A beginning set of issues to think through:

• Re. identifying primary sources and providing a basis for collaborative study/the presentation of results.

—   Sources currently available in digital repositories (e.g., Enluminures, library sites) will be unevenly represented regarding amount of material (full ms, excerpts, script only, illuminations only), quality of reproduction, amount and quality of metadata.

—   We will need a consistent minimum standard for the material included that will support both the presentation of conclusions and the ongoing evaluation of examples. Whenever possible, a full manuscript should be available; this will require either linking to an extant digitization or working with repositories to acquire one.

—   Every manuscript must be represented by its full range of scripts, images and decorative elements. Metadata must include measurements, material description, and binding information. In most cases, an initial source for descriptive data will be found in extant catalogues, but all require verification and most likely expansion.

 

• Re. compiling bibliography and providing on-site reference material.

—   A running bibliography, modifiable by participants, and grouped by category, is essential.

—   Is it possible to include the text of relevant studies for easy reference, e.g., chapters in de la Borderie, Cambridge Medieval History, Celtic Encyclopedia; catalogues of Bischoff, Lowe, & Co.?

 

• Re. textual sources/textual evidence for non-extant sources.

—   As above, is it possible to provide editions of desiderata for review? (e.g., charters, inventories, saints’ lives, chronicles)

—   Textual sources require their own section, with material for historical essays and lost monument evidence held separately.

Source: Illuminating Tenth-Century France: thinking toward sources