EDITORIAL CRITERIA

This archive offers diplomatic, semidiplomatic and modernised editions. The rationale is to allow a glimpse into the main features of early modern manuscripts from the Inns of Court with the editorial resources of scholarly digital editions allowing for textual navigation and corpus-based analysis. Modernised editions allow the reader an easier approach to the texts, while preserving the possibility of moving back and forth between manuscript facsimiles and semidiplomatic editions with original spelling.

GENERAL CRITERIA FOR SPELLING NORMALISATION (ENGLISH)

– Special symbols and superscript signs (& -> and; “ſ” -> s; yor-> your; Mr-> Master; ye -> the), as well as complex graphemes (æ -> ae; œ -> oe).

– i/j  and u/v (obiect -> object; vnkind -> unkind; selues-> selves); vv -> w (VVar-> War).

– Murther -> murder; receiueinge -> receiving; naturall -> natural; lordshippe -> lordship; mankynde -> mankind); obsolete forms including the following have been maintained:  shalt, doth, hath, declareth, taketh, oughtst, shoon, altogethers, narrowlier, understanded.

– Capital letter after period and for proper names.

– Abbreviations: hon.ble -> honourable.

– More in general, albeit dependent on the hands of compositors as well as on the instability of early modern norms, a variety of possibilities may be presented.