Digital Approaches to Materiality of Manuscripts, session at the 2025 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 7–10, 2025

In recent decades, there has been growing interest in the materiality of manuscripts, alongside the increasing use of digital tools in manuscript studies. This shift is influenced by various theoretical approaches to medieval texts, such as transmission history, intertextuality, and artefactual philology. We aim to explore how digital technologies, including Al, can enhance our understanding of the materiality of manuscripts and how they impact the experiences of both readers and scholars. We are interested in investigating what new approaches digital methods offer to studying the production, dissemination, and reception of texts and manuscripts in their material context. These sessions will bring together scholars from diverse areas of medieval studies, with a particular emphasis on the use of digital methods. We encourage comparative approaches and invite papers exploring especially the following topics:

• networks of manuscript production, circulation and provenance,
• quantitative approaches to palaeography and codicology of manuscripts,
• Al and manuscript studies,
• teaching and learning with manuscripts in the digital age.

Sponsor
Digital Medievalist, an international community for medievalists working with digital media established in 2003

Organisers
Dr N. Kıvılcım Yavuz, University of Leeds
Dr Katarzyna Anna Kapitan, ENC - PSL