Wandering Books seeks to address the challenge of better localising manuscripts. It brings together a geneticist (Prof. Dan Bradley), a manuscript specialist (Dr Nicole Volmering), an intellectual historian (Dr Immo Warntjes) and a historical linguist (Dr Mark Faulkner) to supervise between them four PhDs taking distinct methodological approaches to the same corpus of manuscripts deriving from early medieval Britain and Ireland: one hunting the animals whose skins made the manuscripts, one tracing the techniques used to assemble the skins into a book and write it, another tracking the texts it contains as they diffused across Europe, and a fourth listening for the languages the manuscript contains. With funding from the Trinity Research Doctorate Awards: Group-based Research Projects 2024-5, Wandering Books will recruit four PhD students, starting September 2024. Students will receive a stipend of €25,000pa for the four years of the PhD, and have their fees waived.

This advertisement is specifically for:

PhD2: Tracing Techniques: Manuscript production, supervised by Nicole Volmering, and designed to investigate aspects of book production relevant to the localisation of manuscripts. These may include (but are by no means limited to): the preparation of parchment for writing; codicological structuring; and palaeographical analysis. Many of these features have a culturally specific determination in the insular world and the candidate will aim to shed light on their place within the regional dynamics of manuscript production. The successful candidate will work on manuscripts belonging to a select region within the medieval Irish-continental diaspora for which the origin – Irish or Continental – is contested.

PhD3: Tracking Texts: Content Analysis, supervised by Immo Warntjes, and designed to investigate the content of early medieval codices as a tool for localisation. In the early Middle Ages, Irish script manuscripts were not only produced in Ireland, but also on the Continent by Irish peregrini or schoolmasters. It is often very difficult to assess whether a book or its scribe moved to the Continent. A detailed textual analysis of every single item in such codices – securely placing them in the transmission history of this text – can shed bright light on where each individual text, and ultimately their combination, were likely copied. The successful candidate will conduct such analysis on one or a group of early medieval Irish script manuscripts for which the origin – Irish or Continental – is contested.

PhD4: Listening to Language: Philology, supervised by Mark Faulkner, and designed to investigate how far it may be possible to localise Latin manuscripts on the basis of their language. Possible approaches include (but are by no means limited to):

  • Comparative analyses of the spelling, punctuation and abbreviation of Latin texts
  • Corpus-linguistic analyses of Latin texts, based either on existing corpora or the construction of new ones, perhaps using new techniques (e. g. HTR)
  • Comparative analyses of bilingual manuscripts, where the vernacular allows for localisation
  • Studies of scribal copying practices
  • Editing of unlocalised early medieval Latin texts

Students interested in PhD2 or PhD3 are invited to send a motivation letter, a CV, academic transcripts, a sample of written work, and two academic references to postgradhishum@tcd.ie by Tuesday 9 July. For PhD4, please send the same documentation to Dr Mark Faulkner (faulknem@tcd.ie) by the same deadline. It is envisaged shortlisted applicants will be interviewed towards the end of that week or in the week beginning 15 July. The final stage of the application process will involve the submission of a formal PhD proposal to Trinity.

The following may be considered the essential and desirable qualifications for the award:

Essential

  • A first-class / high 2.i (or equivalent) undergraduate degree in History, Linguistics, Medieval Studies, Celtic Studies, Classics or another relevant subject
  • High reading ability in Latin
  • Demonstrable communicative competence in English
  • Willingness to work in an interdisciplinary team
  • Willingness to participate in training and development activities

Desirable

  • Good working knowledge of Medieval Latin philology and palaeography
  • Experience in editing early medieval Latin texts
  • Experience of historical corpus linguistics
  • Experience working with manuscripts and manuscript libraries