Despite the crucial role of texts in connecting Finland to the Christian and Latin cultural sphere, local practices of writing remain poorly known. CHARM will conduct a large-scale survey focusing on the three major writing centres Turku, Naantali, and Viipuri in the 15th century, breaking traditional boundaries in three innovative ways. It integrates humanities and methods from natural sciences, explores beyond textual contents to include writing support and inks, and examines both book fragments and charters together. This comprehensive approach unveils nuanced processes in adopting and modifying writing practices, contributing to a deeper understanding of Finland's early cultural history.
The humanities approach to the study of fragments and charters primarily employs palaeography, content analysis, and codicology. Palaeography, which involves the examination of handwriting and scripts, plays a crucial role in deciphering and dating manuscripts, determining script origins, and identifying scribes or scriptoria. Content analysis studies the textual and intellectual content of manuscripts, identifying variations and tracing transmission within textual traditions. While palaeography and content analysis focus on the text, codicology examines the physical aspects of manuscripts, like the layout, and colours used.
With non-invasive ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) the animal species used for parchment production can be characterised without compromising any of the original material of the object. Additionally, the PQI (Parchment Quality Index) will be measured, that allows the measurement of the deamidation of collagen, informing us about parchment production patterns and quality.
The aim is to identify and characterise pigments, colourants, and binders used for the inks and paints in the material. These results contribute to aspects of chronology, locality, and the connection to a certain scriptorium or even an individual scribes:
XRF - an elemental distribution of inorganic constituents.
FTIR – for the identification and characterization of inorganic and organic constituents.
Multispectral imaging for most major inorganic materials, and many organic materials, and some binding media.