The Asante kingdom is in West Africa; the Asante religion is influenced by Islam and came under the influence of writing at the beginning of the nineteenth century and used writing both to secure the kingdom's hold over conquered peoples and to organize an internal system of taxation and tribute.
Authority is the power to influence the actions or opinions of others, inspire belief, or adjudicate disputes. Also, as a noun, the person whose opinion or testimony is accepted. In the Middle Ages, particularly with regard to the interpretation of texts, there was a fairly regularized group of textual authorities--among them including Saints Augustine and Jerome--whose texts were used to decide many questions of interpretation. Authority frequently is discussed as auctoritas in medieval sources, which designate by that term the authoritative quality of a text, its authenticity. Medieval scholars worried about the fallibility of their sources, wondering if human error of the authors--the auctores--could undermine the truth, the "auctoritas," of what they wrote. Did the sins of the auctores devalue their wisdom? St. Bonaventure wrote that Solomon's sins did not disqualify his writings, because Solomon wrote which he was doing penance. But it was also believed that God spoke through evil men as well as those who were good, and that, finally, the authority of revealed truth did not rest on the morality of those to whom it had been revealed.
A charter is a document recording and providing proof of a judicial or legal act. Deeds, contracts, constitutions, privileges and mandates are all charters. (DMA)
The Order of Citeaux, a monastic order based on the Rule of St. Benedict, originated in 1098, and was named after the first establishment, Ceteaux, in Burgundy, France. Ceteaux was founded by (St.) Robert of Molesme (d.1111). As Benedictine abbot of Molesme he had failed to achieve real monastic reform, so he left that abbey with 21 of his adherents, and in 1098 founded Citeaux in a wooded wilderness, near Dijon. The purpose of the new establishment was the instituting of a life of poverty, simplicity, and eremitical solitude under the guidance of the Rule of St. Benedict in its strictest interpretation. . . . Other measures simplified the overgrown monastic liturgy then customary in Benedictine houses and prescribed austere simplicity both in church vestments and in church furnishings (NCE 885-6).
A codex (the plural is "codices") is a manuscript book, made up of sheets of parchment folded into quires and stitched at the center, forming a number of pages. The word comes from the Latin caudex, the trunk of a tree, and derives from the first books, which were formed of linked wooden tablets. See the Manuscript Book module for more information about book production and the history of the book. (DMA)
In theology, contrition is a technical term for the repentance of sin. It is an interior sorrow for and hatred of sin combined with the resolve to sin no more. Contrition can be brought about both by the fear of punishment and the love of God. It is necessary for forgiveness. (NCE)
A person or thing which serves as a model for imitation. In scribal terms, the exemplar is the original document from which a copy is made. A related term is "exemplum," an anecdote or story, often in the context of a sermon, designed to illustrate a moral point. (OED)
Florilegia (singular: florilegium) is an early modern word taken from Latin "flos" (flower) and "legere" (to pick out). It refers to a collection of quotations or excerpts selected by a compiler from the work of other writers. In the 12th century, the term "flores" was used to describe such selected abstracts, which generally contain a prologue explaining the compiler's choice of materials as well as a fairly accurate citation of sources. Florilegia are often called "commonplace books," and are thought to give us insight as to the works read by the typical literate individuals of the Middle Ages. (DMA)
A book containing the accounts of Christ's life written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that form the New Testament. Because these stories were central to medieval Christianity, medieval scribes produced more Gospel Books than any other texts. Gospel Books, many of them illustrated or illuminated, were often displayed at the altar. Some examples are of great size and beauty and include full-page illustrations and gem-encrusted covers. (DMA)
The second of the chants of the Gregorian Mass, or a book containing Mass chants. The name comes from the Latin "responsorium graduale", a designation found in early Gregorian manuscripts and assumed to refer to the position of the singer on the steps of the ambo. By the beginning of the 10th century the term "liber gradualis" had come to mean any book of Mass music. Graduals (the books) are found in many sizes and qualities, from small, poorly written texts (which appear to be for instructional use) to elaborately illustrated copies associated with the larger monasteries. (DMA)
A Greek word meaning word, speech, discourse, or reason. The term is often used interchangeably with logic. In some theologies it was used to name the second person of the Trinity (Christ). In the Middle Ages, "logos" was defined as the word was used in the Gospel of John to describe both the creative and the redemptive power of God, with this power assimilated to the historic person of Christ. "Logos" tends to personify the word of God as God's creative power, the means by which God expresses himself in the world.
Monastic rules began as records of conferences or conversations among monks about their daily practices and prayers. Eventually these texts were recorded and codified and became guidebooks according to which monasteries governed their daily routines. The most famous and influential rule is that of St. Benedict (his dates are uncertain, 480?-575? A.D.), which was adopted widely throughout medieval Europe and which is still in use. Benedict's rule specifies precise details about times of prayer and matters of discipline and religious observance, but also lays down broad outlines for conduct of the spiritual life. Another important early rule is that of the Irish monk and missionary St. Columbanus.
The knowledge or study of old writing. Paleography deals with the classification, origin, development, persistence, dissemination, modification, dilution, and disintegration of specific types of scripts. Knowledge of script styles is often used to date manuscripts or to determine their provenance (where they were written). (DMA)
A work or a surface with a second text or image imposed over an effaced original. Because of the scarcity and expense of parchment in the Middle Ages, older texts were sometimes scraped off the surface of the hide to accommodate new writings. In time, the original often shows through or can be revealed by special photographic techniques. (DMA)
From the Latin rota, wheel, and rotulus, little wheel, "roll" designates an ancient form of book, in which sheets of papyrus or parchment were joined end to end and rolled for storage. Though they were supplanted by the codex in later antiquity, rolls were retained throughout the Middle Ages for some ceremonial and legal purposes. The Latin term is volumen. (DMA)
The Scriptorium is a place where manuscripts were written and copied. In the West, most scriptoria seem to have been housed in monasteries until the late Middle Ages. Orders such as the Cistercians regulated the production of books in their scriptoria. Hence, characteristic paleographical and patterns sometimes allow scholars to group together isolated manuscripts and hypothesize their place of origin. The existence of permanent scriptoria in Byzantium is less certain. Scholars have linked small groups of manuscripts to imperial or monastic centers - both types are documented - but private enterprise also produced manuscripts, perhaps on an ad hoc basis (DMA 119).
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