This course will provide an introduction to manuscript-production in Britain and Ireland over the course of a millennium. It will explore questions of palaeography, diplomatic, and processes of transcription.  

The course will begin by introducing Insular script (Insular Half-uncial and the various types of Insular minuscule). What is so unusual about Insular script, and how do we recognise it? We will consider how Insular script manifested in different places: Ireland, England, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, Brittany, and Continental foundations such as Bobbio and Echternach. In the process, we will look in detail at a selection of important and/or particularly interesting manuscripts, discuss how they may be dated and localized within the Insular world, and practise reading from them. The course will then examine the rise of English-language texts in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and their manuscript contexts. The final two days will focus on Early Modern handwriting: how to decipher it and the range of forms that documents took in this period. We will discuss the process of editorial intervention that enables us to present our transcription in a form that makes it accessible to others in a satisfactory scholarly way.  

Students will have the opportunity to work with Senate House Library’s collection of facsimiles and to examine manuscript material in London collections. Knowledge of Latin is helpful, but not essential. 

Course tutors: Dr Helen McKee and Dr Nigel Ramsay

Fees

The fee for the London International Palaeography School 2026 includes the provision of documentary materials.

	Rate per course
Standard	£675
Concession*	£490

*student/unwaged

Please get in touch with the Summer Schools Administrator if you have any questions (iesevents@sas.ac.uk) 

Bursaries 2026

We are pleased to offer a limited number of bursaries for attendance at the IES London International Palaeography School. We are grateful for the support of the Bibliographical Society, who have kindly provided funds for these bursaries.

• Bursaries will be offered for a fee reduction.
• Applications will be judged on the basis of financial need, as well as benefit to the applicant. We will use your ‘Statement of Motivation’ and ‘Statement of Need’ to help us make the awards.
• Decisions will be made by senior academic staff in the IES.
• You are usually expected to write a short blog after attending LIPS about your experience.  

If you have any questions about the Bursary scheme, please email iesevents@sas.ac.uk.

Applications should be submitted by 7 April 2026, and you will be notified of the outcome by the end of April 2026.