Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GLOSS-VIBE (Early Medieval Glosses And The Question Of Their Genesis: A Case Study On The Vienna Bede)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-09-01 bis 2023-08-31
Down to the present day, annotating texts has been a very common praxis, and the practices (i.e. underlining, highlighting, glossing, etc.) have not changed since the early medieval period. In manuscripts such annotations are called “glosses”. They are defined as anything on a page which is not the main or base text. Glosses can appear between the lines of the base text or in the margins of a page. Their length ranges from single words to longer commentaries. Gloss-ViBe concentrated on glosses found in four manuscripts from the ninth century transmitting the Venerable Bede’s “De Temporum Ratione”:
1. Its main manuscript the “Vienna Bede”: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex 15298 (Olim Suppl. 2698 = BVi.)
2. Angers, Bibliothèque municipal 477
3. The Karlsruhe Bede: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Augiensis pergamentum 167 (olim Codex Augiensis CLXVII)
4. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 251
“De Temporum Ratione” was written in the early eighth century and is about measuring time an constructing a calendar. Building on parallel glosses on this text found in the four manuscripts, Gloss-ViBe used an interdisciplinary approach to answer the project’s main research question: are vernacular glosses original compositions or translations from original Latin glosses? Addressing this question contributes to an enhanced grasp of how people saw themselves culturally and how intellectual history evolved in the early medieval era, marked by continuous exchanges and diverse interactions among cultures. This investigation into multilingualism during this time not only benefits academic discussions but also holds relevance for contemporary Europe. The insights derived from studying the diverse cultural interactions and migrations of the first millennium AD can significantly aid in comprehending and managing current trends in migration. Throughout the project, three primary objectives were achieved:
- The transcription and collection of (parallel) glosses from the Vienna Bede and the other three manuscripts.
- The creation of a digital edition of the Vienna Bede, encompassing both the base text and its complete paratext.
- The development of a framework to identify and analyse parallel glosses.
This research not only contributes to a deeper understanding of historical cultural and linguistic interactions but also has implications for contemporary Europe by providing insights into multilingualism and migration trends.
1. Its main manuscript the “Vienna Bede”: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex 15298 (Olim Suppl. 2698 = BVi.)
2. Angers, Bibliothèque municipal 477
3. The Karlsruhe Bede: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Augiensis pergamentum 167 (olim Codex Augiensis CLXVII)
4. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 251
“De Temporum Ratione” was written in the early eighth century and is about measuring time an constructing a calendar. Building on parallel glosses on this text found in the four manuscripts, Gloss-ViBe used an interdisciplinary approach to answer the project’s main research question: are vernacular glosses original compositions or translations from original Latin glosses? Addressing this question contributes to an enhanced grasp of how people saw themselves culturally and how intellectual history evolved in the early medieval era, marked by continuous exchanges and diverse interactions among cultures. This investigation into multilingualism during this time not only benefits academic discussions but also holds relevance for contemporary Europe. The insights derived from studying the diverse cultural interactions and migrations of the first millennium AD can significantly aid in comprehending and managing current trends in migration. Throughout the project, three primary objectives were achieved:
- The transcription and collection of (parallel) glosses from the Vienna Bede and the other three manuscripts.
- The creation of a digital edition of the Vienna Bede, encompassing both the base text and its complete paratext.
- The development of a framework to identify and analyse parallel glosses.
This research not only contributes to a deeper understanding of historical cultural and linguistic interactions but also has implications for contemporary Europe by providing insights into multilingualism and migration trends.
I started working on the digital edition of the manuscript Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex 15298 (Olim Suppl. 2698 = BVi.) by manually transcribing the base text and all the paratext using Transkribus (https://readcoop.eu/transkribus/). In addition to the complete transcription of this fragmentary manuscript, I have also transcribed the glosses of the chapters transmitted in BVi. of three further manuscripts. The exported .xml-files were then further edited in Oxygen XML Editor using my own transferable TEI compliant model for modelling gloss corpora with parallel glosses. Using DNA-sequencing methods helped me to identify all the glosses in parallel transmission in my corpus. These glosses have then been included in my master .xml-file, which is also the source for the digital edition. I have then studied the templates used for GAMS projects and started to develop my own project. A first beta version of it was released online in the middle of February 2023. The main features of the website are a detailed about section including a description of the manuscript and my data model, two edition views: facsimile and text only, two glosses lists with minute analyses of the corpus, and three visualisations. At the end of the project, the final version of the website was released.
In addition to the edition I have also written four research articles (all published open access). The first one finds answers to the project’s main research question and shows that there are translations from Irish into Latin as well as vice versa. The second article presents the workflow I have established to detect parallel glosses using DNA-sequencing methods. For the third article I have focussed on the Latin glosses of the Vienna Bede and I have shown that – in contrast to Old Irish glosses – the Latin ones are mostly short. The fourth article discusses a specific form of linguistic contact found in the early medieval Irish glosses: the usage of Roman numerals in these texts. I could show that early medieval Irish scribes used Roman numerals only rarely in bilingual or monolingual Irish contexts and more frequently spelled out the numbers. In addition to the written output of Gloss-ViBe I have given eleven conference and workshop presentations in Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, two conference posters, and one public lecture. Furthermore, I have organised two workshops: an online workshop which I called “Editing Glosses in the 21st century” for which I invited seven international speakers. And, together with Elena Parina (Bonn), I have organised a Transkribus workshop for the 17th International Congress of Celtic Studies.
In addition to the edition I have also written four research articles (all published open access). The first one finds answers to the project’s main research question and shows that there are translations from Irish into Latin as well as vice versa. The second article presents the workflow I have established to detect parallel glosses using DNA-sequencing methods. For the third article I have focussed on the Latin glosses of the Vienna Bede and I have shown that – in contrast to Old Irish glosses – the Latin ones are mostly short. The fourth article discusses a specific form of linguistic contact found in the early medieval Irish glosses: the usage of Roman numerals in these texts. I could show that early medieval Irish scribes used Roman numerals only rarely in bilingual or monolingual Irish contexts and more frequently spelled out the numbers. In addition to the written output of Gloss-ViBe I have given eleven conference and workshop presentations in Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, two conference posters, and one public lecture. Furthermore, I have organised two workshops: an online workshop which I called “Editing Glosses in the 21st century” for which I invited seven international speakers. And, together with Elena Parina (Bonn), I have organised a Transkribus workshop for the 17th International Congress of Celtic Studies.
The digital edition of Gloss-ViBe opens the early medieval Celtic glossing tradition on Bede’s “De Temporum Ratione” for the wider public. Together with its data model for editing gloss corpora with parallel glosses and the four research articles, Gloss-ViBe went beyond the current state of the art for (digitally) researching annotated texts. Using DNA-sequencing methods it is now possible to identify parallel glosses in different manuscripts at a much higher speed than before. With the help of the established data model, these glosses can then be incorporated into a master .xml-file which is fully compliant with the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative. Building on this file and using specific transformation scenarios the data can then be viewed and analysed in different ways. My study to answer the project’s main research question shows that glosses were translated from Latin into Irish, but also vice versa. This means that the two languages were equally important for early medieval scholars in a Celtic environment. Additionally, the article also highlights the gaps in the current state of the art that need to be filled in future research. Extensive studies on language contact and knowledge transfer are still hampered by the lack of comprehensive digital editions of the primary sources. Only with them we will be able to research glosses as what they really are, a vital window into early medieval cultural and linguistic contact and the intellectual formation of Europe.
In summary, I meticulously transcribed the Vienna Bede and associated parallel glosses using Transkribus and developed a TEI compliant model for editing glossed corpora. Through DNA-sequencing, I identified parallel glosses across multiple manuscripts, integrated them into a master .xml-file for the digital edition. This project resulted in four open-access research articles unveiling translation patterns, workflow techniques, analyses of single glosses, and linguistic contacts in corpus of early medieval Irish and Latin glosses on Bede’s “De Temporum Ratione”. Furthermore, I engaged in numerous academic presentations, workshops, and organized events to disseminate findings and advance gloss research.
In summary, I meticulously transcribed the Vienna Bede and associated parallel glosses using Transkribus and developed a TEI compliant model for editing glossed corpora. Through DNA-sequencing, I identified parallel glosses across multiple manuscripts, integrated them into a master .xml-file for the digital edition. This project resulted in four open-access research articles unveiling translation patterns, workflow techniques, analyses of single glosses, and linguistic contacts in corpus of early medieval Irish and Latin glosses on Bede’s “De Temporum Ratione”. Furthermore, I engaged in numerous academic presentations, workshops, and organized events to disseminate findings and advance gloss research.