Index of Middle English Prose: Digital Cotton Catalogue Project

Project Information

IMEP DCCP

Grant agreement ID: 101025997

DOI

10.3030/101025997

Project closed

EC signature date 20 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 202 158,72

EU contribution

€ 202 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IMEP DCCP (Index of Middle English Prose: Digital Cotton Catalogue Project)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Medieval manuscripts form a major part of our collective cultural heritage. They have become more easily available in recent decades due to digitisation, which has made it possible to develop advanced search tools. The Index of Middle English Prose (IMEP) is the most important reference tool for non-verse texts written in English between c. 1200 and 1500. Originally envisioned as a series of printed volumes, it is now available as a website hosted by the Cambridge University Library (CUL). The aim of the Marie Skłodowska Curie Action titled Index of Middle English Prose: Digital Cotton Catalogue Project (IMEP-DCCP) was to develop and test a digital search tool enabling access to all entries in the Index of Middle English Prose website.

The project had three main overall objectives:

I Preparing a printed IMEP volume describing all Middle English prose from the Cotton collection housed in the British Library. Assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631), this collection is one of the most famous manuscript collections in Britain.

II Developing a search tool capable of handling linguistic variation in Middle English. This tool was co-developed with the Text Laboratory of the University of Oslo for integration into the IMEP website.

III Drafting guidelines for the future development and digitisation work related to the online version of IMEP.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work for the first objective took place between September and December 2021. Archival work at the British Library resulted in over 4500 photos taken for later descriptive bibliographical work in Oslo. Some manuscripts, which were not available for photography, were described in the library. Editorial efforts in Oslo were helped by biweekly meetings, organised as a part of the book-historical interdisciplinary work group at the University of Oslo. Supplementary archival work was undertaken during a secondment period at the Cambridge University Library in autumn 2022. The typescript of the Cotton volume was successfully submitted to the IMEP editorial board in August 2023.

Development of the search tool took place in Oslo in collaboration with the project supervisor, Jacob Thaisen, who was responsible for language models, and with programming support from the Text Laboratory. The tool was scheduled to be tested during a secondment period at Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH). Guidelines for further digitisation of the resource were submitted to the IMEP board in August 2023.

Results of the project were disseminated to an academic audience through five conference papers or posters, two peer-reviewed articles, and a workshop in Cambridge.

Communication to a popular audience occurred through blog posts, a popular article on Sciencenorway and a YouTube video published on the channel of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project centred on manuscript studies, which are about preserving our cultural heritage for future generations. Its societal impact lies in facilitating access to Middle English manuscripts for a diverse audience, including medieval scholars, historical linguists, literary scholars, historians, students, and digital humanists.

While the search tool is awaiting further testing, its essential core functionality is in place and can adapted to other projects dealing with premodern spelling variation. The Python-based Fuzzy Search Script (IMEP-FSS) is now available as Open Access. Details about it have been accepted for publication in a forthcoming article on Open Research Europe (ORE). Consequently, the project will have impact on searching texts characterised by major linguistic variation.

Honkapohja working at the British Library