Digital Palaeography

Abstract

This article seeks to explore new digital ways of distinguishing between scribal hands in medieval manuscripts. An analysis of traditional palaeographical approaches to hand identification will be followed by a discussion in which attention will be paid both to the use of computer software to enhance existing methods of scribal identification, and to the benefits of "Quill", an innovative automatic writer identification tool. A case study involving a manuscript of the collected works of Christine de Pizan (London, British Library, Harley 4431) will serve to demonstrate that traditional palaeographical methods of analysing scribal hands can greatly benefit from the use of specialised computer software