The Codex Amiatinus in Context 

(Conference: July 14-17, 2016)

The Codex Amiatinus is one of the most remarkable ecclesiastical productions of Anglo-Saxon England, and indeed, is one of the earliest surviving copies of the Vulgate in the West. It was produced in Northumbria as a papal gift, in the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow and dates to the beginning of the eighth century. For much of its history its making and identity were subject to intense debate, with both a continental and Northumbrian provenance being argued for in the early scholarship. Although it has since been definitively identified as ‘Northumbrian’, this remarkable book still presents a plethora of intellectual avenues to explore: such as its political and material identity; its visual language; the monetary and intellectual wealth that lie behind its production; its textual tradition; its palaeographic, codicological, artistic and theological significances; the role of the institution of the Church in the Medieval period and access to the manuscript (past and present) alongside the role of digitisations and facsimiles – to name but a few.

The forthcoming conference which will be held at both the University of York and ‘Bede’s World', Jarrow between the 14th and 17th July 2016, sets out to foreground the Codex within Medieval Studies on the anniversary of its leaving England for Rome in 716, bringing together scholars working on various aspects of the manuscript and its contexts in order to highlight the unique status of this book within the Insular (and continental) canon and the new ideas and ongoing discussions it continues to provoke among those that study its remarkable pages.

This four-day multi-disciplinary conference brings together a wide range of scholars: emerging, early career researchers and established academics, to provide a platform to discuss the Codex and its contexts, as manifested in the visual, textual and material evidence presented by the book, and the wider contextual milieu of the intellectual, political, theological and economic setting of the early medieval world – alongside the landmark creation of a facsimile to be housed and displayed at Bede’s World in Jarrow. 

Confirmed speakers include: Nick Baker, Meg Boulton, Celia Chazelle (keynote), Carol Farr, Richard Gameson (Keynote), Mary Garrison, Jane Hawkes, Hugh Houghton, Georgia Michael, Conor O'Brien, Tom O'Loughlin, Alan Thacker, Lila Yawn.

For further information and to register (for any part of the conference), see: https://codexamiatinusconference.wordpress.com/