In September 2015 the Marie Curie funded project ViGOTHIC: Towards a typology of Visigothic script: the Beatus British Library Add. 11695 and its potential for dating and localising Visigothic script manuscripts kicked off. The first year was devoted to the thorough palaeographic and codicographic analysis of the Silos Apocalypse – the codex mentioned in the very long title above – about which you can read more here. I am quite happy with the results I got after a year of hard work, and I am sure the next year of research will bring interesting results too.

This year I will be adapting DigiPal to Visigothic script to test how the programme behaves with sources in this writing system. That is, I will see how to change as much as I can to refine it for myself and other scholars working on Iberian Peninsular manuscript sources.

Besides making the software even more gorgeous, I intend to answer the question that I am sure all the scholars working on palaeography, particularly those more inclined to the traditional methodology, have asked: is all this fuss useful? Well, as a digital medievalist, I immediately see the benefits of adding resources as this. It is my aim to articulate specifically why I do so. The year ahead traditional palaeography will meet digital palaeography, and all pros and cons will be pondered. Will I be able to convince everyone working on Visigothic script material to go along and incorporate VisigothicPal? Will I?

As last year, I will write monthly updates sharing how the project – and my little crusade – evolves.

by A. Castro

[edited 13/07/2018]