. The documentation can be used for a whole range of topics including social, economic, political, institutional, gender, diplomatic, cultural and religious history.
The territories of the Crown of Aragon included much of the Iberian Peninsula, parts of southern France, Sicily and southern Italy, parts of Tunisia and Greece, the Balearics, Sardinia and other Mediterranean islands. It had a large and diverse urban population, was highly integrated into Mediterranean and European trade systems, and had significant populations of Muslims and Jews. It developed one of the earliest and most robust chanceries of medieval Europe; the collections of which have weathered the vicissitudes of history all but intact. Much of the documentation has yet to be used by historians. The skills seminar will focus on the Latin-language documentation (from the eleventh to the mid-fourteenth centuries) in the archive’s collections.
This four-day intensive skills seminar will focus on a hands-on introduction to reading unedited Latin documents from a variety of the archive’s fonds and provide participants with an overview of the collections of the ACA, including access to online resources and reproductions.
Topics will include: manuscript abbreviations, dating systems, place and personal names, and research resources and techniques. As much as possible the content will be catered to participants’ interests and needs. Medievalists of all disciplines, graduate students, and qualified undergraduate students, as well as library and archival professionals are encouraged to apply.
The goal is to provides attendees with a solid preparation for conducting work remotely via the PARES web portal and on-site at the ACA. Participants will find the skills and techniques which the course focuses on useful not only at the Archive of the Crown but at other medieval archives across Spain and Europe.
This Summer Skills Seminar builds on the experience of earlier editions, which participants signaled as “transformative” in terms of their research, and which provided them with an opportunity to network and lay the foundations for future collaborations. For information and participant reviews of our former Skills Seminars.
Faculty
The course will be conducted by Prof. Brian A. Catlos (Religious Studies, CU Boulder). A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Medieval Studies (Phd, 2000) and now a historian of pre-Modern Spain and the Mediterranean, Catlos has been using the collections of the ACA since 1995, primarily for research into the social and economic history of the Crown of Aragon and Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations.
Fees
$1000 for Full Professors, Librarians, Professionals, Independent Scholars;
$750 for tenured Associates;
$500 for non-tenured Associates and Assistants & Graduate and Undergraduate students;
$350 for Adjuncts, Lecturers & Contingent faculty.
Members of University of Colorado departments may be eligible for a discount.
Faculty and students who both nationals of and both reside and study in low per capita-GDP countries may apply for a reduction (please contact mailbox@mediterraneanseminar.org).
Payment information will be provided at the time of acceptance.
Fees are non-refundable.
Application & Information
Applicants should have at least an intermediate level of reading Latin. Those wishing to bone-up on their Latin fluency in advance of the course are encouraged to read the Latin Vulgate and review declensions and conjugations.
Please note: sessions will not be recorded; synchronous attendance is required.
The application period is until April 15.
Payment in full is due by April 21 (or within one week for later registrants) - this can be adjusted according to circumstances.
Late applicants may be accommodated if space remains; there will be a $50 surcharge for late applications that are accepted.
A letter of confirmation will be provided by the Mediterranean Seminar.
For sample documents, see the bottom of this page.
Apply via this form. [download poster]
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
For further information or inquiries, contact Brian Catlos (brian.catlos@colorado.edu; subject: “Summer Skills Information”).
Program
Monday, 23 May 2022
10am-noon; 1:00-3:00pm
1. The History & Structure of the Archive of the Crown of Aragon
2. Pergaminos/Pergamins
Tuesday, 24 May 2022
10am-noon; 1:00-3:00pm
1. The Royal Chancery: The Registers
2. Reading the Registers
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
10am-noon; 1:00-3:00pm
1. Royal Letters
2. Using Royal Letters
Thursday, 26 May 2022
10am-noon; 1:00-3:00pm
1. Beyond the Chancery
2. Research techniques
Sample documents and transcriptions
1) ACA, C., reg. 139, f. 303v – transcription
2) ACA, C., reg. 232, f. 80v–81r – transcription
3) ACA, C., reg. 304, f. 19r – transcription
