Personal Grief in a Public Space: A Micrographic Inscription as a Historical Source (Ms Vienna Cod. 16)

In an Ashkenazi Biblical manuscript (created around 1300) the Masora Magna on the Book of Psalms was added to every page in micrography in the shape of large Hebrew letters. This micrography forms a text that was written by the Naqdan himself to commemorate members of his family who had been murdered during a persecution.

Along with dating this inscription and reconstructing the events of the persecution, I will consider the follow questions: In what way was this Biblical codex perceived as the public realm of a certain Jewish community or in general as the public domain of all readers? Which function did this kind of commemoration of the dead take in the public space? Is this form of commemorating the dead, as presented here by Naqdan, a generally accepted form or was the writer experimenting with new forms?