Investigating the origins and development of the Cotton Collection at the British Library

调查大英图书馆棉花收藏的起源和发展

• 批准号: 2734777
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2734777
• 关键词: Investigating; origins; development; Cotton; Collection

The library put together by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631) and his descendants was once described as 'the most important collection of manuscripts ever assembled in Britain by a private individual'. It contains more than 1,400 medieval and early modern manuscripts and over 1,500 charters, rolls and seals, among them items of international heritage significance, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, Beowulf and two copies of the 1215 Magna Carta. This collection was perhaps the most important single means by which pre-Reformation textual culture was preserved: it became a repository of memory and a site of nation-making. It was also the engine which powered seventeenth-century antiquarianism, underpinning a myriad of projects -- editorial, narrative, polemical. There are two chief avenues of research to explore. The first would be to continue, extend and deepen the investigations of Colin Tite into the early users of the Cotton Library, showing how its manuscripts came to underpin the evolution of historiography, textual editing, and religio-political debate in the seventeenth century, and how the library came to be considered a 'national' collection. The second avenue seems to the supervisory team more groundbreaking still. This would be to investigate the origins of Cotton's library itself. Where, when, and how did he acquire his manuscripts? What were the aims and motivations of Cotton's collecting? What kind of a collector was he, in comparison to other leading manuscript collectors such as Matthew Parker (1504- 1575), Archbishop of Canterbury? How was Cotton's collecting inspired and shaped by the political contexts within which he worked, and by the advice of mentors such as William Camden (whose own Britannia emerged in concert with the growth of Cotton's library)? What kind of a maker and assembler of books was Cotton? How did the other things he collected -- coins, stones, printed books -- complement his manuscripts? How far did Cotton already conceptualise his collection as in some sense a 'national' library (a timely question as we reflect intensively today on the nature of 'Britishness')? And in what aspects of his collecting was Cotton most unique, innovative, and influential? This project will situate Cotton's collecting within the wider contexts of early modern culture: the histories of antiquarianism, politics, learning, collecting, reading, and book-making. Key research questions are likely to include: - To what extent is the Cotton library distinctive, compared to other libraries assembled in Europe at the same time, and what characteristics does it share with similar contemporary collections? - What role did the library play in the scholarly, cultural and political life of the nation? Early users of the Cotton collection included key figures such as Francis Bacon, Inigo Jones, and James Ussher, bishop of Armagh. Sir Robert Cotton was an MP and advisor to King James I, and his library was often the focus of parliamentarian scrutiny, since it contained state papers and other items of national significance. - When, how, and from whom did the Cotton family acquire their manuscripts? - What were Cotton's collecting principles? Which types of work are not represented and which were included in larger than average numbers? - Is there any evidence that women had access to the Cotton library or made donations to it?

罗伯特·科顿爵士（Robert Cotton, 1571-1631）和他的后代建立的这个图书馆曾被描述为“英国有史以来由个人收集的最重要的手稿收藏”。它包含1400多份中世纪和早期现代手稿，1500多份宪章、卷轴和印章，其中包括具有国际遗产意义的物品，如《林蒂斯法尔福音书》、《贝奥武夫》和1215年《大宪章》的两份副本。这种收藏可能是保存宗教改革前文本文化的最重要的单一手段：它成为记忆的储存库和国家建立的场所。它也是17世纪古物研究的动力引擎，支撑着无数的项目——社论、叙事、辩论。有两个主要的研究途径需要探索。第一个是继续、扩展和深化科林·蒂特对棉花图书馆早期用户的调查，展示它的手稿是如何支撑17世纪历史编纂、文本编辑和宗教政治辩论的演变的，以及图书馆是如何被认为是一个“国家”收藏的。对于监管团队来说，第二条道路似乎更具开创性。这将是为了调查科顿图书馆本身的起源。他是在哪里、什么时候、怎样得到这些手稿的？科顿收集的目的和动机是什么？与其他主要的手稿收藏家，如坎特伯雷大主教马修·帕克（1504- 1575）相比，他是一个什么样的收藏家？科顿的收藏是如何受到他工作的政治环境的启发和塑造的，以及威廉·卡姆登（William Camden）等导师的建议（他自己的《不列颠》（Britannia）与科顿图书馆的发展同时出现）？科顿是一个怎样的书的制造者和组装者？他收集的其他东西——硬币、石头、印刷书籍——是如何补充他的手稿的？在某种意义上，科顿已经将他的收藏概念化为“国家”图书馆了多久（当我们今天集中反思“英国性”的本质时，这是一个及时的问题）？在他的收藏中，哪些方面是最独特、最创新、最具影响力的？这个项目将把科顿的收藏置于更广泛的早期现代文化背景下：古物收藏、政治、学习、收藏、阅读和书籍制作的历史。关键的研究问题可能包括：-与同一时期在欧洲组建的其他图书馆相比，科顿图书馆在多大程度上与众不同？它与同类当代馆藏有什么共同之处？-图书馆在国家的学术、文化和政治生活中发挥了什么作用？Cotton系列的早期用户包括弗朗西斯·培根、伊尼戈·琼斯和阿马主教詹姆斯·厄舍等关键人物。罗伯特·科顿爵士是国会议员，也是国王詹姆斯一世的顾问，他的图书馆经常是国会审查的焦点，因为它包含了国家文件和其他具有国家意义的物品。——科顿家族是什么时候、怎样、从谁那里得到他们的手稿的？-科顿的收集原则是什么？哪些类型的工作没有被代表，哪些工作被包含在比平均数字大的数字中？-是否有证据表明妇女可以进入科顿图书馆或向其捐款？