10 Manuscript Description

10.1 Overview

This module34 defines a special purpose element which can be used to provide detailed descriptive information about handwritten primary sources. Although originally developed to meet the needs of cataloguers and scholars working with medieval manuscripts in the European tradition, the scheme presented here is general enough that it can also be extended to other traditions and materials, and is potentially useful for any kind of inscribed artefact.

The scheme described here is also intended to accommodate the needs of many different classes of encoders. On the one hand, encoders may be engaged in retrospective conversion of existing detailed descriptions and catalogues into machine tractable form; on the other, they may be engaged in cataloguing ex nihilo, that is, creating new detailed descriptions for materials never before catalogued. Some may be primarily concerned to represent accurately the description itself, as opposed to the ideas and interpretations the description represents; others may have entirely opposite priorities. At one extreme, a project may simply wish to capture an existing catalogue in a form that can be displayed on the Web, and which can be searched for literal strings, or for such features such as titles, authors and dates; at the other, a project may wish to create, in highly structured and encoded form, a detailed database of information about the physical characteristics, history, interpretation, etc. of the material, able to support practitioners of quantitative codicology as well as librarians.

To cater for this diversity, here as elsewhere, these Guidelines propose a flexible approach, in which encoders must choose for themselves the degree of prescription appropriate to their needs, and are provided with a choice of encoding mechanisms to support those differing degrees.

10.2 The Manuscript Description Element

The msDesc element will normally appear within the sourceDesc element of the header of a TEI conformant document, where the document being encoded is a digital representation of some manuscript original, whether as an encoded transcription, as a collection of digital images (as described in 11.1 Digital Facsimiles), or as some combination of the two. However, in cases where the document being encoded is essentially a collection of manuscript descriptions, the msDesc element may be used in the same way as the bibliographic elements (bibl, biblFull, and biblStruct) making up the TEI element class model.biblLike. These typically appear within the listBibl element.
  • msDesc (manuscript description) contains a description of a single identifiable manuscript or other text-bearing object.
The msDesc element has the following components, which provide more detailed information under a number of headings. Each of these component elements is further described in the remainder of this chapter.
  • msIdentifier (manuscript identifier) contains the information required to identify the manuscript being described.
  • head (heading) contains any type of heading, for example the title of a section, or the heading of a list, glossary, manuscript description, etc.
  • msContents (manuscript contents) describes the intellectual content of a manuscript or manuscript part, either as a series of paragraphs or as a series of structured manuscript items.
  • physDesc (physical description) contains a full physical description of a manuscript or manuscript part, optionally subdivided using more specialized elements from the model.physDescPart class.
  • history groups elements describing the full history of a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • additional groups additional information, combining bibliographic information about a manuscript, or surrogate copies of it with curatorial or administrative information.
  • msPart (manuscript part) contains information about an originally distinct manuscript or part of a manuscript, now forming part of a composite manuscript.

The first of these components, msIdentifier, is the only one which is mandatory; it is described in more detail in 10.4 The Manuscript Identifier below. It is followed optionally by one or more head elements, each holding a brief heading (see 10.5 The Manuscript Heading), and then either one or more paragraphs, marked up as a series of p elements, or one or more of the specialized elements msContents (10.6 Intellectual Content), physDesc (10.7 Physical Description), history (10.8 History), and additional (10.9 Additional information). These elements are all optional, but if used they must appear in the order given here. Finally, in the case of a composite manuscript, a full description may also contain one or more msPart elements (10.10 Manuscript Parts).

To demonstrate the use of this module, consider the following sample manuscript description, chosen more or less at random from the Bodleian Library's Summary catalogue ([152])
Entry for Bodleian MS. Add. A. 61 in Madan et al.
    1895-1953Figure 10.1. Entry for Bodleian MS. Add. A. 61 in Madan et al. 1895-1953
The simplest way of digitizing this catalogue entry would simply be to key in the text, tagging the relevant parts of it which make up the mandatory msIdentifier element, as follows:
<msDesc>
 <msIdentifier>
  <settlement>Oxford</settlement>
  <repository>Bodleian Library</repository>
  <idno>MS. Add. A. 61</idno>
  <altIdentifier type="SC">
   <idno>28843</idno>
  </altIdentifier>
 </msIdentifier>
 <p>In Latin, on parchment: written in more than one hand of the 13th
   cent. in England: 7¼ x 5⅜ in., i + 55 leaves, in double columns: with
   a few coloured capitals.</p>
 <p>'Hic incipit Bruitus Anglie,' the De origine et gestis Regum
   Angliae of Geoffrey of Monmouth (Galfridus Monumetensis: beg. 'Cum
   mecum multa &amp; de multis.'</p>
 <p>On fol. 54v very faint is 'Iste liber est fratris guillelmi de
   buria de ... Roberti ordinis fratrum Pred[icatorum],' 14th cent. (?):
   'hanauilla' is written at the foot of the page (15th cent.). Bought
   from the rev. W. D. Macray on March 17, 1863, for £1 10s.</p>
</msDesc>
With a suitable stylesheet, this encoding would be as readable as the original; it would not, however, be very useful for search purposes since only shelfmarks and other identifiers are distinguished. To improve on this, one might wrap the paragraphs in the appropriate special-purpose first-child-level elements of msDesc and add some of the phrase-level elements available when the manuscript description module is in use:
<msDesc>
 <msIdentifier>
  <settlement>Oxford</settlement>
  <repository>Bodleian Library</repository>
  <idno>MS. Add. A. 61</idno>
  <altIdentifier type="SC">
   <idno>28843</idno>
  </altIdentifier>
 </msIdentifier>
 <msContents>
  <p>
   <quote>Hic incipit Bruitus Anglie,</quote> the
  <title>De origine et gestis Regum Angliae</title>
     of Geoffrey of Monmouth (Galfridus Monumetensis):
     beg. <quote>Cum mecum multa &amp; de multis.</quote>
     In Latin.</p>
 </msContents>
 <physDesc>
  <p>
   <material>Parchment</material>: written in
     more than one hand: 7¼ x 5⅜ in., i + 55 leaves, in double
     columns: with a few coloured capitals.</p>
 </physDesc>
 <history>
  <p>Written in
  <origPlace>England</origPlace> in the
  <origDate>13th cent.</origDate> On fol. 54v very faint is
  <quote>Iste liber est fratris guillelmi de buria de ... Roberti
       ordinis fratrum Pred[icatorum],</quote> 14th cent. (?):
  <quote>hanauilla</quote> is written at the foot of the page
     (15th cent.). Bought from the rev. W. D. Macray on March 17, 1863, for
     £1 10s.</p>
 </history>
</msDesc>
Note that in this version the text has been slightly reorganized, but no actual rewriting has been necessary. The encoding now allows the user to search for such features as title, material, and date and place of origin; it is also possible to distinguish quoted material from descriptive passages and to search within descriptions relating to a particular topic (for example, history as distinct from material).
This process could be continued further, restructuring the whole entry so as to take full advantage of many more of the encoding possibilities provided by the module described in this chapter:
<msDesc>
 <msIdentifier>
  <settlement>Oxford</settlement>
  <repository>Bodleian Library</repository>
  <idno>MS. Add. A. 61</idno>
  <altIdentifier type="SC">
   <idno>28843</idno>
  </altIdentifier>
 </msIdentifier>
 <msContents>
  <msItem>
   <author xml:lang="en">Geoffrey of Monmouth</author>
   <author xml:lang="la">Galfridus Monumetensis</author>
   <title type="uniform" xml:lang="la">De origine et
       gestis Regum Angliae</title>
   <rubric xml:lang="la">Hic incipit Bruitus Anglie</rubric>
   <incipit xml:lang="la">Cum mecum multa &amp; de multis</incipit>
   <textLang mainLang="la">Latin</textLang>
  </msItem>
 </msContents>
 <physDesc>
  <objectDesc form="codex">
   <supportDesc material="perg">
    <support>
     <p>Parchment.</p>
    </support>
    <extent>i + 55 leaves
    <dimensions scope="all" type="leaf" unit="inch">
      <height></height>
      <width>5⅜</width>
     </dimensions>
    </extent>
   </supportDesc>
   <layoutDesc>
    <layout columns="2">
     <p>In double columns.</p>
    </layout>
   </layoutDesc>
  </objectDesc>
  <handDesc>
   <p>Written in more than one hand.</p>
  </handDesc>
  <decoDesc>
   <p>With a few coloured capitals.</p>
  </decoDesc>
 </physDesc>
 <history>
  <origin>
   <p>Written in <origPlace>England</origPlace> in the <origDate notAfter="1300" notBefore="1200">13th cent.</origDate>
   </p>
  </origin>
  <provenance>
   <p>On fol. 54v very faint is
   <quote xml:lang="la">Iste liber est fratris guillelmi de buria de <gap/>
         Roberti ordinis fratrum
         Pred<ex>icatorum</ex>
    </quote>, 14th cent. (?):
   <quote>hanauilla</quote> is written at the foot of the page
       (15th cent.).</p>
  </provenance>
  <acquisition>
   <p>Bought from the rev. <name key="MCRAYWD">W. D. Macray</name> on
   <date when="1863-03-17">March 17, 1863</date>, for £1 10s.</p>
  </acquisition>
 </history>
</msDesc>
In the remainder of this chapter we discuss all of the encoding features demonstrated above, together with many other related matters.

10.3 Phrase-level Elements

When the msdescription module is in use, several extra elements are added to the phrase level class, and thus become available within paragraphs and elsewhere in the document. These elements are listed below in alphabetical order:
  • catchwords describes the system used to ensure correct ordering of the quires making up a codex or incunable, typically by means of annotations at the foot of the page.
  • dimensions contains a dimensional specification.
  • heraldry contains a heraldic formula or phrase, typically found as part of a blazon, coat of arms, etc.
  • locus defines a location within a manuscript or manuscript part, usually as a (possibly discontinuous) sequence of folio references.
  • locusGrp groups a number of locations which together form a distinct but discontinuous item within a manuscript or manuscript part, according to a specific foliation.
  • material contains a word or phrase describing the material of which the object being described is composed.
  • watermark contains a word or phrase describing a watermark or similar device.
  • objectType contains a word or phrase describing the type of object being refered to.
  • origDate (origin date) contains any form of date, used to identify the date of origin for a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • origPlace (origin place) contains any form of place name, used to identify the place of origin for a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • secFol (second folio) The word or words taken from a fixed point in a codex (typically the beginning of the second leaf) in order to provide a unique identifier for it.
  • signatures contains discussion of the leaf or quire signatures found within a codex.

Within a manuscript description, many other standard TEI phrase level elements are available, notably those described in the Core module (3 Elements Available in All TEI Documents). Additional elements of particular relevance to manuscript description, such as those for names and dates, may also be made available by including the relevant module in one's schema.

10.3.1 Origination

The following elements may be used to provide information about the origins of any aspect of a manuscript:
  • origDate (origin date) contains any form of date, used to identify the date of origin for a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • origPlace (origin place) contains any form of place name, used to identify the place of origin for a manuscript or manuscript part.

The origDate and origPlace elements are specialized forms of the existing date and name elements respectively, used to indicate specifically the date and place of origin of a manuscript or manuscript part. Such information would normally be encoded within the history element, discussed in section 10.8 History. origDate and origPlace can also be used to identify the place or date of origin of any aspect of the manuscript, such as its decoration or binding, when these are not of the same date as the manuscript itself. Both these elements are members of the att.editLike class, from which they inherit many attributes.

The origDate element is a member of the att.datable class, and may thus also carry additional attributes giving normalized values for the associated dating.

10.3.2 Material and object type

The material element can be used to tag any specific term used for the physical material of which a manuscript (or binding, seal, etc.) is composed. The objectType element may be used to tag any term specifying the type of object or manuscript upon with the text is written.
  • material contains a word or phrase describing the material of which the object being described is composed.
  • objectType contains a word or phrase describing the type of object being refered to.
These elements may appear wherever a term regarded as significant by the encoder occurs, as in the following examples:
<binding>
 <p>Brown <material>calfskin</material>, previously with two clasps.</p>
</binding>
<support>
 <p>
  <material>Parchment</material>
  <objectType>codex</objectType> with half <material>goat-leather</material> binding.</p>
</support>

10.3.3 Watermarks and Stamps

Two further elements are provided to mark up other decorative features characteristic of manuscript leaves and bindings:
  • watermark contains a word or phrase describing a watermark or similar device.
  • stamp contains a word or phrase describing a stamp or similar device.
These element may appear wherever a term regarded as significant by the encoder occurs. The watermark element is most likely to be of use within the support element discussed in 10.7.1.1 Support below. We give a simple example here:
<support>
 <material>Rag
   paper</material> with <watermark>anchor</watermark>
watermark
</support>
The stamp element will typically appear when text from the source is being transcribed, for example within a rubric in the following case:
<rubric>
 <lb/>Apologyticu TTVLLIANI AC IGNORATIA IN XPO IHV<lb/>SI NON LICET<lb/>NOBIS RO<lb/>manii imperii <stamp>Bodleian stamp</stamp>
 <lb/>
</rubric>
It may also appear as part of the detailed description of a binding:
<binding>
 <p>Modern calf recasing with original armorial stamp <stamp>Ex
     Bibliotheca J. Richard D.M.</stamp>
 </p>
</binding>

10.3.4 Dimensions

The dimensions element can be used to specify the size of some aspect of the manuscript, and thus may be thought of as a specialized form of the existing TEI measure element.
  • dimensions contains a dimensional specification.
    typeindicates which aspect of the object is being measured.

The dimensions element will normally occur within the element describing the particular feature or aspect of a manuscript whose dimensions are being given; thus the size of the leaves would be specified within the support or extent element (part of the physDesc element discussed in 10.7.1 Object Description), while the dimensions of other specific parts of a manuscript, such as accompanying materials, binding, etc., would be given in other parts of the description, as appropriate.

The following elements are available within the dimensions element:
  • height contains a measurement measured along the axis at right angles to the bottom of the written surface, i.e. parallel to the spine for a codex or book.
  • width contains a measurement measured along the axis parallel to the bottom of the written surface, i.e. perpendicular to the spine of a book or codex.
  • depth contains a measurement measured across the spine of a book or codex, or (for other text-bearing objects) perpendicular to the measurement given by the ‘width’ element.
  • dim contains any single measurement forming part of a dimensional specification of some sort.
These elements, as well as dimensions itself, are all members of the att.dimensions class, which also inherits attributes from the att.ranging class. They all thus carry the following attributes:
  • att.dimensions provides attributes for describing the size of physical objects.
    scopewhere the measurement summarizes more than one observation, specifies the applicability of this measurement.
    extentindicates the size of the object concerned using a project-specific vocabulary combining quantity and units in a single string of words.
    unitnames the unit used for the measurement
    quantityspecifies the length in the units specified
  • att.ranging provides attributes for describing numerical ranges.
    atLeastgives a minimum estimated value for the approximate measurement.
    atMostgives a maximum estimated value for the approximate measurement.
    minwhere the measurement summarizes more than one observation or a range, supplies the minimum value observed.
    maxwhere the measurement summarizes more than one observation or a range, supplies the maximum value observed.

Attributes scope, min and max are used only when the measurement applies to several items, for example the size of all leaves in a manuscript; attributes atLeast and atMost are used when the measurement applies to a single item, for example the size of a specific codex, but has had to be estimated. Attribute quantity is used when the measurement can be given exactly, and applies to a single item; this is the usual situation. In this case, the units in which dimensions are measured may be specified using the unit attribute, which will normally take from a closed set of values appropriate to the project, using standard units of measurement wherever possible, such as following values: cm, mm, in, line, char. If however the only data available for the measurement uses some other unit, or it is preferred to normalize it in some other way, then it may be supplied as a string value by means of the extent attribute.

In the simplest case, only the extent attribute may be supplied:
<width extent="6 cubit">six cubits</width>
More usually, the measurement will be normalized into a value and an appropriate SI unit:
<width quantity="270" unit="cm">six cubits</width>
Where the exact value is uncertain, the attributes atLeast and atMost may be used to indicate the upper and lower bounds of an estimated value:
<width atLeast="250" atMost="300" unit="cm">six cubits</width>
It is often convenient to supply a measurement which applies to a number of discrete observations: for example, the number of ruled lines on the pages of a manuscript (which may not all be the same), or the diameter of an object like a bell, which will differ depending where it is measured. In such cases, the scope attribute may be used to specify the observations for which this measurement is applicable:
<height unit="line" scope="most" atLeast="20"/>
This indicates that most pages have at least 20 lines. The attributes min and max can also be used to specify the possible range of values: for example, to show that all pages have between 12 and 30 lines:
<height
  unit="line"
  scope="all"
  min="12"
  max="30"/>
The dimensions element may be repeated as often as necessary, with appropriate attribute values to indicate the nature and scope of the measurement concerned. For example, in the following case the leaf size and ruled space of the leaves of the manuscript are specified:
<dimensions type="ruled" unit="mm">
 <height scope="most" quantity="90" unit="mm"/>
 <width scope="most" quantity="48" unit="mm"/>
</dimensions>
<dimensions type="leaves">
 <height min="157" max="160" unit="mm"/>
 <width quantity="105"/>
</dimensions>
This indicates that for most leaves of the manuscript being described the ruled space is 90 mm high and 48 mm wide, while the leaves throughout are between 157 and 160 mm in height and 105 mm in width.
The dim element is provided for cases where some measurement other than height, width, or depth is required. Its type attribute is used to indicate the type of measurement involved:
<dimensions unit="cm">
 <dim type="circumference" quantity="48" unit="mm"/>
 <height quantity="90" unit="mm"/>
</dimensions>

The order in which components of the dimensions element may be supplied is not constrained.

10.3.5 References to Locations within a Manuscript

The locus and its grouping element locusGrp element are specialized forms of the ref element, used to indicate a location, or sequence of locations, within a manuscript.
  • locus defines a location within a manuscript or manuscript part, usually as a (possibly discontinuous) sequence of folio references.
    fromspecifies the starting point of the location in a normalized form.
    tospecifies the end-point of the location in a normalized form.
    schemeidentifies the foliation scheme in terms of which the location is being specified.
  • locusGrp groups a number of locations which together form a distinct but discontinuous item within a manuscript or manuscript part, according to a specific foliation.
    schemeidentifies the foliation scheme in terms of which all the locations contained by the group are specified.

The locus element is used to reference a single location within a manuscription, typically to specify the location occupied by the element within which it appears. If, for example, it is used as the first component of a msItem or msItemStruct element, or of any of the more specific elements appearing within one (see further section 10.6 Intellectual Content below) then it is understood to specify the location (or locations) of that item within the manuscript being described.

10.3.5.1 Identifying a location
A locus element can be used to identify any reference to one or more folios within a manuscript, wherever such a reference is appropriate. Locations are conventionally specified as a sequence of folio or page numbers, but may also be a discontinuous list, or a combination of the two. This specification should be given as the content of the locus element, using the conventions appropriate to the individual scholar or holding institution, as in the following example:
<msItem n="1">
 <locus>ff. 1-24r</locus>
 <title>Apocalypsis beati Ioannis Apostoli</title>
</msItem>
A normalized form of the location can also be supplied, using special purpose attributes on the locus element, as in the following revision of the above example:
<msItem n="1">
 <locus from="1r" to="24r">ff. 1-24r</locus>
 <title>Apocalypsis beati Ioannis Apostoli</title>
</msItem>
When the item concerned occupies a discontinuous sequence of pages, this may simply be indicated in the body of the locus element:
<msItem n="1">
 <locus>ff. 1-12v, 18-24r</locus>
 <title>Apocalypsis beati Ioannis Apostoli</title>
</msItem>
Alternatively, if it is desired to indicate normalized values for each part of the sequence, a sequence of locus elements can be supplied, grouped within the locusGrp element:
<msItem n="1">
 <locusGrp>
  <locus from="1r" to="12v">ff. 1-12v</locus>
  <locus from="18" to="24r">ff. 18-24r</locus>
 </locusGrp>
 <title>Apocalypsis beati Ioannis Apostoli</title>
</msItem>
Finally, the content of the locus element may be omitted if a formatting application can construct it automatically from the values of the from and to attributes:
<msItem n="1">
 <locusGrp>
  <locus from="1r" to="12v"/>
  <locus from="18" to="24r"/>
 </locusGrp>
 <title>Apocalypsis beati Ioannis Apostoli</title>
</msItem>
10.3.5.2 Linking a location to a transcription or an image

The locus attribute can also be used to associate a location within a manuscript with facsimile images of that location, using the facs attribute, or with a transcription of the text occurring at that location. The former association is effected by means of the facs attribute; the latter by means of the target attribute.

The facs is available only when the transcr module described in chapter 11 Representation of Primary Sources is included in a schema. It associates a locus element with one or more digitized images, as in the following example:
<msItem>
 <locus
   facs="images/08v.jpg images/09r.jpg images/09v.jpg images/10r.jpg images/10v.jpg">
fols. 8v-10v</locus>
 <title>Birds Praise of Love</title>
 <bibl>
  <title>IMEV</title>
  <biblScope>1506</biblScope>
 </bibl>
</msItem>
Here, the facs attribute uses a URI reference to point directly to images of the relevant pages. This method may be found cumbersome when many images are to be associated with a single location. It is of most use when specific pages are referenced within a description, as in the following example:
<decoDesc>
 <p>Several of the miniatures in this section have been damaged and
   overpainted at a later date (e.g. the figure of Christ on <locus
    facs="http://www.example.com/images.fr#F33R">
fol. 33r</locus>; the
   face of the Shepherdess on <locus
    facs="http://www.example.com/images.fr#F59V">
fol. 59v</locus>,
   etc.).</p>
</decoDesc>
For further discussion of the facs attribute, see section 11.1 Digital Facsimiles.
Where a transcription of the relevant pages is available, this may be associated with the locus element using its target attribute, as in the following example:
<msItem n="1">
 <locus target="#f1r #f1v #f2r">ff. 1r-2r</locus>
 <author>Ben Jonson</author>
 <title>Ode to himself</title>
 <rubric rend="italics">
  <lb/>
   An Ode<lb/> to him selfe.</rubric>
 <incipit>Com leaue the loathed stage</incipit>
 <explicit>And see his chariot triumph ore his wayne.</explicit>
 <bibl>
  <name>Beal</name>, <title>Index 1450-1625</title>, JnB 380</bibl>
</msItem>
<!-- within transcription ... -->
<pb xml:id="f1r"/>
<!-- ... -->
<pb xml:id="f1v"/>
<!-- ... -->
<pb xml:id="f2r"/>
<!-- ... -->

When (as in this example) a sequence of elements is to be supplied as target value, it may be given explicitly as above, or using the xPointer range() syntax defined at 16.2.4.4 range(). Note however that support for this pointer mechanism is not widespread in current XML processing systems.

The target attribute should only be used to point to elements that contain or indicate a transcription of the locus being described. To associate a locus element with a page image or other comparable representation, the global facs attribute should be used instead.

10.3.5.3 Using multiple location schemes
Where a manuscript contains more than one foliation, the scheme attribute may be used to distinguish them. For example, MS 65 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge contains two fly leaves bearing music. These leaves have modern foliation 135 and 136 respectively, but are also marked with an older foliation. This may be preserved in an encoding such as the following:
<locus scheme="#original">XCIII</locus>
<locus scheme="#modern">135</locus>
Here the scheme attribute points to a foliation element providing more details about the scheme used, as further discussed in 10.7.1.4 Foliation below.
Where discontinuous sequences are identified within two different foliations, the scheme attribute should be supplied on the locusGrp element in preference, as in the following:
<locusGrp scheme="#original">
 <locus>XCIII</locus>
 <locus>CC-CCII</locus>
</locusGrp>
<locusGrp scheme="#modern">
 <locus>135</locus>
 <locus>197-204</locus>
</locusGrp>

10.3.6 Names of Persons, Places, and Organizations

The standard TEI element name may be used to identify names of any kind occurring within a description:
  • name (name, proper noun) contains a proper noun or noun phrase.
As further discussed in 3.5.1 Referring Strings, this element is a member of the class att.canonical, from which it inherits the following attributes:
  • att.canonical provides attributes which can be used to associate a representation such as a name or title with canonical information about the object being named or referenced.
    keyprovides an externally-defined means of identifying the entity (or entities) being named, using a coded value of some kind.
    ref(reference) provides an explicit means of locating a full definition for the entity being named by means of one or more URIs.
Here are some examples of the use of the name element:
<name type="person">Thomas Hoccleve</name>
<name type="place">Villingaholt</name>
<name type="org">Vetus Latina Institut</name>
<name type="person" ref="#HOC001">Occleve</name>
Note that the name element is defined as providing information about a name, not the person, place, or organization to which that name refers. In the last example above, the ref attribute is used to associate the name with a more detailed description of the person named. This is provided by means of the person element, which becomes available when the namesdates module described in chapter 13 Names, Dates, People, and Places is included in a schema. An element such as the following might then be used to provide detailed information about the person indicated by the name:
<person xml:id="HOC001">
 <persName>
  <surname>Hoccleve</surname>
  <forename>Thomas</forename>
 </persName>
 <birth notBefore="1368"/>
 <occupation>poet</occupation>
<!-- other personal data -->
</person>
Note that an instance of the person element must be provided for each distinct ref value specified. For example, in the case above, the value HOC001 must be found as the xml:id attribute of some person element; the same value will be used as the ref attribute of every reference to Hoccleve in the document (however spelled), but there will only be one person element with this identifier.

Alternatively, the key attribute may be used to supply a unique identifying code for the person referenced by the name independently of both the existence of a person element and the use of the standard URI reference mechanism. If, for example, a project maintains as its authority file some non-digital resource, or uses a database which cannot readily be integrated with other digital resources for this purpose, the unique codes used by such ‘offline’ resources may be used as values for the key attribute. Although such practices clearly reduce the interchangeability of the resulting encoded texts, they may be judged more convenient or practical in certain situations. As explained in 3.5.1 Referring Strings, interchange is improved by use of tag URIs in ref instead of key.

All the person elements referenced by a particular document set should be collected together within a listPerson element, located in the TEI Header. This functions as a kind of prosopography for all the people referenced by the set of manuscripts being described, in much the same way as a listBibl element in the back matter may be used to hold bibliographic information for all the works referenced.

When the namesdates module described in chapter 13 Names, Dates, People, and Places is included in a schema, similar mechanisms are used to maintain and reference canonical lists of places or organizations, as further discussed in sections 13.2.3 Place Names and 13.2.2 Organizational Names respectively.

10.3.7 Catchwords, Signatures, Secundo Folio

The catchwords element is used to describe one method by which correct ordering of the quires of a codex is ensured. Typically, this takes the form of a word or phrase written in the lower margin of the last leaf verso of a gathering, which provides a preview of the first recto leaf of the successive gathering. This may be a simple phrase such as the following:
<catchwords>Quires signed on the last leaf verso in roman numerals.</catchwords>
Alternatively, it may contain more details:
<catchwords>Vertical catchwords in the hand of the scribe placed along
the inner bounding line, reading from top to bottom.</catchwords>
The ‘Signatures’ element is used, in a similar way, to describe a similar system in which quires or leaves are marked progressively in order to facilitate arrangement during binding. For example:
<signatures>At the bottom of the first four leaves of quires 1-14 are
the remains of a series of quire signatures a-o plus roman figures in
a cursive hand of the fourteenth century.</signatures>
The signatures element can be used for either leaf signatures, or a combination of quire and leaf signatures, whether the marking is alphabetic, alphanumeric, or some ad hoc system, as in the following more complex example:
<signatures>Quire and leaf signatures in letters, [b]-v, and roman numerals;
those in quires 10 (1) and 17 (s) in red ink and different from others;
every third quire also signed with red crayon in arabic numerals in the
centre lower margin of the first leaf recto: "2" for quire 4 (f. 19),
"3" for quire 7 (f. 43); "4", barely visible, for quire 10 (f. 65), "5",
in a later hand, for quire 13 (f. 89), "6", in a later hand, for quire
16 (f. 113).</signatures>
The secFol element (for ‘secundo folio’) is used to record an identifying phrase (also called dictio probatoria) taken from a specific known point in a codex (for example the first few words on the second leaf). Since these words will differ from one copy of a text to another, the practice originated in the middle ages of using them when cataloguing a manuscript in order to distinguish individual copies of a work in a way which its opening words could not.
<secFol>(ando-)ssene in una villa</secFol>

10.3.8 Heraldry

Descriptions of heraldic arms, supporters, devices, and mottos may appear at various points in the description of a manuscript, usually in the context of ownership information, binding descriptions, or detailed accounts of illustrations. A full description may also contain a detailed account of the heraldic components of a manuscript independently considered. Frequently, however, heraldic descriptions will be cited as short phrases within other parts of the record. The phrase level element heraldry is provided to allow such phrases to be marked for further analysis, as in the following examples:
<p>Ownership stamp (xvii cent.) on i recto with the arms <heraldry>A bull
   passant within a bordure bezanty, in chief a crescent for difference</heraldry>
[Cole], crest, and the legend <quote>Cole Deum</quote>.</p>
<!-- ... -->
<p>A c. 8r fregio su due lati, <heraldry>stemma e imprese medicee</heraldry>
racchiudono l'inizio dell'epistolario di Paolino.</p>

10.4 The Manuscript Identifier

The msIdentifier element is intended to provide an unambiguous means of uniquely identifying a particular manuscript. This may be done in a structured way, by providing information about the holding institution and the call number, shelfmark, or other identifier used to indicate its location within that institution. Alternatively, or in addition, a manuscript may be identified simply by a commonly used name.
  • msIdentifier (manuscript identifier) contains the information required to identify the manuscript being described.

A manuscript's actual physical location may occasionally be different from its place of ownership; at Cambridge University, for example, manuscripts owned by various colleges are kept in the central University Library. Normally, it is the ownership of the manuscript which should be specified in the manuscript identifier, while additional or more precise information on the physical location of the manuscript can be given within the adminInfo element, discussed in section 10.9.1 Administrative information below.

The following elements are available within msIdentifier to identify the holding institution:
  • country (country) contains the name of a geo-political unit, such as a nation, country, colony, or commonwealth, larger than or administratively superior to a region and smaller than a bloc.
  • region contains the name of an administrative unit such as a state, province, or county, larger than a settlement, but smaller than a country.
  • settlement contains the name of a settlement such as a city, town, or village identified as a single geo-political or administrative unit.
  • institution contains the name of an organization such as a university or library, with which a manuscript is identified, generally its holding institution.
  • repository contains the name of a repository within which manuscripts are stored, possibly forming part of an institution.

These elements are all structurally equivalent to the standard TEI name element with an appropriate value for its type attribute; however the use of this ‘syntactic sugar’ enables the model for msIdentifier to be constrained rather more tightly than would otherwise be possible. Specifically, only one of each of the elements listed above may appear within the msIdentifier and they must, if present, appear in the order given.

Like name, these elements are all also members of the attribute class att.canonical, and thus can use the attributes key or ref to reference a single standardized source of information about the entity named.

The following elements are used within msIdentifier to provide different ways of identifying the manuscript within its holding institution:
  • collection contains the name of a collection of manuscripts, not necessarily located within a single repository.
  • idno (identifier) supplies any form of identifier used to identify some object, such as a bibliographic item, a person, a title, an organization, etc. in a standardized way.
  • altIdentifier (alternative identifier) contains an alternative or former structured identifier used for a manuscript, such as a former catalogue number.
  • msName (alternative name) contains any form of unstructured alternative name used for a manuscript, such as an ‘ocellus nominum’, or nickname.
Major manuscript repositories will usually have a preferred form of citation for manuscript shelfmarks, including rules about punctuation, spacing, abbreviation, etc., which should be adhered to. Where such a format also contains information which might additionally be supplied as a distinct subcomponent of the msIdentifier, for example a collection name, a decision must be taken as to whether to use the more specific element, or to include such information within the idno element. For example, the manuscript formally identified as ‘El 26 C 0’ forms a part of the Ellesmere (‘El’) collection. Either of the following encodings is therefore feasible:
<msIdentifier>
 <country>USA</country>
 <region>California</region>
 <settlement>San Marino</settlement>
 <repository>Huntington Library</repository>
 <collection>El</collection>
 <idno>26 C 9</idno>
 <msName>The Ellesmere Chaucer</msName>
</msIdentifier>
<msIdentifier>
 <country>USA</country>
 <region>California</region>
 <settlement>San Marino</settlement>
 <repository>Huntington Library</repository>
 <idno>El 26 C 9</idno>
 <msName>The Ellesmere Chaucer</msName>
</msIdentifier>
In the former example, the preferred form of the identifier can be retrieved by prefixing the content of the idno element with that of the collection element, while in the latter it is given explicitly. The advantage of the former is that it it simplifies accurate retrieval of all manuscripts from a given collection; the disadvantage is that encoded abbreviations of this kind may not be as immediately comprehensible. Care should be taken to avoid redundancy: for example
<collection>El</collection>
<idno>El 26 C 9</idno>
would clearly be inappropriate. Equally clearly,
<collection>Ellesmere</collection>
<idno>El 26 C 9</idno>
might be considered helpful in some circumstances (if, for example, some of the items in the Ellsemere collection had shelfmarks which did not begin ‘El’). It may also be the case that the same manuscript is referred as
In some cases the shelfmark may contain no information about the collection; in other cases, the item may be regarded as belonging to more than one collection. The collection element may be added, and repeated as often as necessary to cater for such situations:
<msIdentifier>
 <country>Hungary</country>
 <settlement>Budapest</settlement>
 <repository xml:lang="fr"> Bibliothèque de l'Académie des Sciences de Hongrie
 </repository>
 <collection>Oriental Collection</collection>
 <collection>Sandor Kégl Bequest</collection>
 <idno>MS 1265</idno>
</msIdentifier>
<msIdentifier>
 <country>USA</country>
 <region>New Jersey</region>
 <settlement>Princeton</settlement>
 <repository>Princeton University Library</repository>
 <collection>Scheide Library</collection>
 <idno>MS 71</idno>
 <msName>Blickling Homiliary</msName>
</msIdentifier>
Note in the latter case the use of the msName element to provide a common name other than the shelfmark by which a manuscript is known. Where a manuscript has several such names, more than one of these elements may be used, as in the following example:
<msIdentifier>
 <country>Danmark</country>
 <settlement>København</settlement>
 <repository>Det Arnamagnæanske Institut</repository>
 <idno>AM 45 fol.</idno>
 <msName xml:lang="la">Codex Frisianus</msName>
 <msName xml:lang="is">Fríssbók</msName>
</msIdentifier>
Here the globally available xml:lang attribute has been used to specify the language of the alternative names.
In very rare cases a repository may have only one manuscript (or only one of any significance), which will have no shelfmark as such but will be known by a particular name or names. In such circumstances, the idno element may be omitted, and the manuscript identified by the name or names used for it, using one or more msName elements, as in the following example:
<msIdentifier>
 <settlement>Rossano</settlement>
 <repository xml:lang="it">Biblioteca arcivescovile</repository>
 <msName xml:lang="la">Codex Rossanensis</msName>
 <msName xml:lang="la">Codex purpureus</msName>
 <msName xml:lang="en">The Rossano Gospels</msName>
</msIdentifier>
Where manuscripts have moved from one institution to another, or even within the same institution, they may have identifiers additional to the ones currently used, such as former shelfmarks, which are sometimes retained even after they have been officially superseded. In such cases it may be useful to supply an alternative identifier, with a detailed structure similar to that of the msIdentifier itself. The following example shows a manuscript which had shelfmark II-M-5 in the collection of the Duque de Osuna, but which now has the shelfmark MS 10237 in the National Library in Madrid:
<msIdentifier>
 <settlement>Madrid</settlement>
 <repository>Biblioteca Nacional</repository>
 <idno>MS 10237</idno>
 <altIdentifier>
  <region>Andalucia</region>
  <settlement>Osuna</settlement>
  <repository>Duque de Osuna</repository>
  <idno>II-M-5</idno>
 </altIdentifier>
</msIdentifier>
Normally, such information would be dealt with under history, except in cases where a manuscript is likely still to be referred to or known by its former identifier. For example, an institution may have changed its call number system but still wish to retain a record of the earlier number, perhaps because the manuscript concerned is frequently cited in print under its previous number:
<msIdentifier>
 <settlement>Berkeley</settlement>
 <institution>University of California</institution>
 <repository>Bancroft Library</repository>
 <idno>UCB 16</idno>
 <altIdentifier>
  <idno>2MS BS1145 I8</idno>
 </altIdentifier>
</msIdentifier>
Where (as in this example) no repository is specified for the altIdentifier, it is assumed to be the same as that of the parent msIdentifier. Where the holding institution has only one preferred form of citation but wishes to retain the other for internal administrative purposes, the secondary could be given within altIdentifier with an appropriate value on the type attribute:
<msIdentifier>
 <settlement>Oxford</settlement>
 <repository>Bodleian Library</repository>
 <idno>MS. Bodley 406</idno>
 <altIdentifier type="SC">
  <idno>2297</idno>
 </altIdentifier>
</msIdentifier>
It might, however, be preferable to include such information within the adminInfo element discussed in section 10.9.1 Administrative information below.
Cases of such changed or alternative identifiers should be clearly distinguished from cases of ‘scattered’ manuscripts, that is to say manuscripts which although physically disjoint are nevertheless generally treated as single units. One well-known example is the Old Church Slavonic manuscript known as Codex Suprasliensis, substantial parts of which are to be found in three separate repositories, in Ljubljana, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg. This should be represented using three distinct altIdentifier elements, using an appropriate value on the type attribute to indicate that these three identifiers are not alternate ways of referring to the same physical object, but three parts of the same entity.
<msIdentifier>
 <msName xml:lang="la">Codex Suprasliensis</msName>
 <altIdentifier type="partial">
  <settlement>Ljubljana</settlement>
  <repository>Narodna in univerzitetna knjiznica</repository>
  <idno>MS Kopitar 2</idno>
  <note>Contains ff. 10 to 42 only</note>
 </altIdentifier>
 <altIdentifier type="partial">
  <settlement>Warszawa</settlement>
  <repository>Biblioteka Narodowa</repository>
  <idno>BO 3.201</idno>
 </altIdentifier>
 <altIdentifier type="partial">
  <settlement>Sankt-Peterburg</settlement>
  <repository>Rossiiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka</repository>
  <idno>Q.p.I.72</idno>
 </altIdentifier>
</msIdentifier>

As mentioned above, the smallest possible description is one that contains only the element msIdentifier; good practice in all but exceptional circumstances requires the presence within it of the three sub-elements settlement, repository, and idno, since they provide what is, by common consent, the minimum amount of information necessary to identify a manuscript.

10.5 The Manuscript Heading

Historically, the briefest possible meaningful description of a manuscript consists of no more than a title, e.g. Polychronicon. This will often have been enough to identify a manuscript in a small collection because the identity of the author is implicit. Where a title does not imply the author, and is thus insufficient to identify the main text of a manuscript, the author should be stated explicitly (e.g. Augustinus, Sermones or Cicero, Letters). Many inventories of manuscripts consist of no more than an author and title, with some form of copy-specific identifier, such as a shelfmark or ‘secundo folio’ reference (e.g. Arch. B. 3. 2: Evangelium Matthei cum glossa, 126. Isidori Originum libri octo, Biblia Hieronimi, 2o fo. opus est); information on date and place of writing will sometimes also be included. The standard TEI element head element can be used to provide a brief description of this kind.
  • head (heading) contains any type of heading, for example the title of a section, or the heading of a list, glossary, manuscript description, etc.
In this way the cataloguer or scholar can supply in one place a minimum of essential information, such as might be displayed or printed as the heading of a full description. For example:
<head>Marsilius de Inghen, Abbreviata phisicorum Aristotelis; Italy, 1463.</head>
Any phrase-level elements, such as title, name, date, or the specialized elements origPlace and origDate, can also be used within a head element, but it should be remembered that the head element is intended principally to contain a heading. More structured information concerning the contents, physical form, or history of the manuscript should be given within the specialized elements described below, msContents, physDesc, history, etc. However, in simple cases, the p element may also be used to supply an unstructured collection of such information, as in the example given above (10.2 The Manuscript Description Element).

10.6 Intellectual Content

The msContents element is used to describe the intellectual content of a manuscript or manuscript part. It comprises either a series of informal prose paragraphs or a series of msItem or msItemStruct elements, each of which provides a more detailed description of a single item contained within the manuscript. These may be prefaced, if desired, by a summary element, which is especially useful where one wishes to provide an overview of a manuscript's contents and describe only some of the items in detail.
  • msContents (manuscript contents) describes the intellectual content of a manuscript or manuscript part, either as a series of paragraphs or as a series of structured manuscript items.
  • msItem (manuscript item) describes an individual work or item within the intellectual content of a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • msItemStruct (structured manuscript item) contains a structured description for an individual work or item within the intellectual content of a manuscript or manuscript part.
  • summary contains an overview of the available information concerning some aspect of an item (for example, its intellectual content, history, layout, typography etc.) as a complement or alternative to the more detailed information carried by more specific elements.
In the simplest case, only a brief description may be provided, as in the following examples:
<msContents>
 <p>A collection of Lollard sermons</p>
</msContents>
<msContents>
 <p>Atlas of the world from Western Europe and Africa to Indochina,
   containing 27 maps and 26 tables</p>
</msContents>
<msContents>
 <p>Biblia sacra: Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento, con prefacios, prólogos
   y argumentos de san Jerónimo y de otros. Interpretaciones de los
   nombres hebreos.</p>
</msContents>
This description may of course be expanded to include any of the TEI elements generally available within a p element, such as title, bibl, or list. More usually, however, each individual work within a manuscript will be given its own description, using the msItem or msItemStruct element described in the next section, as in the following example:
<msContents>
 <msItem n="1">
  <locus>fols. 5r -7v</locus>
  <title>An ABC</title>
  <bibl>
   <title>IMEV</title>
   <biblScope>239</biblScope>
  </bibl>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="2">
  <locus>fols. 7v -8v</locus>
  <title xml:lang="fr">Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan</title>
  <bibl>
   <title>IMEV</title>
   <biblScope>3747</biblScope>
  </bibl>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="3">
  <locus>fol. 8v</locus>
  <title>Truth</title>
  <bibl>
   <title>IMEV</title>
   <biblScope>809</biblScope>
  </bibl>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="4">
  <locus>fols. 8v-10v</locus>
  <title>Birds Praise of Love</title>
  <bibl>
   <title>IMEV</title>
   <biblScope>1506</biblScope>
  </bibl>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="5">
  <locus>fols. 10v -11v</locus>
  <title xml:lang="la">De amico ad amicam</title>
  <title xml:lang="la">Responcio</title>
  <bibl>
   <title>IMEV</title>
   <biblScope>16 &amp; 19</biblScope>
  </bibl>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="6">
  <locus>fols. 14r-126v</locus>
  <title>Troilus and Criseyde</title>
  <note>Bk. 1:71-Bk. 5:1701, with additional losses due to
     mutilation throughout</note>
 </msItem>
</msContents>

The summary element may be used in conjunction with msItem or msItem elements where information is provided both about the content as a whole, and about individual items within it.

<msContents>
 <summary>A collection of Lollard sermons</summary>
 <msItem n="1">
  <locus>fol. 4r-8r</locus>
  <title>3rd Sunday Before Lent</title>
 </msItem>
 <msItem n="2">
  <locus>fol. 9r-16v</locus>
  <title>Sexagesima</title>
 </msItem>
</msContents>

10.6.1 The <msItem> and <msItemStruct> Elements

Each discrete item in a manuscript or manuscript part can be described within a distinct msItem or msItemStruct element, and may be classified using the class attribute.

These are the possible component elements of msItem and msItemStruct.
  • author in a bibliographic reference, contains the name(s) of an author, personal or corporate, of a work; for example in the same form as that provided by a recognized bibliographic name authority.
  • respStmt (statement of responsibility) supplies a statement of responsibility for the intellectual content of a text, edition, recording, or series, where the specialized elements for authors, editors, etc. do not suffice or do not apply. May also be used to encode information about individuals or organizations which have played a role in the production or distribution of a bibliographic work.
  • title contains a title for any kind of work.
    typeclassifies the title according to some convenient typology.
  • rubric contains the text of any rubric or heading attached to a particular manuscript item, that is, a string of words through which a manuscript signals the beginning of a text division, often with an assertion as to its author and title, which is in some way set off from the text itself, usually in red ink, or by use of different size or type of script, or some other such visual device.
  • incipit contains the incipit of a manuscript item, that is the opening words of the text proper, exclusive of any rubric which might precede it, of sufficient length to identify the work uniquely; such incipts were, in fomer times, frequently used a means of reference to a work, in place of a title.
  • quote (quotation) contains a phrase or passage attributed by the narrator or author to some agency external to the text.
  • explicit contains the explicit of a manuscript item, that is, the closing words of the text proper, exclusive of any rubric or colophon which might follow it.
  • finalRubric contains the string of words that denotes the end of a text division, often with an assertion as to its author and title, usually set off from the text itself by red ink, by a different size or type of script, or by some other such visual device.
  • colophon contains the colophon of a manuscript item: that is, a statement providing information regarding the date, place, agency, or reason for production of the manuscript.
  • decoNote (note on decoration) contains a note describing either a decorative component of a manuscript, or a fairly homogenous class of such components.
  • listBibl (citation list) contains a list of bibliographic citations of any kind.
  • bibl (bibliographic citation) contains a loosely-structured bibliographic citation of which the sub-components may or may not be explicitly tagged.
  • filiation contains information concerning the manuscript's filiation, i.e. its relationship to other surviving manuscripts of the same text, its protographs, antigraphs and apographs.
  • note contains a note or annotation.
  • textLang (text language) describes the languages and writing systems identified within the bibliographic work being described, rather than its description.

In addition, a msItemStruct may contain nested msItemStruct elements, just as an msItem may contain nested msItem elements.

The main difference between msItem and msItemStruct is that in the former, the order and number of child elements is not constrained; any element, in other words, may be given in any order, and repeated as often as is judged necessary. In the latter, however, the sub-elements, if used, must be given in the order specified above and only some of them may be repeated; specifically, rubric, finalRubric. incipit, textLang and explicit can appear only once.

While neither msItem nor msItemStruct may contain untagged running text, both permit an unstructured description to be provided in the form of one or more paragraphs of text. They differ in this respect also: if paragraphs are supplied as the content of an msItem, then none of the other component elements listed above is permitted; in the msItemStruct case, however, paragraphs may appear anywhere as an alternative to any of the component elements listed above.

As noted above, both msItem and msItemStruct elements may also nest, where a number of separate items in a manuscript are grouped under a single title or rubric, as is the case, for example, with a work like The Canterbury Tales.

The elements msContents, msItem, msItemStruct, incipit, and explicit are all members of the class att.msExcerpt from which they inherit the defective attribute.
  • att.msExcerpt (manuscript excerpt) provides attributes used to describe excerpts from a manuscript placed in a description thereof.
    defectiveindicates whether the passage being quoted is defective, i.e. incomplete through loss or damage.
This attribute can be used for example with collections of fragments, where each fragment is given as a separate msItem and the first and last words of each fragment are transcribed as defective incipits and explicits, as in the following example, a manuscript containing four fragments of a single work:
<msContents>
 <msItem defective="true">
  <locus from="1r" to="9v">1r-9v</locus>
  <title>Knýtlinga saga</title>
  <msItem n="1.1">
   <locus from="1r:1" to="2v:30">1r:1-2v:30</locus>
   <incipit defective="true">dan<ex>n</ex>a a
       engl<ex>an</ex>di</incipit>
   <explicit defective="true">en meðan <expan>haraldr</expan>
       hein hafði k<ex>onung</ex>r v<am>
     <g
       ref="http://www.examples.com/abbrevs.xml#er"/>

    </am>it
       yf<ex>ir</ex> danmork</explicit>
  </msItem>
<!-- msItems 1.2 to 1.4 -->
 </msItem>
</msContents>

The elements ex, am, and expan used in the above example are further discussed in section 11.3.1.2 Abbreviation and Expansion; they are available only when the transcr module defined by that chapter is selected. Similarly, the g element used in this example to represent the abbreviation mark is defined by the gaiji module documented in chapter 5 Representation of Non-standard Characters and Glyphs.

10.6.2 Authors and Titles

When used within a manuscript description, the title element should be used to supply a regularized form of the item's title, as distinct from any rubric quoted from the manuscript. If the item concerned has a standardized distinctive title, e.g. Roman de la Rose, then this should be the form given as content of the title element, with the value of the type attribute given as uniform. If no uniform title exists for an item, or none has been yet identified, or if one wishes to provide a general designation of the contents, then a ‘supplied’ title can be given, e.g. missal, in which case the type attribute on the title should be given the value supplied.

Similarly, if used within a manuscript description, the author element should always contain the normalized form of an author's name, irrespective of how (or whether) this form of the name is cited in the manuscript. If it is desired to retain the form of the author's name as given in the manuscript, this may be tagged as a distinct name element, within the text at the point where it occurs.

Note that the key attribute can also be used, as on names in general, to specify the identifier of a person element carrying full details of the person concerned (see further 10.3.6 Names of Persons, Places, and Organizations).

The respStmt element can be used to supply the name and role of a person other than the author who is responsible for some aspect of the intellectual content of the manuscript:
<author>Diogenes Laertius</author>
<respStmt>
 <resp>in the translation of</resp>
 <name>Ambrogio Traversari</name>
</respStmt>
The respStmt element can also be used where there is a discrepancy between the author of an item as given in the manuscript and the accepted scholarly view, as in the following example:
<title type="supplied">Sermons on the Epistles and the Gospels</title>
<respStmt>
 <resp>here erroneously attributed to</resp>
 <name>St. Bonaventura</name>
</respStmt>
Note that such attributions of authorship, both correct and incorrect, are frequently found in the rubric or final rubric (and occasionally also elsewhere in the text), and can therefore be transcribed and included in the description, if desired, using the rubric, finalRubric, or quote elements, as appropriate.

10.6.3 Rubrics, Incipits, Explicits, and Other Quotations from the Text

It is customary in a manuscript description to record the opening and closing words of a text as well as any headings or colophons it might have, and the specialized elements rubric, incipit, explicit, finalRubric, and colophon are available within msItem for doing so, along with the more general quote, for recording other bits of the text not covered by these elements. Each of these elements has the same substructure, containing a mixture of phrase-level elements and plain text. A locus element can be included within each, in order to specify the location of the component, as in the following example:
<msContents>
 <msItem>
  <locus>f. 1-223</locus>
  <author>Radulphus Flaviacensis</author>
  <title>Expositio super Leviticum </title>
  <incipit>
   <locus>f. 1r</locus>
     Forte Hervei monachi</incipit>
  <explicit>
   <locus>f. 223v</locus>
     Benedictio salis et aquae</explicit>
 </msItem>
</msContents>
In the following example, standard TEI elements for the transcription of primary sources have been used to mark the expansion of abbreviations and other features present in the original:
<msItem defective="true">
 <locus>ff. 1r-24v</locus>
 <title type="uniform">Ágrip af Noregs konunga sǫgum</title>
 <incipit defective="true">
  <lb/>regi oc h<ex>ann</ex> seti
   ho<gap reason="illegible" quantity="7" unit="mm"/>
  <lb/>sc heim se<ex>m</ex> þio</incipit>
 <explicit defective="true">h<ex>on</ex> hev<ex>er</ex>
  <ex>oc</ex> þa buit hesta .ij. <lb/>annan viþ fé en
   h<ex>on</ex>o<ex>m</ex> annan til reiþ<ex>ar</ex>
 </explicit>
</msItem>
Note here also the use of the defective attribute on incipit and explicit to indicate that the text begins and ends defectively.

The xml:lang attribute for colophon, explicit, incipit, quote, and rubric may always be used to identify the language of the text quoted, if this is different from the default language specified by the mainLang attribute on textLang.

10.6.4 Filiation

The filiation element can be used to provide information on the relationship between the manuscript and other surviving manuscripts of the same text, either specifically or in a general way, as in the following example:
<msItem>
 <locus>118rb</locus>
 <incipit>Ecce morior cum nichil horum ... <ref>[Dn 13, 43]</ref>. Verba ista dixit Susanna de illis</incipit>
 <explicit>ut bonum comune conservatur.</explicit>
 <bibl>Schneyer 3, 436 (Johannes Contractus OFM)</bibl>
 <filiation>weitere Überl. Uppsala C 181, 35r.</filiation>
</msItem>

10.6.5 Text Classification

One or more text classification or text-type codes may be specified, either for the whole of the msContents element, or for one or more of its constituent msItem elements, using the class attribute as specified above:
<msContents>
 <msItem n="1" defective="false" class="#law">
  <locus from="1v" to="71v">1v-71v</locus>
  <title type="uniform">Jónsbók</title>
  <incipit>Magnus m<ex>ed</ex> guds miskun Noregs
     k<ex>onungu</ex>r</incipit>
  <explicit>en<ex>n</ex> u<ex>ir</ex>da
     þo t<ex>il</ex> fullra aura</explicit>
 </msItem>
</msContents>
The value used for the class attribute in this example points to a category element with the identifier law, which defines the classification concerned. Such category elements will typically appear within a taxonomy element, within the classDecl element of the TEI Header (2.3.6 The Classification Declaration) as in the following example:
<classDecl>
 <taxonomy>
<!-- -->
  <category xml:id="law">
   <catDesc>Legislation</catDesc>
  </category>
  <category xml:id="war">
   <catDesc>Military topics</catDesc>
  </category>
<!-- -->
 </taxonomy>
</classDecl>
More than one classification may apply to a single item. Another text, concerned with legislation about military topics might thus be specified as follows:
<msItem class="#law #war">
 <p>A treatise on Clausewitz</p>
<!-- details of the item here -->
</msItem>

10.6.6 Languages and Writing Systems

The textLang element should be used to provide information about the languages used within a manuscript item. It may take the form of a simple note, as in the following example:
<textLang>Old Church Slavonic, written in Cyrillic script.</textLang>
Where, for validation and indexing purposes, it is thought convenient to add keywords identifying the particular languages used, the mainLang attribute may be used. This attribute takes the same range of values as the global xml:lang attribute, on which see further vi.1. Language identification. In the following example a manuscript written chiefly in Old Church Slavonic is described:
<textLang mainLang="chu">Old Church Slavonic</textLang>
A manuscript item will sometimes contain material in more than one language. The mainLang attribute should be used only for the chief language. Other languages used may be specified using the otherLangs attribute as in the following example:
<textLang mainLang="chu" otherLangs="RUS HEL">Mostly Old Church
Slavonic, with some Russian and Greek material</textLang>
Since Old Church Slavonic may be written in either Cyrillic or Glagolitic scripts, and even occasionally in both within the same manuscript, it might be preferable to use a more explicit identifier:
<textLang mainLang="chu-Cyrs">Old Church Slavonic in Cyrillic script</textLang>

The form and scope of language identifiers recommended by these Guidelines is based on the IANA standard described at vi.1. Language identification and should be followed throughout. Where additional detail is needed correctly to describe a language, or to discuss its deployment in a given text, this should be done using the langUsage element in the TEI Header, within which individual language elements document the languages used: see 2.4.2 Language Usage.

Note that the language element defines a particular combination of human language and writing system. Only one language element may be supplied for each such combination. Standard TEI practice also allows this element to be referenced by any element using the global xml:lang attribute in order to specify the language applicable to the content of that element. For example, assuming that language elements have been defined with the identifiers fr (for French), la (for Latin), and de (for German), a manuscript description written in French which specifies that a particular manuscript contains predominantly German but also some Latin material, might have a textLang element like the following:
<textLang xml:lang="fr" mainLang="de" otherLangs="la">allemand et latin</textLang>

10.7 Physical Description

Under the general heading ‘physical description’ we subsume a large number of different aspects generally regarded as useful in the description of a given manuscript. These include:

Most manuscript descriptions touch on several of these categories of information though few include them all, and not all distinguish them as clearly as we propose here. In particular, it is often the case that an existing description will include information for which we propose distinct elements within a single paragraph, or even sentence. The encoder must then decide whether to rewrite the description using the structure proposed here, or to retain the existing prose, marked up simply as a series of p elements, directly within the physDesc element.

The physDesc element may thus be used in either of two distinct ways. It may contain a series of paragraphs addressing topics listed above and similar ones. Alternatively, it may act as a container for any choice of the more specialized elements described in the remainder of this section, each of which itself contains a series of paragraphs, and may also have more specific attributes.

In general, it is not recommended to combine unstructured prose description with usage of the more specialized elements, as such an approach complicates processing, and may lead to inconsistency within a single manuscript description. A single physDesc element will normally contain either a series of model.pLike elements, or a sequence of specialized elements from the model.physDescPart class. There are however circumstances in which this is not feasible, for example:
  • the description already exists in a prose form where some of the specialized