The Exploring Medieval Mary Magdalene project, in creating a set of online text editions, takes advantage of the digital medium to chart a flexible and dynamic middle course between fidelity to the manuscripts, i.e. a diplomatic transcription, and the greater accessibility offered by modern editorial practice. While certain features like abbreviations, punctuation, orthography, rubrication, and capitalization are conventionally fixed to one representative mode in a print edition, users of this project’s text editions are able to modulate these features in a way that transcends what is possible on the printed page. Every edition, even a diplomatic transcription, involves compromise. Here, the user finds a palate of choices to accommodate his or her interests and aims.
With an eye toward these varying modes of interacting with the texts, we have opted to diverge from offering a traditional editorial principles here in favor of offering a series of guidelines that illustrate various ways of interacting with the texts. The following guidelines highlight the ways in which a user may both navigate through and determine the view of the text editions on our online Text Editions page. Visitors who wish to download the underlying XML files for further study or research can do so from the website’s TEI Documentation page, where an explanation of the coding standards is also offered.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction to the Viewer
1.1 Foliation and Line Breaks
1.2 Abbreviations
1.3 Capitalization and Punctuation
1.4 Scribal Corrections
1.5 Episodes
1.6 Notes
2 Editorial Choices
2.1 Orthography
2.2 Decoration
3 Translations
3.1 Translators’ Statements
3.1.1 Latin Texts
3.1.2 Vernacular Texts
3.2 Punctuation, Orthography, and Capitalization
1 Introduction to the Viewer
Visitors to the site can interact with the texts in a user-friendly manner on the Text Editions page of the website. There are two main modes of using the page. One option, the default when visitors come to the page, is to compare transcriptions of different manuscripts to each other in a manner resembling a synoptic edition. At present, the page defaults to viewing three of the manuscript transcriptions; visitors can select other manuscripts using the manuscript selection tool [at the top of the navigation bar, or wherever it ultimately is].
The other mode of interacting allows visitors to view not only a manuscript’s transcription but also both an English translation of the text and a digital reproduction of the manuscript page itself. This view has been designed both for users who might be less familiar with Latin and vernacular dialects, who can engage with the texts through translation, and also for those who wish to engage with the manuscript images more directly. To access this view, users can use the corresponding buttons to select the translation and manuscript image. The digital reproductions of the manuscripts appear in a Mirador viewer, which itself comes with a standardized set of adaptable viewing settings.
In either mode, users can view different levels of transcription that vary with regard to the level of editorial intervention and, correspondingly, with ease of access for modern readers. The “default view” that users encounter when they first access attempts to strike a balance between these two concerns by presenting the text as a continuous prose text and by expanding in-text abbreviations and emending capitalization and punctuation so that they correspond with modern conventions. Additionally, corrections performed by the scribes themselves—like deletions or marginal insertions—are incorporated into the text body in this default setting for ease of reading. Should users wish to do so, they can modify the manner in which the text is presented through different viewing options, which appear as on-off buttons. They can jump to specific semantically-denoted portions of the text, and they can also view editorial notes. These various viewing options are discussed in depth below.
1.1 Foliation and Line Breaks
In the default view, the text is presented as a continuous text with no marked line beginnings, since the transmitted legends are all written in prose. Of course, in the manuscript the text is spread across multiple physical pages and lines. Should users wish to see how the text actually appears across pages and lines in the text, they can click the foliation and line beginnings buttons to, respectively, view folio numbers at the beginning of each manuscript page and see the text broken into its corresponding manuscript lines.
1.2 Abbreviations
In the default view, to promote ease of reading, all abbreviations and brevigraphs (abbreviated versions of names) are expanded via editorial solutions. To view all abbreviations and brevigraphs as they occur in the manuscripts, viewers can use the expand abbrevs button. In the non-expanded view, characters from the Unicode Character Table are used to represent the scribal graphs. (Details of the abbreviations used can be found on the TEI Documentation page.)
Viewers who opt to use the non-expanded view should pay attention to a few editorial decisions that we have made regarding the encoding of certain brevigraphs. Especially in the vernacular manuscripts, the brevigraph for Jesus Christ has been normalized to ih̄s based on technical confines, with any other special features taken out. Additionally, in versions of the brevigraph for the name of Christ, Greek chi has been rendered as x due to technical constraints.
1.3 Capitalization and Punctuation
As default, the editions use capitalization that is normalized in accordance with modern syntax. That is, proper names and sentence-initial words are capitalized, and punctuation follows modern standards. To consult the capitalization and punctuation of the manuscript source, viewers can use, respectively, the editor capitalization and editor punctuation buttons to arrive at this view.
1.4 Scribal Corrections
Within the manuscripts themselves, the scribes sometimes correct the text they copied through marginal or interlinear additions or through strikeouts and other deletions. In the default view, we accept these corrections into the text body, if the editor has deemed them to be truly corrections. Consequently, for instance, text written in the manuscript that has been stricken out is not displayed, and additions are not distinguished from the core of the text. Users who wish to see evidence of these scribal corrections can do so using the scribal corrections button, which makes stricken-out text visible (with a visible strikeout) and also where possible displays evidence of the physical location (e.g. above the line) of additions.
1.5 Episodes
To facilitate cross-reference between the different text witnesses, each text has been tagged according to a list of semantically-determined “episodes,” or shorter portions. Users who wish to jump to a specific legend episode can do so using the legend episodes drop-down menu; when an episode is selected, each text containing that episode will jump to the corresponding portion in the text.
1.6 Notes
As a currently-developing portion of the project, we are preparing a function that allows for the display of editorial notes intended to add additional information to the text editions. These include notes pertaining to the critical comparison of witnesses, translator’s notes, and editorial explanations. These notes can be made viewable using the notes button. When this is selected, words or phrases with associated notes appear as [underlined, or whatever the ultimate decision is] in the text editions; these note can be viewed by [hovering over/clicking on] the corresponding word or phrase.
2 Editorial Choices
Viewers should note that certain editorial choices have been made which cannot be modulated using the buttons on the Text Editions webpage. Here, a summary of those choices has been presented.
2.1 Orthography
We have chosen to preserve the manuscript distinction between u and v and the similar distinction between i and j. However, medieval graphemes of s and those of r have been normalized to, respectively, s and r. In all cases, dialectal spelling differences have been preserved.
To see examples of these different graphemes, click here.
Transcribed
|
In-Text Examples |
| u |     |
| v |      |
| i |     |
| j |     |
| r |         |
| s |       |
2.2 Decoration
Decorative aspects of the texts like rubrication, underlining, and initials have been preserved. Rubrication is displayed in the text editions in red, except in the case of vernacular manuscript D, which was only available to the transcriber in black-and-white photocopy. Initials have been rendered to resemble the decoration in the manuscript copy, without distinctions between initial Lombard and other types.
3 Translations
As accompaniment to the digital editions of the Mary Magdalene Conversion Legends, we have provided English translations of all manuscript variations on the legend. A reader interested in these translations can access a synoptic view of the English versions with the original vernacular and Latin editions on the Text Editions page using the translation-selection button.
3.1 Translators’ Statements
3.1.1 Latin Texts
In our translations of the three Latin versions of the Mary Magdalene conversion legend, we were guided by the following overarching principle. We have chosen to create fluent translations for each of the manuscript versions so that readers without knowledge of Latin can enjoy the legend in a stand-alone English text, and so that we can provide them an accessible introduction to Mary Magdalene’s story. Our translation reflects this principle in two ways. With regards to vocabulary, we have decided to prioritize the use of idiomatic English words and expressions over reflecting Latin idiosyncrasies. With regards to morphology and syntax, we have changed sentence structures to adhere to the standards of English grammar, added words and phrases where the original Latin was incomplete, and separated periodic sentences into separate clauses where subordination could obfuscate the meaning.
Despite our choice for what can be considered to be a more “literary” translation, we nevertheless considered it important to allow the reader of the translation to appreciate the textual variation in the legend as transmitted by the three manuscripts. In order to accomplish this, we sought to ensure that the meaning of every word in the Latin text—particles included—was somehow echoed in the English. And, even in cases when the Latin texts presented only a slightly varying reading, every effort was made to adapt the translation accordingly.
3.1.2 Vernacular Texts
The eight vernacular versions of the Mary Magdalene legend largely adhere to the same storyline and sequence of episodes. Despite the differences in dialect, many syntactical features as well as choices of vocabulary carry over from one rendition to the other and the translations have thus, where possible, attempted to reflect these similarities. The texts further resemble each other in their use of biblical phraseology and “rhythm,” posing a challenge for the translator to adopt a register that, while legible to the modern reader, at the same time preserves something of the scriptural tone of the legend. To this end, at the risk of a certain degree of tedium, expressions such as “Martha then answered and said” or “Martha then asked and said” have been retained in places, as have sentences beginning, e.g., with “And so Mary went…”, or “And so the lord said…”. Such phrases have not been reproduced in translation at every iteration, but where their frequency seemed to be particularly characteristic of a specific version (e.g. Manuscript G), they are kept in translation in order to be more faithful to the original.
Although the renditions seem, at first glance, quite similar, there are definite differences in attitudes of the various “authors” of these manuscripts toward their material. The scribe of Manuscript D, for example, describes Mary Magdalene as “fiery” [“viuryger”] and, in a distinct departure from the other versions, underscores Mary’s anger in response to being criticized by her sister Martha. Manuscript G elaborates on Mary’s role in heaven after her death. Several of the manuscripts differ in how they parse the relationships among beauty, “Schuld,” body, and soul in Martha’s remonstrance to her sister that while adorning her body, she is ignoring her “Seele.”
There are, moreover, minor differences in detail among the various manuscripts. In several, the “young men of Jerusalem” hold their festivities along with “constenaere” who are absent from other versions. Several manuscripts offer various titles for Isidore’s book of the saints, whereas in some, the book is not referred to at all. In one version, a very simple explanation is added for Mary’s visit to Martha that she “wanted to see where her sister lived.”
Explanatory notes are added in those instances in which the original is incomplete, the syntax unclear, or the exact meaning of a word or expression remains subject to question.
3.2 Punctuation, Orthography, and Capitalization
With regards to the use of orthography, punctuation, and capitalization in the translation, we have adhered to the regulations and standards of American English as summarized in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style. For capitalization in particular, this implies a generally sparse use of capital letters, also known as “down style.”
