Medieval manuscript writers created a system of shorthand known as ‘Tironian Notes’. A new project hopes to develop a digital tool to decipher it.
Tironian Notes dates back to Roman times and became very popular in the Early Middle Ages. With parchment so expensive, many manuscript writers wanted to be as efficient as possible. Therefore, instead of writing out whole words, they used a shorthand of simple lines. For example, the word for King (Latin: regis) looked like a x.
Advertisement
The use of Tironian Notes hit a high point during the Carolingian era, with at least 14,000 words turned into shorthand. The system went into decline after the 11th century and disappeared after the Middle Ages. Today, very few medieval historians even know how to read this shorthand, making it very difficult to read some manuscripts.
An example of Tironian Notes on an early medieval manuscript – Vatican Library, MS Reg. lat. 846, fol. 103v
To help resolve the problem, scholars at Heidelberg University and other German universities have created a new project – Deciphering Stenographic Notes in Historical Documents – with the help of 35,000 euros in funding from the Volkswagen Foundation. They aim to developed a digital tool that could transcribe and edit Tironian Notes on the basis of pattern recognition. They will test the tool on a 9th-century commentary on the Roman poet Virgil. The manuscript is largely unexplored and is now to be deciphered.
Advertisement
The Virgil commentary “Vergilius Turonensis” arose in the scriptorium – the writing room – of St. Martin Abbey in Tours (France) and is today held in the Burgerbibliothek in Bern, Switzerland. It is the most comprehensive testimony to Virgil studies in the age of the Carolingian Renaissance.
The scholars involved now want to decipher the Tironian Notes in the “Vergilius Turonensis” and build on that to develop a digital procedure with which complex stenographies can be transcribed and edited on the basis of pattern recognition.
“Since this early type of stenography often takes individualised forms or has a multi-track, complex structure, automated transcription methods are ineffective,” says Tino Licht of Heidelberg University. “That is why we need a tool to assist with the individual work on the historical documents.”
A list of words with their Tironian Notes – Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 190 fol. 1v
The researchers hope to analyze the manuscript within 18 months and, if successful, this tool should be usable for other shorthand systems, too. “We intend for it to contribute to deciphering literary and administrative documents up to the present time that are written in various systems and are virtually impossible to read,” Licht notes.
Advertisement
Top Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 190 fol. 45v
Medieval manuscript writers created a system of shorthand known as ‘Tironian Notes’. A new project hopes to develop a digital tool to decipher it.
Tironian Notes dates back to Roman times and became very popular in the Early Middle Ages. With parchment so expensive, many manuscript writers wanted to be as efficient as possible. Therefore, instead of writing out whole words, they used a shorthand of simple lines. For example, the word for King (Latin: regis) looked like a x.
The use of Tironian Notes hit a high point during the Carolingian era, with at least 14,000 words turned into shorthand. The system went into decline after the 11th century and disappeared after the Middle Ages. Today, very few medieval historians even know how to read this shorthand, making it very difficult to read some manuscripts.
To help resolve the problem, scholars at Heidelberg University and other German universities have created a new project – Deciphering Stenographic Notes in Historical Documents – with the help of 35,000 euros in funding from the Volkswagen Foundation. They aim to developed a digital tool that could transcribe and edit Tironian Notes on the basis of pattern recognition. They will test the tool on a 9th-century commentary on the Roman poet Virgil. The manuscript is largely unexplored and is now to be deciphered.
The Virgil commentary “Vergilius Turonensis” arose in the scriptorium – the writing room – of St. Martin Abbey in Tours (France) and is today held in the Burgerbibliothek in Bern, Switzerland. It is the most comprehensive testimony to Virgil studies in the age of the Carolingian Renaissance.
The scholars involved now want to decipher the Tironian Notes in the “Vergilius Turonensis” and build on that to develop a digital procedure with which complex stenographies can be transcribed and edited on the basis of pattern recognition.
“Since this early type of stenography often takes individualised forms or has a multi-track, complex structure, automated transcription methods are ineffective,” says Tino Licht of Heidelberg University. “That is why we need a tool to assist with the individual work on the historical documents.”
The researchers hope to analyze the manuscript within 18 months and, if successful, this tool should be usable for other shorthand systems, too. “We intend for it to contribute to deciphering literary and administrative documents up to the present time that are written in various systems and are virtually impossible to read,” Licht notes.
Top Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 190 fol. 45v
Related Posts
Subscribe to Medievalverse