Joanna Tucker

A very good, dense study of two medieval Scottish cartularies—from Glasgow Cathedral and the Tironensian community of Lindores—which uses the manuscripts as case studies to argue for a shift in cartulary studies more generally. Joanna Tucker argues for the cartulary as not a document type but as an action or approach; these were "active manuscripts" with life cycles. Tucker works closely with the codicology and palaeography to study not just how the manuscripts were compiled but how they were used over time. (Very closely—this is, as I said, a dense text and not one for a neophyte to the field.) She rightfully points out that scholars can focus too much on issues of initial creation of cartularies and overlook how they were used and added to over many generations. I'm not sure that I was entirely convinced by Tucker's assertion that she's putting forward a new methodology for cartulary studies here—some of it seems to be new terminology for things that people already do?—but I think her reframing of a cartulary as "a shared space for the community" has something to offer.… (mehr)