B. Schalekamp (Bruno) MA

Bruno Schalekamp’s research focuses on the social and intellectual history of the late antique and early Middle Ages in Western Europe. The sources, development, transmission, and spread of early medieval Latin manuscripts, as well as their influence on the social lives of medieval people, are his focus at Radboud University. His current project specifically considers the prohibition of clerical cohabitation with ‘non-blood-related’ women from its inception in early Christian sources (‘spiritual marriage’ or syneisaktism) to Gratian’s Concordia.

The output of ideas – whatever these may be – their transmission, and their affirmation in the early Middle Ages, occurred very differently from in modern times. Presently, the internet allows us to distribute knowledge to practically all corners of our world, to whoever we want, without limitations. More than a thousand years ago, however, such information had to be borrowed from the right library, collected and compiled by a qualified intellectual, copied by a trained scribe, transported safely, and stored in a dry environment, protected from mice and mold. By studying the final products – the manuscripts – of this often lengthy and relatively expensive process, we gain insight into the texts’ authors, scribes, and intended audiences. Furthermore, we can study the ideas included in such manuscripts, as well as the reasons why they were collected and compiled in a particular textual context and how these ideas changed (or not) throughout history. By focusing specifically on early medieval canon law collections, we can untangle the history of Christian normative texts and their influence on medieval society. In studying their source material, such as ecclesiastical councils and papal decretals, textual transmission, and reception in their respective historical context, we may be able to explore the medieval moral mind.