Medieval Academy of America

Report: Computers and the Medievalist Author(s): Vern L. Bullough, Serge Lusignan, Thomas H. Ohlgren Source: Speculum, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Apr., 1974), pp. 392-402 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2856091 Accessed: 25/02/2010 14:49
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COMPUTERS AND THE MEDIEVALIST imply quantification and quantification is nothing new to medievalists, who have been interested in word counts, in manuscript collation, and in various kinds of demographic and economic data. Medievalists have calculated such things as the price of basic cereal at Namur from 1392 to 1490, the influence of the plague upon the accession of new bourgeois, and population in medieval England.' All of these studies were made before the development of the computer, and many of us continue to do similar studies without using the computer. Since the early 1960s, however, the number of computer-oriented research projects in medieval studies has proliferated. This report is a survey of representative examples of these activities. The compilation of research is not intended to be exhaustive since the more we investigate the more we find medievalists working in comparative isolation, not knowing that there are others also active in the field. A listing of projects, in addition, has proved to be more difficult than anticipated because many of the projects noted in the various publications have been dropped or suspended for various reasons, often the lack of funds. Many other announced projects have been quietly buried as their chief investigator, the standard term used for listing the scholar involved, suddenly realized that the computer was not going to solve the problems he thought it was going to solve. Still, in spite of these difficulties, we have located about 200 different individuals working in some aspect of medieval studies on a computerized basis.2 The field covered by this survey is extremely wide. All known projects have not been listed here, but we have tried to give significant examples of the different types of computerassisted research within the field of medieval studies and some bibliographical references, hoping that they will provide sufficient hints for further research. The common denominator of medievalists is a set of cultural data inherited from a defined period rather than a method. Consequently, the different types of computer studies hereafter surveyed are first of all grouped along the types of data processed: literary data, musical data, archeological data and lastly social and economic data. A much greater number of projects fall within the first class, as is generally the case with any survey of the use of computers in a humanistic field. However, we must admit that social and economic data processing is not as well represented here as in other domains of history. Many projects carried out by historians fall within the field of literary data processing since texts are their raw material.
COMPUTERS

1 LeopoldGenicot,"CrisisFromthe Middle Ages to ModernTimes,"in the Cambridge Economic History,editedby M. M. Postan,i (2nded., Cambridge, 1966),figure12, p. 685, and table 18, p. 693, and Josiah C. Russell,LateAncientand Medieval Population(Philadelphia,1958), but particularly BritishMedieval 1948). Population(Albuquerque, 2 Ourmainsources information of and areComputers theHumanities (CHum)Directories Scholars of Active Computers Medieval and and DataProcessing (CAMDAP)whichin 1971beganlisting research in progressin medievalstudies. For each project we refer to, we give the referenceto the CHum in has Activeand the CAMDAPnumbering,if such a description description Directory Scholars of alreadybeen published. and DataProcessing the outcomeof a resolution is voted uponby the Mediaeval Computers Medieval is Chairman Jean Academyof America's StandingCommitteeon Centersand RegionalAssociations. are Gagne,Members Aldo S. Bernardo(Centerfor Medievaland Early RenaissanceStudies,State University of New York at Binghamton),Thomas H. Ohlgren(Departmentof English, Purdue are: Paul Bratley(DeparteUniversity),Advisors JohnR. Allen(Universityof Manitoba,Winnipeg), ment d'informatique, Universitede Montreal),VernBullough(California State University,Northridge), SergeLusignan(Institut d'etudes medievales,Universitede Montreal),Philip H. Smith, Jr (Universityof Waterloo),RichardL. Venezky (WisconsinResearchand DevelopmentCenterfor The bulletinis sent free of chargeby applyingto Jean CognitiveLearning,Universityof Wisconsin). Universitede Montreal,C.P. 6128,Montreal101,P.Q., Canada. Gagn6,Institut d'6tudesmedi6vales,

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Projects in the field of literary data processing range from concordancing, indexing, and other types of character-string manipulation to the more sophisticated statistical studies, textual criticism, and literary analysis. Computers, it has been said, have their finest hour in preparing concordances. This is particularly the case with the concordances to some of the medieval source materials in Latin, Old English, Middle English, Old German, and Old French, where the number of works and words are fairly limited. Previously, concordances have not only required large quantities of finickly clerical work, but great devotion to detail. Very sophisticated concordance packages have been written which permit the arrangement of all occurrences of all the words in a text in alphabetical order, give their places of occurrence, and their environment, and are capable of yielding output in any alphabetical order. Some of these programs permit mapping of two or more characters into one, distinguish between different functions of the same character, and preserve in the final output information that was not concorded. Sometimes they include a user's word list or some other means that permits the scholar not only to include or exclude words but also to transfer all instances of one word to another heading, such as listing "go" under "went," to include non-first elements of words, to concord Beowulf under both the B's and W's, and to organize the final concordance along the lines of a thesaurus.3 One of the pioneering works in automatic concordancing is Robert Busa's concordance and indices to the Corpus Thomisticum. This project involved the encoding of several million words and is of great importance for scholars interested in St. Thomas and medieval Latin. It is now coming to completion and the first six volumes will be released soon.4 Another important concordance-generation project is that of the Centre de Traitement Electronique des Documents of the Universite Catholique de Louvain (CETEDOC), directed by Paul Tombeur. The Louvain Center aims at the production of basic tools to assist medievalists in their research in the form of concordances, indices and vocabulary counts. Scholars at this center are involved in various philological studies of medieval Latin literature. Among their main projects are the preparation of a Belgian dictionary of medieval Latin for which they are encoding works written in Belgium anterior to 1200, and the study of the medieval oecumenical councils (from Latran I to Latran V), a project carried out under the direction of Professor Michel Mollat.5 A project of great interest for the historian as well as for the philologist is the encoding and keypunching of all pre 1100 medieval French deeds. This work, begun under the inspiration of Professor Jean
3 Among these concordance packagesare CONCORDproducedat the Edinburgh RegionalComin puting Center,which has been discussedby N. Hamilton-Smith his recentlypublishedpaper"A versatileconcordance in programfor a textual archive"in R. A. Wisbey, Thecomputer literaryand at Labora1971),p. 235-244;COCOA, linguisticresearch (Cambridge, produced the Atlas Computer whichhas recentlybeen rewritten; and tory (Chilton,Didcot, Berkshire) G. L. M. Berry-Rogghe by de de JEUDEMO:Systeme traitement texte,a text handlingsystem by Paul Bratley, SergeLusignan and FrancineOuellettefrom the Universitede Montreal (handout in English availablefrom the authors)whichwill soon be operating.

4 R. Busa, Indicis thomistici edendi rationes, mensurae atque specimina (Pisa: Centro Naz. Univers. Calc. elettronico, 1968), CHum S-43 (ii, 2; ii, 5; iv, 2), CAMDAP 68 (ii, 2). The publisher of the

40 volumesof the seriesis Frommann fromStuttgart. 6 Paul Tombeurand Andre Stainier, "Les methodes et les travaux du Centre de Traitement
Electronique des Documents," Bulletin de Philosophie medievale,x-xn (1968-70), 141-74, and Paul

des Tombeur,"Researchcarriedout at the Centrede TraitementElectronique Documentsof the in CatholicUniversityof Louvain," A. J. Aitkenet al., TheComputer Literary and Studies(Edinburgh, in 1973)p. 335-340. On the use of computers the field of canonlaw see the very recentarticleby A. Stainierand E. VanBalberghe, traitementautomatique collections "Le anterieures des systematiques
au D6cret de Gratien," Revue d'histoire ecclsiastique,
LXVIII

(1973), 465-480.

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Schneider,5 is conducted by Lucie Fossier and Michel Parisse from Nancy. These scholars are particularly interested in the philological study of legal vocabulary as well as in the diplomatic formulas.6 Altogether, these projects will surely throw some light on the peculiar nature of medieval Latin. Specialists in medieval vernacular languages are also receiving wide benefits from the computer. An ambitious project is the proposed Dictionary of Old English, which will eventually replace the old Bosworth-Toller Dictionary. The publication plans resulted from a 1969 conference at Toronto on Computers and Old English Concordances.7Angus Cameron (Toronto) and C. J. E. Ball (Lincoln College, Oxford) were subsequently appointed editors of the Dictionary. A second Conference was held in September 1970. A summary of it and other material related to the enterprise has been published by Cameron and Ball in A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English (Toronto, 1973). Richard Venezky (University of Wisconsin) chairs the Computer Committee of the Dictionary. The transcription on magnetic tapes of the complete corpus of Old English texts is nearly completed.8 Another dictionary project is that of the OlderScottish Texts series being compiled by A. J. Aitken and Neil Hamilton Smith as part of the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue.9There is also a project for a dictionary of Middle High German.10 Another project involving Middle High German is being conducted by Roy A. Wisbey and his associates at Cambridge University. The Cambridge group has over one million words in machine-readable form and several concordances have already been published.l An
6s See Schneider's et et report(La machine l'histoire.De l'emploi desmoyens mecaniqueselectroniques dansla recherche of historique) given at the XIIIth International Congress HistoricalSciencesheld in Moscow(16-23 August1970)[Moscow, Editions"Naouka,"1970,11 pp.]. 6 JacquesMonfrin,"Le latin medievalet la langue des chartes,"Vivarium,viII (1970) 81-98. L. Fossier, G. Contamine,J. Graff, P. Bichard-Breaud, traitement Le des automatique documents du Cahiersdu CRAL no. 21 (Centrede recherches d'applications et diplomatiques haut-moyen-dge, de linguistiques l'Universitede Nancy II, 1973). See also CHum L-146 (ii, 2; v, 5), CAMDAP57 medi6vaux (ni, 1). Anotherprojectin this field is L. Fossier,Analysedes documentsdiplomatiques (apres1100), CAMDAP49 (ii, 1). 7 See Computers OldEnglish Concordances, and edited by Angus Cameron,RobertaFrank, and John Leyerle(Toronto,1970). See also John Leyerle,"The Dictionaryof Old English:A Progress and v, Report,"Computers theHumanities, 5 (May, 1971),279-83. 8 In relationto that and project:A. F. Cameron P. H. Smith Jr., The Homiliesof Aelfric,CHum L-450 (v, 5), CAMDAP1 (I, 1); N. C. Hultin, The Old English Dialoguesof Gregorythe Great, CAMDAP27 (ii, 1); A. F. Cameron and P. H. Smith Jr., Aelfric'sLives of Saints, CAMDAP28 (II, 1). 10H. Moserand Ass., Dictionaryof MiddleHigh German,CHum L-E47(II, 5; Iv, 2), CAMDAP 61 (ii, 1).

9 OlderScottishTextualArchive,CHumL-498 (vi, 5), CAMDAP10 (i, 2).

1 CHum L-87 (I, 5; ii, 5), and CAMDAP56 (ii, 1) for the latest list of texts and publications. Otherstudiesin early MiddleHigh German: A. Wells,Lexicographical StylisticAnalysisof D. and an Early MiddleHigh German O. Murdoch,A Text, CHumL-257 (III, 5), CAMDAP62 (ii, 1); B. to Concordance the EarlyMiddleHighGerman PoemDaz Anegenge, CHumL-259 (III, 5), CAMDAP 63 (ii, 1); to be publishedin R. A. Wisbey'sCompendia Series: M. J. Preston, Concordance and CHumL-329(iv, 2), CAMDAP8 (I, 1). For the MiddleLow German thereis a project Appendices, of dictionary announced K. H. Hyldgaard-Jensen underthe title MiddleLow German by Dictionary, Word Atlas, CHum L-430 (v, 5). Related to the same languageis Anne Brautaset's Grammar, project:Middle Low GermanInfluenceon a NorwegianDialect of the SixteenthCentury,CHum L-431 (v, 5). Several coordinatedclearinghouses have been establishedto facilitate cooperation among scholarsusing computersin the study of Germanlanguage and literature.For medieval Germanpeople should contact: Dr Rudolf Hirschmann, Departmentof German,Universityof SouthernCalifornia, Angeles,Ca. 90007,U.S.A. or Dr WinfriedLenders,Institut ftir Deutsche Los Theirlatest list of texts Bonn,53 Bonn, Adenauerallee West-Germany. 96, Sprache, Forschungsstelle availablehas been publishedin Computers theHumanities, 4 (March1973),253-255. and vii,

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ambitious project to compile a lexical, morphological, and syntactical inventory of all Old Italian texts up to the twelfth century is being directed by Mario L. Alinei.'2 Other projects of a less ambitious scope include concordances to Geoffrey Chaucer, to Guillaume de Lorris' section of the Roman de la Rose, to Middle English poems, and to Hartmann von Aue.'3 Computer concordances to Beowulf, to Le Charroi de Nimes and to the Chanson de Roland have already been published, and more recently concordances to Auctoritates Aristotelis and two treatises by Bonaventura have been released by the CETEDOC.14 Concordances, while conceptually simple, are not without problems and the results at times have been uneven. Given inferior equipment, computational ignorance, careless proof-reading, and a consistent talent for making the wrong linguistic decisions, it is all too easy to produce a flawed concordance. They still require the compiler to have considerable expertise. So far it has not been possible to produce an old-fashioned lexicon completely with the computer, the next logical step after a concordance.'5Moreover, after years of KWIC concordances, people become aware that mechanically determined contexts may not yield the most meaningful output. Efforts are being made to overcome the
12Mario Alinei, Spogli elettronici dell'italiano delle origini e del duecento (Bologna, 1971), and CHum L-159 (ii, i), CAMDAP 59 (II, 1).

13T. J. Ray, A ComputerConcordance the Workof GeoffreyChaucer,CHum L-308 (iv, 2); of

J. R. Danos, Romrose, CHum L-301 (iv, i), CAMDAP 23 (I, 2); R. A. Boggs, A Concordance to the Work of Hartmann von Aue, CHum L-64 (I, 5; ii, 5; III, 5; iv, 5), CAMDAP 37 (ii, 1). Many other

have been announced now and then in differentsources.Here projectsof indicesand concordances is a list of someof them.Underthe nameof S. N. Werbow R. Jansen,Universityof Texas,Austin, and we find: ComputerConcordances Analysisof MedievalGermanLyrics,CHumL-1 (I, 5), and and Walthervon der Vogelweide, des Neidhartvon Minnesangs Friihling, Minnesangs 13 Jahrhunderts, Reuenthal,CHumL-83 (I, 5). Daton A. Dodson of the HoustonBaptist Collegeis listed as chief of investigatorfor a concordance some of the late MedievalDietrichepics. MichaelS. Batts, Uniof versity of British Columbia,is chief investigatorfor a concordance manuscriptB of Nibelungenlied.MarionF. Hodapp of ColoradoState Universityis listed as chief investigatorfor a concordance to the Libro de Buen Amor of Juan Ruiz. Felicien J. de Tollenaere, editor of the Wordenboek

derNederladsche in Leidenwas preparing concordance the GothicBible. Paul W. Pillsbury, a Taal to

Eastern Michigan, is chief investigator for a concordance of West Saxon Gospels, CHum L-106 (I, 5; II, 5; inI, 5), CAMDAP 40 (II, 1). Sidney Berger, Department of English, University of California, Davis, is working on a computer-assisted concordance to Lazamon's Brut which should be completed soon, CHum L-499 (vi, 5), CAMDAP 25 (I, 2). Professor Hays, Center for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, is doing the same for Basil of Caesarea's Adversus Eunomium I-V, CHum L-494 (vi, 5), CAMDAP 15 (i, 2). W. P. Lehmann, University of Texas, was directing a number of computer produced concordances including works on the Parker ("A") manuscript of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and the Old Saxon Heliand. R. Venezky announced a concordance to Rushworth Matthew, CHum L-449 (v, 5), CAMDAP 1 (I, 1); T. Stallknecht a general concordance to John Duns Scotus, CHum L-496 (vi, 5), CAMDAP 13 (I, 2); Dom J. Froger a concordance to the Regula Magistri, CHum L-202 (v, 2), CAMDAP 66 (II, 1); and Lidwine Fitzgerald a concordance to the works of C. Julius Uyginus. We should not forget also studies from Prof. J. A. Baird and Ass. on the Bible, CHum L-465 (vi, 2), CAMDAP 48 (II, 1); from Prof. G. E. Weil and Ass. on semitic texts, CHum L-74 (I, 5), CAMDAP 53, 54, 55 (II, 1); from B. Fisher and W. Ott, Vulgata-Konkordanz, CHum L-296 (iv, 2); and from D. E. Y. Sarna, at Brandeis, on Rabbinic Texts. 14 J. B. Bessinger and Philip H. Smith, Jr, A Concordance Beowulf (Ithaca, 1969); G. de Poerck, to R. Van Deyck and R. Zwaenepoel, Le Charroi de Nimes, 2 vol. (Saint-Aquilin-de-Pacy, 1970); Joseph J. Duggan, A Concordanceof the Chanson de Roland (Columbus, 1969); Jacqueline Hamesse, Auctoritates Aristotelis, I, Concordance(Louvain: CETEDOC, 1972) and by the same author, Thesaurus bonaventurianus,I, Itinerarium mentis in Deum and De reductioneartium ad theologiam (Louvain: CETEDOC, 1972). 15 For computer-assisted lexicon manipulation: J. S. Bross, English-old Church Slavonic Dictionary, CHum L-433 (v, 5), CAMDAP 46 (II, 1); R. P. de Gorog, A Modern French-Old French Lexicon, CHum L-57 (i, 5; v, 2), CAMDAP 36 (ii, 1).

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problem by taking into account the punctuation marks while determining a context. Nevertheless, concordancing packages will never meet all requirements, unless syntactical features of the text concorded are taken into consideration. To sum up, we should conclude that there are still problems to be solved in the simple domain of concordancing. In many of the listed projects, concordances and indices are not produced for their own sake nor are they the sole type of data manipulation involved. They are usually accompanied by frequency counts and may be completed, depending on the case, by reThese techniques exploit the computer's versed word lists, indices of rhymes, and so forth.16 aptitude as a fast and powerful manipulator of character-strings. Once a text has been keypunched, the computer can output any reorganization of the character-strings. The problem is to make sense of this data. The results, of course, can be supplied to the academic community as helpful tools to research, but this simply postpones the problem, deferring to someone else the task of making intelligent use of the computer output.7 Many of the projects described above aim at some lexicographical or philological goal. Projects in the general field of lexicography are of two types: a systematic dictionary of a language of a certain period, or a study of the vocabulary of a special semantic field. Philological research is usually devoted to a single work or author. In many cases the data input cannot be restricted to the text alone. More information is needed about the linguistic features of the text. Two options are then possible: pre-coding of the text, or implementation of computer programs that can perform the linguistic analysis. The first approach, which can result in some very sophisticated pre-coding as accomplished at Louvain, is the way usually followed.18 Some attempts, however, have been made to develop programs to analyze texts regarding their linguistic features. For Latin, two programs have been implemented, one at Liege by L. Delatte's group and one at Gallarate by Father Busa.29 These programs, however, are quite complicated and leave many linguistic decisions to the investigator. Professors Hugo Moser and Helene Nai's are conducting linguistic analysis by computer of Middle High German and Old French respectively.20 For shorter projects it seems that pre-coding is the more feasible approach, but in both procedures data preparation is time consuming. Several attempts have been made to apply new linguistic approaches to textual studies. 16 Here follow some announcedprojectsof glossaries word-indexes: Mundt, Word-Index and M.
to Hakonar Saga, Knytlinga Saga, CHum L-46 (I, 5), CAMDAP 51 (II, 1); A. M. and P. J. Lucas: Glossary of the Middle English Romance Gamelyn, CHum L-292 (III, 5), The Old Exodus: a Glossary,

CHum L-401 (v, 2), CAMDAP65 (ii, 1) and Word-listof the Late Middle EnglishChronicle by
John Capgrave, CHum L-202 (II, 5; v, 5), CAMDAP 60 (ii, 1); C. Gellinek, A Word Frequency CHum L-429 (v, 5), CAMDAP45 (II, 1); R. L. Dictionaryof Minnesangdes 13. Jahrhunderts, Jones, Gothic Word Index, Reverse Word List, Appendices, CHum L-463 (vi, 2), CAMDAP 47 (II, 1); C. D. Gall, Words-Indexes of the Rolandslied Fragments, CHum L-122 (II, 2). 17 In some cases the aim seems to have been the sole production of computer readable text or selections of texts: Virginia Joan Cyrus at the University of Washington prepared in 1968 a Ph.D. dissertation: The TollemacheOrosius: Text, with Spacing Notation Editedfor ComputerAnalysis (Dissertation Abstracts 29 January 1969, 2241-A). Darell Jackson, Society for the humanities Cornell University, has prepared a series of machine readable Latin texts, including several of the Church Fathers, but most of them are not the complete texts. Instead he has selected passages of approximately 500 words chosen by using a table of random numbers. The texts are available from Stephen V. F. Waite, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. 18 Paul Tombeur and Andre Stainier, op. cit., cf. footnote 5. 19For a description of both: L. Delatte, "Le LEL de Liege," Revue, 2 (1969), 11-39, and R. Busa, "Le LEL de Gallarate," Revue, 2 (1969), 40-56. Papers are followed by a discussion reported on pages 57 to 86. Since that time, an improved version of the system of Liege has been described by Joseph Denooz in his paper "Recherches sur le traitement automatique de la langue latine," Revue, 1 (1973), 1-89. But even there, the problem of homography remains far from being overcome. 20 Hugo Moser, cf. footnote 10. H. Nai's, Traitement automatique des textes d'ancien frangais, CHum L-153 (11,2), CAMDAP 58 (ii, 1).

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Goran Kjellmer is studying the distributional and semantic relations in a group of Middle English words. Professor Kjellmer has analyzed the meaning of a set of words pertaining to a particular semantic field in relation to the syntagmatic contexts where these words appear.21Although linguistic concepts are not always applicable to text processing and their computer implementation is still at an experimental level, medievalists should carefully watch developments in computational linguistics.22There remains a wide gap between computational linguistics and text processing, between the interest of the linguist in building up an accurate language analyser and that of the medievalist in processing a large corpus at a tolerable cost. Concordances and other types of string manipulation can also give rise to stylistic studies. Joseph J. Duggan, who studied 725 different formulas in the 2688 verses of Le Couronnementde Louis as they appeared in conjunction with different personnages and themes, linked the themes and individuals.23A number of stylistic studies involving verse scanning and rhyme analysis are currently in progress.24Without a clearly articulated theory, however, computational stylistics cannot fully develop. So far the theory has often been borrowed from quantitative linguistics. Among the first, G. Udny Yule utilized quantitative linguistics in his attribution study of De Imitatione Christi to Thomas a Another sound statistical study of a medieval text is Simone MonKempis or Gerson.25 sonego's work on La ChantefableAucassin et Nicolette.26A number of other statistical studies of medieval texts have been announced.27Quantitative linguistic concepts, in our opinion, are not easy to use; one should be very cautious with frequency counts and percentages, which are too often presented beyond any coherent theory of language. For a time there was great interest in machine translation. There were even some rather grandiose schemes, including rapid translation of Canadian documents into English and French, but none of them has as yet been successful. The lack of success is perhaps natural when we realize the problems involved in producing computer programs Kjellmer,Folk, Leode, Man, Nation, People,Theode, CHum L-331 (iv, 5), CAMDAP 44 is at Context Meanand 1). Theoretical aspectof this research discussed lengthin: GoranKjellmer, Studiesin English22 (Stockholm: Acta Universitatis ing, Gothenburg 1971).Other Gothoburgensis, studies of semanticalfield are: G. B. Ladnerand M. Phelps, Index of Termsand Conceptsin the Moraliaof Gregory Great,CAMDAP11 (I, 2); HansAnderson, the LatinMedievalUrbanTerminolan ogy in NorthernEuropeto c. 1350,CAMDAP50 (ii, 1). S. Lusignanhas undertaken analysisof the vocabulary somemedievalcommentaries Isagoge, of on CAMDAP79, (ii, 2). For an exampleof syntacticalanalysis:B. Woledgeand Ass., the Syntax of Twelfth CenturyFrench, CHum L-56
(ii, 21 G.

(I, 5; II, 5; II, 5), CAMDAP 52 (II, 1).

22 Jacob L. ComMay, "Computational Linguisticsand the Study of LinguisticPerformance," vi putersandtheHumanities, (1972), 131-136. 23 J. J. Duggan,Analysisof Old FrenchOralFormulaic Poetry, CHumL-10 (i, 5), CAMDAP34

4 MerleFifield,PotentialVarietyof MetricalStressin Chaucer's in RhymedIambicPentameter a four systemAllowing Levelsof MetricalStress,CHumL-500(vi, 5), CAMDAP19 (I, 2); B. A. Beatie and R. Hirschmann, IndexedCatalogsof StrophicFormsin MedievalLyric Poetry, CHumL-142 (ni, 2), CAMDAP41 (ii, 1); R. Hirschmann, Analysisof Dactylic Meter in MiddleHigh German ReHigh GermanGlosses,CHumL-19 (i, 5;II, 5); ThomasB. Hanson,Poetry of the Alliterative vival, CAMDAP30 (ii, 1); and RobertW. Sapora,The Authorship the Gawain-Group, of CAMDAP
26

(II, 1). J. J. Duggan, "Formulas in the Couronnement de Louis," Romania, xxxviII (1966), 315-344.

Lyric Poetry, CHum L-27 (I, 5; ii, 2; II, 5), CAMDAP 35 (ii, 1); J. C. Wells, Dictionary of the Old

31 (II, 1).

G. Udny Yule, TheStatistical Studyof Literary 1944). Vocabulary (Cambridge, 6 SimoneMonsonego, Etudestylo-statistique vocabulaire verset dela prosedansla chantefable du des Aucassinet Nicolette (Paris,1966). 2 J. R. Allen,The de BalligantEpisodein the Chanson Roland,CHumL-482(vi, 6), CAMDAP9 (i, 2); T. J. Ray, Stylostatistical effectof theme Battle Poetryto determine Analysisof Anglo-Saxon on syntax, CHumL-164 (ii, 5); L. M. Bell, SPON (StatisticalProfileof Old Norse), CHumL-113
(I, 5).

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to handle huge stores of linguistic data, the totally different problems involved in generating a large lexicon, and the further problem of formulating grammars of two languages plus an interlingual grammar.28Computers, nevertheless, can be helpful in translation, particularly when there is an effective coordination of the machine and the human. Whether the approach saves time however, has to be left to each individual to decide for himself. A striking example of what can be accomplished is Aldo S. Bernardo's project of translating Petrarch's Familiari from Latin into English.29Since the results were satisfying from the technological and artistic points of view, Petrarch's Senili was undertaken next. The text was computerized, an index verborum was generated, a concordance was established showing each word in context, its location, and the number of occurrences. Professor Bernardo and his staff proceeded to arrive at translations for each word as it appeared in context. Then the principal investigator recorded by voice his idiomatic translation, selecting the most applicable of the alternatives. This is not quite machine translation, but it is machine-aided translation and in this the computer has proved to be extremely helpful. A team from the Institut d'etudes medievales of the Universite de Montreal, currently involved in translation of medieval Latin works under the direction of Guy Allard, takes great advantage of KWIC concordances to improve the consistency of their translation as well as to render the proper shade of semantically closely related terms like obstare,monstrare,arguereand demonstrare. Two final examples of medieval literary data processing are graphemic analysis and textual criticism. The former consists of several studies of the characters of texts in medieval manuscripts. These studies aim at a better knowledge of scribal tradition, regional peculiarities, and transformation of orthography. They require special pre-coding of the data to represent the numerous non-alphabetical signs in the manuscript. One interesting work in this field is Edward A. Kline's computer-assisted graphemic analysis of Beowulf.30Another work is that of Jeffrey P. Krischer, who is attempting to decipher by means of statistical studies a medieval manuscript with an unknown coding.31 Automation of textual criticism is a fascinating enterprise. Anyone who has compiled variants and constructed stemmata would be inclined to conclude that the job is well suited for computerization. It is not surprising that some have taken the idea seriously. Substantial progress has been made in the collation of variants and the establishment of families of manuscripts. The choice of the reading, however, remains too often to the scholar. One disadvantage is the great bulk of material that has to be keypunched before processing. The necessity for programming has made essential the reformulation of the principles of textual criticism. One valuable contribution is that of Dom J. Froger's La critique des textes et son automatisation (Paris, Dunod, 1968).32 More recently, Penny Gilbert has proposed a good system for automatic text collation, whereas G. P. Zarri has achieved a major contribution in the domain of stemmata construction.33
28 For a
29

see summary A. D. Booth, ed., MachineTranslation (New York, 1967). A. Bernardo,Computer-Assisted of Translation Petrarch'sFamiliariand Senili, CHumL-174

of 57-81. Similarstudiesare:R. D. Stevick,Graphotactics selectedAnglo-Saxon MSS., CHumL-72

(i, 5), CAMDAP 39 (ii, 1); N. E. Enkvist, A Graphotactic Analysis of the Old English St. Chad,

(nI, 5; iv, 5), CAMDAP 6 (i, 1). 30CHum L-212 (III, 5), CAMDAP 42 (ii, 1); Edward A. Kline, "The Computer, Graphemics and MiddleEnglishDialectology," and Studiesin theHumanities Verbal Behavior, ii (1969), II, Computer

CHumL-61 (i, 5); R. L. Jones,GothicGrapheme Cluster,CHumL-464 (vi, 2).

32 Severalprojectsin

31Analysis of the Voynich Manuscript, CHum L-492 (vi, 5), CAMDAP 9O (I, 2).

of this field have been announced: F. Sas, A Textual Comparison Two L.

Manuscripts of El Libro de Alexandre, CHum L-293 (III, 5), CAMDAP 43 (ii, 1); G. KochendSrfer, Textkritik, CHum L-432 (v, 5), CAMDAP 67 (n, 1); A. L. Cohen, Computerized Collation of Medieval Prose Manuscripts, CHum L-189 (ii, 5); R. A. MacDonald, Legal Texts of Alfonso X, El Sabio, CHum L-495 (vi, 5), CAMDAP 21 (i, 2; ii, 2); James M. Peavler, Computer Comparison of Mss of Chaucer's Minor Poems, CAMDAP 74 (ii, 2). 33Penny Gilbert, "Automatic Collation: A Technique for Medieval Texts," Computers and the Humanities, vII, 3 (1973), 139-147, and CAMDAP 69 (ii, Q). G. P. Zarri, "Algorithms, stemmata

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In the field of information retrieval, or more accurately, reference retrieval, a number of medievalists are engaged in the compilation by computer of catalogues, bibliographies, and indices. Walter M. Hayes of the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto is attempting to compile an author-name-work-title survey of catalogued Greek manuscripts listed in M. Richard's Repertoiredes Bibliothequeset des cataloguesde manuscrits.34 Since the catalogues are in various languages and the manuscripts are in some 821 libraries, the scope and importance of the project is readily apparent. Professor Hayes plans to publish the results in some fifty volumes and keep the tapes on file. Thomas H. Ohlgren of Purdue University has been working since 1969 on a computer-aided cataloguing and indexing system for the medieval manuscript photographic holdings of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Each of the 600 rolls of color microfilms (totalling some 18,000 transparencies) is represented in the IBM 370 by a structured abstract, composed of fifteen fields of data, including three separate fields for iconography. The indices generated from There are a numeach field permit access to individual frames within each microfilm roll.35 ber of other cataloguing and indexing projects under way.36We have found that these projects are extremely expensive, although the costs can be reduced considerably if the data already exists in the form of bibliography, card catalogue, or handlist. We agree with David Vance who has pointed out that a commitment to complete, verify, or update records before input would probably exclude forever the very information the computer's data file is intended to make available.37Another problem concerns the possibility of data interface. Although the formation of a national data bank of information about medieval manuscripts holdings is not immediately feasible, steps need to be taken now to plan for such a data repository if it is to become a reality. A vital first step is the formulation of a standardized set of field designations, which determine the nature of the data structure. In our opinion, an international committee, composed of archivists, art historians, and slide librarians, should be organized to study the feasibility of standardization.38
MUSICAL DATA PROCESSING

Second only to language and literature as fields for computer-oriented research in the medieval period is musicology. Documentation, cataloguing, quantitative studies of and codicum and the theoriesof Dom H. Quentin,"in A. J. Aitken et al., The Computer Literary Studies(Edinburgh, 1973),p. 225-237. 34An Author-Title GreekManuscripts, CHumL-410 (v, 5), CAMDAP14 Surveyof Catalogued
(, 2).

InformationRe3 Thomas H. Ohlgren,"Medievaland RenaissanceManuscriptPhotographic in Studies theHumanities Verbal and trieval,"Computer III, Behavior, 4 (1972),228-231;by the same, Art and "The Digital Scriptorium: ComputerIndexing of Medieval ManuscriptIlluminations," Research Archaeology Papers,IV (1973). 36 Edith Brayeris attemptingto computerize the catalogof pre-sixteenth in centurymanuscripts Latin, Arabic,Hebrew, Greek, French, Provencal,and Spanishof the Institut de Rechercheet linet d'Histoiredes textes in Paris in cooperation with the Centrede Recherches d'Applications at guistiques the Universityof Nancy, CHumL-144 (II, 2). Otherprojectsare:J. K. McConica,Colof Medieval lectiveBiography TudorOxford, CHumS-174(vi, 5), CAMDAP12 (i, 2); A, L. Gabriel, of and Renaissance ScientificManuscripts the Ambrosiana, CHumL-446 (v, 5), CAMDAP5 (I, 1; Gawainand the Green Knight, I, 2); J. Joyce, On-LineInformationRetrieval in Bibliography: CHum L-447 (v, 5); J. V. Reel, An Index to EnglishBiography,1000-1485A.D., CAMDAP 16 der zum roimischen Recht bis 1600,CAMDAP76 (I, 2); GeroDolezalek,Verzeichnis Handschriften
(ii, 2); Randall Millen, The Indexing of Blazons, CAMDAP 73 (ii, 2).

5 37David Vance,"MuseumData Banks,"Information and Storage Retrieval, (1970)p. 206. 38 An invaluable to contribution computerized to. museumdata banks,with potentialapplications archives,is the work of the MuseumComputerNetwork.The annotationclasses demanuscript scribedin David Vanceand Jack Heller's"Structure Contentof a MuseumData Bank,"Comand and fieldsformedieval to vi, puters theHumanities, 2 (1971),67-84, couldbe expanded includespecific manuscripts.

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watermarks, caligraphy, and other information retrieval projects seem obvious areas for the computer to help, but there also seem to be great possibilities in the areas of structural analysis, the investigation of similarities, and studies of melody, rhythm, harmony, and stylistic criteria. One of the pioneering efforts has been that of Harry B. Lincoln (SUNY, Binghamton) to develop a computerized thematic index of medieval and Renaissance music which would undoubtedly help all those doing research in the area. There are innumerable sources of medieval and Renaissance music containing thousands of compositions, many of them anonymous, with thematic borrowing from one composer to another or from himself, and from the secular to the sacred repertory and vice versa. The computer should make it easier to search out these coincidences systematically and to classify them.39 Arthur Mendel and Lewis Lockwood have also attempted to analyze with the aid of the computer the style of the medieval French composer, Josquin DePrez.40There are several other studies taking place.4
ARCHEOLOGICAL DATA PROCESSING

Archeology has also turned to the computer in an attempt to establish an archeological data bank. So far this has been limited primarily to new world archeology where the American Anthropological Association has taken the lead. There have been some attempts to make the classification system international and this would be of assistance to medievalists if only for the purpose of listing all existing medieval archeological findings and sites.42The computer allows for more rapid updating of finds or changes than other means, and allows the information to be kept current. Museums have also begun to put their collections on computer tapes to aid in retrieval, which also allows for more effective updating. A pioneering project is the Data Bank of Museum Holdings started in 1967 through a consortium of New York and Washington museums known as the Museum Computer Network. Since the MCN's primary objective is the formation of a central inventory file of museum holdings, the data base quite logically draws on the basic information that normally appears in a museum's card catalogue. The resulting data bank from 39Harry B. Lincoln, "Some Criteriaand Techniquesfor Developing Computerized Thematic
Indices," in Elektronische Datenverarbeitungin der Musikwissenschaft edited by Harold Heckman,

and The 1967);Lincoln,"Musicology the Computer: ThematicIndex,"in Computers (Regensburg, Research in Humanistic edited by EdmundA. Bowles (EnglewoodCliffs, 1967), and most recently
Computersand Music edited by Harry B. Lincoln (Ithaca, 1970). Computersand the Humanities, iv, 1, (1969), 41-52.
41 Nana SchidtandBjanerSvejgaard a have undertaken computer aidedstudy of musicalformulas of Byzantinehymnsin orderto gainan understanding the genre'sstyle and to discoverthe princiof the of of plesunderlying composition thesehymns(seeSchidtandSvejgaard, "Application Computer to in Melodies," Heckman, cit.).R. F. Erickson op. Techniques the Analysisof ByzantineSticherarion and W. G. Waite study the rhythmicproblemsand melodicstructurein Organum Purum,CHum M-66 (v, 5). F. E. Hansenis doing an investigationof tonal properties the gregorian of repertory, CHum M-18 (i, 5). Musicologists similarto have also begunto do thematicindexing,a procedure in the cataloguingand concording literature.Indexingof the Frenchchansonrepertoryof the fifin teenth centuryis being undertaken BartonHudson.L. M. Trowbridge his study of the Burby tries to developa systemfor the cataloguing musicalincipitsordered of gundianChanson according to their musicalrelatedness, CHumM-47 (iv, 5; v, 5), CAMDAP33 (I, 1). At Bern, Switzerland, has H. R. Diirrenmatt begunworkingon a listing,includingthematiccatalogue,of all Swissmusic on HaraldHeckmanand othersareworking an incipitcatalogue of up to 1800.In Kassel,Germany, CHum M-68 (v, 5). The whole body of Byzantinetunes in the Monumenta GermanTenorlieder, is MusicaeByzantineTranscripta beingcomputer of recorded the department Musicology Tel at by Aviv Universityunderthe directionof HanochAvenary. 42Robert G. Chenall,"The Archaeological Data Bank: A ProgressReport," Computers the and A Humanities, 3 (1971), 159-69; Robert Whallon,Jr, "The Computerin Archaeology: Critical v,

40ArthurMendel,"SomePreliminary Attemptsat Computer-Assisted Style Analysisin Music,"

Survey," Computersand the Humanities, vr, 1 (1972), 29-45.

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the assembly of this data base is, therefore, rich in such information as media, sizes, dates, exhibition history, and photographic sources. The Museum Computer Network, we believe, will eventually be uniformly adopted by every major museum and archive in the United States. Its major advantage over all the other retrieval systems, manual or computer-based, is that it is primarily user-oriented; all tedious data manipulations are done by the computer. And instead of imposing arbitrary and inflexible classification schemes on its data, the output of the MCN reflects the actual contents of the natural Predating this effort was one in Cologne started language by using free format data files.43 in 1966 to put on computer the catalogue of the Cologne Museum Libraries.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DATA PROCESSING

Inevitably, social and economic historians have entered into the field as well, although they have been somewhat slower than their colleagues in other fields. David Herlihy of Harvard, who has been working with an international team of American, French, and Italian scholars to prepare a machine-readable edition of the Florentine Catasto of 1427, is conducting a combined census and inventory of the families then subject to Florentine rule. This is a huge document since it includes about 60,000 households and nearly a quarter of a million people, and although the scope of the project is larger than anything attempted by medievalists, it is a variant of the demographic analysis that medievalists have traditionally done but which would have been impossible without the computer.44 Going further afield, Loy Bilderback of Fresno State has been putting information concerning delegates attending the Council of Basle into computerized form. He has concluded that those attending the Council showed varying levels of commitment to the concept of Conciliarism depending upon different periods of the Council and the geographical area from which they have come. Since Bilderback has correlated the variables, used probability theory and regression analysis to evaluate the significance of his findings, his project is one of the most sophisticated uses of the computer. These same techniques can be applied to other aspects of. medieval studies. Vern L. Bullough is pursuing a study of the background of humanists and scientists in fifteenth-century Italy from which it became evident that the scientists came from a lower economic and social stratum than the humanists, and were much more dependent upon a university professorship to continue their scholarly activities. As a preliminary study it proved interesting, and it seemed to show what might be done with the computer, but this study will need much more work before it is published as Bullough wants to replicate some of the research done by his students.45Other historical projects have also been announced.4 In general, however, it seems that medieval historians have not shown a willingness to experiment with computers, and in fact have been slightly more conservative in this than their colleagues in other parts of the medieval vineyard. Other than finding new ways to 43See footnotes37 and 38. Annales.Econoen 44See:ChristianeKlapisch,"Fiscaliteet demographie Toscane(1427-1430)," xxiv (1969), 1313-1337.David Herlihyhas compileda very good biblimies-SociAtes-Civilisations, and in ographyon the uses of quantification historicalstudy in "Quantification the MiddleAges," Workin History, and for TheDimensions the Past. Materials,Problems Opportunities Quantitative of ed. Val R. Lorwinand JacobM. Price (New Haven and London,1972),p. 13-51.
45See CAMDAP 71 (n, 2).

"Le Mouvementdes loyers parisiensde la fin du Moyen 46 E. LeRoy Ladurieand P. Couperie, xxv Age au XVIIIe siecle," Annales. Economies-Soci6tMs-Civilisations,(1970), 1002-23. Michael distribution, Goodichand MichaelRadoware doing a researchon social class origins,geographical etc.... of thirteenthcenturySaints,CHumS-173 (vi, 5), CAMDAP24 (r, 2). Raymondde Roover and MhymanSardyhave used the computerfor their study of the BrugesMoney marketin 1400. obtenuspardes m6thodes les "celane fait queconfirmer r6sultats plus Howeverthey have concluded: CAMDAP Q2(I, 2). Finally, Richard C. Hoffmannis doing a researchon rural traditionnelles," economyof the duchyof Wrotlawin the later middleages, CAMDAP70 (n, 2).

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obtain information retrieval, medievalists as a whole have not displayed much interest in the computer. This might well be because of the uncertainty of the data, but it is due more, we think, to the conservativeness of medievalists themselves.
CONCLUSION

Medievalists have begun to look to computers, and we are at least far enough along to realize that computers offer no panacea to our problems. Nevertheless, a growing number of scholars realise that certain kinds of studies, as in stylistics or philology for example, could not be properly achieved without the help of the computer. We cannot fail to recall as during the Fourth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law in Toronto or the Fifth International Congress of Mediaeval Philosophy in Madrid in 1972, that more and more sections of medieval studies meetings are devoted to computer uses. Of course, many scholars are still hesitant and cautious about the computer. Others have been deceived by promises from too enthusiastic computer men. Compared to such disciplines as sociology, we are still in a confused age. But we feel that we are slowly leaving this barbarian age, and moving toward our Carolingian Renaissance. To do more, many of us will have to gain more training, or perhaps demand that our students obtain training. In fact, it is significant that a high proportion of studies reported in this brief review were undertaken by assistant professors or fairly recent Ph.D. graduates. Perhaps they are the coming generation. We should also provide ourselves with the necessary tools to achieve this progress. Data preparation remains the heaviest burden of text processing and here the setting up of a medieval data bank would bring an important relief to the scholar. Medieval text processing calls for its own Irish monastic libraries! Here the American Philological Association gives us a good example of what could be done with its data bank directed by Stephen V. F. Waite at Dartmouth College. Evidently, too many projects in all fields of humanistic research seemingly pass through the "brain of the computer" without ever engaging the brain of the scholar. Medievalists have to take care that they are not doing the same thing. With the computer one loses the quasi-non reflexive relation too often entertained with the documents studied. Before the intervention of the computer it was possible to read a text without having in mind a clear linguistic theory or to compile a bibliography without any knowledge of library science. With the computer this way of doing things is over. The implementation of effective computer programming relies finally on the articulation of a formal coherent theory about the data processed. Here we can quote from a medieval warning, taken from the De Musica or Enchiridion improperly attributed to Odo of Cluny.47The pupil learning the monochord, a musical instrument used mainly for pedagogy, and commenting on it said that it was "a wonderful master, who, made by me, teaches me, and teaching me, knows nothing himself." The computer is our modern monochord. It knows nothing but what we program it for, but if we program it correctly it can help us immeasurably, and before us we have a true unexploited potential to uncover. In these conditions the medievalist ought to be more involved in interdisciplinary studies than before. For us this is the challenge of the coming years.
VERN L. BULLOUGH

State University,Northridge California

SERGE LJSIGNAN

Institut d'EtudesMedievales, de Universit6 Montreal

THOMASH. OHLGREN

PurdueUniversity 47The originalversionof the passagecited by EdmundA. Bowles,op. cit., p. viii, can be foundin
Migne, PL, cxxxIII, 762D.