Mateusz Fafinski (University of Tübingen)

Textual mapping: Representations of space as text in medieval manuscripts

In this paper we will travel across medieval manuscripts in search of representations of space. In our journey we will focus specifically on one particular form of it: that of cities. Medieval manuscripts enabled for a particularly interesting and ingenious phenomenology of urban landscape. Cities were a complicated, if fixed, presence in medieval imagination. Drawing on urban space theory, manuscript studies and literary studies we will examine three examples of urban representation in text, image, and parchment. These will help us to discover different ways of making urban space legible for medieval audiences. We will see how fully understanding these strategies of urban legibility is only possible if we look closely at the manuscripts themselves and that this process can help us better appreciate even some well-known texts.