New Perspectives on the Scripts of Italian Poor Clares

Abstract

This article examines the scripts employed by the Poor Clares of the Corpus Domini monastery in Bologna during the sixteenth century, focusing on a corpus of chronicle manuscripts and obituary registers preserved in the Archiepiscopal Archive. While scholarship on female monastic writing has largely concentrated on fifteenth-century productions, the palaeographical features of later manuscript culture remain underexplored. Through a detailed analysis of multiple scribal hands, this study highlights the diversity of scripts used within a female religious community, from standardized italic scripts to more hybrid forms. Attention is also given to possible connections between graphic competence, education, and institutional roles, suggesting that, in some cases, scribal practice may reflect a nun’s social background and position within the convent. Situating these findings within the broader diffusion of italic as a chancery script across early modern Europe, the article contributes to a reassessment of female scribal practices and their place within the history of writing and book culture.