Statistical Analysis of Digital Paleographic Data: What Can It Tell Us?

Manuscript transcription in the Cotton Nero A.x. Project is at a graphetic level and captures each distinguishable glyph used by the scribe. When the transcription is organized as a series of XML entities within a codicological DTD a search-and-count algorithm can be appied to the database of graphetic information. Initial statistical analysis of the data reveals dramatic changes in the scribe's writing system at two points in the manuscript that are roughly coincident with quire boundaries (and also textual boundaries). Hypotheses that will guide further investigation of this phenomenon include the possibility that substantial gaps of time separated the scribe's work in copying the four Middle English poems that make up the manuscript.