La produzione libraria formale in età comnena tra persistenze calligrafiche e vocazioni mimetiche

This article aims to investigate the permanence of the most formal and calligraphic tradition in Byzantine handwritings in Constantino ple and in the centre of the Empire from the late 11th to the late 12th century, namely a phase of intense graphic transformation due to the so-called “cambio grafico”. The corpus under palaeographic analysis consists on one side of manuscripts which are dated (a few) or datable, in most cases by means of their illumination, and on the other side of manuscripts which have been referred to the Comnenian age by cataloguers and scholars or are brought to the attention here as potential products of that period, and which are preserved in some of the main collections of Greek manuscripts. Some graphic typologies or tendencies will be outlined inside this traditional yet heterogeneous “galaxy” of formal handwritings, hopefully enlarging our view on the variety shown by this high-level production despite its conservative call.